Results of locating the IASPEI GT(0-5) reference events using the standard ISC procedures

The International Seismological Centre (ISC) is charged with production of the definitive global bulletin of seismic events, based on the most comprehensive set of parametric data collected from all over the world. Almost every event in the bulletin retains the original hypocentral solutions reported to the ISC by contributing agencies. In addition, where possible, the ISC computes its own solution, which is intended to be the most accurate where the data from several networks are used. It is because of the requirement for consistency of the bulletin over the years that the procedures used at the centre to compute hypocentres have remained rather conservative despite considerable advances made in the field of earthquake location.The ISC has developed and put into operation a new data management system. As a result, it is now possible to review and subsequently introduce more up-to-date methods of locating seismic events into the operations. The ISC Governing Council called for a workshop dedicated to location procedures, which was held during the 2005 IASPEI General Assembly in Santiago, Chile.To compare the accuracy of different location algorithms, a list of 156 reference events (IWREF) was selected prior to the workshop. The list includes geographically well distributed earthquakes and explosions with positions known with an accuracy of up to 5 km. It covers the period of 1954-2001 and includes all station readings and hypocentral solutions of different agencies available for these events in the ISC bulletin. Although the original ISC solutions are included, these may be different from the solution obtainable now due to changes in the ISC procedures over the years. This paper presents the results of relocation of these events using standard ISC location procedures as of 2005. These new ISC locations and analysis of their shifts with respect to reference locations present a benchmark for further improvement.     

Calibration of the Tibetan Plateau Using Regional Seismic Waveforms

We use the recordings from 51 earthquakes produced by a PASSCAL deployment in Tibet to develop a two-layer crustal model for the region. Starting with their ISC locations, we iteratively fit the P-arrival times to relocate the earthquakes and estimate mantle and crustal seismic parameters. An average crustal P velocity of 6.2–6.3 km/s is obtained for a crustal thickness of 65 km while the P velocity of the uppermost mantle is 8.1 km/s. The upper layer of the model is further fine-tuned by obtaining the best synthetic SH waveform match to an observed waveform for a well-located event. Green's functions from this model are then used to estimate the source parameters for those events using a grid search procedure. Average event relocation relative to the ISC locations, excluding two poorly located earthquakes, is 16 km. All but one earthquake are determined by the waveform inversion to be at depths between 5 and 15 km. This is 15 km shallower, on average, than depths reported by the ISC. The shallow seismicity cut-off depth and low crustal velocities suggest high temperatures in the lower crust. Thrust faulting source mechanisms dominate at the margins of the plateau. Within the plateau, at locations with surface elevations less than 5 km, source mechanisms are a mixture of strike-slip and thrust. Most events occurring in the high plateau where elevations are above 5 km show normal faulting. This indicates that a large portion of the plateau is under EW extension.     

Calibration of the Regional Crustal Waveguide and the Retrieval of Source Parameters Using Waveform Modeling

v--vRegional crustal waveguide calibration is essential to the retrieval of source parameters and the location of smaller (M < 4.8) seismic events. This path calibration of regional seismic phases is strongly dependent on the accuracy of hypocentral locations of calibration (or master) events. This information can be difficult to obtain, especially for smaller events. Generally, explosion or quarry blast generated travel-time data with known locations and origin times are useful for developing the path calibration parameters, but in many regions such data sets are scanty or do not exist. We present a method which is useful for regional path calibration independent of such data, i.e. with earthquakes, which is applicable for events down to M_w = 4 and which has successfully been applied in India, central Asia, western Mediterranean, North Africa, Tibet and the former Soviet Union. These studies suggest that reliably determining depth is essential to establishing accurate epicentral location and origin time for events. We find that the error in source depth does not necessarily trade-off only with the origin time for events with poor azimuthal coverage, but with the horizontal location as well, thus resulting in poor epicentral locations. For example, hypocenters for some events in central Asia were found to move from their fixed-depth locations by about 20 km. Such errors in location and depth will propagate into path calibration parameters, particularly with respect to travel times. The modeling of teleseismic depth phases (pP, sP) yields accurate depths for earthquakes down to magnitude M_w = 4.7. This M_w threshold can be lowered to four if regional seismograms are used in conjunction with a calibrated velocity structure model to determine depth, with the relative amplitude of the P_nl waves to the surface waves and the interaction of regional sPmP and pPmP phases being good indicators of event depths. We also found that for deep events a seismic phase which follows an S-wave path to the surface and becomes critical, developing a head wave by S to P conversion is also indicative of depth. The detailed characteristic of this phase is controlled by the crustal waveguide. The key to calibrating regionalized crustal velocity structure is to determine depths for a set of master events by applying the above methods and then by modeling characteristic features that are recorded on the regional waveforms. The regionalization scheme can also incorporate mixed-path crustal waveguide models for cases in which seismic waves traverse two or more distinctly different crustal structures. We also demonstrate that once depths are established, we need only two-stations travel-time data to obtain reliable epicentral locations using a new adaptive grid-search technique which yields locations similar to those determined using travel-time data from local seismic networks with better azimuthal coverage.     

A scheme to set preferred magnitudes in the ISC Bulletin

One of the main purposes of the International Seismological Centre (ISC) is to collect, integrate and reprocess seismic bulletins provided by agencies around the world in order to produce the ISC Bulletin. This is regarded as the most comprehensive bulletin of the Earth’s seismicity, and its production is based on a unique cooperation in the seismological community that allows the ISC to complement the work of seismological agencies operating at global and/or local-regional scale. In addition, by using the seismic wave measurements provided by reporting agencies, the ISC computes, where possible, its own event locations and magnitudes such as short-period body wave m _b and surface wave M _S . Therefore, the ISC Bulletin contains the results of the reporting agencies as well as the ISC own solutions. Among the most used seismic event parameters listed in seismological bulletins, the event magnitude is of particular importance for characterizing a seismic event. The selection of a magnitude value (or multiple ones) for various research purposes or practical applications is not always a straightforward task for users of the ISC Bulletin and related products since a multitude of magnitude types is currently computed by seismological agencies (sometimes using different standards for the same magnitude type). Here, we describe a scheme that we intend to implement in routine ISC operations to mark the preferred magnitudes in order to help ISC users in the selection of events with magnitudes of their interest.     

基于多震相联合反演江苏地区一维速度模型研究

利用地震走时数据,采用联合反演方法获取了江苏地区的一维P波速度模型。与仅采用初至波走时的传统天然地震走时获取方法相比,该方法充分利用了大量存在的续至波参与反演,能有效改进中下地壳的反演能力。针对地震震相目录中常存在震相标识错误的问题,采用的自动判别筛选震相方法能最大限度提高数据走时的精度,可以对不同震相进行有效区分。与其他常用一维速度模型相比,本文反演的模型对Pg、Pn震相走时拟合效果最佳,残差最小。当所用走时数据拥有较高定位精度时,该反演方法能为研究区三维速度结构成像和地震定位提供较可靠的一维速度模型。     

东祁连山北缘断裂带基于深度学习的密集台阵地震事件快速检测与定位研究

为监测东祁连山北缘断裂带附近的地震活动性,布设包含240台短周期地震仪的面状密集台阵,进行约30 d的连续观测。首先使用基于深度学习的多台站地震事件检测算法（CNNDetector）进行地震事件检测,然后使用震相拾取网络（PhaseNet）对地震事件进行P波和S波到时拾取,其次使用震相关联算法（REAL）进行震相关联及初定位,最后使用双差定位（hypoDD）进行地震重定位,最终的精定位地震目录中共有517个地震。在密集台阵观测期间,中国地震台网正式地震目录中共有39个位于台阵内的地震事件,相比而言,密集台阵检测到大量小于0级的地震。因此通过布设密集台阵,可提高活动断裂微地震活动性的监测能力。与历史地震空间分布相比,密集台阵地震精定位分布具有较好的一致性,表现出更明显的线性分布特征。基于地震分布,发现研究区域存在与地表断层迹线走向不同的隐伏活跃断裂。     

Discrepancies in earthquake location between ISC and other agencies

The different operating requirements of the International Seismological Centre (ISC) from those of the National Earthquake Information Service of the US Geological Survey(NEIS), and of the prototype International Data Center to monitor the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (pIDC), result in some discrepancies between earthquake locations computed by the three agencies. For larger events recorded by many stations the differences are small, but for some smaller events differences in location of up to 20^° may occur. The largest discrepancies are found for small events in areas where later analysis by ISC has the benefit of additional readings from regional seismograph networks and where ISC has made a different interpretation of the station readingsavailable to pIDC and NEIS. We identify regions where such discrepancies occur most frequently, and give some examples for which the augmented data set of ISC has resulted in significant improvement for specific earthquakes. NEIS and, particularly, pIDC produce their results more speedily than ISC, and these form a valuable starting point for the later, more complete ISC analysis, which is commonly considered the most definitive compilation of global earthquake information.     

How Much Knowledge Has Been Obtained from an Earthquake?A Survey of Seismological Publications

We analyzed the International Seismoogical Center(ISC)catalogue of seismologil publicationsfrom 1980 to 1995 to investigate how much infonformation provided by an earithquake hes beenutilized to obtain a better undertanding of earthauakes and selsmic disaster.We sekect the ISCbulletin which has a wider coverage of seismological journals and languages than the ScientificCitation Index(SCI),so that there is less regional or language bias in the analysis.The earth-quakes in the catalogue span the period from 1975 to 1990.Papers which have direct relationwith an earthquake as defined by the ISC catalogue range from 1 to 10~2 in order of magni-tudes.The logarithm of the maximum number of papers on an earthquake is shown to be prop-ortional to the magnitude of the earthquake,which provides a possibility to define a“normali-zed impact strength”of an earthquake,so that earthquakes with different magnitudes can becompared with each other.Magnitude span of the earthquakes with a certain“impact strengthlevel”an     

汶川地震序列中较大深度余震的一种可能的直接观测证据

汶川地震序列中为数很少的深度大于30km的余震是否存在,对解释汶川地震的成因机制具有重要意义.本文分析了汶川地震序列中26个"恰好"发生在观测台站下方的小地震--"台下地震",利用这种地震与台站之间的特殊组合来确定这些地震的震源深度,以期为地震精确定位提供"GT事件".在这26个地震中,有两例的震源深度约36km,尽管仍与所采用的地壳结构模型有关,却也提供了深度大于30km的余震存在的直接证据.     

Using beamforming for the global network location

The aim of this study is the design and trial of a novel sparse network beamforming (NB) technique to improve earthquake location. For this purpose bulletin phase arrival time data were processed via the use of complex exponents form and then used in an optimization via grid-search to search for the maximum semblance in hypocenter space. The use of the robust semblance statistic, provides reliable location results. The NB location results for a set of test events were compared to standard iterative ISC location procedure “iscloc” and its prototype the Jeffreys maximum likelihood estimator. For this purpose a data-base of 139 reference ground-truth events was extracted from the catalog of the International Seismological Centre (ISC) (97 GT5 events, assumed earthquakes, and 42 GT0 nuclear tests). The tuned NB procedure has shown excellent location results for events with a “good” ISC location and demonstrated the large epicenter deviations have been decreased in “bad” cases. Further developments of the algorithm would include allowances for 3D earth structure and a priori site-specific information.     

Preliminary Discussion on the Implication of Determination of Source Depth of Earthquakes

In an earthquake catalog,the source depth of earthquakes is one of the most basic parameters; however it is also one of the most difficult to measure.The source depths in the PDE bulletin,the centroid depths from CMT inversion of USGS and Harvard University,and those obtained by depth phases of broadband waveform data are not equal to each other,and they are also have different meanings.Also,the depth obtained from broadband waveform modeling is another kind of depth of different a rupture "core." This paper preliminarily discusses the physical implication of the source depth of earthquakes with different measuring methods.     

2010年河南太康MS4.6地震序列震源参数的精确确定

精确确定地震的震源机制解、震源深度和序列的相对位置是地震危险性分析的重要基础.2010年10月24日和2011年3月8日,河南太康地区分别发生M_S4.6和M_S4.1显著地震,为分析该弱震、少震区的地震危险性,本文利用CAP方法反演了震源机制解和震源深度,并结合深度震相波形记录进一步确认了深度的可靠性.结果显示,两次地震的震源机制解较为接近,均以走滑为主,深度也均为13km左右.此外,以主震作为参考事件,采用主事件法对余震的水平位置进行了相对定位,定位结果显示余震空间上分布的走向分别与主震震源机制解两个节面走向大致相同.本文结果为研究当地地震危险性提供了一定依据.     

利用三维高斯射线束成像进行地震定位

常规的地震定位方法通常需要拾取地震记录的初至,当初至不明显或被较高水平的噪声淹没时精度较低.本文采用基于三维高斯射线束的偏移成像方法对震源进行定位,较好地解决了该问题.通过三维高斯射线束对台站记录进行偏移归位,并将各台站成像结果的交点作为地震能量释放的中心位置;当各台站成像结果不能交于一点时,采用三维空间高斯滤波方法可实现震源位置的自动获取.提出的变网格计算方案极大地减少了计算量,显著地提高了成像精度和计算效率.利用首都圈地震台网数据,对涿鹿、滦县以及房山三个地震事件进行试算,结果表明:基于变网格三维高斯束偏移成像的地震定位方法自动化程度很高,而且具有较好的抗噪能力,特别适合处理低信噪比资料的地震定位问题.     

2020年云南东川ML4.2地震序列精定位研究

利用云南东川地区10个宽频带流动台站的连续波形数据,采用基于深度学习的自动震相拾取方法和震相关联技术,对2020年东川M_L4.2地震序列分别进行绝对定位和相对定位,获得了该地震序列的高精度地震定位结果,得到东川M_L4.2地震序列的212个余震事件,约为中国地震台网目录给出的余震数目的5倍,丰富了M_L≤3.0余震;精定位结果表明东川M_L4.2主震震源深度为5.19 km,余震震源深度集中在3~6 km,余震序列分布长轴呈NNE向展布;此次地震发生在小江断裂带西支,发震构造与乌龙拉分盆地的构造演化有关。     

The seismotectonics of western Skagerrak

The seismically active Skagerrak region in the border area between Denmark and Norway has traditionally been associated with uncertain earthquake locations due to the limited station coverage in the region. A new seismic station in southern Norway and a recent update of the earthquake database of the Danish National Network have led to a much more complete and homogeneous data coverage of the Skagerrak area, giving the possibility of improved earthquake locations in the region. In this study, we relocate earthquakes in the Skagerrak area to obtain a more exact picture of the seismicity and investigate well-recorded events to determine the depth distribution. Hypocenter depths are found to be generally in the range 11–25 km. Furthermore, new composite focal mechanisms are determined for clusters of events with similar waveforms. Results indicate that the Skagerrak seismicity is associated with shallow, crustal faults oriented in the NS direction south of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone (STZ) as well as with the STZ itself. Mainly reverse faulting mechanisms along NE–SW oriented faults indicate maximum horizontal compression in the NW–SE direction. This is in agreement with World Stress Map generalizations, most likely associated with ridge push forces from the mid-Atlantic ridge, though modified probably by local crustal weaknesses.     

用成都数字遥测地震台网数字记录测定地震震级的初步分析

对比了成都遥测地震台网模拟记录、数字速度量、仿真记录、中国地震局分析预报中心速报所测定的震级之间的差异，并作了初步讨论。     

河南豫北地震台网地区波速的探讨

为了解决河南豫北地区地震的定位问题 ,对豫北台网内的 10个典型地震 ,使用了 7个地震台站的资料 ,用波速比求出横波速度 ;用和达定位法 (有的同时使用高桥法 )进行了精确定位 ,求出震源深度 ;测量了震中至各台的震中距 ,以此反算出了纵波速度。通过计算 ,确定出了较为适合河南豫北地震台网地区的波速。     

Contribution of Local Seismic Networks To The Regional Velocity Model of The Bohemian Massif

The routine location of regional seismic events using data from the Czech National Seismological Network (CNSN) is based on Pn, Pg, Sn, Sg phases. A simple velocity model derived from Kárník's (1953) interpretation of an earthquake in Northern Hungary in 1951 has hitherto been used. At present, numerous local seismic networks record and locate local events, which are occasionally recorded at regional distances as well. Due to the relatively small dimensions of local networks, hypocenters (and origin times) determined by a local network might be considered as nearly exact from the point of view of regional-scale CNSN. The comparison of common locations performed by CNSN and by a local network enables us to estimate the accuracy of CNSN locations, as well as to optimize a simple velocity model. The joint interpretation of the CNSN bulletin and the catalogues of four local seismic networks WEBNET, OSTRAVA, KLADNO and LUBIN produced a new ID velocity model. The most frequent epicentral error in this model is less than 5 km, and most foci lie up to 15 km from the true position. The performed analysis indicates bimodal distribution of Sn residuals.     

Regional minimum 1-D P-wave velocity model for a new seismicity catalogue with precise and consistent earthquake locations in southern Iran

For faster and more robust ray tracing in 1-D velocity models and also due to the lack of reliable 3-D models, most seismological centers use 1-D models for routine earthquake locations. In this study, as solution to the coupled hypocenter-velocity problem, we compute a regional P-wave velocity model for southern Iran that can be used for routine earthquake location and also a reference initial model for 3-D seismic tomography. The inversion process was based on travel time data from local earthquakes paired reports obtained by merging the catalogues of Iranian Seismic Center (IRSC, 6422 events) and by the Broadband Iranian National Seismic Network (BIN, 4333 events) for southern Iran in the period 2006 through July 2017. After cleaning the data set from large individual reading errors and by identifying event reports from both networks belonging to same earthquake (a process called event pairing), we obtained a data set of 1115 well-locatable events with a total number of 24,606 P-wave observations. This data set was used to calculate a regional minimum 1-D model for southern Iran as result of an extensive model search by trial-and-error process including several dozens of inversions. Significantly different from previous models, we find a smoothly increasing P-velocity by depth with velocities of 5.8 km/s at shallow and velocities of 6.4 km/s at deepest crustal levels. For well-locatable events, location uncertainties are estimated in the order of ±?3 km for epicenter and double this uncertainty for hypocentral depth. The use of the minimum 1-D model with appropriate station delays in routine hypocenter location processing will yield a high-quality seismic catalogue with consistent uncertainty estimates across the region and it will also allow detection of outlier observations. Based on the two catalogues by IRSC and BIN and using the minimum 1-D model and station delays for all stations in the region, we established a new combined earthquake catalogue for southern Iran. While the general distribution of the seismicity corresponds well with that of the two individual catalogues by IRSC and BIN, the new catalogue significantly enhances the correlation of seismicity with the regional fault systems within and between the major crustal blocks that as an assembly build this continental region. Furthermore, the unified seismic catalogue and the minimum 1-D model resulting from this study provide important ingredients for seismic hazard studies.     

The stress field in Australia from composite fault plane solutions of the strongest earthquakes in the continent

The purpose of this study is to make an estimate of the stress field in the Australian continent from composite fault plane solutions of the strongest events in the area. 21 seismic events with magnitude greater than 5.0 have been chosen from a database of 400 Australian earthquakes since 1902 for performing composite fault plane solutions. The choice is based on the availability of data for first P-wave arrivals. Using data from ISC bulletins we have calculated composite fault plane solutions for six major earthquake zones in the country. An individual fault plane solution for at least one event in each zone has been computed, too. The space distribution of the focal mechanisms confirms a dominant east-west compression stress in the continent, with different tilt in different areas. The main compression axes in the Tennant Creek area (Northern Australia) are with clear north-south direction. The general direction of the plate motion is north-northeast.