About the ENAM Community Seismic Experiment

The goal of the Eastern North American Margin Community Seismic Experiment is to understand the breakup of ancient continents that led to the formation of the eastern edge of North America and the Atlantic Ocean and the later evolution of this continental margin by landslides and other active processes. A record of these geological events is stored in the rocks offshore North Carolina. In 2014 we collected active and passive, onshore and offshore seismic data to image geological structures at a range of scales to learn about the evolution of continental margins and their geohazards. This summer we will collect the last component (onshore active-source seismic data). This blog will tell the tale of the fieldwork of this last effort.

 

The ENAM Seismic Experiment components

ENAM is an academic project funded by the NSF-GeoPRISMS program. The U.S. science community has selected the margins off North Carolina and Virginia as an ideal place to gather this data set. The selection of this region and the design of the seismic study were guided by input from the US scientific community through workshops and online forums. A large group of scientists are spear-heading the effort to collect and disseminate these data. The data are open to public immediately and will be useful for studying a large range of fundamental geological processes. The project also involves a large training and outreach component; we are bringing students and young scientists to the field and are holding short training courses and workshops after fieldwork.