Pg shingles: preliminary results from the onshore GLIMPCE refraction experiment

Abstract

In 1986, a series of near vertical Seismic reflection lines and coincident Seismic refraction lines were recorded across the Great Lakes in the GLIMPCE experiment. From a refraction point of view this experiment was unique as this was the first time in North America that long range refraction lines up to 350 km were recorded with a trace spacing of less than 100 metres. The source of energy was a large air gun. Some preliminary results of the nature of the onshore recordings made by the University of Western Ontario are presented in this paper.Observations of many of the in-line profiles show that the character of the Pg crustal phase is not simple but has a “shingle-like” pattern which may be caused by wide-angle reflection effects from numerous long and short reflectors within the crust. Theoretical studies indicate that the amplitudes of the wide-angle reflected signals from thin high-velocity layers are in general much larger than those from thin low-velocity layers. Supercritical reflected waves are not possible from the top of a low-velocity layer. The closely spaced traces show in minute detail the manner in which one travel-time branch fades and the next one arrives. The results seem to indicate that the Pg phase in our data set has little direct wave component but, instead, is made up of a whole series of “shingled or fish-scaled” wide-angle reflection components, each with successively larger apparent velocities. These results are in agreement with the findings of the near-vertical reflection component of the experiment.