SEMINAR - Jill Pearse

Post-rifting deformation in Afar, Ethiopia, following the 2005 intrusion event

Jill Pearse
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
University of California, San Diego

April 15th, 2009

The 300-km wide Afar depression is located at the junction between the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and East African rifts. In September and October of 2005, a series of large earthquakes and a volcanic eruption signaled the intrusion of a dike along the Dabbahu magmatic segment (in the Red Sea arm) of the Afar rift. Results of elastic modeling constrained by InSAR (Wright et al 2006) data suggest that the 60-km long segment opened by up to 8 m, between depths of 2-9 km. Relaxation of stresses in the crust below the brittle-ductile transition following the intrusion event should create geodetically observable surface deformation, however this signal can be obscured by continuing active intrusions. Using 3-D finite element models, we predict the surface deformation following the 2005 Dabbahu event for a range of crustal and mantle rheologies. We compare our model results to InSAR data spanning the 3 years since the intrusion to quantify the post-rifting deformation and place constraints on the rheology below the brittle-ductile transition in Afar.

Pacific Section Imperial Barrel Winners

The SDSU team wins, for the second years in a row, the Pacific Section AAPG’s Imperial Barrel Award Program (IBA). Accolades include a prize of $1500 and a chance to compete in the IBA finals. Finals are June 5th and 6th in Denver Colorado against national and international competition.

Team members are: John Abeid, Leslie Clayton, Byrant Fulk, Christopher Kohel, and Peter Winther.

NEW SOFTWARE - Midland Valley 3DMove

The Department of Geological Sciences has been awarded seven licenses for the Midland Valley software 3DMove. 3DMove is the world’s leading 3D software tool for structural restoration, validation and analysis. 3dMove uses the principles of structural geology to help build models where little data exists, and to use the geological evolution of the model to define parameters for further analysis.

The unique advantage of 3DMove, when compared with other model building software, is that it takes into account geological time. Build valid models and analyse your ideas about how the structure developed through geological time with present day & past time steps providing both qualitative & quantitative analysis.The unique advantage of 3DMove, when compared with other model building software, is that it takes into account geological time. Build valid models and analyse your ideas about how the structure developed through geological time with present day & past time steps providing both qualitative & quantitative analysis.

One of the many ways this software will be used is teach students techniques to create more accurate models, reducing risk and improve productivity of gas and oil exploration/production.

3DMove brochure