Geophysics problem sheet 2012/2013

Dr. Gavin Bell

Problem types:
A fairly straightforward: these involve applying simple formulae, reviewing notes and
looking up information not given in lectures.
B at the level of typical past exam problems (exam questions are normally split into a
discussion section followed by a problem section, with nearly equal marks).
C typically more mathematical than would be required in the exam but worth doing to check
your understanding or broaden your knowledge.
Answers:
Will be posted on the web site a week or two after the problem is set; Physics Tutors also
have access to the answers.
1. (A) What is the approximate shape of the Earth? Show that the source of the Mississippi
is several km closer to the centre of the Earth than its mouth.
2. (A) Check that the formula given for angular separation of two points on a sphere with
given latitudes and longitudes simplifies correctly when |
P
= |
X
(this is the top
equation on the second page of formulae, cos A = ). What happens when
P
=
X
,
and in which case is the separation along a great circle or a small circle? What is the
angular distance between Coventry, UK (5224'N 130'W) and Coventry, Vermont
(7216'W 4452'N)? What is the approximate distance between them?
3. (A) (i) Using an appropriate equation for the volume of a thin spherical shell, confirm that
the total mass of the crust and the total mass of the oceans are both small compared to
M
E
. The mean ocean depth is 3.8 km. (ii) In The Core, Handsome Geophysics Guy
Whos Bound To Survive Because Hes Handsome explains to his rapt audience of
top military leaders that the core is a ball of iron the size of Mars spinning at 1000
miles per hour. What is the actual rotation speed at the core-mantle boundary? What
is the kinetic energy of the core compared to the energy of the 1000 megatons-worth
of explosives detonated by our brave heroes?
4. (A) What is the Mohorovii Discontinuity (Moho)?
5. (A) Without going into detail, what major events the mark the boundaries between Eras in
the fossil record? These are the Cambrian - Precambrian boundary (Proterozoic to
Paleozoic era), the Permian Triassic boundary (Paleozoic to Mesozoic) and the
Cretaceous Tertiary boundary (Mesozoic to Cenozoic).
6. (B) A meteorite is dated using the samarium-neodymium system, in which
147
Sm decays
to
143
Nd with a half-life of 106 billion years, while
144
Nd is non-radiogenic and stable.
Identify these isotopes with the those in the generic isochron equation given in the
notes and calculate the decay constant .
Two mineral samples from the meteorite give the following isotopic ratios:
Mineral 1 Mineral 2
| |
| | Nd
Nd
144
143
0.5141 0.5105
| |
| | Nd
Sm
144
147
0.24 0.12
Use the method of isochrons to show that the age of the meteorite is similar to the age
of the Earth. Why is this expected for a meteorite? Calculate the
| |
| | Nd
Nd
144
143
initial ratio.
7. (C) For what effect does the geopotential
2
sin
2 2 2
u e r
r
GM
U
E
+

= account when
calculating the gravitational potential of the Earth? What additional effect is
accounted for by the Reference Gravity Formula? Using spherical polar co-ordinates,
show that the acceleration vector at the Earths surface due to the above geopotential
is
|
|
.
|

\
|
0 , sin cos , sin
2
2
2 2
u u e u e
E
E
E
E
R
R
GM
R .
8. (A) Show that the required accuracy to measure absolute local gravitational acceleration
to 0.01 mgal is about 1 part in 10
8
. What effects might produce a time-dependent
gravity variation during a survey lasting several weeks?
9. (C) Using a simplified reference gravity formula with c = 0 show that, at a latitude of
around 60, an absolute accuracy of 0.01 mgal in acceleration also requires
knowledge of the north-south position of the measurement point to an accuracy of
about 14 m.
10. (B) Consider the schematic mountain range shown below (figure taken from The Solid
Earth, CMR Fowler). Left side uncompensated, right side fully Airy compensated.
Bouguer and free-air anomalies shown as dashed lines (the Bouguer anomaly g
B
has
all 3 corrections: free-air, Bouguer slab and terrain). Isostatic anomalies are shown
as solid lines. Remember: anomaly = corrected measured gravity expected gravity.
(a) Explain why the free-air anomaly g
F
is not zero at the centre of the mountain
range this is pretty obvious for the uncompensated case, by why is it also true
for the Airy compensated case (hint: inverse square law)?
(b) Why does the Bouguer anomaly always vary smoothly, while the free-air
anomaly is discontinuous at the edges of the mountain range?
(c) Using the mountain root depth and rock densities shown for the Airy
compensated case, show that the mountains are 3.2 km high.
(d) Show that
T B F B
g g g g o o + = .
(e) What evidence from the plots (both of them) shows that the terrain correction
can be ignored near the centre of the mountain range?
(f) Ignoring the terrain correction, read off the value of
B F
g g for the
uncompensated case, and hence show that the calculated Bouguer correction is
consistent with the mountain height of 3.2 km.
11. (A) Draw a schematic diagram showing isostatic equilibrium between two uniform
regions. The surface of the first region is depressed by a height h relative to that of the
second, and is covered by an ice sheet 1.1 km thick. The other region is free of ice.
Assume Airy-type compensation, that the lithosphere thickness is constant and that the
boundary between the regions is abrupt. Using the density of ice,
i
= 0.92103 kg m
-
3
, and of the upper asthenosphere,
a
= 3.8103 kg m
-3
, show that h = 266 m.
12. (C) The Fennoscandian uplift is a process in which most of Norway, Finland and
Sweden have been rising since the end of the last ice age, 110
5
years before present.
The area was covered by ice sheets 1.1 km thick for 210
5
years prior to this and the
melting of these sheets was very rapid on this timescale. Explain the uplift, referring to
isostasy and the mechanical properties of the lithosphere and asthenosphere.
The remaining uplift z is the amount of uplift yet to occur and hence decreases over
time. Data from geological observations in the Fennoscandian region are shown in the
graph overleaf together with a line of best fit
t
t
e z z

=
0
where t is the age and t is a
relaxation time given by

tq
t
g
a
4
=
. In this equation, g = 9.8 ms
-2
is the acceleration
due to gravity, = 550 km is the approximate width of the original ice sheet and q is
the viscosity of the upper mantle. Estimate t from the graph and show that q 2
10
20
poise.
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
200
300
400
r
e
m
a
i
n
i
n
g
u
p
l
i
f
t
z
(
m
)
age (1000 years)
13. (A) Review your understanding of the Adams-Williamson equation and self-compression
models for the Earths internal density structure.
(a) What are the inputs and outputs for the A-W equation?
(b) Why is our earlier result about gravity inside a spherical shell important?
(c) What are the most useful constraints on the resulting density profiles?
(C) (d) How can high pressure / temperature laboratory experiments and quantum
mechanical (density functional theory) calculations contribute to our understanding
of the Earths internal structure?
14. (A) (a) Which types of seismic wave can be detected by a vertical component
seismometer?
(b) Which types of seismic wave can propagate in an infinite (unbounded) solid
medium?
(c) Why are P-waves always faster than S-waves?
(d) What distinguishes earthquake magnitude from earthquake intensity?
(e) What is the principal difference between the surface wave magnitude M
S
and the
moment magnitude M
W
of an earthquake?
(C) (f) Assume the intrepid terranauts of The Core are using seismic P-waves to
communicate with the surface. Estimate the minimum time delay in talking with base
when they are at the core-mantle boundary. Would this delay increase the dramatic
tension of the final act of the movie, or would it cause further unintentional hilarity?
15. (B) Three seismometers (S1, S2 and S3) are located at the longitudes and latitudes shown
in the table below. They first measure P- and S-waves due to a nearby nuclear
explosion at the times indicated in the table. The explosion occurs on the surface.
S1 S2 S3
latitude 43N 40N 40N
longitude 100W 100W 104W
first P-wave 13h 22m 56.7s 13h 23m 4.7s 13h 22m 40.1s
first S-wave 13h 23m 25.8s 13h 23m 37.8s 13h 23m 0.7s
Assume that the local P-wave and S-wave velocities are o = 6.2 km s
-1
and | = 4.1 km
s
-1
respectively. Given that the regional density of crustal rocks is 2.9 10
3
kg m
-3
show that their shear and bulk moduli are 4.9 10
10
Pa and 4.6 10
10
Pa respectively.
Calculate the distance from the nuclear explosion site to each of the seismometers,
stating any other assumptions you make. Estimate the longitude and latitude of the
explosion given that it lies within the region 40 - 43 N and 100 - 104 W.
16. (A) The daily electrical consumption of the USA in 1985 was approximately 710
9
kilowatt hours. If this energy were released in a shallow earthquake, what would its
magnitude be?
17. (B) The surface wave magnitude for earthquakes with focal depth < 50 km is given by the
relation: 3 . 3 ) ( log 66 . 1 log
10
max
10
+ A + |
.
|

\
|
=
T
A
M
S
. The maximum amplitude A
max
(in
m) of seismic waves of period T (in seconds) is measured at an angular distance A
degrees from the earthquake epicentre (20 < A < 160). Explain how the term involving
A accounts for conservation of energy. An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 occurs with
epicentre 0N 135E (Indonesia) and focal depth 7 km. What is the maximum
displacement measured on seismometers positioned at 0N 22E (Africa) and 32S
135E (Australia), given that the period of the Rayleigh waves observed is 20 s?
18. (B) Using the notation for plate tectonic boundaries given in the notes, sketch the
following hypothetical system of oceanic boundaries between two plates. The rotation
pole, P, is coincident with the geographic north pole. A transform fault runs from 17E
to 22E along the line of latitude 80N. A constructive boundary runs exactly north
from the western end of this transform fault for an angular distance of 4. Another
constructive boundary runs exactly south from the eastern end of the transform fault
for an angular distance of 5. Given that the angular speed associated with P is 3.8
10
-6
degrees per year, calculate the total spreading rates at the northern and southern
extremes of the spreading ridge as well as the rate of relative motion along the
transform fault.
19. (A) Why must purely conservative plate boundaries lie parallel to the small circles about
the instantaneous rotation pole?
20. (C) The planet Bond has a radius of 510
3
km and comprises just two tectonic plates, the
northern Vodka plate and the southern Martini plate. Each plate is a complete
hemispherical surface, and the boundary between them forms Bonds equator. Four
points A, B, C and D lie equidistant around the equator, with the great circle joining A
and C defining the base meridian (0 at A, 90E at B, 90W at D and 180 at C). The
positive instantaneous rotation pole for the motion of the Vodka plate relative to the
Martini plate is at 45N 0E and has an angular velocity of 310
-9
rad a
-1
(radians per
Earth year).
(a) Sketch Bond, the plates and the positive and negative rotation poles.
(b) Calculate the relative velocity between the plates at the points A, B, C and D
using the vector product x v

= e , being careful to set up Cartesian co-
ordinates appropriately.
(c) Describe the nature of the Vodka-Martini plate boundary near the points A, B,
C and D.
21. (A) Magnetic measurements made on lavas found at 60N 90W implied an angle of
magnetic inclination of 37. How far northwards have these lavas moved since they
were first erupted?
22. (C) A simple model for the creation and subsequent cooling of lithospheric plate material
at the axis of a mid-ocean ridge explains the empirical finding that
t
t Q
473
) ( = , i.e.
that the mean heat flow Q (measured in mWm
-2
) is inversely proportional to the square
root of the age t of the oceanic lithosphere (measured in Ma). The data below give the
heat flow Q at several distances x from a mid-ocean ridge. What can you deduce about
the spreading rate of the ridge?
x (km) Q (10
-3
Wm
-2
)
100 334
200 237
300 193
400 167
500 150