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Difference Between Shallow And Deep Complexity

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Abstract In order to understand fault structure, there is a need to first understand fault complexity. Images of faults at depth and near surface reveal complexities that characterize properties such as geometry, composition and stress states of that fault’s structure. While this is true for both passive and induced imaging, a true passive source image is without the changes in fault structure due to any induced mechanism. This is something to consider when discussing fault complexity at near surface versus depth, as it is already difficult to distinguish the direction of complexity within a fault already. Current seismic research has been unable to understand if fault complexity is derived from a point at depth, or expands from surface complexity into depth. It is critical to understand the relationship between shallow and deep complexity in order to predict where that origin may have been and what caused its expansion. Passive source imaging has been able to help describe the factors that attribute to this complexity by providing a way to visually see subsurface data, but has not yet fully answered the complexity question.

Introduction

Fault structure is the aftermath of a slipping event in the lithosphere that produces high velocity compression waves that can be imaged as they travel through and across the surface of the lithosphere. These waves affect and change, or in other words add complexity to the structure of the lithosphere within the fault zone. This

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