The Central Mongolia Seismic Experiment: Multiple Applications of Temporary Broadband Seismic Arrays

As part of multidisciplinary research on intracontinental deformation and surface uplift, we deployed a temporary broadband seismic array in central Mongolia covering an similar to 900 x 600 km area extending from Lake Khovsgol in the north to the Altai Mountains in the south. A total of 112 broadband stations were deployed as three separate subarrays in two separate mobilizations. Each subarray recorded local, regional, and teleseismic earthquakes for a 21-month period. Although the primary purpose of the array is to characterize the lithosphere and sublithospheric mantle, the array recorded a number of events of potential interest to the broader geoscience community including the Chelyabinsk meteor explosion, North Korean nuclear tests, the deep M-w 8.3 Sea of Okhotsk earthquake, and large megathrust events offshore Chile and in Nepal. The array includes the first dense deployment of seismometers across the Hangay dome, a region previously believed to be relatively aseismic serving as a rigid block focusing strain to the west and south along the Mongolian and Gobi-Altai. Initial results from local earthquakes recorded by the array suggest that the Hangay is deforming rather than behaving as a rigid block and that the earthquake potential of faults within the Hangay should be incorporated in hazard analysis for Mongolia.