On the radiation from earthquake sources in model seismology

1966 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 381-386
Author(s):  
Rolf Schick
2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 1531-1541
Author(s):  
Paul G. Richards ◽  
Margaret Hellweg

Abstract Quantitative seismology is based firmly on the analysis of actual ground motions, and the transition to digital recording in the 1980s enabled sophisticated new capabilities to extract useful results from waveforms. With some effort, these tools can also be applied to analog records. Focusing on assets available within U.S. institutions, we review the necessary steps and the challenges in enabling “data rescue”—that is, preserving the scientific information latent in large analog seismogram archives and making it usable. They include: determining what assets are available (the analog seismogram archives held by various institutions, with associated metadata on instrument responses, station locations, and timing information); developing a consensus on the top level of a triage process (which analog records most definitely should be rescued?); deciding the level of quality needed in copying original seismograms to media suitable for digitizing; assessing the relative merits of scanning and digitizing; and, the need for a community service in distributing scans and digital records, as they accumulate. The necessary level of effort can benefit from practical experience. For example, specific studies have used digitized versions of analog recordings to model earthquake sources and assess seismic hazard. Other studies have used them to gain experience with nuclear explosion signals recorded at regional distances, noting that regional signals enable explosions to be monitored down to levels much lower than those attainable teleseismically. The opportunities presented by large archives of analog seismograms include the insights they present to current and future seismologists studying earthquakes and explosions, into the practical areas of assessing seismic hazard, monitoring for test ban compliance down to low explosion yields—and prompt characterization of actual explosions should they occur, as well the traditional academic pursuit of a better understanding of earthquake physics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martha Gabriela Gómez-Vasconcelos ◽  
Pilar Villamor ◽  
Jon Procter ◽  
Alan Palmer ◽  
Shane Cronin ◽  
...  

Solid Earth ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 425-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Nissen-Meyer ◽  
M. van Driel ◽  
S. C. Stähler ◽  
K. Hosseini ◽  
S. Hempel ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present a methodology to compute 3-D global seismic wavefields for realistic earthquake sources in visco-elastic anisotropic media, covering applications across the observable seismic frequency band with moderate computational resources. This is accommodated by mandating axisymmetric background models that allow for a multipole expansion such that only a 2-D computational domain is needed, whereas the azimuthal third dimension is computed analytically on the fly. This dimensional collapse opens doors for storing space–time wavefields on disk that can be used to compute Fréchet sensitivity kernels for waveform tomography. We use the corresponding publicly available AxiSEM (www.axisem.info) open-source spectral-element code, demonstrate its excellent scalability on supercomputers, a diverse range of applications ranging from normal modes to small-scale lowermost mantle structures, tomographic models, and comparison with observed data, and discuss further avenues to pursue with this methodology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
V. G. Krishna

<p>Vertical component record sections of local earthquake seismograms from a state-of-the-art Koyna-Warna digital seismograph network are assembled in the reduced time versus epicentral distance frame, similar to those obtained in seismic refraction profiling. The record sections obtained for an average source depth display the processed seismograms from nearly equal source depths with similar source mechanisms and recorded in a narrow azimuth range, illuminating the upper crustal P and S velocity structure in the region. Further, the seismogram characteristics of the local earthquake sources are found to vary significantly for different source mechanisms and the amplitude variations exceed those due to velocity model stratification. In the present study a large number of reflectivity synthetic seismograms are obtained in near offset ranges for a stratified upper crustal model having sharp discontinuities with 7%-10% velocity contrasts. The synthetics are obtained for different source regimes (e.g., strike-slip, normal, reverse) and different sets of source parameters (strike, dip, and rake) within each regime. Seismogram sections with dominantly strike-slip mechanism are found to be clearly favorable in revealing the velocity stratification for both P and S waves. In contrast the seismogram sections for earthquakes of other source mechanisms seem to display the upper crustal P phases poorly with low amplitudes even in presence of sharp discontinuities of high velocity contrasts. The observed seismogram sections illustrated here for the earthquake sources with strike-slip and normal mechanisms from the Koyna-Warna seismic region substantiate these findings. Travel times and reflectivity synthetic seismograms are used for 1-D modeling of the observed virtual source local earthquake seismogram sections and inferring the upper crustal velocity structure in the Koyna-Warna region. Significantly, the inferred upper crustal velocity model in the region reproduces the synthetic seismograms comparable to the observed sections for earthquake sources with differing mechanisms in the Koyna and Warna regions.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörn Behrens ◽  
Finn Løvholt ◽  
Fatemeh Jalayer ◽  
Stefano Lorito ◽  
Mario A. Salgado-Gálvez ◽  
...  

Tsunamis are unpredictable and infrequent but potentially large impact natural disasters. To prepare, mitigate and prevent losses from tsunamis, probabilistic hazard and risk analysis methods have been developed and have proved useful. However, large gaps and uncertainties still exist and many steps in the assessment methods lack information, theoretical foundation, or commonly accepted methods. Moreover, applied methods have very different levels of maturity, from already advanced probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis for earthquake sources, to less mature probabilistic risk analysis. In this review we give an overview of the current state of probabilistic tsunami hazard and risk analysis. Identifying research gaps, we offer suggestions for future research directions. An extensive literature list allows for branching into diverse aspects of this scientific approach.


1974 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 1159-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Dahlen

abstract We construct a theoretical three-dimensional kinematical model of shallow-focus earthquake faulting in order to investigate the ratio of the P- and S-wave corner frequencies of the far-field elastic radiation. We attempt to incorporate in this model all of the important gross kinematical features which would arise if ordinary mechanical friction should be the dominant traction resisting fault motion. These features include a self-similar nucleation at a single point, a subsonic spreading of rupture away from that point, and a termination of faulting by smooth deceleration. We show that the ratio of the P-wave corner frequency to the S-wave corner frequency for any model which has these features will be less than unity at all points on the focal sphere.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2201-2208 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Mucciarelli ◽  
F. Donda ◽  
G. Valensise

Abstract. While scientists are paying increasing attention to the seismicity potentially induced by hydrocarbon exploitation, so far, little is known about the reverse problem, i.e. the impact of active faulting and earthquakes on hydrocarbon reservoirs. The 20 and 29 May 2012 earthquakes in Emilia, northern Italy (Mw 6.1 and 6.0), raised concerns among the public for being possibly human-induced, but also shed light on the possible use of gas wells as a marker of the seismogenic potential of an active fold and thrust belt. We compared the location, depth and production history of 455 gas wells drilled along the Ferrara-Romagna arc, a large hydrocarbon reserve in the southeastern Po Plain (northern Italy), with the location of the inferred surface projection of the causative faults of the 2012 Emilia earthquakes and of two pre-instrumental damaging earthquakes. We found that these earthquake sources fall within a cluster of sterile wells, surrounded by productive wells at a few kilometres' distance. Since the geology of the productive and sterile areas is quite similar, we suggest that past earthquakes caused the loss of all natural gas from the potential reservoirs lying above their causative faults. To validate our hypothesis we performed two different statistical tests (binomial and Monte Carlo) on the relative distribution of productive and sterile wells, with respect to seismogenic faults. Our findings have important practical implications: (1) they may allow major seismogenic sources to be singled out within large active thrust systems; (2) they suggest that reservoirs hosted in smaller anticlines are more likely to be intact; and (3) they also suggest that in order to minimize the hazard of triggering significant earthquakes, all new gas storage facilities should use exploited reservoirs rather than sterile hydrocarbon traps or aquifers.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekbal Hussain ◽  
John R. Elliott ◽  
Vitor Silva ◽  
Mabé Vilar-Vega ◽  
Deborah Kane

Abstract. More than half of all the people in the world now live in dense urban centres. The rapid expansion of cities, particularly in low-income nations, has enabled the economic and social development of millions of people. However, many of these cities are located near active tectonic faults that have not produced an earthquake in recent memory, raising the risk of losing the hard-earned progress through a devastating earthquake. In this paper we explore the possible impact that earthquakes can pose to the city of Santiago in Chile from various potential near-field and distant earthquake sources. We use high resolution stereo satellite imagery and derived digital elevation models to accurately map the trace of the San Ramón Fault, a recently recognised active fault located along the eastern margins of the city. We use scenario based seismic risk analysis to compare and contrast the estimated damage and losses to the city from several potential earthquake sources and one past event, comprising (i) rupture of the San Ramón Fault, (ii) a hypothesised buried shallow fault beneath the centre of the city, (iii) a deep intra-slab fault, and (iv) the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake. We find that there is a strong magnitude-distance trade-off in terms of damage and losses to the city, with smaller magnitude earthquakes on more local faults, in the magnitude range 6–7.5, producing 9 to 17 times more damage to the city and estimated fatalities compared to the great magnitude 8+ earthquakes located offshore on the subduction zone. Our calculations for this part of Chile show that unreinforced masonry structures are the most vulnerable to these types of earthquake shaking. We identify particularly vulnerable districts, such as Ñuñoa, Santiago and Macul, where targeted retrofitting campaigns would be most effective at reducing potential economic and human losses. Due to the potency of near-field earthquake sources demonstrated here, our work highlights the importance of also identifying and considering proximal minor active faults for cities in seismic zones globally, in addition to the more major distant large fault zones that are typically focused on in the assessment of hazard.


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