Seismic wave

About: Seismic wave is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 10609 publications have been published within this topic receiving 239337 citations. The topic is also known as: seismic waves.

Determination of earthquake source parameters from waveform data for studies of global and regional seismicity

Abstract: It is possible to use the waveform data not only to derive the source mechanism of an earthquake but also to establish the hypocentral coordinates of the ‘best point source’ (the centroid of the stress glut density) at a given frequency. Thus two classical problems of seismology are combined into a single procedure. Given an estimate of the origin time, epicentral coordinates and depth, an initial moment tensor is derived using one of the variations of the method described in detail by Gilbert and Dziewonski (1975). This set of parameters represents the starting values for an iterative procedure in which perturbations to the elements of the moment tensor are found simultaneously with changes in the hypocentral parameters. In general, the method is stable, and convergence rapid. Although the approach is a general one, we present it here in the context of the analysis of long-period body wave data recorded by the instruments of the SRO and ASRO digital network. It appears that the upper magnitude limit of earthquakes that can be processed using this particular approach is between 7.5 and 8.0; the lower limit is, at this time, approximately 5.5, but it could be extended by broadening the passband of the analysis to include energy with periods shorter that 45 s. As there are hundreds of earthquakes each year with magnitudes exceeding 5.5, the seismic source mechanism can now be studied in detail not only for major events but also, for example, for aftershock series. We have investigated the foreshock and several aftershocks of the Sumba earthquake of August 19, 1977; the results show temporal variation of the stress regime in the fault area of the main shock. An area some 150 km to the northwest of the epicenter of the main event became seismically active 49 days later. The sense of the strike-slip mechanism of these events is consistent with the relaxation of the compressive stress in the plate north of the Java trench. Another geophysically interesting result of our analysis is that for 5 out of 11 earthquakes of intermediate and great depth the intermediate principal value of the moment tensor is significant, while for the remaining 6 it is essentially zero, which means that their mechanisms are consistent with a simple double-couple representation. There is clear distinction between these two groups of earthquakes.

The Dispersion of Surface Waves on Multilayered Media

Abstract: A matrix formalism developed by W. T. Thomson is used to obtain the phase velocity dispersion equations for elastic surface waves of Rayleigh and Love type on multilayered solid media. The method is used to compute phase and group velocities of Rayleigh waves for two assumed three-layer models and one two-layer model of the earth9s crust in the continents. The computed group velocity curves are compared with published values of the group velocities at various frequencies of Rayleigh waves over continental paths. The scatter of the observed values is larger than the difference between the three computed curves. It is believed that not all of this scatter is due to observational errors, but probably represents a real horizontal heterogeneity of the continental crusts.

The energy release in great earthquakes

Abstract: The conventional magnitude scale M suffers saturation when the rupture dimension of the earthquake exceeds the wavelength of the seismic waves used for the magnitude determination (usually 5–50 km). This saturation leads to an inaccurate estimate of energy released in great earthquakes. To circumvent this problem the strain energy drop W (difference in strain energy before and after an earthquake) in great earthquakes is estimated from the seismic moment M_0. If the stress drop Δσ is complete, W = W_0 = (Δσ/2μ)M_0 ∼ M_0/(2×10^4), where μ is the rigidity; if it is partial, W_0 gives the minimum estimate of the strain energy drop. Furthermore, if Orowan's condition, i.e., that frictional stress equal final stress, is met, W_0 represents the seismic wave energy. A new magnitude scale M_w is defined in terms of W_0 through the standard energy-magnitude relation log W_0 = 1.5M_w + 11.8. M_w is as large as 9.5 for the 1960 Chilean earthquake and connects smoothly to M_s (surface wave magnitude) for earthquakes with a rupture dimension of about 100 km or less. The M_w scale does not suffer saturation and is a more adequate magnitude scale for great earthquakes. The seismic energy release curve defined by W_0 is entirely different from that previously estimated from Ms. During the 15-year period from 1950 to 1965 the annual average of W_0 is more than 1 order of magnitude larger than that during the periods from 1920 to 1950 and from 1965 to 1976. The temporal variation of the amplitude of the Chandler wobble correlates very well with the variation of W_0, with a slight indication of the former preceding the latter. In contrast, the number N of moderate to large earthquakes increased very sharply as the Chandler wobble amplitude increased but decreased very sharply during the period from 1945 to 1965, when W_0 was largest. One possible explanation for these correlations is that the increase in the wobble amplitude triggers worldwide seismic activity and accelerates plate motion which eventually leads to great decoupling earthquakes. This decoupling causes the decline of moderate to large earthquake activity. Changes in the rotation rate of the earth may be an important element in this mechanism.

Structure under Mount Rainier, Washington, inferred from teleseismic body waves

Abstract: Teleseismic long-period P waves recorded at the World-Wide Standard Seismograph Network station LON (Longmire, Washington) are shown to exhibit strong anomalous particle motion not attributable to instrument miscalibration or malfunction. In particular, a large and azimuthally smoothly varying tangential component is observed after vector rotation of horizontal P waves into the ray direction and after application of a deconvolution technique which equalizes effective source time functions and removes the instrument response. These tangential waves attain amplitudes comparable to the radial component and demonstrate wave form antisymmetry about a NNE azimuth. A model which contains a single high-contrast interface dipping toward the NNE at a depth of 15–20 km can explain most of the characteristics of the long-period P wave data, provided dips are greater than about 10° and only the interference of P and Ps generated at the interface is considered. The model breaks down for later arrivals which are presumably multiples or scattered waves. Examination of long-period S waves from several deep teleseisms shows a prominent Sp arrival 18 s before S. The timing of this phase conversion suggests an interface at about 145-km depth, and its sense of polarity suggests that the velocity contrast is from higher to lower velocities as depth decreases. This interface may correspond to the bottom of the upper mantle low-velocity zone in the area.

Scaling law of seismic spectrum

Abstract: The dependence of the amplitude spectrum of seismic waves on source size is investigated on the basis of two dislocation models of an earthquake source. One of the models (by N. Haskell) is called the ω³ model, and the other, called the ω² model, is constructed by fitting an exponentially decaying function to the autocorrelation function of the dislocation velocity. The number of source parameters is reduced to one by the assumption of similarity. We found that the most convenient parameter for our purpose is the magnitude Ms, defined for surface waves with period of 20 sec. Spectral density curves are determined for given Ms. Comparison of the theoretical curves with observations is made in two different ways. The observed ratios of the spectra of seismic waves with the same propagation path but from earthquakes of different sizes are compared with the corresponding theoretical ratios, thereby eliminating the effect of propagation on the spectrum. The other method is to check the theory with the empirical relation between different magnitude scales defined for different waves at different periods. The ω² model gives a satisfactory agreement with such observations on the assumption of similarity, but the ω³ model does not. We find, however, some indications of departure from similarity. The efficiency of seismic radiation seems to increase with decreasing magnitude if the Gutenberg-Richter magnitude-energy relation is valid. The assumption of similarity implies a constant stress drop independent of source size. A preliminary study of Love waves from the Parkfield earthquake of June 28, 1966, shows that the stress drop at the source of this earthquake is lower than the normal value (around 100 bars) by about 2 orders of magnitude.