Repeating Earthquakes Along the Colombian Subduction Zone

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 645-654
Author(s):  
Juan Carlos Bermúdez-Barrios ◽  
◽  
Hiroyuki Kumagai
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Repeating Earthquakes ◽  
Seismic Waveform ◽  
Interplate Coupling ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
Waveform Similarity ◽  
Large Earthquakes

Colombia is tectonically active, and several large earthquakes have ruptured the Colombia-Ecuador subduction zone (CESZ) during the last century. Among them, the Colombia-Ecuador earthquake in 1906 (Mw 8.4) and the Tumaco earthquake in 1979 (Mw 8.3) generated destructive tsunamis. Therefore, it is important to characterize the seismic rupture processes and their relation with interplate coupling along the CESZ. We searched for repeating earthquakes by performing waveform similarity analysis. Cross correlation (CC) values were computed between earthquake pairs with hypocenter differences of less than 50 km that were located in the northern CESZ (1°–4°N) and that occurred from June 1993 to February 2018. We used broadband and short-period seismic waveform data from the Servicio Geológico Colombiano (SGC) seismic network. A CC threshold value of 0.90 was used to identify the waveform similarity and select repeating earthquakes. We found repeating earthquakes distributed near the trench and the coast. Our estimated repeating earthquakes near the trench suggest that the interplate coupling in this region is low. This is in clear constrast to the occurrence of a large slip in the 1906 Colombia-Ecuador earthquake along the trench in the southern part of the CESZ, and suggests that rupture modes are different between the northern and southern parts of CESZ near the trench.

scholarly journals Mapping of interplate coupling in the Kamchatka subduction zone from variations in the earthquake size distribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 484 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. A. Vorobieva ◽  
A. A. Soloviev ◽  
P. N. Shebalin
Keyword(s):  
Size Distribution ◽  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Geodetic Data ◽  
Aseismic Slip ◽  
Interplate Coupling ◽  
Earthquake Size ◽  
And Inversion ◽  
Large Earthquakes

The geometry of supposed coupling zones in the Kamchatka subduction zoneis determined by the earthquake size distribution based on earlier revealed relationship between its shape and rate of inelastic deformations. In the areas of higher aseismic slip, a break of linearity in earthquake size distribution is observed owing to the deficit of large earthquakes. Zones of higher coupling between the oceanic and continental plates are characterized by an excess of large earthquakes and an inverse bend in the earthquake size distribution. The mapping results of the bend value agree with the coupling zones distinguished from satellite geodetic data and inversion of marigrams.

scholarly journals Batch seismic inversion using the iterative ensemble Kalman smoother

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Gineste ◽  
Jo Eidsvik
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Data ◽  
Time Windows ◽  
Seismic Inversion ◽  
Efficient Estimation ◽  
Solution Strategy ◽  
Adaptive Procedure ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Kalman Smoother ◽  
Seismic Waveform ◽  
Single Batch

AbstractAn ensemble-based method for seismic inversion to estimate elastic attributes is considered, namely the iterative ensemble Kalman smoother. The main focus of this work is the challenge associated with ensemble-based inversion of seismic waveform data. The amount of seismic data is large and, depending on ensemble size, it cannot be processed in a single batch. Instead a solution strategy of partitioning the data recordings in time windows and processing these sequentially is suggested. This work demonstrates how this partitioning can be done adaptively, with a focus on reliable and efficient estimation. The adaptivity relies on an analysis of the update direction used in the iterative procedure, and an interpretation of contributions from prior and likelihood to this update. The idea is that these must balance; if the prior dominates, the estimation process is inefficient while the estimation is likely to overfit and diverge if data dominates. Two approaches to meet this balance are formulated and evaluated. One is based on an interpretation of eigenvalue distributions and how this enters and affects weighting of prior and likelihood contributions. The other is based on balancing the norm magnitude of prior and likelihood vector components in the update. Only the latter is found to sufficiently regularize the data window. Although no guarantees for avoiding ensemble divergence are provided in the paper, the results of the adaptive procedure indicate that robust estimation performance can be achieved for ensemble-based inversion of seismic waveform data.

Source inversion of the 1988 Upland, California, earthquake: Determination of a fault plane for a small event

1990 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 507-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Mori ◽  
Stephen Hartzell
Keyword(s):  
Green Function ◽  
Fault Plane ◽  
Least Squares Method ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Rupture Velocity ◽  
P Waves ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Empirical Green Function ◽  
Finite Fault ◽  
Short Period

Abstract We examined short-period P waves to investigate if waveform data could be used to determine which of two nodal planes was the actual fault plane for a small (ML 4.6) earthquake near Upland, California. We removed path and site complications by choosing a small aftershock (ML 2.7) as an empirical Green function. The main shock P waves were deconvolved by using the empirical Green function to produce simple far-field displacement pulses. We used a least-squares method to invert these pulses for the slip distribution on a finite fault. Both nodal planes (strike 125°, dip 85° and strike 221°, dip 40°) of the first-motion focal mechanism were tested at various rupture velocities. The southwest trending fault plane consistently gave better fitting solutions than the southeast-trending plane. We determined a moment of 4.2 × 1022 dyne-cm. The rupture velocity, and thus the source area could not be well resolved, but if we assume a reasonable rupture velocity of 0.87 times the shear wave velocity, we obtain a source area of 0.97 km2 and a stress drop of 38 bars. Choice of a southwest-trending fault plane is consistent with the trend of the nearby portion of the Transverse Ranges frontal fault zone and indicates left-lateral motion. This method provides a way to determine the fault plane for small earthquakes that have no surface rupture and no obvious trend in aftershock locations.

The CIELO Seismic Experiment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather A. Ford ◽  
Maximiliano J. Bezada ◽  
Joseph S. Byrnes ◽  
Andrew Birkey ◽  
Zhao Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Receiver Function ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Crust And Upper Mantle ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Wyoming Craton ◽  
Sensor Orientation ◽  
Seismic Experiment ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Receiver Function Analysis

Abstract The Crust and lithosphere Investigation of the Easternmost expression of the Laramide Orogeny was a two-year deployment of 24 broadband, compact posthole seismometers in a linear array across the eastern half of the Wyoming craton. The experiment was designed to image the crust and upper mantle of the region to better understand the evolution of the cratonic lithosphere. In this article, we describe the motivation and objectives of the experiment; summarize the station design and installation; provide a detailed accounting of data completeness and quality, including issues related to sensor orientation and ambient noise; and show examples of collected waveform data from a local earthquake, a local mine blast, and a teleseismic event. We observe a range of seasonal variations in the long-period noise on the horizontal components (15–20 dB) at some stations that likely reflect the range of soil types across the experiment. In addition, coal mining in the Powder River basin creates high levels of short-period noise at some stations. Preliminary results from Ps receiver function analysis, shear-wave splitting analysis, and averaged P-wave delay times are also included in this report, as is a brief description of education and outreach activities completed during the experiment.

scholarly journals Seismic scatterers in the lower mantle near subduction zones

2019 ◽  
Vol 219 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S2-S20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoshi Kaneshima
Keyword(s):  
Oceanic Crust ◽  
Lower Mantle ◽  
Subduction Zones ◽  
P Waves ◽  
Waveform Data ◽  
Basaltic Rocks ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Subducted Oceanic Crust ◽  
Conversion Depth ◽  
Seismic Networks

SUMMARY We investigate the global distribution of S-to-P scatterers in the shallow to mid-lower mantle beneath subduction zones, where deep seismicity extends down to the bottom of the upper mantle. By array processing broadband and short period waveform data obtained at seismic networks, we seek anomalous later phases in the P coda within about 15–150 s after direct P waves. The later phases usually arrive along off-great circle paths and significantly later than S-to-P conversion from the ‘660 km’ discontinuity, often show positive slowness anomalies relative to direct P, and do not show a conversion depth that is consistent among nearby events. They are thus adequately regarded as scattered waves, rather than conversion at a global horizontal discontinuity. The S-to-P scattered waves often show amplitudes comparable to ‘S660P’ waves, which indicates that a spatial change in elastic properties by several percent occurs at the scatterers as abruptly as the post-spinel transformation and should arise from compositional heterogeneity. We locate prominent S-to-P scatterers beneath Pacific subduction zones and beneath southern Spain. Nearly half of 137 S-to-P scatterers located in this study and previous studies by the authors are shallower than 1000 km, and the number of scatterers decreases with depth. Scatterers deeper than 1800 km are rare and mostly weak. We examine relations between the locations of the scatterers and recently subducted slabs inferred from seismic tomography. The scatterers of mid-mantle depths, deeper than about 1000 km, are located distant from tomographic slabs. On the other hand, the majority of shallower scatterers are located beneath the slabs rather than near their fastest portions, which would indicate that chemically heterogeneous materials are not extensively entrained within thickened and folded slabs when the slabs impinge on the lower mantle. We also find scatterers near the locations where basaltic rocks of recently subducted oceanic crust are expected to exist, which suggests that oceanic crust is not delaminating when slabs impinge on the lower mantle.

scholarly journals Dating and morphostratigraphy of uplifted marine terraces in the Makran subduction zone (Iran)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaël Normand ◽  
Guy Simpson ◽  
Frédéric Herman ◽  
Rabiul Haque Biswas ◽  
Abbas Bahroudi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Surface Deformation ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Makran Subduction Zone ◽  
Megathrust Earthquakes ◽  
Surface Uplift ◽  
Marine Terraces ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
East West

Abstract. The western part of the Makran subduction zone (Iran) has not experienced a great megathrust earthquake in recent human history, yet, the presence of emerged marine terraces along the coast indicates that the margin has been tectonically active during at least the late Quaternary. To better understand the surface deformation of this region, we mapped the terraces sequences of seven localities along the Iranian Makran. Additionnaly, we performed radiocarbon, 230Th/U and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the layers of marine sediments deposited on top of the terraces. This enabled us to correlate the terraces regionally and to assign them to different Quaternary sea level highstands. Our results show east-west variations in surface uplift rates mostly between 0.05 and 1.2 mm y−1. We detected a region of anomalously high uplift rate, where two MIS 3 terraces are emerged, yet we are uncertain how to insert these results in a geologically coherent context. Although it is presently not clear whether the uplift of the terraces is linked with the occurrence of large megathrust earthquakes, our results highlight heterogeneous accumulation of deformation in the overriding plate.

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