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Ocean bottom seismic measurements on the East Pacific Rise and Rivera Fracture Zone

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Abstract

WE describe preliminary results of a seismic experiment using ocean bottom seismometer capsules (OBS) in three separate tripartite arrays. The arrays were located on the central topographic high of the East Pacific Rise between the Rivera and Tamayo Fracture Zones (8 d in position), at the junction of the ridgecrest and the Rivera fracture zone (12 d), and on the Rivera fracture zone well away from the ridgecrest (9 d). Accurate locations and depths could be computed for events sufficiently close to each array, and showed that the main transform fault lay within the central trough. OBS capsules have been successfully used for refraction work1,2 (also B. Lewis and C. Lister, unpublished) and microseismicity studies3, but we report here the first use of arrays on a spreading centre–transform fault system for event locations. Other questions of importance to seismology can also be answered from these data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92037

    WILLIAM A. PROTHERO, IAN REID, MICHAEL S. REICHLE & JAMES N. BRUNE

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  1. WILLIAM A. PROTHERO
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  2. IAN REID
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  3. MICHAEL S. REICHLE
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  4. JAMES N. BRUNE
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PROTHERO, W., REID, I., REICHLE, M. et al. Ocean bottom seismic measurements on the East Pacific Rise and Rivera Fracture Zone. Nature 262, 121–124 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/262121a0

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