Enhanced Seismic Backscattering for Lava Tube Detection

Abstract Lava tubes, a common volcanic feature on terrestrial planets, offer critical insights into lava flow processes and may serve as future potential habitats for space crews and other facilities on the Moon and Mars. Seismic detection of these features is challenging as the irregular morphology and rough cave ceilings and walls generate complex seismic wavefields dominated by strong scattering and reverberation rather than pure reflections. Here we present observations of enhanced backscattering in seismic data collected above terrestrial lava tubes. We show that the spatial and frequency characteristics of wavefield intensity can be related to the dimensions of the lava tubes. Our findings suggest that, when geological indicators such as collapse pits are present, this method would enable mapping lava tubes on Earth and, by proxy, on the Moon and Mars, and that the approach is readily adaptable for future planetary exploration.

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Publication Details

Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Published
2025-08-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2025gl116494
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Seismic Waves and Analysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.87
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article en
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Abstract

Abstract Lava tubes, a common volcanic feature on terrestrial planets, offer critical insights into lava flow processes and may serve as future potential habitats for space crews and other facilities on the Moon and Mars. Seismic detection of these features is challenging as the irregular morphology and rough cave ceilings and walls generate complex seismic wavefields dominated by strong scattering and reverberation rather than pure reflections. Here we present observations of enhanced backscattering in seismic data collected above terrestrial lava tubes. We show that the spatial and frequency characteristics of wavefield intensity can be related to the dimensions of the lava tubes. Our findings suggest that, when geological indicators such as collapse pits are present, this method would enable mapping lava tubes on Earth and, by proxy, on the Moon and Mars, and that the approach is readily adaptable for future planetary exploration.

Geophysical Research LettersVol. 52(16)
Marshall Space Flight Center (US), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Northern Arizona University (US), University of South Florida (US), Arizona State University (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 15%
Seismic Waves and Analysis
1.87
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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