Collaborative Research: Colorado Plateau/Rio Grande Rift/ Great Plains Seismic Transect

这项研究包括对从德克萨斯西部大平原穿过里约热内卢格兰德裂谷一直延伸到科罗拉多高原的横断面下的地壳和地幔进行地震学调查。来自德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校、新墨西哥州立大学、新墨西哥矿业和技术研究所、洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室等4个研究所的科学家们将利用pascal便携式地震仪，在长达1100公里的线路上记录10-12个月的自然地震。将收集地震体波（P和S）和面波数据，以便在美国西南部这一地区建立详细的P和S速度二维地图。这张地图将用于解决诸如科罗拉多高原隆起的原因、控制地表构造的地幔过程的深度、里约热内卢大裂谷下地幔和地壳张力之间的联系以及俯冲的法拉龙板块的位置等问题。将地表地质信息与深部构造图像相结合，可以得到更完整的区域构造模型，更好地了解该地区在过去4000万年中发生的剧烈构造事件的原因。

9707188Grand This research involves the seismological investigation of the crust and mantle beneath a transect extending from the Great Plains of western Texas through the Rio Grande rift and well into the Colorado Plateau. By means of PASSCAL portable seismographs, scientists from four institutes (University of Texas at Austin, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory) will occupy an 1100-km line for 10-12 months recording naturally occurring earthquakes. Seismic body-wave (P and S) and surface-wave data will be collected to enable the construction of detailed two-dimensional maps of P and S velocities beneath this portion of the southwestern United States. This mapping will be used to address questions such as the cause of the uplift of the Colorado Plateau, the depth of mantle processes that control surface tectonics, the connection between mantle and crustal strain beneath the Rio Grande Rift, and the location of the subducted Farallon plate. Integration of surface geological information with the deep structure images will result in a more complete regional tectonic model and a better understanding of the causes of the dramatic tectonic events that have occurred during the last 40 million years in this region.