Transcript EP05 - Research School of Earth Sciences

EARTH PHYSICS
Research School of
Earth Sciences
RSES - Earth Physics
Geodynamics
CADI
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
Seismology
ANSIR
Earth Physics - Scientific Themes
■ Lithosphere studies (Seismology & E/M)
■ Deep Earth Structure and processes
■ Geodynamic Modelling
■ Sea level change and response to ice loads
■ Geodetic studies of active processes
■ Computational Geophysics
■ Data Inference
■ Ocean Processes
■ Volcanic Processes
■ Atmospheric Physics
RSES- Earth Physics
 Seismology
• Studies of the Australian Continent
• Seismic Tomography
• Structure of the Deep Earth
• Antarctic Seismology
 Geodynamics
• Satellite geodesy
• Plate movements in PNG, Antarctica
• Sea Level, Ice and Climate
RSES- Earth Physics
 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics
• Ocean Processes
• Physics of Lava Flows
• Nature of subduction
• Mantle convection
 Computational Geophysics
• TERRAWULF Parallel Cluster
• Geophysical Inverse Problems
• Modelling of surface processes
Earth Physics
Students: 13 Ph.D. students
2 Honours students
Interactions with Other Areas:
 Geodynamics - strong links with EE on climate change
and sea-level issues
 CADI has broad interaction across the School
- EM, EC and EE on a variety of problems
e.g. Landscape evolution, Inverse methods
 Seismology links to EM:
- material properties and seismic wavespeeds
- interpretation of tomographic images re tectonic
evolution
Strands of Seismology
Research
 Lithosphere and Mantle Structure in
Australia and East Antarctica
- using multiple techniques
 Subduction zone and deep mantle
structure
 Improved techniques for data analysis
and structural recovery
Recent and Current Seismic Data
Acquisition
Broad-band experiments
Sources and stations
3-D Shear structure – ak135 reference
Structural Studies
Subduction Zone Imaging
Widiyantoro,
Kennett & van
der Hilst (1999)
EPSL
Separate P & S
inversions
Gorbatov &
Kennett (2003)
EPSL
3-D ray tracing
Nonlinear joint
inversion
Earth Sounding Initiative
 From 2003 Strategic Planning with additional
Central ANU support
 Level C/D post (continuing) in Observational
Seismology
 Level B/C post (5 years) in Crustal Scale
Seismology (passive + active)
 Aimed to improve links through ANSIR and
support National priorities
The reflection equipment in the ANSIR Major National
Research Facility was transferred to RSES in July 2002,
and as a result Prof B.L.N. Kennett became Director of
the MNRF.
Operations are supported by a Grant from Geoscience
Australia, with an Executive Officer taking main
responsibility for oversight of reflection surveys.
Innovations since the move include commercial hire of
ANSIR vibrators and multi-company experiments in WA.
Future of ANSIR
 The contractual arrangements for the ANSIR Major
National Research Facility expired at the end of June
2005.
 The Owners (GA & ANU) have agreed to maintain
capability for seismic imaging across the full range of
scales currently supported by ANSIR, as a contribution to
the National Research Priorities, for at least two more
years
 The continuing facility will broaden its scope to include
other geophysical sounding techniques e.g. e/m sounding
through a current LIEF bid
 To reflect the change the “ANSIR” brand has been
retained but the description is now altered to:
ANSIR – National Research Facility for Earth Sounding
ANSIR – Continental Coverage to 2005