Rayleigh wave dispersion in the Pacific Ocean for the period range 20 to 140 seconds

1962 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kuo ◽  
James Brune ◽  
Maurice Major

ABSTRACT Rayleigh wave data obtained from Columbia long-period seismographs installed during the International Geophysical Year (I.G.Y.) at Honolulu, Hawaii; Suva, Fiji; and Mt. Tsukuba, Japan, are analyzed to determine group and phase velocities in the Pacific for the period range 20 to 140 seconds. Group velocities are determined by usual techniques (Ewing and Press, 1952, p. 377). Phase velocities are determined by assuming the initial phase to be independent of period and choosing the initial phase so that the phase velocity curve agrees in the long period range with the phase velocity curve of the mantle Rayleigh wave given by Brune (1961). Correlations of wave trains between the stations Honolulu and Mt. Tsukuba are used to obtain phase velocity values independent of initial phase. The group velocity rises from 3.5 km/sec at a period of about 20 see to a maximum of 4.0 km/sec at a period of about 40 sec and then decreases to 3.65 km/sec at a period of about 140 sec. Phase velocity is nearly constant in the period range 30–75 sec with a value slightly greater than 4.0 km/sec. Most of the phase velocity curves indicate a maximum and a minimum at periods of approximately 30 and 50 sec respectively. At longer periods the phase velocities increase to 4.18 km/sec at a period of 120 sec. Except across the Melanesian-New Zealand region, dispersion curves for paths of Rayleigh waves throughout the Pacific basin proper are rather uniform and agree fairly well with theoretical dispersion curves for models with a normal oceanic crust and a low velocity channel. Both phase and group velocities are comparatively lower for the paths of Rayleigh waves across the Melanesian-New Zealand region, suggesting a thicker crustal layer and/or lower crustal velocities in this region.

1963 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 741-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Nafi Toksöz ◽  
Ari Ben-Menahem

Abstract Phase velocities of Love waves from five major earthquakes are measured over six great circle paths in the period range of 50 to 400 seconds. For two of the great circle paths the phase velocities of Rayleigh waves are also obtained. The digitized seismograph traces are Fourier analyzed, and the phase spectra are used in determining the phase velocities. Where the great circle paths are close, the phase velocities over these paths are found to be in very good agreement with each other indicating that the measured velocities are accurate and reliable. Phase velocities of Love waves over paths that lie far from each other are different, and this difference is consistent and much greater than the experimental error. From this it is concluded that there are lateral variations in the structure of the earth's mantle. One interpretation of this variation is that the mantle under the continents is different from that under the oceans, since the path with the highest phase velocities is almost completely oceanic. This interpretation, however, is not unique and variations under the oceans and continents are also possible. Group velocities are computed from the phase velocities and are also directly measured from the seismograms. The group-velocity curve of Love waves has a plateau between periods of 100 and 300 seconds with a shallow minimum at about 290 seconds. The sources of error in both Fourier analysis and direct time domain methods of phase velocity measurement are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilberto Saccorotti ◽  
Sonja Gaviano ◽  
Carlo Giunchi ◽  
Irene Fiori ◽  
Soumen Koley ◽  
...  

<p>The performances and sensitivity of gravitational wave (GW) detectors are significantly affected by the seismic environment. In particular, the seismic displacements and density fluctuations of the ground due to seismic-wave propagation introduce noise in the detector output signal; this noise is referred to as gravity-gradient noise, or Newtonian Noise (NN). The development of effective strategies for mitigating the effects of NN requires, therefore, a thorough assessment of seismic wavefields and medium properties at and around the GW detector. In this work, we investigate wave propagation and the subsurface velocity structure at the Virgo GW detector (Italy), using data from a temporary, 50-element array of vertical seismometers. In particular, we analyze the recordings from the catastrophic Mw=6.2 earthquake which struck Central Italy on August 24, 2016, and six of the following aftershocks.  The general kinematic properties of the earthquake wavefields are retrieved from the application of a broad-band, frequency-domain beam-forming technique. This method allows measuring the propagation direction and horizontal slowness of the incoming signal; it is applied to short time windows sliding along the array seismograms, using different subarrays whose aperture was selected in order to match different frequency bands. For the Rayleigh-wave arrivals, velocities range between 0.5 km/s and 5 km/s, suggesting the interference of different wave types and/or multiple propagation modes. For those same time intervals, the propagation directions are scattered throughout a wide angular range, indicating marked propagation effects associated with geological and topographical complexities. These results suggest that deterministic methods are not appropriate for estimating Rayleigh waves phase velocities. By assuming that the gradient of the displacement is constant throughout the array, we then attempt the estimation of ground rotations around an axis parallel to the surface (tilt), which is in turn linearly related to the phase velocity of Rayleigh waves. We calculate the ground tilt over subsequent, narrow frequency bands. Individual frequency intervals are investigated using sub-arrays with aperture specifically tailored to the frequency (wavelength) under examination. From the scaled average of the velocity-to-rotation ratios, we obtain estimates of the Rayleigh-wave phase velocities, which finally allow computing a dispersion relationship. Due to their diffusive nature, earthquake coda waves are ideally suited for the application of Aki’s autocorrelation method (SPAC). We use SPAC and a non-linear fitting of correlation functions to derive the dispersion properties of Rayleigh wave for all the 1225 independent inter-station paths. The array-averaged SPAC dispersion is consistent with that inferred from ground rotations, and with previous estimates from seismic noise analysis.  Using both a semi-analytical and perturbational approaches, this averaged dispersion is inverted to obtain a shear wave velocity profile down to ~1000m depth. Finally, we also perform an inversion of the frequency-dependent travel times associated with individual station pairs to obtain 2-D, Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps spanning the 0.5-3Hz frequency interval. </p>


1963 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 539-548
Author(s):  
D. G. Harkrider ◽  
A. L. Hales ◽  
F. Press

Abstract The feasibility of an experiment to detect soft or molten zones in the mantle using Rayleigh wave phase velocities is examined. It is found that when the anomalous zone has large lateral extent the phase velocity curves are so affected as to make it easily detectable. A discussion of dispersion curves and displacement with depth is presented. A pseudo-flexural mode of oscillation is found to be possible for the layers above a molten zone.


1989 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 1177-1193
Author(s):  
Jacques Talandier ◽  
Emile A. Okal

Abstract We have developed a new magnitude scale, Mm, based on the measurement of mantle Rayleigh-wave energy in the 50 to 300 sec period range, and directly related to the seismic moment through Mm = log10M0 − 20. Measurements are taken on the first passage of Rayleigh waves, recorded on-scale on broadband instruments with adequate dynamical range. This allows estimation of the moment of an event within minutes of the arrival of the Rayleigh wave, and with a standard deviation of ±0.2 magnitude units. In turn, the knowledge of the seismic moment allows computation of an estimate of the high-seas amplitude of a range of expectable tsunami heights. The latter, combined with complementary data from T-wave duration and historical references, have been integrated into an automated procedure of tsunami warning by the Centre Polynésien de Prévention des Tsunamis (CPPT), in Papeete, Tahiti.


1982 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 1329-1349
Author(s):  
H. J. Patton

abstract Single-station measurements of Rayleigh-wave phase velocity are obtained for paths between the Nevada Test Site and the Livermore broadband regional stations. Nuclear underground explosions detonated in Yucca Valley were the sources of the Rayleigh waves. The source phase φs required by the single-station method is calculated for an explosion source by assuming a spherically symmetric point source with step-function time dependence. The phase velocities are used to analyze the Rayleigh waves of the Massachusetts Mountain earthquake of 5 August 1971. Measured values of source phase for this earthquake are consistent with the focal mechanism determined from P-wave first-motion data (Fischer et al., 1972). A moment-tensor inversion of the Rayleigh-wave spectra for a 3-km-deep source gives a horizontal, least-compressive stress axis oriented N63°W and a seismic moment of 5.5 × 1022 dyne-cm. The general agreement between the results of the P-wave study of Fischer et al. (1972) and this study supports the measurements of phase velocities and, in turn, the explosion source model used to calculate φs.


1954 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-479
Author(s):  
Maurice Ewing ◽  
Frank Press

Abstract Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952, are analyzed. The new Palisades long-period vertical seismograph recorded orders R6–R15, the corresponding paths involving up to seven complete passages around the earth. The dispersion data for periods below 400 sec. are in excellent agreement with earlier results and can be explained in terms of the known increase of shear velocity with depth in the mantle. Data for periods 400-480 sec. indicate a tendency for the group velocity curve to level off, suggesting that these long waves are influenced by a low or vanishing shear velocity in the core. Deduction of internal friction in the mantle from wave absorption gives a value 1/Q = 370 × 10−5 for periods 250-350 sec. This is a little over half the value reported earlier for periods 140-215 sec.


1973 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-281
Author(s):  
Harsh K. Gupta ◽  
Tetsuo Santô

abstract An attempt to apply the crossing path technique to the division of the globe into similar regions of mantle Rayleigh-wave group-velocity dispersion characteristics failed because of the paucity of existing data (for about 80 great-circle paths). As a first step to achieve this goal, mantle Rayleigh-wave group velocities have been obtained for 31 new great-circle paths in the 80- to 240-sec period range. The data have been divided into four groups on the basis of dispersion behavior and compared with Dziewonski's (1971) results. An interesting finding has been the very high group velocities for the 6-MUN path, higher than any reported so far.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document