Resolving the fine-scale deformation structure of continental hyperextension at the deep Galicia rift margin using seismic full waveform inversion.

Hyperextension of the continental crust during ultra-slow, magma-poor rifting is accommodated by a series of complex fault geometries, preceding continental breakup. At such margins there exists a discrepancy between the extension observed along these fault systems and the total observed thinning of the continental lithosphere, with several competing hypotheses on the responsible mechanism. Despite this, it is agreed that a significant amount of the observed discrepancy is the result of unaccounted sub-seismic fault structure. In order to seismically image these fine scale structures it is imperative to develop accurate and well resolved velocity models of the subsurface, for the purpose of migrating reflection seismic images. Velocity models with the required resolution are unattainable using classic travel time tomography. However, seismic full waveform inversion could provide a suitable alternative to produce the required velocity models, with the method having the ability to resolve velocity structure up to an order of magnitude greater than that of travel time tomography. In this study we apply acoustic full waveform inversion to a 2D wide-angle seismic data set, collected at the hyperextended domain of the deep Galicia rift margin. Despite the challenging environment and dataset, our results show promising increases in the resolution of existing velocity models, particularly in correlation to the normal faulting associated with highly deformed continental fault blocks in the distal hyperextended domain.