Deployment of a High-Sample-Rate Seafloor Geodetic System Across the Discovery Transform Fault |
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Matt Gould and Warren Witzell deploy seafloor geodesy system into Buzzard's Bay for a test. (Jeff McGuire)
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Deployment of a High-Sample-Rate Seafloor Geodetic System Across the Discovery Transform Fault
Jeff McGuire, Geology & Geophysics
Warren Witzell, Jr.,Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Matt Gould, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
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| Jeff McGuire, Geology & Geophysics
Warren Witzell, Jr.,Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
Matt Gould,, Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering
DOEI Project Funded: 2003
Proposed Research
In continental regions, deformation of the earth is routinely studied
using geodetic techniques, such as Global Positioning Satellites,
which detect motion of benchmarks installed in the earth's crust.
Unlike seismometers, such systems do not require earthquakes to
detect fault motion but can measure displacements that occur smoothly
over long periods of time. However, this technology has not been
easily exported to study crustal movements in the deep ocean environment.
Developing high-precision geodetic measurement techniques for the
seafloor is extremely important because more than half of the motion
across oceanic plate boundaries occurs as smooth aseismic slip.
We are completing the development of an acoustic extensometer system
that is capable of measuring displacements as small as 3 mm on the
ocean floor. We will take advantage of two funded cruises to deploy
it across the Discovery Transform Fault in the equatorial Pacific
to investigate how slip occurs along this fault. If successful,
this deployment will hopefully nucleate a significant new research
program at WHOI that will address scientific questions in a variety
of plate boundary environments.
Originally published: January 1, 2003
Last updated: January 21, 2010 | 
