Crustal Architecture and Images

Updated: Oct 13, 2010

IGCP Project 559 - News and Information

• Completed Activities
• Reports
• Upcoming and Proposed Activities
• Future Activities

Completed Activities

Reports

2008

• Deep Seismic Profiling of the Continents and their Margins - 2008 Symposium - Saariselka, Finland (8-13 July)
• IGCP559 Meeting Report: Seismix2008 Symposium, Saariselkä, Finland [PDF 1MB]
• Large-scale seismic transects: images of the Earth's crust and mantle
• Scientific Evaluation of the project 'Crustal Architecture and Iimages - Structural controls on landscapes, resources and hazards' as reviewed by IGCP [PDF 52KB]
• The original proposal detailing the new project 'Crustal Architecture and Iimages - Structural controls on landscapes, resources and hazards', as submitted to IGCP [PDF 2.8MB]

Upcoming and Proposed Activities

Future Activities

IGCP559 has two main aims; one to facilitate the bringing together of earth imaging scientists from around the world at sponsored conferences, the second to provide links to earth imaging web sites as well as providing archive images and sources of information on crustal architecture from world-wide seismic imaging programs. IGCP559 has widespread relevance to decision making in the areas of natural resource development, urban and national infrastructure planning, university teaching, groundwater management and natural hazard assessment on all continents.

Through the sponsorship of key international symposia, IGCP559 will foster international cooperation and knowledge transfer.

Symposia Sponsorship Work Plan:

It is most important that seismologists from around the world are encouraged to share information on deep seismic profiling and imaging techniques and the geological interpretation of the images so produced. Knowledge communication is a key to the success of IGCP559. The integration of deep seismic profiling and imaging results with the wider geological community requires sponsorship of regional meetings with specific targets and often with a focus on a particular area of research. Such meetings will include the 2008 IGC meeting in Norway, the 2011 IUGG meeting in Australia and the 2012 IGC meeting in Australia.

IGCP559 will also target “greenfield” areas such as those in continental Asia, Africa and South America. Symposia will be identified and sponsored for years 2009 and 2011 that link with other geological meetings and groups. China would seem to be a standout area for such a meeting bearing in mind the enormous effort devoted to deep seismic profiling and imaging in that country.

Seismic imaging requires the encouragement of specialist technical meetings to develop techniques for processing and interpreting the large amounts of data commonly acquired during seismic projects in this modern era. North America and Europe are currently the focus of large seismic imaging programs. It is envisaged that IGCP559 will jointly sponsor 1-2 small specialist meetings in the period 2008-2012 in cooperation with IASPEI, ILP and other IGCP projects.

IGCP559’s project philosophy at these meetings is to provide seed funds and sponsorship to allow students and researchers to attend relevant meetings, conferences and symposia to improve the understanding of the influence of crustal architecture and tectonic processes on landscapes, surface geology and natural hazards. These meetings, conferences and symposia are mainly based around seismic imaging results, however IGCP559 also encourages participation of researchers with a range of geoscientific disciplines relevant to understanding the major geological processes in the outer 50-70 km of the Earth.

As IGCP559 is unsure of future conference, IGCP559 is unable to accurately determine which conferences it will sponsor; however IGCP559 will identify suitable conferences in and nearby developing regions and support these through sponsorship to provide opportunities for researchers to attend and learn.

IGCP559 funds will be used to sponsor sessions and fund students and researchers to attend these sessions.

IGCP559 in return, requires material for its web site so it can build its catalogue of crustal architecture images so researchers from around the world can research various architectures. In this way, the project aims to bridge the gap between scientific effort and the public interest and give a real insight into nature of the major geological processes in the outer 50-70 km of the Earth that directly affect our lives.

Web Site Work Plan:

Through IGCP559’s web site development phase, IGCP559 will link and archive images and sources of information on crustal architecture from world-wide seismic imaging programs. IGCP559 will continue to develop its web site that gives ready access to information on crustal architecture principally determined by seismic methods.

IGCP559 will develop and improve the IGCP474 web site content (IGCP474’s predecessor). That web site has increased continuously throughout its 5-year life by commissioning and seeking reviews and research material from specific target areas such as the Antarctic, Africa, South America, central/southern Asia, and northern Eurasia. IGCP559 Working Group members will actively seek target material and information and also links to other related and appropriate key web sites.

It is most important that the archive of seismic profiling and imaging projects be professionally maintained either as review information or a meta-data to source primary and secondary sources of information. Geoscience Australia (Australia’s national geological survey and based in Canberra) has agreed to host and manage the web site information for the 5-year life of the project. This is an in-kind contribution by Geoscience Australia of approximately Aus$10,000 per year.

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