EARTH PHYSICS Research School of Earth Sciences RSES

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 – ak 135 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