RAPID: Seismic Imaging of the Salton Sea

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The Salton Trough is a critical structure where two very different styles of deformation meet; spreading-center dominated deformation to the south in the Gulf of California and dextral strike-slip deformation along the San Andreas fault system. Extremely high heat flow, young volcanism, shallow metamorphism and micro-seismicity led early researchers to interpret the southern Salton Sea as a buried spreading center with a NE-striking system of normal faults. To date, however, a critical portion of this system at the intersection between the San Andreas Fault with the Brawley Seismic Zone (BSZ) in the southern Salton Sea remains poorly understood, in large part, due to a lack of seismic imaging in the Salton Sea. To address this problem, the NSF has funded two projects, one a marine seismic study of the Salton Trough and the other an onshore study. These projects are highly complementary in that seismic signals from both onshore and offshore will be recorded by both experiments, but the deployments of airguns for the projects requires a boat of sufficient size to deploy the ocean bottom seismometers and safely operate the airguns. The project is scheduled to commence in March, 2011, and this award will provide funds for a suitable platform to carry out the project. The broader impacts of the combined projects include improved understanding of earthquake hazards in southern California and benefits to State of California studies of the Salton Sea, a research experience for a science educator through the California Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (CACOSEE), and support for a graduate student.