Descr: Weston Geophysical (WG), Southern Methodist University (SMU), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and the University of Arizona (UA) have formed a consortium that will attempt to decrease the ambiguity between mining and nuclear explosions through quantification of the differences between contained chemical and delay-fired mining production explosions in different lithologic and tectonic regimes. We propose to design and execute source phenomenology experiments in the Black Mesa coal mining district and at the Morenci copper mining district in northern and southern Arizona, respectively. Local and nearregional data will be acquired from a series of in-mine explosions, each designed to address specific technical issues, including examining the differences of collocated surface production and single-fired contained explosions, the effects of depth of burial, variations in coupling, and near-source structure on energy partitioning (e.g. Rg to S scattering) at local and near-regional distances. The equivalence experiment was first suggested by LLNL and LANL to address important unanswered questions regarding the seismic signatures generated by production surface mining explosions and underground nuclear tests.
