FOIA: Calibration of nuclear monitoring and development of regional velocity structure - Soviet Unio

SETS_FROM_FORMER_SOVIET_UNION.pdf
Calibration of nuclear monitoring and development of regional velocity structure - Soviet Union
DEPSCOR 95 calibration of nuclear monitoring and development of regional velocity structure using unique seismic data sets from nuclear tests in the former Soviet Union
Document date: 2001-02-02
Department: University of Wyoming
Author: Scott B. Smithson
Document type: report
pages: 69


Archivist's Notes: Fair quality document with form 298 cover page. Unclassified, unlimited public distribution.

This study done by the University of Wyoming contains geographic information of the former USSR for the study of seismic waves traversing through various geological strata. The data was collected while conducting Peaceful Nuclear Explosions (PNE) including a number of chemical explosions. The data obtained from these experiments must have been made public, but that is an assumption at this point.

The reason to study this is obviously to be able to detect a nuclear explosion by monitoring seismic data. Knowing the result of nuclear and chemical explosions give a profile of the tectonic layers in the Eurasia plate and would allow for the detection and ability to locate the origin of an explosion.

The report is separated into four chapters and is highly detailed and technical. There are several graphs of seismic data and maps of the locations of the explosions. There are also cross sections of the tectonic plates with varying densities. The last chapter describes the propagation and velocity of seismic waves. This information would probably allow someone to be able predict the origin of an event if it were picked up by seismic sensors.

FOIA: Calibration of nuclear monitoring and development of regional velocity structure - Soviet Union.

Document by Scott B. Smithson of University of Wyoming 2001 – 69 pages for Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).

This document looks at the different structural regions around the Soviet Union: Baltic Shield, Urals, West Siberian Basin, Altay, Mezenskaya Depression etc. It analyses how peaceful nuclear explosions and chemical explosions (sourced from the soviet’s data collection) seismically registered in these areas, detailing the depth into the earth and the distances across.
As the title suggests, this information would then be used to calibrate nuclear monitoring and development.