Imaging Geofluids with Passive Seismic Arrays: From Magmatic, Hydrothermal, to Groundwater Systems
Geofluids at varying depths play fundamental roles in Earth’s dynamic processes, from driving volcanism and hydrothermal eruptions to sustaining groundwater resources. Imaging and monitoring these fluids provide critical insights into tectonic processes, geohazards, and resource management. In this presentation, I will highlight several projects conducted by our group using temporary passive seismic geophone arrays to investigate geofluid dynamics across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales. At larger scales, we deployed seismic arrays across the Denali Volcanic Gap and Yellowstone to image magmatic structures and better understand crustal magma storage and transport. At smaller scales, we examined Yellowstone’s hydrothermal systems, exploring how internal and external forcing mechanisms regulate the dynamics of eruptive features such as geysers and thumping hot springs. More recently, we have begun exploring how passive seismology can be applied in Utah, from mountain catchments to the Salt Lake Valley, to monitor groundwater systems and quantify their responses to seasonal hydrologic forcing, including snowmelt and evapotranspiration. Together, these studies demonstrate the versatility of passive seismic methods for imaging and monitoring geofluids across diverse geological environments and scales.
Bio: Fan-Chi Lin is a geophysicist specializing in seismic data analysis to better understand the Earth’s structure and processes. I earned my bachelor’s and M.S. degrees in physics from National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan (2000), and Drexel University (2005), respectively, followed by a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Colorado Boulder (2009). From 2011 to 2013, He was a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the Caltech Seismological Laboratory. Lin joined the University of Utah as a tenure-track faculty member in 2013. In recognition of my work, he received the prestigious Charles F. Richter Early-Career Award from the Seismological Society of America and an NSF CAREER Award in 2015.