Goerzen, Chet2026-05-192026-05-192021https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23895Mud volcanoes are a relatively little known geological phenomenon. They are characterized by the extrusion of mud at the earth’s surface. Mud volcanoes represent a serious risk to human life and property, and may also play an important role in the natural greenhouse gas cycle. The Waimata Valley region of New Zealand has been known to have several episodes of mud volcanism. A dense array of short-period geophones was deployed in order to study the subsurface structure of this area. Mud volcano eruptions have occurred many times in the past before the array of geophones was deployed. There was also a mud volcano eruption that occurred several months after the geophone array was decommissioned. Ambient noise tomography was employed in order to study the subsurface structure of the mud volcano by creating a 3-D model of shear wave velocity within the area of mud volcanism. Low-velocity zones were observed in regions underlying the known surface expressions of mud volcanism. An area of mud volcanism that had been dormant since 1930 was observed to correspond to a low-velocity region, suggesting that the source of the mud volcano persists long after an eruption. A low-velocity zone was also observed in the area that later hosted a mud volcano eruption. This suggests that areas of potential mud volcanism may be identified by low-velocity zones revealed by ambient noise tomography. Supervisors: Honn Kao and Lucinda Leonardenseismologyambient noise tomographymud volcanoimagingNew ZealandHonours thesisSchool of Earth and Ocean Sciences