What are we doing out here?

Much of my blogging has followed the day-to-day realities of deploying seismometers and enjoying the beautiful scenery despite the difficult work, but it is also important to understand the why of what we're doing. The array is designed to help us address two very important questions:
1) What is the distribution of Eastern California Shear Zone strain below the seismogenic layer in the Mojave lithosphere?
2) How was the Mojave lithosphere modified in response to Laramide flat-slab subduction?

These questions were posed by the PIs, Whitney Behr and Thorsten Becker from the University of Texas at Austin and Vera Schulte-Pelkum from the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the original SCEC proposal. As a passive source seismologist working as a postdoctoral researcher with Prof. Becker, I've been interested in these questions for a while, and am excited by how straightforward these questions should be to address once the data is collected. Various seismological analyses will be available, including locating earthquakes, estimating shear wave anisotropy, isolating converted waves, and full-waveform imaging at the crustal scale. Results from these types of analyses will inform the first question, particularly in regards to whether the deformation in the lower crust is a set of mostly vertical faults or a more diffuse ductile deformational zone. These results can then feed into process-based geodynamic models where we can assess the effects of temperature or compositional anomalies on the lower crust as various geologic processes affect the region.

And now for field photos:

UT Geology undergrad, Jackie Rambo with her head in the hole orienting and leveling the sensor

Station MOJC once everything was installed. You can see the GPS antenna stick out as a black bauble on the top, a pair of solar panels shading on the box, and burlap cloth skirting the electronics box to help it blend in a little.

Rob with the Hook 'em Horns at station MOJC.

Installed and happily recording station MOJC.

My office and my desk during fieldwork. 

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