Characterizing Subsurface Structure of Two Contrasting Sites in the Main Ethiopian Rift

• Main Author: Hansson, Ebba
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper 2019
• Subjects: Ethiopia; Main Ethiopian Rift; seismic refraction; subsurface structure; Geophysics; Geofysik
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-396851

The Main Ethiopian Rift is a part of the East African Rift, from where the African plate is being teared apart and separated from the Indian and the Arabian plate. Even though earthquakes in this area are relatively less frequent, the subsurface structure is a subject of big research interest, since information about the subsurface layers has considerable relevance when it comes to site amplication related to earthquakes. The aim of this project is to map and compare the subsurface structures of two sites located in the Ethiopian Rift, using seismic refraction technique. By looking at the first arrivals of artificial seismic waves on a designated site, the velocities as well as the thicknessof the subsurface layers can be obtained. The result showed that the both sites contained a low velocity structure which contained weathered material.