My
research focuses mainly on the
study of continental lithosphere formation and evolution through active
source seismic investigation, both on land and marine. Investigating
the continental lithosphere poses an exceptional challenge because
unlike the
oceanic lithosphere, the continental lithosphere does not have a common
mode of
origin, as it is an assemblage of diverse compositional elements with
different thermal and tectonic histories.
During the past years my colleagues and I have been studying the
tectonic evolution of several continental areas, including the
Apennines (project CROP03), the Rocky Mountains (CD-ROM project) and
the SE Caribbean plate boundary (BOLIVAR project), through the analysis
of different data sets including reflection and refraction data both
acquired as part of the projects and provided by the industry. More
recently I begun working on the New Madrid Seismic Zone, an enigmatic
portion of the North American mid continent characterized by a
surprising seismic activity.
Depth
migrated
CD-ROM seismic reflection profile across the Jemez Lineament
(New Mexico, USA). The data image the buried suture resulting from the
collision between the Mazatzal island arc and the Yavapai
proto-continent (B and D structures). The double-vergent
Paleoproterozoic suture is overprinted by 1.4 Ga granites and mafic
sills (C reflectors). The age of these mafic intrusions is still
unknown but it could be either 1.1 Ga or associated with the Jemez
Lineament Cenozoic volcanic trend, suggesting that the Paleoproterozoic
suture still plays a role in localizing the deformation after 1.65 Gyr.
(after Magnani et al., 2004)
I
recently started applying the reflection and refraction methods to the
imaging of much shallower targets, (10 - 500m depth), mostly for
environmental (Ogden, Utah), hydrologic (Memphis, Tennessee) and
neotectonic purposes (Mississippi Embayment).
The short and sweet version is
here.
