Geophysically Constrained Dynamic Models of Volcanotectonics: Integrating 3-D Seismic Tomography, Gravity, and Particle Dynamics Simulations of Hawaiian Volcanoes

研究人员将利用夏威夷岛现有的地震和重力数据以及最先进的粒子动力学建模方法，研究夏威夷类型大洋玄武岩火山的变形。该项目将首先专注于通过将陆上和近海进行的主动地震实验的结果与美国地质调查局夏威夷火山天文台合作者汇编的被动(地震)数据相结合，来完善夏威夷的三维速度和密度模型的分辨率。由此产生的联合层析反演将对地下密度结构产生比目前可用的更好的约束，并为现有重力数据的反演提供开始模型，这项任务构成了该项目的第二部分。重力分析预计将提供有关夏威夷火山内部结构的信息，包括岩浆体的形状、深度和密度。这些结果将反过来提供给研究的第三部分，即开发复杂的离散元素模型(DEM)来研究火山的变形。这种粒子动力学方法允许包含传统连续介质模型所不能包含的异质性、不连续性和界面。该项目的更广泛影响包括通过门户网站迅速传播结果、这项研究进一步阐明夏威夷火山某些特征引发海啸的潜力、大学和政府研究人员之间的合作、结果可能对地球和火星上的火山产生的影响以及学生的参与。

Using existing seismic and gravity data from the island of Hawaii and a state-of-the-art particle dynamics modeling approach, researchers will study the deformation of Hawaiian-type oceanic basalt volcanoes. The project will first focus on refining the resolution of a three-dimensional velocity and density model for Hawaii by combining the results of active seismic experiments conducted onshore and offshore with passive (earthquake) data compiled by collaborators at the U.S. Geological Survey Hawaii Volcano Observatory. The resulting joint tomographic inversion will yield substantially better constraints on subsurface density structure than are presently available and provide the starting model for inversion of available gravity data, the task that constitutes the second part of the project. The gravity analysis is expected to produce information about the internal structure of the Hawaiian volcanoes, including the shape, depth, and density of magmatic bodies. These results will in turn feed into the third component of the research, which is the development of sophisticated discrete element models (DEM) for deformation of the volcanoes. Such particle dynamics approaches permit incorporation of heterogeneities, discontinuities, and interfaces that traditional continuum models do not. Broader impacts of this project include rapid dissemination of results via a web portal, the potential for this research to further elucidate the tsunamogenic potential of some features of the Hawaiian volcanoes, collaboration between university and government researchers, the possible implication of the results for volcanoes on Earth and Mars, and student involvement.