Identification of Earthquakes and Explosions Using Amplitude Ratios: The Vogtland Area Revisited

—?Identification of seismic events is a major scientific issue in the framework of verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Of special interest in this context is the identification of the numerous low-yield mining or blasting events, especially those occurring in the same area as earthquakes, such as the Vogtland area in the border region of Germany and the Czech Republic. Seismic events in this area were investigated by WÜSTER (1993, 1995), who achieved complete discrimination using measures of spectral decay and spectral variance at the GERESS array and a quadratic discrimination function.¶A subset of these events, for which ground-truth information is available, has been analyzed in this study using multivariate statistical analysis. Various parameters based on measurements from seismic waveforms of the broadband stations of the German Regional Seismic Network (GRSN) and short-period elements of the GERESS array are tested for statistical significance in a linear regression analysis, in particular spectral amplitude ratios for the L _g phase and P _g /S _g amplitude ratios. The subset includes a total of 35 explosions and 24 earthquakes. The results of our study argue that identification based on spectral L _g and high-frequency P _g /S _g ratios is promising. However, discrimination success is strongly varying from station to station; thus, weighting according to station success rates could improve the overall identification capability.     

Simultaneous inversion of velocity structures and hypocentral locations: Application to the Friuli seismic area NE Italy

A layeredP- andS-wave velocity model is obtained for the Friuli seismic area using the arrival time data ofP- andS-waves from local earthquakes. A damped least-squares method is applied in the inversion.The data used are 994P-wave arrival times for 177 events which have epicenters in the region covered by the Friuli seismic network operated by Osservatorio Geofisico sperimentale (OGS) di Trieste, which are jointly inverted for the earthquake hypocenters andP-wave velocity model. TheS-wave velocity model is estimated on the basis of 978S-wave arrival times and the hypocenters obtained from theP-wave arrival time inversion. We also applied an approach thatP- andS-wave arrival time data are jointly used in the inversion (Roecker, 1982). The results show thatS-wave velocity structures obtained from the two methods are quite consistent, butP-wave velocity structures have obvious differences. This is apparent becauseP-waves are more sensitive to the hypocentral location thanS-waves, and the reading errors ofS-wave arrival times, which are much larger than those ofP-waves, bring large location errors in the joint inversion ofP- andS-wave arrival time. The synthetic data tests indicated that when the reading errors ofS-wave arrivals are larger than four times that ofP-wave arrivals, the method proposed in this paper seems more valid thanP- andS-wave data joint inversion. Most of the relocated events occurred in the depth range between 7 and 11 km, just above the biggest jump in velocity. This jump might be related to the detachment line hypothesized byCarulli et al. (1982). From the invertedP- andS-wave velocities, we obtain an average value 1.82 forV _p /V _s in the first 16 km depth.     

Relations for local magnitude at seismic station Berggiesshübel

Summary New calibrating functions for the local magnitude M_L based on the maximum ratio of amplitude and period of the S_g - wave, the short-period surface wave and the duration of the whole seismogram and its part starting with the arrival of the S_g -wave recorded by the short-period vertical seismograph at Berggiesshübel (BRG) have been derived. The consistency of these magnitudes was tested for weak earthquakes and industrial blasts in the magnitude range of 1.7–3.5 and epicentral distances up to 80 km. Their differences were 0.2 of a magnitude unit at most, with the exception of the surface wave magnitudes which were systematic by about 0.9 of a magnitude unit greater. The calibrating function for the S_g - wave was compared with the functions for M_L(POT) and M_L(TRI) which were derived by other authors for several Central European seismic stations, including BRG.     

Comparison between different earthquake magnitudes determined by China Seismograph Network

By linear regression and orthogonal regression methods, comparisons are made between different magnitudes (lo-cal magnitude ML, surface wave magnitudes MS and MS7, long-period body wave magnitude mB and short-period body wave magnitude mb) determined by Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, on the basis of observation data collected by China Seismograph Network between 1983 and 2004. Empirical relations between different magnitudes have been obtained. The result shows that: 1 As different magnitude scales reflect radiated energy by seismic waves within different periods, earthquake magnitudes can be described more objectively by using different scales for earthquakes of different magnitudes. When the epicentral distance is less than 1 000 km, local magnitude ML can be a preferable scale; In case M<4.5, there is little difference between the magnitude scales; In case 4.5MS, i.e., MS underestimates magnitudes of such events, therefore, mB can be a better choice; In case M>6.0, MS>mB>mb, both mB and mb underestimate the magnitudes, so MS is a preferable scale for deter-mining magnitudes of such events (6.08.5, a saturation phenomenon appears in MS, which cannot give an accurate reflection of the magnitudes of such large events; 2 In China, when the epicentral distance is less than 1 000 km, there is almost no difference between ML and MS, and thus there is no need to convert be-tween the two magnitudes in practice; 3 Although MS and MS7 are both surface wave magnitudes, MS is in general greater than MS7 by 0.2~0.3 magnitude, because different instruments and calculation formulae are used; 4 mB is almost equal to mb for earthquakes around mB4.0, but mB is larger than mb for those of mB≥4.5, because the periods of seismic waves used for measuring mB and mb are different though the calculation formulae are the same.     

Teleseismic Lg of Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Explosions Recorded by the GRF (Gräfenberg) Array: Comparison with Regional Lg (BRV) and their Potential for Accurate Yield Estimation

—?A comparison of regional and teleseismic log rms (root-mean-square) L g amplitude measurements have been made for 14 underground nuclear explosions from the East Kazakh test site recorded both by the BRV (Borovoye) station in Kazakhstan and the GRF (Gräfenberg) array in Germany. The log rms L g amplitudes observed at the BRV regional station at a distance of 690?km and at the teleseismic GRF array at a distance exceeding 4700?km show very similar relative values (standard deviation 0.048 magnitude units) for underground explosions of different sizes at the Shagan River test site. This result as well as the comparison of BRV rms L g magnitudes (which were calculated from the log rms amplitudes using an appropriate calibration) with magnitude determinations for P waves of global seismic networks (standard deviation 0.054 magnitude units) point to a high precision in estimating the relative source sizes of explosions from L g-based single station data. Similar results were also obtained by other investigators (Patton, 1988; Ringdal et?al., 1992) using L g data from different stations at different distances.¶Additionally, GRF log rms L g and P-coda amplitude measurements were made for a larger data set from Novaya Zemlya and East Kazakh explosions, which were supplemented with m _b (L g) amplitude measurements using a modified version of Nuttli's (1973, 1986a) method. From this test of the relative performance of the three different magnitude scales, it was found that the L g and P-coda based magnitudes performed equally well, whereas the modified Nuttli m _b (L g) magnitudes show greater scatter when compared to the worldwide m _b reference magnitudes. Whether this result indicates that the rms amplitude measurements are superior to the zero-to-peak amplitude measurement of a single cycle used for the modified Nuttli method, however, cannot be finally assessed, since the calculated m _b (L g) magnitudes are only preliminary until appropriate attenuation corrections are available for the specific path to GRF.     

Crustal structure of the Peninsular India

Summary Earthquake parameters for the forty aftershocks of the main Koyna earthquake of 10 December, 1967, have been determined. Depths of the foci of the earthquakes have been found to vary between 2 to 17 km. The velocities for the phasesP _g ,P ^*,P _n have been observed to be 5.78±0.00, 6.58±0.04, 8.19±0.02 km/sec, and forS _g ,S ^*,S _n to be 3.42±0.00, 3.92±0.01 and 4.62±0.01 km/sec respectively. A two-layered crustal model has been interpreted for the Peninsular shield with the average thickness of the granitic layer as 20 km and that for the basaltic layer as 18.7 km. A plot of the epicenters suggests a NNE to SSW orientation of the fault.     

2017年九寨沟7.0级地震前不同级别地震空区的演化过程分析

结合传统地震学方法与数字地震学方法,回顾总结了日常分析预报中针对九寨沟7.0级地震开展的相关工作,梳理总结了地震前提出的甘东南地震异常信息,进一步讨论了九寨沟地震前中期、短期及临震异常特征。通过分析九寨沟7.0级地震之前区域范围内不同震级活动图像,发现甘青川交界地区5级空区在震前向震中一侧收缩、4级地震超长平静458天、3级空区在震前4天被打破的现象,同时发现,震中附近区域震源机制一致性较高,反映了震源区的高应力水平。     

Earth's rotation-triggered earthquakes before the 2018 MS5.7 Xingwen earthquake

For earthquakes (M_L≥2.0) that occurred from January 2006 to October 2018 around the M_S5.7 Xingwen earthquake occurred on 16 December 2018 in Xingwen, Sichuan province, China, we statistically investigated the correlation between the phase of Earth's rotation and the occurrence of earthquakes via Schuster's test to determine the signals that triggered earthquakes before the M_S5.7 Xingwen event. The results were evaluated based on the P-value where a smaller P-value corresponded to a higher correlation between the occurrence of an earthquake and Earth's rotation. We investigated the spatial distribution of P-values in the region around the epicenter of the M_S5.7 Xingwen event, and obtained a result exhibiting a extremely low-P-value region. The M_S5.7 event occurred inside near the northern boundary of this region. Furthermore, we analyzed the temporal evolution of P-values for earthquakes that occurred within the extremely low-P-value region and found that some extremely low P-values (less that 0.1%), i.e., significant correlation, were calculated for earthquakes that occurred before the M_S5.7 Xingwen earthquake. Among sixty-one earthquakes with the lowest P-value, occurred from May 2014 to April 2018, a vast majority of them occurred during the acceleration of Earth's rotation. The lower P-value obtained in this study reveals that the Xingwen source body probably was extremely unstable prior to the occurrence of the M_S5.7 Xingwen earthquake.     

Seismic Monitoring of Poland–Description and Results of Temporary Seismic Project with Mobile Seismic Network

The paper describes a temporary seismic project aimed at developing the national database of natural seismic activity for seismic hazard assessment, officially called “Monitoring of Seismic Hazard of Territory of Poland” (MSHTP). Due to low seismicity of Poland, the project was focused on events of magnitude range 1–3 in selected regions in order to maximize the chance of recording any natural event. The project used mobile seismic stations and was divided into two stages.Five-year measurements brought over one hundred natural seismic events of magnitudes M_L range 0.5–3.8. Most of them were located in the Podhale region in the Carpathians. Together with previously recorded events this made it possible to conduct a preliminary study on ground motion prediction equation for this region. Only one natural event, of magnitude M_L = 3.8, was recorded outside the Carpathians in a surprising location in central-west Poland.     

Inhibition Concentration of Phenolic Substances under Different Cultivation Conditions. Part I: Phenol Oxidation by Mixed Microbial Population in a Model System

The effects of oxygen supply rate and the presence or absence of nutrients on the kinetics of phenol degradation and oxygen consumption by a mixed microbial population were tested in a model system. The values for the maximum specific rate of phenol degradation (q_Smax), the saturation constant (K_S), and the inhibition concentration (S_CR) were determined for unlimited growth (K_La = 340 h^?1, growth medium) with 1.7 mmol g^?1 h^?1, 65 mg L^?1, and 190 mg L^?1. Under limitation conditions, alterations occur depending on the type of limitation. Nutrient limitations lead to values of 0.8 mmol g^?1 h^?1, 45 mg L^?1, and 160 mg L^?1, and oxygen limitations lead to 1.2 mmol g^?1 h^?1. 30 mg L^?1, and 120 mg L^?1, respectively. The results suggest that with excess oxygen, the rate of phenol degradation was higher and the inhibition effect of phenol was suppressed to some extent. Under the same high oxygen supply rate, the presence of nutrients in the model water significantly supported the phenol degradation rate.     

On the seismic phasesP n andS n as recorded in Fennoscandia

Summary P _n velocities determined from seismic refraction measurements, show significant differences between Southern Finland (7.96 km/sec) and Southeastern Norway (8.20 km/sec). TheP _n/S_n velocity ratios (k) were determined from earthquake and explosion data, and the observed variation ofk indicates lateral variations in theP _n and/orS _n velocities in Fennoscandia.     

Seismic Location Calibration of the European Arctic

—?A crustal velocity model has been developed for Fennoscandia, the Baltic shield and adjacent areas. This model represents a simplified average of various models developed for parts of this region. We show that P-wave travel times calculated with this model provide an excellent fit to observations at the Fennoscandian, KRSC and IRIS station networks for a set of seismic events with known or very well-constrained locations. The station-event paths cover large parts of Western Russia and the Barents Sea, thus indicating that this model, which we denote the Barents model, is appropriate for this entire region. We show by examples that significant improvements in event location precision can be achieved compared to using the IASPEI model. We finally use the Barents model to calculate locations of recent small seismic events in the Novaya Zemlya region of interest in a CTBT monitoring context.     

Magnitude scaling relationships from the first 3 s of P-wave arrivals in South Korea

Two empirical magnitude scaling relationships, predominant period (t_p^max{\tau _p^{\max}}) and peak ground displacement (Pd) magnitudes, were investigated for the first 3 s after P-wave arrivals using 1,412 vertical waveforms recorded by the Korea National Seismic Network (KNSN) between 2001 and 2007. To evaluate the accuracy of the derived magnitude relationships, we simulated off-line ElarmS tests using 65 events occurring inside the KNSN. While the average magnitude error was ∼0.70 magnitude units when using only the closest station to the epicentre, the error dropped to ∼0.62 and ∼0.42 magnitude units when using the closest two and closest four stations, respectively. For events M _L ≥ 3.0, the average magnitude error was ∼0.33 and showed stable values when the closest four stations were available. Our magnitude scaling relationships may be useful for initial work in developing an earthquake early warning system in South Korea.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> 3.1–4.7 earthquakes in the southern Baltic Sea and adjacent areas in 2000, 2001 and 2004

The area south and east of the Baltic Sea has very minor seismic activity. However, occasional events occur as illustrated by four events in recent years, which are analysed in this study: near Wittenburg, Germany, on May 19, 2000, M _w = 3.1, near Rostock, Germany, on July 21, 2001, M _w = 3.4 and in the Kaliningrad area, Russia, two events on September 21, 2004 with M _w = 4.6 and 4.7. Locations, magnitudes (M _L and M _w) and focal mechanisms were determined for the two events in Germany. Synthetic modeling resulted in a well-confined focal depth for the Kaliningrad events. The inversion of macroseismic observations provided simultaneous solutions of the location, focal depth and epicentral intensity. The maximum horizontal compressive stress orientations obtained from focal mechanism solutions, approximately N–S for the two German events and NNW–SSE for the Kaliningrad events, show a good agreement with the regionally oriented crustal stress field.     

Variations in the upper mantle structure as derived fromP n andS n waves

Summary Observed travel-times ofP _n andS _n waves are used to determine the ratio ofP _n toS _n velocities, Poisson's ratio and the ratio of incompressibility to shear modulus for Europe, Japan, North America and Scandinavia. The analysis of the data reveals that theP _n toS _n velocity ratio decreases when theP _n velocity increases for Scandinavia and North America, while the velocity ratio increases when theP _n velocity increases for Europe and Japan.     

STA/LTA—AIC算法对地震P波震相拾取稳定性影响

选取区域地震台网记录的地震波形数据,使用STA/LTA算法与STA/LTA—AIC算法,进行地震P波震相初至到时自动拾取,对地方震及震中距较大的震相进行P波震相拾取效果分析,发现:STA/LTA算法对于地方震P波震相识别精度较高,与STA/LTA—AIC算法拾取的P波震相初至到时相差不大;震中距变大后,STA/LTA算法对P波拾取位置相对于最佳位置向后延迟,STA/LTA—AIC算法有效矫正了STA/LTA算法拾取位置的延迟问题,与人工拾取位置差别可忽略不计。     

Statistical tests for regional seismic phase characterizations

In seismic analysis some assumptions are often made aboutthe data, e.g. stationarity and Gaussianity. This is not obvious for all realseismic data. Here, we use statistical tests for characterization of regionalseismic data. We apply tests for stationarity, symmetry, linearity, andtime-reversibility. In the analysis we use twelve regional seismic events inFennoscandia recorded with the seismic small-aperture arrays NORESS,ARCESS and FINESA at hypocentral distances in the range from 160 to1580 km. For the tests we use the regional phases Pn, secondary P, Sn and Lg-phases and the preceding noise. Two of the eventsare explosions, two are rockbursts and eight are earthquakes. Theperformance and possibilities of using statistical tests based on bispectra, asa complementary tool for conventional analysis of seismic phases isdemonstrated. The preceding noise recorded before the first onset of theP-wave for the twelve events is tested to be spatially stationarybetween each channel within each array and temporal stationary in 21consecutive time windows of 3.2 sec each. Also, the preceding noise issymmetric and linear. The seismic phases defined by the symmetry test asnon-Gaussian (not symmetric) are all linear. This means a linear model canbe used to characterize both the noise and the phases. The first P-phase for the two explosions is characterized as non-Gaussian at thethree arrays. For all 36 possibly first P-phase arrivals at the three arraystations, 23 are non-Gaussian. The second P-phase is non-Gaussian at13 of 36 data records, the S-phase at eleven of 36 and the Lg-phase at nine of 36. For all the four phases more than 32 of possible36 are time-reversible.     

Radiative characteristics in a Japanese forested drainage basin during snowmelt

Radiative characteristics in a forested drainage basin during the snowmelt season were examined in order to better understand and predict snowmelt runoff in the basin. A method for estimating net radiation in a forest (R_nf) was presented using the total sky view factor (P) and the sun path sky view factor (Q). Solar radiation, albedo, atmospheric radiation and air temperature observed at an open site were also required. The total and the sun path sky view factors were determined from all‐sky photographs. Q was expressed as a linear function of P for 0·15<P<0·86 regardless of forest type. For P<0·15, Q was set to zero, and for P>0·86, Q was equal to unity. The short‐wave radiation budget at the forest floor (S_nf) increased with P, whereas the long‐wave radiation budget (L_nf) decreased with P. R_nf increased with P for 0·15<P<0·86, and changed little with P for P<0·15 and P>0·86, as the increase in S_nf was offset by the decrease in L_nf . The forest effect on R_nf was diminished under cloudy or high albedo conditions, because S_nf was easily offset by L_nf . This estimation method was extended to the whole basin, and R_nf was obtained over a watershed covered by trees. At the beginning of the snowmelt season when the albedo remained high, the forest effect became null because the decrease in S_nf was balanced by the increase in L_nf . As the albedo gradually lowered with the advance of the snowmelt season, the decrease in S_nf owing to forest covers exceeded the increase in L_nf , and the forest effect to decrease R_nf became evident. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Body-wave Attenuation in the Region of Garda, Italy

We analyzed the spectral amplitude decay with hypocentral distance of P and S waves generated by 76 small magnitude earthquakes (M_L 0.9–3.8) located in the Garda region, Central-Eastern Alps, Italy. These events were recorded by 18 stations with velocity sensors, in a distance range between 8 and 120 km. We calculated nonparametric attenuation functions (NAF) and estimated the quality factor Q of both body waves at 17 different frequencies between 2 and 25 Hz. Assuming a homogeneous model we found that the Q frequency dependence of P and S can be approximated with the functions Q _P = 65 f ^0.9 and Q _S = 160 f ^0.6 , respectively. At 2 Hz the Q _S /Q _P ratio reaches the highest value of 2.8. At higher frequencies Q _S /Q _P varies between 0.7 and 1.7, suggesting that for this frequency band scattering may be an important attenuation mechanism in the region of Garda. To explore the variation of Q in depth, we estimated Q at short (r ≤ 30 km) and intermediate (35–90 km) distance paths. We found that in the shallow crust P waves attenuate more than S (1.3 < Q _S /Q _P < 2.5). Moreover, P waves traveling along paths in the lower crust (depths approximately greater than 30 km) attenuate more than S waves. To quantify the observed variability of Q in depth we considered a three-layer model and inverted the NAF to estimate Q in each layer. We found that in the crust Q increases with depth. However, in the upper mantle (~40–50 km depth) Q decreases and in particular the high frequency Q _S (f > 9 Hz) has values similar to those estimated for the shallow layer of the crust.     

A crust-mantle model for the NORSAR area

Summary Elastic waves from explosions were recorded at NORSAR and at a number of field stations, and the data were used for determining a crust-mantle model under the array. The number of explosions was eleven distributed on seven shot points. The total number of recording points was fifty-one, and the interpretation was based on 350 individual records.The velocities obtained for the crustal phases were 6.2, 6.6 and 8.2 km/sec for theP _g ,P _g andP _n waves respectively. A deep crustal phase with a velocity of about 7.4 km/sec was observed. The mean depths to the discontinuities within the crust were determined to be 17 and 26 km. The depth to Moho varied greatly across the array from 31.5 km in the central part to 38 km under the C-ring. The maximum dip observed for the Moho was 12^o.Contribution No. 57 to Norwegian Geotraverse Project.