Source parameters and stress release of seismic sequences occurred in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia

The source parameters of the major events of a swarm and of two seismic sequences, occurred in the Friuli area (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia, were estimated. The Claut swarm (C96) occurred since the end of January to June 1996, with a M_D 4.3 major shock and it appears composed of three sub-sequences. The two sequences are the Kobarid sequence (K98) started on April 12, 1998 with a M_D 5.6 mainshock and the M.te Sernio (S02) sequence caused by the February 14, 2002 earthquake (M_D = 4.9). Acceleration and velocity data recorded by the local seismic network of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimenale (OGS) and corrected for attenuation, were employed to estimate seismic moments and radiated energies. Source dimensions were inferred from the computed corner frequencies and the stress release was estimated from the Brune stress drop, the apparent stress and the RMS stress drop. On the whole, seismic moments range from 1.7 × 10¹² to 1.1 × 10¹⁷ N m, and radiated energies are in the range 10⁶–10¹³ J. Brune stress drops are scattered and do not show any evidence of a self-similarity breakdown for sources down to 130 m radius. The radiated seismic energy scales as a function of seismic moment, with a slope of the scaling relation that decreases for increasing seismic moments.The mechanism of stress release was analyzed by computing the ɛ parameter of Zuniga [Zuniga, R., 1993. Frictional overshoot and partial stress drop. Which one? Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 83, 939–944]. The K98 and S02 sequences are characterized by a wide range of the ɛ parameter with stress drop mechanism varying from partial locking to overshoot cases. The ɛ values of the C96 swarm are more homogeneous and close to the Orowan's condition. The radiated seismic energy and the ratio of stress drop between mainshock and aftershocks appear different among the analyzed cases. We therefore investigated the relationship between the stress parameters of the main shock and the energy radiated by the aftershock sequences. For this purpose, we also estimated the source parameters of two other sequences occurred in the area, with mainshocks of M_D 4.1 and 5.1, respectively. We found a positive correlation between the Brune stress drop of the mainshock and the ratio between the radiated energy of the mainshock and the summation of the energies radiated by the aftershocks.     

Constraints on rupture speed of the 2001 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript> 8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake by co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements based on the slip-weakening mechanism with frictional undershoot involved

With co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements provided by the field observation for the 2001 M_S8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake, this paper estimates the rupture speed on the main faulting segment with a long straight fault trace on the surface based on a simple slip-weakening rupture model, in which the frictional overshoot or undershoot are involved in consideration of energy partition during the earthquake faulting. In contrast to the study of Bouchon and Vallée, in which the rupture propagation along the main fault could exceed the local shear-wave speed, perhaps reach the P-wave speed on a certain section of fault, our results show that, under a slip-weakening assumption combined with a frictional undershoot (partial stress drop model), average rupture speed should be equal to or less than the Rayleigh wave speed with a high seismic radiation efficiency, which is consistent with the result derived by waveform inversion and the result estimated from source stress field. Associated with the surface rupture mechanism, such as partial stress drop (frictional undershoot) associated with the apparent stress, an alternative rupture mechanism based on the slip-weakening model has also been discussed.     

Constraints on rupture speed of the 2001 M S 8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake by co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements based on the slip-weakening mechanism with frictional undershoot involved

With co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements provided by the field observation for the 2001 MS8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake, this paper estimates the rupture speed on the main faulting segment with a long straight fault trace on the surface based on a simple slip-weakening rupture model, in which the frictional overshoot or undershoot are involved in consideration of energy partition during the earthquake faulting. In contrast to the study of Bouchon and Vallée, in which the rupture propagation along the main fault could exceed the local shear-wave speed, perhaps reach the P-wave speed on a certain section of fault, our results show that, under a slip-weakening assumption combined with a frictional undershoot (partial stress drop model), average rupture speed should be equal to or less than the Rayleigh wave speed with a high seismic radiation efficiency, which is consistent with the result derived by waveform inversion and the result estimated from source stress field. Associated with the surface rupture mechanism, such as partial stress drop (frictional undershoot) associated with the apparent stress, an alternative rupture mechanism based on the slip-weakening model has also been discussed.     

远场地震波辐射能计算以及对近断层地面运动的约束

从圆盘断层模型出发,根据地震波能量表象定理推导出了滑移弱化过程中远场S-波辐射能量表达式,并同已有的动力学模型作了比较.结果表明,得到的模型能量值或视应力的取值强烈地依赖于断层上的动态、静态应力降和破裂传播速度,而破裂速度则对应了断层带模型中断层破坏过程所耗散的能量.动摩擦应力上调和应力下调力学机制在能量求解中得到了充...     

基于动摩擦应力下调滑移弱化机制，利用地表破裂同震位移约束2001年昆仑山口西MS8.1地震破裂传播速度

利用2001年昆仑山口西MS8.1地震现场观测所提供的地表破裂同震位移数据,使用简单滑移弱化破裂模型,估算了发震主断层上的破裂传播速度. 该模型中考虑了断层破裂时动摩擦过程中应力上调和下调机制对地震波辐射能量分配的影响. 对比Bouchon和Valleacute;e有关昆仑山口西地震主断层破裂传播速度超过剪切波速度,甚至达到P波速度的结果, 采用动摩擦应力下调时的滑移弱化模型 (分数应力降模型),结果表明,伴随较高的地震波辐射效率,主断层的平均破裂传播速度等于或小于瑞利波速度,这与许力生和陈运泰的体波反演结果,以及陈学忠震源应力场估算的结果是一致的. 最后,联系到由地表破裂现象所反映出的断层力学特征,如与视应力相关的分数应力降 (动摩擦应力下调), 基于滑移弱化模型, 讨论了可能的震源破裂机制.      

2008年盈江地震序列的震源参数和震源机制相关系数研究

基于云南数字地震台网记录的2008年盈江地震序列的数字波形资料, 采用波谱分析方法和Brune震源模型, 得到盈江地震序列的震源参数。 利用两次地震事件的相同台站的震源谱参数(零频振幅)计算谱振幅相关系数, 据此对地震的震源机制进行聚类分组, 并收集和对比地震序列已知的震源机制解结果, 发现每组内震源机制解P轴的相关性较好, 且相关系数越大, P轴的方位角就越接近。 将盈江地区划分为三个研究区, 联合震源参数的应力降和聚类分组中每组的平均震源机制解结果研究地震序列发生过程中应力的释放水平和应力场方向变化特征。 结果表明: 不同阶段震源机制解类型的变化和转化特征一定程度上反映了孕震过程中区域应力场随时间的变化特征, 并且地震震源机制解类型在时间段上的集中并向区域构造应力场方向转换的现象可能是发生强震的标志。 震源机制解分组类型和对应类型的地震的应力降有一定依赖关系, 震源机制解类型反映的应力场与区域应力场接近的地震应力降高, 震源机制解类型反映的应力场与区域应力场差距较大的地震应力降普遍较低。     

Site response and source spectra of S waves in the Zagros region, Iran

S wave amplitude spectra from shallow earthquakes with magnitudes ranging between 4.2 and 6.2 in the Zagros region of Iran that occurred between 1998 and 2008 are used to examine source parameters and site response of S waves. A generalized inversion scheme has been used to separate the source, propagation path, and local site effects from S wave spectra. For removing the trade-off between source and site terms and propagation effects (including geometric and anelastic attenuation), the spectral amplitudes of the records used were corrected for attenuation and geometrical spreading function using a path model proposed by Zafarani and Soghrat (Bull Seism Soc Am 102:2031–2045, 2012) for the region. We assume a Brune’s point source model to retrieve source parameters like corner frequency, moment magnitude, and high-frequency fall off coefficient, for each event. When the source spectra are interpreted in terms of Brune’s model, the average stress drops obtained are about 7.1 and 5.9 MPa (71 and 59 bars), respectively for the eastern and western Zagros regions. Stress drops range from 1.4 to 35.0 MPa (14 to 350 bars), with no clear dependence on magnitude. The results in terms of stress drop and S wave seismic energy indicate that the Zagros events are more similar to interplate earthquakes of western North America than to intraplate events of eastern North America. The method also provides us with site responses for all 40 stations individually and is an interesting alternative to other methods, such as the H/V method. A new empirical relationship between body-wave magnitudes and moment magnitude has been proposed for the Iranian plateau using derived seismic moment from the inversion.     

Using Neural Networks to Discriminate between Genuine and Spurious Seismic Events in Mines

—Careful observation has shown that mining-induced seismicity follows a multimodal distribution, which we assume to arise from many distinct physical processes. The two major modes however, arise from those seismic events that are associated in some way with geological features on the one hand, and those that are associated, among other things, with fracturing in the volume of extreme stress concentrations ahead of the stope faces, on the other. We call the former "genuine" events and the latter "spurious" events.¶Untangling these modes has been a major problem for those researchers wishing to work with unimodal seismic catalogs. Partial separation of the genuine events from a catalog can be obtained by a careful selection from a scatter diagram of log (radiated seismic energy) against log (scalar seismic moment) or equivalently by selecting a threshold value of magnitude say, from an inspection of the Gutenberg-Richter diagram. This threshold is usually considerably greater than the threshold of completeness that can be achieved by modern seismic networks on mines.¶The main objective of this paper will be the demonstration that a simple neural network can improve this separation. In this study, for example, simple elimination below the threshold of log (scalar seismic moment) = 9.5 resulted in 206 genuine events remaining in the catalog. After running the eliminated events through a trained neural network, an additional 72 genuine events were found, representing an increase of nearly 35%.¶This has important consequences for statistical hazard analysis and for the identification of active geological structures in mines.     

Scaling Transition in Earthquake Sources: A Possible Link Between Seismic and Laboratory Measurements

We estimate the corner frequencies of 20 crustal seismic events from mainshock–aftershock sequences in different tectonic environments (mainshocks 5.7 < M _W < 7.6) using the well-established seismic coda ratio technique (Mayeda et al. in Geophys Res Lett 34:L11303, 2007; Mayeda and Malagnini in Geophys Res Lett, 2010), which provides optimal stability and does not require path or site corrections. For each sequence, we assumed the Brune source model and estimated all the events’ corner frequencies and associated apparent stresses following the MDAC spectral formulation of Walter and Taylor (A revised magnitude and distance amplitude correction (MDAC2) procedure for regional seismic discriminants, 2001), which allows for the possibility of non-self-similar source scaling. Within each sequence, we observe a systematic deviation from the self-similar \( M_{0} \propto \mathop f\nolimits_{\text{c}}^{ - 3} \) line, all data being rather compatible with \( M_{0} \propto \mathop f\nolimits_{\text{c}}^{ - (3 + \varepsilon )} \) , where ε > 0 (Kanamori and Rivera in Bull Seismol Soc Am 94:314–319, 2004). The deviation from a strict self-similar behavior within each earthquake sequence of our collection is indicated by a systematic increase in the estimated average static stress drop and apparent stress with increasing seismic moment (moment magnitude). Our favored physical interpretation for the increased apparent stress with earthquake size is a progressive frictional weakening for increasing seismic slip, in agreement with recent results obtained in laboratory experiments performed on state-of-the-art apparatuses at slip rates of the order of 1 m/s or larger. At smaller magnitudes (M _W < 5.5), the overall data set is characterized by a variability in apparent stress of almost three orders of magnitude, mostly from the scatter observed in strike-slip sequences. Larger events (M _W > 5.5) show much less variability: about one order of magnitude. It appears that the apparent stress (and static stress drop) does not grow indefinitely at larger magnitudes: for example, in the case of the Chi–Chi sequence (the best sampled sequence between M _W 5 and 6.5), some roughly constant stress parameters characterize earthquakes larger than M _W ~ 5.5. A representative fault slip for M _W 5.5 is a few tens of centimeters (e.g., Ide and Takeo in J Geophys Res 102:27379–27391, 1997), which corresponds to the slip amount at which effective lubrication is observed, according to recent laboratory friction experiments performed at seismic slip velocities (V ~ 1 m/s) and normal stresses representative of crustal depths (Di Toro et al. in Nature in press, 2011, and references therein). If the observed deviation from self-similar scaling is explained in terms of an asymptotic increase in apparent stress (Malagnini et al. in Pure Appl Geophys, 2014, this volume), which is directly related to dynamic stress drop on the fault, one interpretation is that for a seismic slip of a few tens of centimeters (M _W ~ 5.5) or larger, a fully lubricated frictional state may be asymptotically approached.     

Stress drop in the sources of intermediate-magnitude earthquakes in northern Tien Shan

The paper is devoted to estimating the dynamical parameters of 14 earthquakes with intermediate magnitudes (energy class 11 to 14), which occurred in the Northern Tien Shan. For obtaining the estimates of these parameters, including the stress drop, which could be then applied in crustal stress reconstruction by the technique suggested by Yu.L. Rebetsky (Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences), we have improved the algorithms and programs for calculating the spectra of the seismograms. The updated products allow for the site responses and spectral transformations during the propagation of seismic waves through the medium (the effect of finite Q-factor). By applying the new approach to the analysis of seismograms recorded by the seismic KNET network, we calculated the radii of the sources (Brune radius), scalar seismic moment, and stress drop (release) for the studied 14 earthquakes. The analysis revealed a scatter in the source radii and stress drop even among the earthquakes that have almost identical energy classes. The stress drop by different earthquakes ranges from one to 75 bar. We have also determined the focal mechanisms and stress regime of the Earth’s crust. It is worth noting that during the considered period, strong seismic events with energy class above 14 were absent within the segment covered by the KNET stations.     

新源、和静交界ML6.8级地震序列应力降和震源机制研究

Based on the digital waveform data recorded by Xinjiang Digital Seismic Network for the Xinyuan-Hejing M_L6.8 earthquake sequences of June 30,2012,this paper analyzes the stress drops of earthquake sequences and the correlation coefficients of focal mechanisms significant for strong aftershocks.Firstly,the source parameters of the Xinyuan-Hejing M_L6.8 earthquake sequences are obtained by applying the spectrum analysis and the Brunes source model.Then,the correlation coefficients of spectral amplitudes are calculated using the low-frequency spectral amplitude recorded by the same station for the different events.Finally,based on the results of the correlation coefficients of spectral amplitudes,the events with similar focal mechanisms are grouped using the clustering method.The results show that:(1)The stress drop values show a steady trend in the aftershock sequence calm period and the stress drop values show a rise-fall in strong aftershocks.(2)The moving average correlation coefficient of amplitude spectrum begins to spread after the main shock.It shows that the correlation decreases between the main shock and the aftershocks in mechanisms.(3)The results of focal mechanism groups show that the earthquake sequences are mainly strike slips.The stress distribution of the main pressure axis is nearly NS,which is the same as the structural stress field.(4)The magnitude and mechanism show that there is an agreement before the strong aftershock,which shows that the regional stress field is enhanced.     

Source parameters and scaling relationships in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Northeastern Italy) region

We estimated the source parameters of 53 local earthquakes (2.0<M_L<5.7) of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Northeastern Italy) area, recorded by the short-period local seismic network of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS), in the period 1995-2003. Data were selected on the basis of high quality locations and focal mechanisms. Standard H/V spectral ratios (HVRS) of the three-component stations of the network were performed in order to assess local amplifications, and only stations showing HVRS not exceeding two were considered for the source parameters estimation. Both velocity and acceleration data were used to compute the SH-wave spectra. Observed spectra were corrected for attenuation effects using an independent regional estimate of the quality factor Q and a station dependent estimate of the spectral decay parameter k. Only earthquakes with M_L>3.0 recorded with a sampling rate of 125 cps were used to compute k, thus allowing to visualize a linear trend of the high frequency acceleration spectrum up to 40-50 Hz. SH-wave spectra, corrected for attenuation, showed an ω⁻² shape allowing a good fit with the Brune model. Seismic moments and Brune radii ranged between 1.5×10¹² and 1.1×10¹⁷  N m and between 0.1 and 2.7 km respectively. We obtained M_o=1.1×10¹⁷  N m for the seismic moment of the Kobarid (SLO) main shock, in good agreement with the Harvard CMT solution (M_o=3.5×10¹⁷  N m). Brune stress drops were confined to the range from 0.07 to 5.31 MPa, with an average value of 0.73 MPa and seem to be approximately constant over five orders of magnitude of seismic moment. Radiated seismic energy computed from two nearby stations scales with seismic moment according to , and apparent stress values are between 0.02 and 4.26 MPa. The observed scatter of Brune stress drop data allowed to hypothesize a scaling relation between seismic moment and corner frequency in order to accommodate both Brune stress drop and apparent stress scalings. No systematic differences are evidenced between stress parameters of earthquakes with different focal mechanisms. As a consequence, a relation of the seismic stress release with the strength of rocks can be hypothesized. A high correlation (r>0.9) of Brune stress drop is found with both apparent stress and RMS stress drop, according to and respectively.     

Source parameters of the earthquakes of the Baikal rift system

The dynamic parameters of the earthquake source—the seismic moment, the moment magnitude, the source radius, the stress drop, and the amplitude of displacement—are determined by the amplitude Fourier spectra of the body shear waves (S-waves) for 62 earthquakes of the Baikal rift system with the energy class of K _P = 9.1–15.7. In the calculations I used the classical Brune model. The seismic moment of the earthquakes being investigated changes from 3.65 × 10¹¹ N m to 1.35 × 10¹⁸ N m, and the radii of earthquake sources vary from 390 m to 1.84 km. The values of the drop in stress Δσ grow with an increase in the seismic moment up to 1.7 × 10⁸ Pa. For the group of weak earthquakes (M _w = 1.7–3.3), extremely low values of the drop in stress 10³–10⁴ Pa are observed. The maximum amplitude of displacement in the source amounts to 5.95 m. The empirical equations between the seismic moment and the other dynamic parameters of the source are determined. The regional dependence of the seismic moment and energy class is obtained: log M ₀ ± 0.60 = 1.03K _P + 3.17. The character of the relationship between the seismic moment and the corner frequency indicates that the classical scaling law of the seismic spectrum for the earthquakes in question is not fulfilled. The obtained estimates of the dynamic parameters are in satisfactory agreement with the published data concerning the analogous parameters of the other rift zones, which reflects the general regular patterns of the destruction of the lithosphere and the seismicity in the extension zones of the lithosphere.     

Source parameters of seismic events potentially associated with damage in block 33/34 of the Kiirunavaara mine (Sweden)

Forty-six mining-induced seismic events with moment magnitude between ?1.2 and 2.1 that possibly caused damage were studied. The events occurred between 2008 and 2013 at mining level 850–1350 m in the Kiirunavaara Mine (Sweden). Hypocenter locations were refined using from 6 to 130 sensors at distances of up to 1400 m. The source parameters of the events were re-estimated using spectral analysis with a standard Brune model (slope ?2). The radiated energy for the studied events varied from 4.7 × 10^?1 to 3.8 × 10⁷ J, the source radii from 4 to 110 m, the apparent stress from 6.2 × 10² to 1.1 × 10⁶ Pa, energy ratio (E _s/E _p) from 1.2 to 126, and apparent volume from 1.8 × 10³ to 1.1 × 10⁷ m³. 90% of the events were located in the footwall, close to the ore contact. The events were classified as shear/fault slip (FS) or non-shear (NS) based on the E _s/E _p ratio (>10 or <10). Out of 46 events 15 events were classified as NS located almost in the whole range between 840 and 1360 m, including many events below the production. The rest 31 FS events were concentrated mostly around the production levels and slightly below them. The relationships between some source parameters and seismic moment/moment magnitude showed dependence on the type of the source mechanism. The energy and the apparent stress were found to be three times larger for FS events than for NS events.     

Earthquake mechanism and predictability shown by a laboratory fault

Slip events generated in a laboratory fault model consisting of a circulinear chain of eight spring-connected blocks of approximately equal weight elastically driven to slide on a frictional surface are studied. It is found that most of the input strain energy is released by a relatively few large events, which are approximately time predictable. A large event tends to roughen stress distribution along the fault, whereas the subsequent smaller events tend to smooth the stress distribution and prepare a condition of simultaneous criticality for the occurrence of the next large event. The frequency-size distribution resembles the Gutenberg-Richter relation for earthquakes, except for a falloff for the largest events due to the finite energy-storage capacity of the fault system. Slip distributions, in different events are commonly dissimilar. Stress drop, slip velocity, and rupture velocity all tend to increase with event size. Rupture-initiation locations are usually not close to the maximum-slip locations.     

正应力扰动对断层滑动失稳影响的实验研究

利用双轴伺服控制加载装置,采用三块花岗闪长岩标本组成的含有两个滑动面的直剪结构,开展了摩擦滑动实验.实验中通过在垂直滑动面的载荷上叠加正弦波状和方波状的扰动,研究了正应力扰动对断层黏滑失稳的影响.研究表明,在恒定的正应力和位移速率下,标本表现为规则的黏滑,叠加正应力扰动后,随扰动振幅的增加黏滑发生时间与扰动的相关性增大,黏滑应力降和时间间隔的分布趋于离散.黏滑应力降和时间间隔的平均值随平均正应力的增加呈线性增长,扰动叠加后黏滑应力降的离散度随平均正应力的增加而增大;黏滑应力降和时间间隔主要受应力变化幅度的影响,而与应力变化的速率关系不大.剪应力和正应力扰动都会对断层黏滑失稳产生影响,而正应力扰动的影响更明显.这两种扰动对断层黏滑失稳影响的机制存在差异,剪应力扰动只是改变断层滑动的推动力,而正应力扰动则改变了断层面上凹凸体的接触状态.     

Variation of stress during the rupture process of the 1995 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>L</Subscript>=4.1 Shacheng,Hebei, China,earthquake sequence

According to the rupture dynamics of earthquakes, variations of the apparent stress and the difference between the static stress drop and the dynamic stress drop during the rupture of earthquakes are analyzed for the July 20, 1995 M _L=4.1 Shacheng, Hebei, China, earthquake sequence. Results obtained show that the apparent stress for main-shock is about 5 MPa, and the average apparent stress for aftershocks 0.047 MPa. During the rupture of the main-shock, the dynamic stress drop is approximately 1.6 times greater than the static stress drop with the difference of nearly 2.7 MPa. The dynamic stress drop is less than the static stress drop for all aftershocks with the average difference of ?0.75 MPa. Therefore, when the mainshock occurs the final stress on the focal fault is higher than the dynamic frictional stress, corresponding to that the fault is abruptly locked. When the aftershocks occur the final stress on the focal fault is lower than the dynamic frictional stress, corresponding to that the fault overshoots. It can be seen from the above results that there could be some differences in the physic processes between the mainshock and the aftershocks.     

广西南丹大厂矿区震源参数研究

利用广西南丹县大厂矿区地震监测台网记录的地震波资料,采用Brune（1970）模型,将速度记录谱归算为震源位移谱,使用遗传算法计算拐角频率及零频极限,然后计算地震矩、应力降等小震震源参数,并系统分析各种参数之间的关系。大厂矿区38次较大地震的震源参数计算结果为：地震矩范围在2.18×1011~7.89×1012 N·m之间;震源破裂半径78~439m;地震应力降在0.01~1.79 MPa之间。表明：地震矩与震级、震源半径、拐角频率之间呈线性关系,而应力降不依赖于地震矩,分布较为离散。大厂矿区应力降值明显偏低,这可能与该区域背景应力低有关。     

Stress Drops of the 1997–1998 Colfiorito,Central Italy Earthquakes: Hints for a Common Behaviour of Normal Faults in the Apennines

Stress drop estimates of moderate-magnitude earthquakes in the Umbria–Marche region, in the northern Apennines, exhibit a large scatter. For the two M _w 5.7 and 6.0 main shocks of 26 September 1997 near Colfiorito, several papers resulted in stress drop estimates of 20 MPa, but values as low as 2–3 MPa were proposed as well. Also for the largest aftershocks (M _w > 4), estimates spread from < 1 MPa up to values ten times larger. We have critically revisited methods and data used in the literature. We have specifically faced the trade-off between source and propagation effects, as we believe that it is responsible for a part of the large scatter. To keep this trade-off under control, we have applied a methodology that combines the best fit of both source spectra after Empirical Green’s Function (EGF) deconvolution and observed ground motion spectra, finding that the results of the two different data sets converge independently at the same solution. We have used ground motions observed in the Colfiorito basin, where an accelerograph and a co-located seismological broad-band station recorded three clusters of earthquakes in a broad magnitude interval (1.7 ≤ M _w ≤ 6.0). We have found that the mainshock–aftershock sequences result in stress drops of 2–5 MPa at M _w ≥ 5.6, with an average tendency to decrease at smaller magnitudes where stress drop variability increases. These findings confirm the source scaling recently assessed through Empirical Green’s Function deconvolution for another well-monitored seismic sequence of normal-faulting earthquakes, which struck the city of L’Aquila in the central Apennines in April 2009. The similar scaling law of the two areas suggests common mechanisms of stress release for the shallow normal faults in the Apennines. The propensity of smaller earthquakes to increase in variability, with a tendency toward smaller stress drops, may reflect an effect of fault strength heterogeneities for smaller size ruptures.     

A Tensile Model for the Interpretation of Microseismic Events near Underground Openings

—For small-scale microseismic events, the source sizes provided by shear models are unrealistically large when compared to visual observations of rock fractures near underground openings. A detailed analysis of the energy components in data from a mine-by experiment and from some mines showed that there is a depletion of S-wave energy for events close to the excavations, indicating that tensile cracking is the dominant mechanism in these microseismic events.¶In the present study, a method is proposed to estimate the fracture size from microseismic measurements. The method assumes tensile cracking as the dominant fracture mechanism for brittle rocks under compressive loads and relates the fracture size to the measured microseismic energy. With the proposed method, more meaningful physical fracture sizes can be obtained and this is demonstrated by an example on data from an underground excavation with detailed, high-quality microseismic records.