Speaker: Dr. Weisen Shen, Dept. of Geosciences, SUNY Stony Brook

Title: Seismic architecture of the deep crust and its implications

Abstract: Thermal, chemical, and isostatic properties of continental lithosphere play critical roles in understanding the geological evolution and continental dynamics of the Earth. For polar regions like Greenland and Antarctica, these properties allow a better understanding on how their icesheets react to the changing climate. In contrast to this importance, our knowledge to these properties, especially for the deep crust, have been indirect and subject to high uncertainties. The seismic architecture of the deep crust (e.g., Moho topography, seismic velocities and their ratios) provides a unique window to constrain these properties. In this talk, I will present some recent progress in constraining and interpreting the seismic properties such as Moho and velocities of deep crust of the United States and Antarctica. I will also showcase a few additional implications on the continental dynamics and how they provide additional knowledge of quantifying polar ice-sheets’ response to the climate change.