Source dimensions and stress drops of small earthquakes near Parkfield, California

1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-40
Author(s):  
M. E. O'Neill
Keyword(s):  
Stress Drop ◽  
Small Region ◽  
Static Stress ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Zero Crossing ◽  
Source Dimensions ◽  
Duration Magnitude ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Static Stress Drop ◽  
Stress Drops

Abstract Source dimensions and stress drops of 30 small Parkfield, California, earthquakes with coda duration magnitudes between 1.2 and 3.9 have been estimated from measurements on short-period velocity-transducer seismograms. Times from the initial onset to the first zero crossing, corrected for attenuation and instrument response, have been interpreted in terms of a circular source model in which rupture expands radially outward from a point until it stops abruptly at radius a. For each earthquake, duration magnitude MD gave an estimate of seismic moment MO and MO and a together gave an estimate of static stress drop. All 30 earthquakes are located on a 6-km-long segment of the San Andreas fault at a depth range of about 8 to 13 km. Source radius systemically increases with magnitude from about 70 m for events near MD 1.4 to about 600 m for an event of MD 3.9. Static stress drop ranges from about 2 to 30 bars and is not strongly correlated with magnitude. Static stress drop does appear to be spatially dependent; the earthquakes with stress drops greater than 20 bars are concentrated in a small region close to the hypocenter of the magnitude 512 1966 Parkfield earthquake.

scholarly journals Static stress drop in the 1994 Northridge, California, aftershock sequence

1997 ◽  
Vol 87 (6) ◽  
pp. 1495-1501
Author(s):  
Jeanne L. Hardebeck ◽  
Egill Hauksson
Keyword(s):  
Stress Drop ◽  
Measurement Errors ◽  
Aftershock Sequence ◽  
Static Stress ◽  
Lower Stress ◽  
High Frequencies ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Confining Pressures ◽  
Static Stress Drop ◽  
Stress Drops

Abstract We use time-domain pulse widths to estimate static stress drops for 279 ML 2.5 to 4.0 aftershocks of the 17 January 1994, MW 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake. The stress drops obtained range from 0.02 to 40 bars, with a log average of 0.75 bar. Error bars computed for our estimates are typically a factor of 5, indicating that the three order of magnitude scatter in stress drops is not solely a result of measurement errors and that there is a significant amount of heterogeneity in the static stress drops of the aftershocks. Stress drops might be expected to increase with depth, since a fault can maintain a higher shear load at higher confining pressures. We observe an increase in log average stress drop at about 15 km depth, which is statistically significant at the 80% confidence level. The increase is due primarily to a lack of lower stress-drop events below this depth and may be controlled by material properties since the Northridge aftershocks are observed to intersect an anomalously high-velocity body at around this depth (Hauksson and Haase, 1997). An apparent increase in stress drop with magnitude is also observed over the entire magnitude range of the study, although whether this trend is real or an artifact of attenuation of high frequencies in the upper crust is unresolved.

Determination of source parameters of small earthquakes from P-wave rise time

1973 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 599-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. O'Neill ◽  
J. H. Healy
Keyword(s):  
Rise Time ◽  
Source Parameters ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Simple Method ◽  
Zero Crossing ◽  
Basic Measurement ◽  
Earthquake Source Parameters ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Stress Drops

abstract A simple method of estimating source dimensions and stress drops of small earthquakes is presented. The basic measurement is the time from the first break to the first zero crossing on short-period seismograms. Graphs relating these measurements to rise time as a function of Q and instrument response permit an estimate of earthquake source parameters without the calculation of spectra. Tests on data from Rangely, Colorado, and Hollister, California, indicate that the method gives reasonable results.

scholarly journals Northridge aftershocks, a source study with TERRAscope data

1997 ◽  
Vol 87 (4) ◽  
pp. 1024-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi J. Song ◽  
Donald V. Helmberger
Keyword(s):  
Wave Train ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Relative Stress ◽  
Source Mechanisms ◽  
Extended Surface ◽  
San Fernando ◽  
Stress Drops ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Broadband and long-period displacement waveforms from a selection of Northridge aftershocks recorded by the TERRAscope array are modeled to study source characteristics. Source mechanisms and moments are determined with long-period data using an algorithm developed by Zhao and Helmberger (1994). These results are compared with those by Hauksson et al. (1995) and Thio and Kanamori (1996). The width of the direct pulses at the nearest stations PAS and CALB are measured as indications of the source duration. Another measurement of the source-time functions of these earthquakes is obtained by comparing the short-period to long-period energy ratio in the data to that in the synthetics. These measurements are used to estimate the relative stress drop using a formula given by Cohn et al. (1982). The depth distribution of the relative stress drops indicates that the largest stress drops are in the depth range of 5 to 15 km for an aftershock population of 24 events. A correlation of extended surface wave train with source depth is demonstrated for paths crossing the San Fernando basin.

Depth dependence of source parameters at Monticello, South Carolina

1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (6A) ◽  
pp. 1735-1751
Author(s):  
J. B. Fletcher ◽  
J. Boatwright ◽  
W. B. Joyner
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Stress Drop ◽  
Strong Dependence ◽  
Source Parameters ◽  
Failure Process ◽  
The Other ◽  
Depth Range ◽  
S Wave ◽  
S Waves ◽  
Stress Drops

Abstract Three estimates of stress differences, which include Brune stress drop, stress drop from rms of acceleration (arms), and the apparent stress, have been determined for 13 earthquakes at Monticello, South Carolina, a site of reservoir-induced seismicity. Data for nine of the events come from digitally recorded three-component seismograms at four or five stations that were deployed around the Monticello Reservoir in May and early June 1979. The data from the other four events come from a strong-motion accelerograph located on the dam abutment at the southwest end of the reservoir. Estimates of the seismic moment (Mo) range from 4.6 × 1017 to 3.4 × 1020 dyne-cm (S waves) and radiated energy from about 1011 to 3 × 1016 dyne-cm (S waves). Brune stress drops ranged from 0.5 bars to about 90 bars and show a strong dependence on depth (focal depths range from 0.07 to 1.4 km) and a moderate dependence on Mo. Arms stress drops from the direct S-wave span a similar range of values and also exhibit a strong dependence on depth. Apparent stresses are usually lower than the other estimates of stress differences by a factor of 2 to 4. Seismic stress differences are highest in the topmost 0.2 to 0.3 km, a depth range for which the in situ measurements of stress and pore pressure suggest that the rock is in a state of incipient failure. In this depth range, where the four largest events occurred, the stress drops are of the same order as the ambient shear stress. These data suggest that at Monticello, where pore fluids have a strong influence on the failure process, the largest stresses released seismically are in regions most conducive to failure and that the seismic efficiencies for events at Monticello are larger than have been reported for other tremors in different tectonic settings.

scholarly journals Static stress drop as determined from geodetic strain rates and statistical seismicity

2011 ◽  
Vol 116 (B2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Caporali ◽  
Salvatore Barba ◽  
Michele M. C. Carafa ◽  
Roberto Devoti ◽  
Grazia Pietrantonio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Drop ◽  
Static Stress ◽  
Strain Rates ◽  
Static Stress Drop ◽  
Geodetic Strain
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