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Ayodeji Ali

Ayodeji Ali

M.S. Degree Candidate
University of the Witwatersrand

I am currently registered in the first year of my MSc program by research and I hold Honours degrees in Physics (2001) and Geophysics(2005). My research aims at interpreting the source mechanisms of mining-induced tremors from seismograms recorded at ten to 1000 km from the source.

A moment tensor inversion of the recorded seismograms will be done to obtain the focal mechanism/fault plane solution. Also, the radiation pattern of the seismic energy will be examined and analysed considering the geometrical spreading and attenuation factors in the South African crust using a specified Kaapval craton crustal model. The lithospheric structure of South Africa will be investigated and the results used to improve the estimation of the mine tremor source mechanism.

Phase ratios will be derived for South Africa from our seismograms using (possibly) the Magnitude and Distance Amplitude Correction method (MDAC), which will help in discriminating source mechanisms.

He is part of the project: "Developing and exploiting a unique data set from South African gold mines for source characterisation and wave propogation."