Abstract Database

ESTIMATION OF CRUSTAL STRUCTURE IN NORTHERN EGYPT USING BROADBAND SEISMIC AMBIENT NOISE (5–50 s)

MEE22701
Hany Abuelnaga ADAM
Supervisor: Takumi HAYASHIDA
Country: Egypt
Abstractfulltext

This study presents a comprehensive group velocity map for the crustal structure estimation in Northern Egypt using ambient noise tomography (ANT) focusing on periods from 5 to 50 s. The study area is located in Northern Egypt and encompasses regions bounded by the Red Sea to the east and the Mediterranean Sea. We collected seismic ambient noise data from 24 broadband seismic stations from July 2021 to June 2022, with an interstation spacing ranging from 50 to 1000 km. Green’s Functions were derived from the cross-correlation of the recorded data, resulting in 276 station pairs for analysis. Accordingly, 100 to 250 reliable measurements were selected based on the signal-to-noise ratio and the standard deviation of seasonal dispersion curves. Utilizing the dense coverage of the ray paths enabled the generation of group velocity maps with 5 to 30 s periods, offering spatial resolutions between 50 and 400 km. The derived map revealed two distinct structural zones: a high-velocity zone in the eastern part and a low-seismic velocity zone in the western region. To further validate the results, one-dimensional shear wave velocity profiles were inverted from the observed group velocities. We found that the estimated Moho depths range from 40 km in the southwestern part to 35 km in the north and eastern parts. Our results show that ANT is a powerful and advantageous approach, particularly in nonactive seismic areas, effectively overcoming the challenges encountered in conventional receiver function analysis and seismic tomography.

 Keywords: Seismic Ambient Noise, Rayleigh Wave, Group Velocity, Northern Egypt.