The effect of tectonic stress release on explosion P-wave signatures

1976 ◽  
Vol 66 (5) ◽  
pp. 1441-1457
Author(s):  
Thomas C. Bache
Keyword(s):  
Computational Models ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Tectonic Stress ◽  
P Wave ◽  
General Question ◽  
Appreciable Effect ◽  
Stress Release ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Double Couple

abstract The influence of induced tectonic stress release on the short-period teleseismic P-wave signature of underground nuclear explosions is studied. Primary attention is directed to the first few cycles of the record from which body-wave magnitude (mb) is determined. Computational models for both the explosion and the superimposed tectonic release double couple are employed and theoretical seismograms are computed. Interest is mainly in the largest tectonic release component that seems reasonable using surface-wave observations and independent estimates of the controlling parameters as constraints. It is concluded that for most, perhaps all, events, tectonic release has no appreciable effect on the amplitude of the short-period P waves. Even the frequency content of the early arriving P wave is little affected by tectonic release for most likely circumstances. The computations assume tectonic release due to stress relaxation around the fracture zone created by the explosion. However, the results are extended to apply to the alternate mechanism whereby stress is released along a pre-existing fault plane. Since a number of other mechanisms can cause superposition of a double couple on the explosion, the analysis is relevant to the general question of the size these secondary sources must attain before the short-period P-wave recording is significantly altered.

A teleseismic body-wave analysis of the May 1980 Mammoth Lakes, California, earthquakes

1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-434
Author(s):  
Jeffery S. Barker ◽  
Charles A. Langston
Keyword(s):  
Body Wave ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Body Waves ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
Double Couple ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Mammoth Lakes

abstract Teleseismic P-wave first motions for the M ≧ 6 earthquakes near Mammoth Lakes, California, are inconsistent with the vertical strike-slip mechanisms determined from local and regional P-wave first motions. Combining these data sets allows three possible mechanisms: a north-striking, east-dipping strike-slip fault; a NE-striking oblique fault; and a NNW-striking normal fault. Inversion of long-period teleseismic P and SH waves for the events of 25 May 1980 (1633 UTC) and 27 May 1980 (1450 UTC) yields moment tensors with large non-double-couple components. The moment tensor for the first event may be decomposed into a major double couple with strike = 18°, dip = 61°, and rake = −15°, and a minor double couple with strike = 303°, dip = 43°, and rake = 224°. A similar decomposition for the last event yields strike = 25°, dip = 65°, rake = −6°, and strike = 312°, dip = 37°, and rake = 232°. Although the inversions were performed on only a few teleseismic body waves, the radiation patterns of the moment tensors are consistent with most of the P-wave first motion polarities at local, regional, and teleseismic distances. The stress axes inferred from the moment tensors are consistent with N65°E extension determined by geodetic measurements by Savage et al. (1981). Seismic moments computed from the moment tensors are 1.87 × 1025 dyne-cm for the 25 May 1980 (1633 UTC) event and 1.03 × 1025 dyne-cm for the 27 May 1980 (1450 UTC) event. The non-double-couple aspect of the moment tensors and the inability to obtain a convergent solution for the 25 May 1980 (1944 UTC) event may indicate that the assumptions of a point source and plane-layered structure implicit in the moment tensor inversion are not entirely valid for the Mammoth Lakes earthquakes.

scholarly journals The May 7 - 11, 2016 Earthquake Sequence at Rivera Fault Zone

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco J Nunez-Cornu ◽  
Diego Cordoba ◽  
William L Bandy ◽  
Juan José Dañobeitia ◽  
Carlos Mortera-Gutierrez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Velocity Model ◽  
Tectonic Stress ◽  
Seismic Network ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Earthquake Sequence ◽  
Ocean Bottom ◽  
Transform Fault ◽  
Stress Regime ◽  
Short Period

<p>The geodynamic complexity in the interaction between Rivera, Cocos and NOAM plates is mainly reflected in the high and not well located seismicity of the region. In the framework of TsuJal Project, a study of the passive seismic activity was carried out. A temporal seismic network with 25 Obsidian stations with sensor Le-3D MkIII were deploying from the northern part of Nayarit state to the south of Colima state, including the Marias Islands, in addition to the Jalisco telemetric Seismic Network, being a total of 50 seismic stations on land. Offshore, ten Ocean Bottom Seismographs type LCHEAPO 2000 with 4 channels (3 seismic short period and 1 pressure sensors) were deployed and recover by the BO El Puma from UNAM in an array from the Marias Islands to off coast of the border of Colima and Michoacan state, in the period from 19th April to 7th November 2016.</p><p>A seismic sequence started on May 7, 2016 with an earthquake Mw = 5.6 reported by CMT-Harvard, USGS and SSN at the area north of Paleo Rivera Transform fault and west of the Middle America Trench, an area with a very complex tectonics due to the interaction of Rivera, Cocos and NOAM plates.</p><p>An analysis of this earthquake sequence from May 7 to May 11 using data from OBS and adequate P-Wave velocity model for Rivera plate is presented, 87 earthquakes were located. Data from onland stations were integrated after a travel-time residual analysis.</p><p>We observed that the new location is about 50 km southwest direction, from previous one, between the Paleo Rivera Transform fault and the northern tip of the East Pacific Rise – Pacific Cocos Segment.  This area has a different tectonic stress regime.</p>

Identification of multiple underground explosions using the relative amplitude method

1988 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 885-897
Author(s):  
R. A. Clark ◽  
R. G. Pearce
Keyword(s):  
Body Wave ◽  
The Body ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Relative Amplitude ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Source Discrimination ◽  
Nuclear Explosions ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Wave Forms

Abstract The relative amplitude method is applied to the few available good quality teleseismic P-wave seismograms from five presumed double nuclear explosions and one known multiple chemical explosion, under the “naive” assumption that the observed multiple arrivals correspond to P, pP, and sP from a single earthquake—an interpretation which is indeed consistent with the body-wave arrival time data in most cases. The purpose is to investigate the ability of relative amplitudes to identify correctly such multiple events for which established discrimination criteria may give earthquake-like or ambiguous results. For five of the examples, observed relative amplitudes from only four azimuthally well-distributed array seismograms are sufficient to exclude the single-earthquake interpretation. Deliberate attempts to simulate earthquake teleseismic P wave-forms using multiple explosions are restricted to simulation studies, and one of these is analyzed here using the same approach. We conclude that relative amplitudes can act as a valuable aid to source discrimination in cases where complexity gives rise to fallibility of conventional discriminants, even where only a small number of well-distributed teleseismic short-period array seismograms are available, their signal-to-noise ratios being maximized by suitable array design and careful choice of array site. The network need not be dense, since closely spaced observations of the focal sphere generally embody a large measure of redundancy.

The identification and interpretation of upper mantle travel-time branches from measurements of dT/dΔ made on data recorded at the Yellowknife seismic array

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Ram ◽  
R. F. Mereu ◽  
D. H. Weichert
Keyword(s):  
Travel Time ◽  
Upper Mantle ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
The Body ◽  
Seismic Array ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Time Curve ◽  
Transition Zones ◽  
Short Period

There is broad agreement among various seismological studies that the upper mantle has two regions where very high positive velocity gradients or transition zones exist. In most cases, the presence of these zones implies that two major triplications are likely to exist in the body-wave travel-time curve for distances less than 30°. Because of the difficulties in observing and identifying later arrivals belonging to the various travel-time branches, the inversion of the seismic data is often very difficult. In this paper an adaptive processing technique was employed to examine the variations in slowness that occur along the first 36 s of the short-period P-wave trains recorded at the Yellowknife medium aperture seismic array. Over 100 earthquakes from the Alaska Peninsula and California regions were selected. From the California results we were able to clearly observe the 12–13 s/deg slowness branch as a later arrival out to distances as great as 26°. Other later arrival branches as well as cusps associated with the 400 and 650 km discontinuities were not well defined even though the cross-over point as determined from slowness measurements on first arrivals were clearly located. An inversion of the data showed that the '650 km' transition zone occurred at a much shallower depth west of the array compared to the corresponding region to the south.

scholarly journals t* for S waves with a continental ray path

1978 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 1013-1030
Author(s):  
L. J. Burdick
Keyword(s):  
Body Wave ◽  
Body Waves ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Lateral Asymmetry ◽  
Deep Earthquake ◽  
Data Set ◽  
S Waves ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Wave Forms ◽  
Ray Path

abstract The purpose of this study was to determine t* for S waves with ray paths under the continental United States. The data set consists of long- and short-period body waves from the Borrego Mountain earthquake as observed in the northeastern U.S. The P wave forms are dominated by the sP phase and the SH wave forms by the sS. It is assumed that there are no losses in pure compression so that the relative attenuation rate of P and S waves is known. The initial source radiation is determined from the sP phase and the value of tβ* from the spectral content of the S wave. The results indicate that tβ* is 5.2 ± 0.7 sec along this ray path. Long- and short-period body waves from some deep South American events are used to test for lateral asymmetry of the Q distribution under the U.S. No lateral amplitude variation exists in this data, but this result is difficult to correlate with many previous results. The t°* value for a 600-km deep earthquake appears to be about 3 sec. A comparison of these values with values computed from current models of the Earth's Q distribution indicates that the models are slightly too high in Q overall and that more of the total body-wave attenuation occurs above 600 km than is indicated by the models.

Joint focal mechanism determination with source-region station corrections using short-period body-wave amplitude data

1999 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayako Nakamura ◽  
Shigeki Horiuchi ◽  
Akira Hasegawa
Keyword(s):  
Focal Mechanism ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Site Amplification ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Focal Mechanism Solutions ◽  
Station Corrections ◽  
Seismic Waveform ◽  
Amplitude Data ◽  
Short Period

Abstract We have developed a method that simultaneously determines focal mechanism solutions of many small earthquakes and source-region station corrections for short-period body-wave amplitudes by inverting amplitude data of P, SH, and SV waves, together with P-wave polarity data. The observed seismic waveform includes the effects of site amplification and attenuation along its ray path in addition to the radiation pattern of earthquake source. The amplitude of seismograms at frequencies higher than a few Hertz is extremely sensitive to heterogeneous structure near the ground surface. Consequently, we need to know in detail the effects of site amplification and attenuation in order to estimate focal mechanisms by using short-period waveforms. However, at present, we do not know the detailed crustal structure with a resolution necessary for this estimation. In the present study, we assume that P- and S-wave attenuation factors along ray paths from hypocenters to each station can be expressed as a function of hypocentral distance, backazimuth, and incident angle. Based on this assumption, we determined focal mechanism solutions of many earthquakes and the coefficients in the function for each station simultaneously, by using P-, SH-, and SV-wave amplitudes and P-wave polarities. We applied the present method to 170 aftershocks of the 1996 Onikobe earthquake (M 5.9), which occurred in the central part of northeastern Japan. We obtained focal mechanism solutions of many microearthquakes whose mechanism solutions could not be determined by using P-wave polarity data alone. P axes of almost all the obtained focal mechanism solutions are horizontal and oriented in the east-west direction. T axes are, on average, near vertical at the shallowest depth. As the depth approaches 5 km, the T axes become horizontal and then gradually become near vertical again.

The effect of the earthquake radiation pattern on mb—A study using aftershocks in the 1976 Gazli sequence

1998 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 523-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bowers ◽  
Alan Douglas
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Pattern ◽  
Analysis Of Variance ◽  
Wave Amplitude ◽  
Focal Mechanisms ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Radiation Coefficient ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Double Couple ◽  
Earthquake Mechanism ◽  
Scalar Moment

Abstract We use published focal mechanisms to estimate radiation coefficients to four short-period arrays recording teleseismic P from 38 aftershocks in the 1976 Gazli, Uzbekistan, earthquake sequence. We divide the observed P-wave amplitude by its radiation coefficient to estimate the P-wave amplitude that would be observed if it was from the maximum of the double-couple radiation pattern. We use this new P-wave amplitude to calculate a P-wave magnitude, mCb, that is independent of the P-radiation pattern if the focal mechanisms are without error. Analysis of variance shows that the random error in mCb is reduced relative to that in the original P-wave magnitudes mCb and that this reduction is statistically significant at the 11% level. Further, analysis of variance demonstrates that the radiation coefficients calculated from the focal mechanisms contain error but that this error is probably not large enough to mask the detection of the radiation effect in mOb. Published averages of the logarithm of P-radiation coefficients allow an assessment of the differences in network-averaged mb due to the radiation pattern of point earthquake and explosion sources. Network-averaged mb from a vertical strike-slip earthquake can differ from an explosion of similar scalar moment by as much as 1.0 m.u. (magnitude units). However, this difference can be as little as 0.2 m.u. if the earthquake mechanism is 30° dip slip. We argue that, if mb is required to be independent of the earthquake mechanism, the most appropriate network average is mCb − 0.48.

Interferometric body-wave retrieval from ambient noise after polarization filtering: application to shallow reflectivity imaging

Geophysics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-58
Author(s):  
Deepankar Dangwal ◽  
Michael Behm
Keyword(s):  
Wave Energy ◽  
Ambient Noise ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
Body Waves ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Receiver Array ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Wave Imaging ◽  
Polarization Filtering ◽  
The Impact

Interferometric retrieval of body waves from ambient noise recorded at surface stations is usually challenged by the dominance of surface-wave energy, in particular in settings dominated by anthropogenic activities (e.g., natural resource exploitation, traffic, infrastructure construction). As a consequence, ambient noise imaging of shallow structures such as sedimentary layers remains a difficult task for sparse and irregularly distributed receiver networks. We demonstrate how polarization filtering can be used to automatically extract steeply inclined P-waves from continuous three-component recordings and in turn improves passive body-wave imaging. Being a single-station approach, the technique does not rely on a dense receiver array and is therefore well suited for data collected during surveillance monitoring for tasks such as reservoir hydraulic stimulation, CO_2 sequestration, and wastewater disposal injection. We apply the method on a continuous dataset acquired in the Wellington oilfield (Kansas, US), where local and regional seismicity, and other forms of ambient noise provide an abundant source of both surface- and body-wave energy recorded at 15 short-period receivers. We use autocorrelation to derive the shallow (lt; 1 km) reflectivity structure below the receiver array and validate our workflow and results with well logs and active seismic data. Raytracing analysis and waveform modeling indicates that converted shear waves need to be taken into account for realistic ambient noise body-wave source distributions, as they can be projected on the vertical component and might lead to misinterpretation of the P-wave reflectivity structure. Overall, our study suggests that polarization filtering significantly improves passive body-wave imaging on both autocorrelation and interstation crosscorrelation. It reduces the impact of time-varying noise source distributions and is therefore also potentially useful for time-lapse ambient noise interferometry.

Dense surface seismic data confirm non-double-couple source mechanisms induced by hydraulic fracturing

Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. KS207-KS217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy D. Pesicek ◽  
Konrad Cieślik ◽  
Marc-André Lambert ◽  
Pedro Carrillo ◽  
Brad Birkelo
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Seismic Data ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Source Modeling ◽  
Moment Tensors ◽  
Amplitude Data ◽  
Double Couple ◽  
Source Mechanisms ◽  
Source Models ◽  
Favorable Conditions

We have determined source mechanisms for nine high-quality microseismic events induced during hydraulic fracturing of the Montney Shale in Canada. Seismic data were recorded using a dense regularly spaced grid of sensors at the surface. The design and geometry of the survey are such that the recorded P-wave amplitudes essentially map the upper focal hemisphere, allowing the source mechanism to be interpreted directly from the data. Given the inherent difficulties of computing reliable moment tensors (MTs) from high-frequency microseismic data, the surface amplitude and polarity maps provide important additional confirmation of the source mechanisms. This is especially critical when interpreting non-shear source processes, which are notoriously susceptible to artifacts due to incomplete or inaccurate source modeling. We have found that most of the nine events contain significant non-double-couple (DC) components, as evident in the surface amplitude data and the resulting MT models. Furthermore, we found that source models that are constrained to be purely shear do not explain the data for most events. Thus, even though non-DC components of MTs can often be attributed to modeling artifacts, we argue that they are required by the data in some cases, and can be reliably computed and confidently interpreted under favorable conditions.

Aftershocks of the February 21, 1973 Point Mugu, California earthquake

1976 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1931-1952
Author(s):  
Donald J. Stierman ◽  
William L. Ellsworth
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Main Shock ◽  
Fault Plane ◽  
Body Wave ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Wave Radiation ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
Complex Deformation ◽  
Transverse Ranges

abstract The ML 6.0 Point Mugu, California earthquake of February 21, 1973 and its aftershocks occurred within the complex fault system that bounds the southern front of the Transverse Ranges province of southern California. P-wave fault plane solutions for 51 events include reverse, strike slip and normal faulting mechanisms, indicating complex deformation within the 10-km broad fault zone. Hypocenters of 141 aftershocks fail to delineate any single fault plane clearly associated with the main shock rupture. Most aftershocks cluster in a region 5 km in diameter centered 5 km from the main shock hypocenter and well beyond the extent of fault rupture estimated from analysis of body-wave radiation. Strain release within the imbricate fault zone was controlled by slip on preexisting planes of weakness under the influence of a NE-SW compressive stress.

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