PhD defence: Mohammad Youssof

Mohammad Youssof defends his thesis, "Seismic Imaging of Southern African Cratons - based on teleseismic receiver function and finite-frequency tomography"

Supervisors:
Professor Hans Thybo, IGN
Associate professor, dr.scient. Irina Artemieva, IGN

Assessment committee:
Professor Lev Vinnik, Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russia
Professor Wolfgang Rabbel, Institut für Geowissenschaften, Kiel
Associate Professor Lars Nielsen (chairman), IGN

Abstract:
Cratonic regions are the oldest stable parts of continents that hold most of Earth’s mineral resources. There are several open questions regarding their formation and evolution. In this PhD study, passive source seismic methods have been used to investigate the crustal and lithosphere structures of the southern African regions. Some of the main research problems that have been dealt with during this research are about (1) the heterogeneity scale of crustal structure and composition, (2) the depth extent of the cratonic keels and their layering, and (3) the strength of crustal anisotropy.
The core of this research was based on Ps- and Sp- receiver functions analysis to determine crustal thickness while finite-frequency traveltime tomography is utilized to model 3D heterogeneity in the upper mantle. Combining the two methods provides high vertical and lateral resolution.

The thesis is available at the PhD administration office 04.1.409