GEODES Lava Beds National Monument Active Seismic Experiment 2022

The main purpose is to image the near surface resources, including lava tubes and regolith, at Lava Beds National Monument (LBNM), a lunar analog site, using active source seismology. A June 2022 field expedition collected data in this region. The field sites include (1) a Pleistocene pumice deposit at Caldwell Butte, analogous to lunar regolith and surface materials, (2) two normal fault scarps north of LBNM, analogous to lunar normal faults, and (3) Skull Cave, a well-studied 10–20m diameter, 175 m long lava tube, analogous to lunar lava tubes. The project builds upon previous field expertise from the NASA-funded TubeX project, and our data will be used to demonstrate both the capabilities and limits for seismic data in future planetary resource exploration missions.