Decomposition of seismic moment tensors for underground nuclear explosions

Generally the decomposition of a seismic moment tensor is not unique. However, to favorably view the characteristics of a certain seismic source, one must decompose a seismic moment tensor into parts according to assumptions about the properties of the seismic source. Different from natural earthquakes in which the shear dislocation component plays a predominant role in the source process, and the seismic moment tensor can be separated into an isotropic component, a double couple, and a compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD), underground nuclear explosions have three major components in their source process, i.e., the explosion, the tensional spalling, and the tectonic strain release associated with the explosion. In such a situation the conventional moment tensor decomposition for earthquakes is not convenient to estimate the yield of the explosion and to characterize the tectonic strain release. In this paper, an alternative decomposition scheme is proposed to deal with the moment tensor of underground nuclear explosions, which might benefit the approach to study the tectonic strain release induced by underground nuclear detonations.     

Isotropic and Nonisotropic Components of Earthquakes and Nuclear Explosions on the Lop Nor Test Site, China

—?We test the hypothesis that the existence of an observable non-zero isotropic component of seismic moment can be used as a discriminant to distinguish nuclear explosions from shallow earthquakes. We do this by applying the method described herein to a small set of data recorded between 1990 and 1996 following events (seven nuclear explosions, three earthquakes) that occurred on the Lop Nor test site in Western China. We represent each source as a sum of an isotropic component at the surface and a nonisotropic, double-couple component at an estimated depth. The explosions all possess a significant non-zero isotropic component and the estimated depth of the double-couple component of the moment tensor, presumably the result of tectonic release, lies between about 0 and 3?km. For the earthquakes studied, the isotropic component is indistinguishable from zero and the depths of the sources are estimated at 3, 17 and 31?km. The data set we have studied, although still very small, suggests that certain source characteristics (namely, double-couple depth and the ratio of the isotropic to nonisotropic components of seismic moment) may prove useful in discriminating explosions from shallow earthquakes. Further work is needed to determine whether these observations hold for explosions at other test sites, to investigate a much larger set of shallow earthquakes located in regions of interest, and to study the robustness of the estimated source parameters as source magnitude and the number of observing stations decrease.     

Tectonic analysis of mine tremor mechanisms from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin

Fault network of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) is built of sets of strike-slip, oblique-slip and dip-slip faults. It is a typical product of force couple which acts evenly with the parallel of latitude, causing horizontal and anti-clockwise movement of rock-mass. Earlier research of focal mechanisms of mine tremors, using a standard fault plane solution, has shown that some events are related to tectonic directions in main structural units of the USCB. An attempt was undertaken to analyze the records of mine tremors from the period 1992–1994 in the selected coal fields. The digital records of about 200 mine tremors with energy larger than 1×10⁴ J (M _L >1.23) were analyzed with SMT software for seismic moment tensor inversion. The decomposition of seismic moment tensor of mine tremors was segmented into isotropic (I) part, compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD) part and double-couple (DC) part. The DC part is prevalent (up to 70%) in the majority of quakes from the central region of the USCB. A group of mine tremors with large I element (up to 50%) can also be observed. The spatial orientation of the fault and auxiliary planes were obtained from the computations for the seismic moment DC part. Study of the DC part of the seismic moment tensor made it possible for us to separate the group of events which might be acknowledged to have their origin in unstable energy release on surfaces of faults forming a regional structural pattern. The possible influence of the Cainozoic tectonic history of the USCB on the recent shape of stress field is discussed.     

On the observability of isotropic seismic sources: The July 31, 1970 Colombian earthquake

Theoretical calculations are made to study the observability of isotropic components of seismic sources. In particular we consider the 1970 deep Colombian earthquake, for which a precursory isotropic component was previously reported by Gilbert and Dziewonski.We compare an ultra-long period vertical record at Pasadena of the 1970 event to synthetic seismograms calculated both for Gilbert and Dziewonski's source model and for the pure double-couple source of Furumoto and Fukao, and obtain better overall agreement for the latter. The amplitude of the long-period synthetic for the isotropic source is about 5–15 times smaller than the synthetic for the deviatoric source, suggesting that the data may be relatively insensitive to the presence of a small isotropic source. When this possibility was tested, the overall agreement was found to be almost completely insensitive to the presence of even a reasonably large isotropic component.However, the isotropic source was derived from multi-station moment tensor inversion, rather than from single-station studies. A numerical experiment on the effect of lateral heterogeneity of eigenfrequencies and of Q on the inversion for the moment tensor shows that even relatively small amounts of heterogeneity can produce spurious isotropic sources from moment tensor inversion.     

2013、2016年两次朝鲜核试验P波和面波信号幅值比差异的观测与分析

2016年1月6日,朝鲜再次进行了地下核试验.和上次2013核试验相比,此次试验震中位置接近,不同震相的平均幅值比却表现出明显的差异：在短周期P波幅值减小的情况下,长周期Rayleigh面波幅值增强,Love面波幅值减小.这给判断两次试验当量的相对大小带来了困难.本文在给出两次试验短周期P波和长周期面波幅值比测量结果的基础上,从地下核爆炸震源机制的角度对观测现象进行分析解释.研究结果表明,虽然各种形式的构造应力源都可以很好地拟合单次试验的长周期面波资料,但只有逆断层形式的构造应力释放能够解释两次试验不同震相幅值比差异现象.这是关于朝鲜核试验震源机制的一个新的发现,对于认识其震源性质具有重要意义.     

2004年首都圈地区中小地震的矩张量反演

通过首都圈地区宽频带数字地震波形反演, 获得了2004年发生在该地区的51次中小地震的矩张量解, 由此确定了这些地震的标量地震矩、 矩震级、 双力偶分量和补偿线性矢量偶极分量的大小以及断层面参数和应力轴参数, 并通过数值试验对反演结果进行了评价.      

Moment tensor inversion of small to moderate earthquakes in the Capital Region in 2004

The moment tensor solutions of 51 small to moderate earthquakes occurred in the Capital Region in the year of 2004 are obtained by inverting the broadband waveform data. Accordingly, other source parameters, such as scalar seismic moments, moment magnitudes, double-couple （DC） components and compensated-linear-vector-dipole （CLVD） components, are determined as well as fault parameters and stress-axis parameters. The inverted results are evaluated by groups of numerical tests.     

地震震源运动学参数获取方法研究进展

本文基于从简单到复杂的各向同性点源模型、质心矩张量模型、有限矩张量模型和有限震源滑动分布模型4种震源运动学模型,概述了相应的研究进展.     

Moment Tensor Solutions and Triggering Environment for Earthquakes in Koyna-Warna Water Reservoirs Region,India

We consider nine earthquakes in the Koyna-Warna reservoir region on the western side of the Peninsular India. The deviatoric moment tensors of these earthquakes have been evaluated by minimizing the least-squares misfit between observed and synthetic seismograms. We use broadband seismograms of observatories at KARD and PUNE which are at distances of nearly 50 and 150 km, respectively, from the epicenters. Both surface wave inversion and the difference between the arrival times of SH and SV show the presence of an anisotropic crust. However, we have obtained an equivalent isotropic structure by improving the published crustal structures of this area through inversion of surface wave group velocity data. The deviatoric moment tensors of the earthquakes are decomposed into two components: double-couple and compensated linear vector dipoles (CLVD). The double-couple components of all the nine earthquakes show normal faulting with minor strike slip; the T axis is consistently subhorizontal with an average azimuth of 260.6° and the P axis is nearly vertical. The fault planes of six events give average strike direction and dip, respectively as 194.0° and 51.8° and are associated with the main fault of the area. The other three events lie in the southern part of this area and have strike direction between SSE and SE which is parallel to the tectonic features in this part. The CLVD component is generally within 20 percent of the total moment tensor. Recent studies show that anisotropy can produce source mechanism with CLVD up to 30 percent and can also cause high pore fluid pressure leading to fault instability more rapidly compared to conventional mechanism in an isotropic medium. It appears that the anisotropic crust, noted in the present work, is generating the CLVD component and also gives the proper environment to trigger earthquakes by reservoirs through pore fluid pressure.     

Waveform inversion and analysis of an unusual earthquake swarm in the Boshan mining area,Shandong Province,China

Moment tensor solutions were retrieved for the earthquake swarm that occurred during November and December 2010 in the Boshan mining area, Shandong Province, China. The results showed that the double-couple components in the source mechanisms were higher at the beginning of the swarm and consisted mainly of shear faulting controlled by tectonic stress. The subsequent events had significant non-double-couple components, indicating tensile faulting. The double-couple components predominately presented as normal faulting and the P axes were orientated almost vertically. The slip vectors of the swarm events were relatively stable. With reference to the tectonic features near the epicenter, we concluded that the swarm was a result of subordinate fault motion related to the Wangmu Mountain fault and that high-pressure pore fluids played a crucial role in the activity of the earthquake swarm.     

Full moment tensor inversion constrained by double-couple focal mechanism for induced seismicity*

In this study, we propose a new method to determine full moment tensor solution for induced seismicity. This method generalizes the full waveform matching algorithm we have developed to determine the double-couple (DC) focal mechanism based on the neighbourhood algorithm. One major difference between the new method and the former one is that we adopt a new misfit function to constrain the candidate moment tensor solutions with respect to a reference DC solution in addition to other misfit terms characterizing the waveform matching. Through synthetic tests using a real passive seismic survey geometry, the results show the new constraint can help better recover the DC components of inverted moment tensors. We further investigate how errors in the velocity model and source location affect the moment tensor solution. The synthetic test results indicate that the constrained inversion is robust in recovering both the DC and non-DC components. We also test the proposed method on several real induced events in an oil/gas field in Oman using the same observation system as synthetic tests. While it is found that the full moment tensor solutions without using the DC constraints have much larger non-DC components than solutions with the DC constraints, both solutions are able to fit the observed waveforms at similar levels. The synthetic and real test results suggest the proposed DC constrained inversion method can reliably retrieve full moment tensor solutions for the induced seismicity.     

岩石损伤对地下核爆炸震源特性影响研究

本文在考虑动态力源扰动的情况下,对岩石损伤对地震波辐射的影响及其震源表示进行了理论推导,证明了当有动态力源存在时,Ben-Zion和Ampuero于2009年给出的结果只是岩石非弹性响应对震源及相应地震波场的贡献,而非其全部.在此基础上,应用相关结果对岩石损伤破坏对地下核爆炸震源成分的影响进行了分析,给出了地下核爆炸情况下补偿线性偶极子源和构造应力释放与岩石损伤破坏之间的关系.结果表明,地下核爆炸补偿线性偶极子源主要来自于地表反射拉伸波和空腔回弹冲击波等造成的爆心上方锥形区域中的岩石破坏,而构造应力释放则主要来自于整个岩石破坏区内的构造应力松弛.      

各向异性ATI介质剪切位错源地震矩张量

考虑震源区为各向异性ATI介质情形下,给出了剪切位错源地震矩张量解析表达式并模拟了震源区各向异性对双力偶分量(DC)、补偿线性偶极子分量(CLVD)和各向同性分量(ISO)的影响,结果表明,即使剪切位错源仍能产生非双力偶各向同性分量,其导致沿着ATI介质对称轴方向体积变化;当断层面位于ATI介质对称平面或者震源区为各向...     

2013年南斯科舍海岭MW7.8地震的多点震源机制反演

2013年11月17日,在南极南奥克尼群岛北、南极板块与斯科舍板块之间发生了一次M_W7.8级地震（2013年南斯科舍海岭M_W7.8地震）,我们利用全球分布的长周期和宽频带地震记录反演确定了这次地震随时间和空间变化的震源机制,验证了提出的一种多点震源机制反演的新方法.首先利用长周期记录的W震相反演了这次地震的矩心矩张量解并利用体波提取了视震源时间函数,同时利用台阵反投影技术从宽频带记录中获得了这次地震的高频源的时空分布,然后基于矩心矩张量解、视震源时间函数以及高频源的时空分布,实现了采用新方法对2013年南斯科舍海岭M_W7.8地震的多点震源机制反演.矩心矩张量解表明,地震矩心在44.50°W/60.18°S,矩心深度19 km,半持续时间49 s,释放标量地震矩4.71×10²⁰ N·m,发震断层走向104°,倾角54°,滑动角8°.视震源时间函数清楚地揭示了地震矩随时间变化的方位依赖性,总体上可以将时间过程分为前60 s和后50 s两个阶段,但前60 s可细分为两次子事件.根据台阵反投影结果,这次地震为沿海沟从西到东的单侧破裂,破裂长度达311 km,可以分为5次子事件,能量释放的峰值点依次为13 s、30 s、51 s、64 s和84 s,平均破裂速度分别为0.6 km·s^-1、2.6 km·s^-1、2.3 km·s^-1、2.8 km·s^-1和3 km·s^-1.多点震源机制反演显示,5次子事件的矩震级分别为M_W7.57,M_W7.48,M_W6.80,M_W7.53和M_W7.08,半持续时间依次为21 s,17 s,6 s,16 s和8 s,走向分别为95°,105°,81°,98°和98°,倾角依次为57°,49°,86°,46°和64°,滑动角-9°,1°,-17°,13°和-4°.这些在震源机制、能量释放以及持续时间方面的变化都是当地构造和应力环境复杂性的反映.     

Source process of the 1990 Gonghe,China, earthquake and tectonic stress field in the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) plateau

TheM _s =6.9 Gonghe, China, earthquake of April 26, 1990 is the largest earthquake to have been documented historically as well as recorded instrumentally in the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) plateau. The source process of this earthquake and the tectonic stress field in the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang plateau are investigated using geodetic and seismic data. The leveling data are used to invert the focal mechanism, the shape of the slipped region and the slip distribution on the fault plane. It is obtained through inversion of the leveling data that this earthquake was caused by a mainly reverse dip-slipping buried fault with strike 102°, dip 46° to SSW, rake 86° and a seismic moment of 9,4×10¹⁸ Nm. The stress drop, strain and energy released for this earthquake are estimated to be 4.9 MPa, 7.4×10^–5 and 7.0×10¹⁴ J, respectively. The slip distributes in a region slightly deep from NWW to SEE, with two nuclei, i.e., knots with highly concentrated slip, located in a shallower depth in the NWW and a deeper depth in the SEE, respectively.Broadband body waves data recorded by the China Digital Seismograph Network (CDSN) for the Gonghe earthquake are used to retrieve the source process of the earthquakes. It is found through moment-tensor inversion that theM _s =6.9 main shock is a complex rupture process dominated by shear faulting with scalar seismic moment of the best double-couple of 9.4×10¹⁸ Nm, which is identical to the seismic moment determined from leveling data. The moment rate tensor functions reveal that this earthquake consists of three consecutive events. The first event, with a scalar seismic moment of 4.7×10¹⁸ Nm, occurred between 0–12 s, and has a focal mechanism similar to that inverted from leveling data. The second event, with a smaller seismic moment of 2.1×10¹⁸ Nm, occurred between 12–31 s, and has a variable focal mechanism. The third event, with a sealar seismic moment of 2.5×10¹⁸ Nm, occurred between 31–41 s, and has a focal mechanism similar to that inverted from leveling data. The strike of the 1990 Gonghe earthquake, and the significantly reverse dip-slip with minor left-lateral strike-slip motion suggest that the pressure axis of the tectonic stress field in the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang plateau is close to horizontal and oriented NNE to SSW, consistent with the relative collision motion between the Indian and Eurasian plates. The predominant thrust mechanism and the complexity in the tempo-spatial rupture process of the Gonghe earthquake, as revealed by the geodetic and seismic data, is generally consistent with the overall distribution of isoseismals, aftershock seismicity and the geometry of intersecting faults structure in the Gonghe basin of the northeastern Qinghai-Xizang plateau.Contribution No. 96 B0006 Institute of Geophysics, State Seismological Bureau, Beijing, China.     

Do some shallow earthquakes have a tensile source component?

The laboratory tests carried out in studying shear and tensile seismogenic displacements occurring in compressed samples, led us to search for earthquakes with a tensile source component. To determine this component in the seismic focus, a special procedure based on the construction of radiation patterns of the combined shear-tensile type is introduced.The criteria for selecting the events produced by the combined source mechanism are listed, and their limitations are mentioned. From the seismic zones with good azimuthal distribution of stations in the world seismic network nine earthquakes which occurred in the 6-year period 1976–1981 were analyzed; for these events better agreement of the observed and theoretical patterns was found for the combined shear-tensile source mechanism than for the pure double-couple mechanism. However, the share of the tensile component was always, found to be relatively small, ranging from 1 to 13 percent of the shear component. The comparison of the two solutions (double-couple vs. combined shear/tensile) is based on the first onset signs statistics.The results obtained indicate that tensile fracturing does not play a substantial role in the total amount of released seismic energy; on the orther hand, it is expected to be more important in the creation and development of focal zone morphology from both the instantaneous and long-term point of view.     

On the possibility of detecting complex sources of earthquakes from data of the centroid moment tensor catalog

In their analysis of the crustal stress-strain state and the study of strong earthquake sources, a number of authors use the parameter ? measuring the deviation of the focal mechanism from the double-couple model. Can one obtain reliable estimates of ? from regular determinations of the seismic moment tensor components made at world seismological centers and use these estimates to gain constraints on the rupture at the source? Comparing centroid moment tensor solutions of Harvard University with determinations made at the National Earthquake Information Center (United States) and analyzing some strong earthquakes, we arrive at a negative answer to this question. The values of ? and the consideration of determination uncertainties in seismic moment tensor components cannot provide a reliable idea of the source complexity, so that independent geological and geophysical information should be invoked.     

Three Decades of Seismic Activity at Mt. Vesuvius: 1972–2000

We analyse the seismic catalogue of the local earthquakes which occurred at Somma-Vesuvius volcano in the past three decades (1972–2000). The seismicity in this period can be described as composed of a background level, characterised by a low and rather uniform rate of energy release and by sporadic periods of increased seismic activity. Such relatively intense seismicity periods are characterised by energy rates and magnitudes progressively increasing in the critical periods. The analysis of the b value in the whole period evidences a well-defined pattern, with values of b progressively decreasing, from about 1.8 at the beginning of the considered period, to about 1.0 at present. This steady variation indicates an increasing dynamics in the volcanic system. Within this general trend it is possible to identify a substructure in the time sequence of the seismic events, formed by the alternating episodes of quiescence and activity. The analysis of the source moment tensor of the largest earthquakes shows that the processes at the seismic source are generally not consistent with simple double-couples, but that they are compatible with isotropic components, mostly indicating volumetric expansion. These components are shown to be statistically significant for most of the analysed events. Such focal mechanisms can be interpreted as the effect of explosion phenomena, possibly related to volatile exsolution from the crystallising magma. The availability of a reduced amount of high quality data necessary for the inversion of the source moment tensor, the still limited period of systematic observation of Vesuvius micro-earthquakes and, above all, the absence of eruptive events during such interval of time, cannot obviously permit the outlining of any formal premonitory signal. Nevertheless, the analysis reported in this paper indicates a progressively evolving dynamics, characterised by a generally increasing trend in the seismic activity in the volcanic system and by a significant volumetric component of recent major events, thus posing serious concern for a future evolution towards eruptive activity.     

2007年甘肃部分地震的震源参数反演

2007年甘肃测震台网记录到M_L>3.0的地震43次,本文选取了其中17例,利用垂直向PG波初动波形进行了地震矩张量反演,给出了最佳双力偶解,并对一些地震发震背景和发震机理进行了分析讨论.对地震机理研究及未来地震预报提供了参考依据.     

Use of long-period surface waves for rapid determination of earthquake-source parameters

A method for rapid retrieval of earthquake-source parameters from long-period surface waves is developed. With this method, the fault geometry and seismic moment can be determined immediately after the surface wave records have been retrieved. Hence, it may be utilized for warning of tsunamis in real time. The surface wave spectra are inverted to produce either a seismic moment tensor (linear) or a fault model (nonlinear). The method has been tested by using the IDA (International Deployment of Accelerographs) records. With these records the method works well for the events larger than M_s = 6, and is useful for investigating the nature of slow earthquakes.For events deeper than 30 km, all of the five moment tensor elements can be determined. For very shallow events (d ? 30 km) the inversion becomes ill-conditioned and two of the five source moment tensor elements become unresolvable. This difficulty is circumvented by a two-step inversion. In the first step, the unresolvable elements are constrained to be zero to yield a first approximation. In the second step, additional geological and geophysical data are incorporated to improve the first approximation. The effect of the source finiteness is also included.