| The work in this thesis covers a number of different fields in seismology. These can be divided into three parts. In the first, I discuss earthquakes that occur along the North American passive margin. In the second, I investigate the noise characteristics of Superior Rifting Earthscope Experiment (SPREE) seismic stations. In the third, I evaluate the predictions of pre-existing tomographic models, expand raypath coverage in eastern North America by fitting waveforms, and produce an updated tomographic model focusing on the structure of stable North American lithosphere.;First, I explore the rare, but moderate-to-large earthquakes that occur along the passive margin of North America, such as the August 2011 Mineral, Virginia earthquake. I discuss the tectonic setting, possible causes, and challenges of studying such earthquakes and propose directions for their future study. Examining the seismicity of the regions surrounding the 1929 Grand Banks and 1933 Baffin Bay earthquakes, I conclude that the aftershocks of these events continue today due to low strain rates along the margin. Second, I characterize the long-period noise characteristics of SPREE stations. At periods greater than 20 seconds, horizontal noise levels at SPREE stations vary seasonally and diurnally. I find that SPREE stations in sandy soil have the most consistent noise levels. Stations in fine-grained soil become extremely noisy during summer days, but very quiet when the surrounding soil freezes solid in winter.;Finally, I evaluate previous generations of tomographic models and develop my own. I calculate synthetic seismograms for three tomographic models and compare them to new observed seismograms from earthquakes in stable North America. I find that adding data to a tomographic model does not necessarily improve predictions of regional S and Rayleigh waveforms. With this in mind, I apply the method of partitioned waveform inversion to derive constraints on S-velocity structure. I add these constraints to those used in previous models and invert for a new velocity structure of North America. I find that vertical velocity structures tend to cluster by age and that a sub-Moho low velocity zone is widespread in Proterozoic lithosphere. |
