Multiple Seismogenic Processes for High-Frequency Earthquakes at Katmai National Park, Alaska: Evidence from Stress Tensor Inversions of Fault-Plane Solutions

2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. C. Moran
1970 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1669-1699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Seeber ◽  
Muawia Barazangi ◽  
Ali Nowroozi

Abstract This paper demonstrates that high-gain, high-frequency portable seismographs operated for short intervals can provide unique data on the details of the current tectonic activity in a very small area. Five high-frequency, high-gain seismographs were operated at 25 sites along the coast of northern California during the summer of 1968. Eighty per cent of 160 microearthquakes located in the Cape Mendocino area occurred at depths between 15 and 35 km in a well-defined, horizontal seismic layer. These depths are significantly greater than those reported for other areas along the San Andreas fault system in California. Many of the earthquakes of the Cape Mendocino area occurred in sequences that have approximately the same magnitude versus length of faulting characteristics as other California earthquakes. Consistent first-motion directions are recorded from microearthquakes located within suitably chosen subdivisions of the active area. Composite fault plane solutions indicate that right-lateral movement prevails on strike-slip faults that radiate from Cape Mendocino northwest toward the Gorda basin. This is evidence that the Gorda basin is undergoing internal deformation. Inland, east of Cape Mendocino, a significant component of thrust faulting prevails for all the composite fault plane solutions. Thrusting is predominant in the fault plane solution of the June 26 1968 earthquake located along the Gorda escarpement. In general, the pattern of slip is consistent with a north-south crustal shortening. The Gorda escarpment, the Mattole River Valley, and the 1906 fault break northwest of Shelter Cove define a sharp bend that forms a possible connection between the Mendocino escarpment and the San Andreas fault. The distribution of hypocenters, relative travel times of P waves, and focal mechanisms strongly indicate that the above three features are surface expressions of an important structural boundary. The sharp bend in this boundary, which is concave toward the southwest, would tend to lock the dextral slip along the San Andreas fault and thus cause the regional north-south compression observed at Cape Mendocino. The above conclusions support the hypothesis that dextral strike-slip motion along the San Andreas fault is currently being taken up by slip along the Mendocino escarpment as well as by slip along northwest trending faults in the Gorda basin.


1997 ◽  
Vol 102 (B4) ◽  
pp. 8171-8185 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Eva ◽  
S. Solarino ◽  
C. Eva ◽  
G. Neri

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Kiratzi

Stress tensor inversion has been applied to estimate principal stress axes orientations in Western Greece, from 178 earthquake fault plane solutions from the Kozani-Grevena May 13, 1995 sequence. All focal mechanisms were previously determined through the deployment of a dense portable array. The magnitude range is 2.7-6.5 and the depth range is 4.0-15 km. A single stress tensor with an average misfit of 6.5°, small enough to support the assumption of stress homogeneity, can describe the stress field. The maximum compressive stress, s1, has a NNE-SSW trend (N26°E) and a nearly vertical plunge (80°) while the minimum compressive stress, s3, has a NNW-SSE orientation (N159°E) and a shallow plunge (7°) southwards. The scalar quantity, R (stress ratio) was found equal to 0.4 suggesting a transtensional regime (normal faulting with strike-slip motions) in which s2 is compressional. The identification of the fault plane from the auxiliary plane was achieved for 99 fault plane solutions out of 178 in total (56%). Vertical cross sections support previous results concerning the north dipping main fault segments and the south dipping antithetic faulting. The strike-slip motion is mainly dextral, along NNE-SSW structures, which follow the direction of the main neotectonic faults while the scarce sinistral strike-slip motion is connected to NW-SE trending zones of weakness pre-existing the old phase of compression in the Aegean. The strong strike slip motion that supports the transtensional regime probably reflects the effect of the motions of the North Anatolian Fault, taken up by normal faulting in the area of Western Greece.


1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 591-601
Author(s):  
Dan P. McKenzie

abstract The stresses involved in shallow earthquakes and their occurrence along fault planes suggest that they occur by failure on weak planes, rather than by brittle fracture of a homogeneous material. Possible orientations of the stress tensor are examined to determine what limits fault plane solutions can place on the orientation of the greatest principal stress. For the general case of a triaxial stress, the only restriction is that this stress direction must lie in the quadrant containing P, but may be at right angles to the P direction. Thus shallow earthquakes impose a few limitations on the orientation of the stress tensor. In contrast the fault plane solutions from deep earthquakes are best explained by fracture of a homogeneous material, with the greatest principal stress directed down the dip of the earthquake zone.


1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gresta ◽  
C. Musumeci

Fault-plane solutions of some tens of local earthquakes which occurred at Mt. Etna volcano during 1983-1986 have been inverted for stress tensor parameters by the algorithm of Gephart and Forsyth (1984). Three seismic sequences were focused on which respectively occurred during a flank eruption (June 1983), just after the end of a subterminal eruption (October 1984) and during an inter-eruptive period (May 1986). The application to the three sets of data of both the "approximate" and the "exact" methods evidenced the stability of results, and the stress directions are well defined in spite of the small number of events used for the inversion. The s1 obtained agrees with the regional tectonic framework, nearly horizontal and oriented N-S, only in the shallow crust, and just after the 1984 eruption. This supports the hypothesis of a tectonic control on the end of the eruptive activities at Mt. Etna. Conversely, results concerning the depth range 10-30 km are in apparent disagreement with other investigations (Cocina et al., 1997), as well as with the regional tectonics. The stress was here found homogeneous, but with s1 respectively trending ENE-WSW (June 1983) and E-W (May 1986). We suggest that the stress field could be temporarily modified by a local stress regime driven by the intrusion of uprising magma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brijesh K. Bansal ◽  
Kapil Mohan ◽  
Mithila Verma ◽  
Anup K. Sutar

AbstractDelhi region in northern India experiences frequent shaking due to both far-field and near-field earthquakes from the Himalayan and local sources, respectively. The recent M3.5 and M3.4 earthquakes of 12th April 2020 and 10th May 2020 respectively in northeast Delhi and M4.4 earthquake of 29th May 2020 near Rohtak (~ 50 km west of Delhi), followed by more than a dozen aftershocks, created panic in this densely populated habitat. The past seismic history and the current activity emphasize the need to revisit the subsurface structural setting and its association with the seismicity of the region. Fault plane solutions are determined using data collected from a dense network in Delhi region. The strain energy released in the last two decades is also estimated to understand the subsurface structural environment. Based on fault plane solutions, together with information obtained from strain energy estimates and the available geophysical and geological studies, it is inferred that the Delhi region is sitting on two contrasting structural environments: reverse faulting in the west and normal faulting in the east, separated by the NE-SW trending Delhi Hardwar Ridge/Mahendragarh-Dehradun Fault (DHR-MDF). The WNW-ESE trending Delhi Sargoda Ridge (DSR), which intersects DHR-MDF in the west, is inferred as a thrust fault. The transfer of stress from the interaction zone of DHR-MDF and DSR to nearby smaller faults could further contribute to the scattered shallow seismicity in Delhi region.


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