Fracture characteristics of the 1997 Jiashi, Xinjiang, China, earthquake swarm inferred from source spectra

Broadband P and S waves source spectra of 12 MS5.0 earthquakes of the 1997 Jiashi, Xinjiang, China, earthquake swarm recorded at 13 GDSN stations have been analyzed. Rupture size and static stress drop of these earthquakes have been estimated through measuring the corner frequency of the source spectra. Direction of rupture propagation of the earthquake faulting has also been inferred from the azimuthal variation of the corner frequency. The main results are as follows: ①The rupture size of MS6.0 strong earthquakes is in the range of 10～20 km, while that of MS=5.0～5.5 earthquakes is 6～10 km.② The static stress drop of the swarm earthquakes is rather low, being of the order of 0.1 MPa. This implies that the deformation release rate in the source region may be low. ③ Stress drop of the earthquakes appears to be proportional to their seismic moment, and also to be dependent on their focal mechanism. The stress drop of normal faulting earthquakes is usually lower than that of strike-slip type earthquakes. ④ For each MS6.0 earthquake there exists an apparent azimuthal variation of the corner frequencies. Azimuthally variation pattern of corner frequencies of different earthquakes shows that the source rupture pattern of the Jiashi earthquake swarm is complex and no uniform rupture expanding direction exists.     

Iterative deconvolution of complex body waves from great earthquakes—the Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1968

A method of body-wave inversion is developed in an attempt to extract the information about asperities or barriers in a fault zone. A sequence of point sources, each being characterized with the seismic moment, the onset time and the location, are iteratively derived from observed records at multi-stations, where the two-dimensional extent of the source location is taken into account. A modification is made of the iterative method of Kikuchi and Kanamori on the formulation of inversion procedure to facilitate the computation.Using this method, we analyse long period P waves of the Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1968 (M_w = 8.2) and obtain several significant subevents with time durations of ～ 10 s. Their spatio-temporal distribution shows that the rupture process consists of three characteristic stages: (A) a stage of introductory rupture, (B) a stage of main rupture and (C) a stage of aftershocks. The main rupture takes place in the form of clustering around a few sites of the fault plane. The largest subevent occurs in the northwestern corner. The stress drop associated with this event is estimated to be ～ 200 bars, one order of magnitude higher than the stress drop averaged over the entire fault plane. The sum of the seismic moments of the individual subevents amounts to 2.3 × 10²⁸ dyn. cm which approximately coincides with the one estimated from the analysis of long-period surface waves. This implies that the source of the Tokachi-Oki earthquake consists of several major subevents with time durations of ～ 10 s in addition to other minor subevents.     

Relative seismic moment tensor determination for Vrancea intermediate depth earthquakes

The method of relative seismic moment tensor determination proposed byStrelitz (1980) is extended a) from an interactive time domain analysis to an automated frequency domain procedure, and b) from an analysis of subevents of complex deep-focus earthquakes to the study of individual source mechanism of small events recorded at few stations.The method was applied to the recovery of seismic moment tensor components of 95 intermediate depth earthquakes withM _L=2.6–4.9 from the Vrancea region, Romania. The main feature of the obtained fault plane solutions is the horizontality ofP axes and the nonhorizontal orienaation ofT axes (inverse faulting). Those events with high fracture energy per unit area of the fault can be grouped unambiguously into three depth intervals: 102–106 km, 124–135 km and 141–152 km. Moreover, their fault plane solutions are similar to ones of all strong and most moderate events from this region and the last two damaging earthquakes (November 10, 1940 withM _W=7.8 and March 4 1977 withM _W=7.5) occurred within the third and first depth interval, respectively. This suggests a possible correlation at these depths between fresh fracture of rocks and the occurrence of strong earthquakes.     

Body waveform inversion for the source process of the February 3, 1996 Lijiang, Yunnan earthquake

The source process of February 3, 1996 Lijiang earthquake in Yunnan was studied by body waveform inversion using teleseismic data from IRIS. Two normal double-couple subevents with different strikes were obtained. The difference of the onset time between these two subevents, which are 15 km apart in space, is 7 s. The total seismic moment is 3.81 × 10¹⁸ Nm (M _w=6.3). The total fault area S is about 720 km² from the aftershock data and the average dislocation is about ū=0.18 m. Considering both the result of inversion and tectonic environment around the source, the first rupture might result from the extension along the NNW directed Zhongdian-Yongsheng fault belt where an earthquake of M=6.4 occurred in 1966. Then, the second started along the NE directed the eastern foot of Snow Mountain fault where rupture seemed to be able to propagate more easily.     

The moment magnitude <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> and the energy magnitude <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>e</Subscript>: common roots and differences

Starting from the classical empirical magnitude-energy relationships, in this article, the derivation of the modern scales for moment magnitude M _w and energy magnitude M _e is outlined and critically discussed. The formulas for M _w and M _e calculation are presented in a way that reveals, besides the contributions of the physically defined measurement parameters seismic moment M ₀ and radiated seismic energy E _S, the role of the constants in the classical Gutenberg–Richter magnitude–energy relationship. Further, it is shown that M _w and M _e are linked via the parameter Θ = log(E _S/M ₀), and the formula for M _e can be written as M _e = M _w + (Θ + 4.7)/1.5. This relationship directly links M _e with M _w via their common scaling to classical magnitudes and, at the same time, highlights the reason why M _w and M _e can significantly differ. In fact, Θ is assumed to be constant when calculating M _w. However, variations over three to four orders of magnitude in stress drop Δσ (as well as related variations in rupture velocity V _R and seismic wave radiation efficiency η _R) are responsible for the large variability of actual Θ values of earthquakes. As a result, for the same earthquake, M _e may sometimes differ by more than one magnitude unit from M _w. Such a difference is highly relevant when assessing the actual damage potential associated with a given earthquake, because it expresses rather different static and dynamic source properties. While M _w is most appropriate for estimating the earthquake size (i.e., the product of rupture area times average displacement) and thus the potential tsunami hazard posed by strong and great earthquakes in marine environs, M _e is more suitable than M _w for assessing the potential hazard of damage due to strong ground shaking, i.e., the earthquake strength. Therefore, whenever possible, these two magnitudes should be both independently determined and jointly considered. Usually, only M _w is taken as a unified magnitude in many seismological applications (ShakeMap, seismic hazard studies, etc.) since procedures to calculate it are well developed and accepted to be stable with small uncertainty. For many reasons, procedures for E _S and M _e calculation are affected by a larger uncertainty and are currently not yet available for all global earthquakes. Thus, despite the physical importance of E _S in characterizing the seismic source, the use of M _e has been limited so far to the detriment of quicker and more complete rough estimates of both earthquake size and strength and their causal relationships. Further studies are needed to improve E _S estimations in order to allow M _e to be extensively used as an important complement to M _w in common seismological practice and its applications.     

四川长宁地区地震震源参数的时空分布特征

使用谱比法计算得到四川长宁地区2018年12月至2019年7月期间442个地震的震源参数,并进一步分析了震源参数之间的相互关系及应力降的时空分布特征.研究区的地震活动主要集中在长宁背斜核部和南部建武向斜页岩气开采区.研究结果显示,该地区ML1.3～4.7地震的应力降位于0.02～7.26MPa范围内,超过90％的地震应...     

Rupture behavior and deformation localization of the Kunlunshan earthquake (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">w</Emphasis></Subscript>7.8) and their tectonic implications

Earthquake surface rupture is the result of transformation from crustal elastic strain accumulation to permanent tectonic deformation. The surface rupture zone produced by the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (M _w 7.8) on the Kusaihu segment of the Kunlun fault extends over 426 km. It consists of three relatively independent surface rupture sections: the western strike-slip section, the middle transtensional section and the eastern strike-slip section. Hence this implies that the Kunlunshan earthquake is composed of three earthquake rupturing events, i.e. the M _w =6.8, M _w =6.2 and M _w ⩽=7.8 events, respectively. The M _w =7.8 earthquake, along the eastern section, is the main shock of the Kunlunshan earthquake, further decomposed into four rupturing subevents. Field measurements indicate that the width of a single surface break on different sections ranges from several meters to 15 m, with a maximum value of less than 30 m. The width of the surface rupture zone that consists of en echelon breaks depends on its geometric structures, especially the stepover width of the secondary surface rupture zones in en echelon, displaying a basic feature of deformation localization. Consistency between the Quaternary geologic slip rate, the GPS-monitored strain rate and the localization of the surface ruptures of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake may indicate that the tectonic deformation between the Bayan Har block and Qilian-Qaidam block in the northern Tibetan Plateau is characterized by strike-slip faulting along the limited width of the Kunlun fault, while the blocks themselves on both sides of the Kunlun fault are characterized by block motion. The localization of earthquake surface rupture zone is of great significance to determine the width of the fault-surface-rupture hazard zone, along which direct destruction will be caused by co-seismic surface rupturing along a strike-slip fault, that should be considered before the major engineering project, residental buildings and life line construction. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40474037) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB418401)     

Rupture model of the 2013 M_W 6.6 Lushan (China) earthquake constrained by a new GPS data set and its effects on potential seismic hazard

Vertical records are critically important when determining the rupture model of an earthquake, especially a thrust earthquake. Due to the relatively low fitness level of near-field vertical displacements, the precision of previous rupture models is relatively low, and the seismic hazard evaluated thereafter should be further updated. In this study, we applied three-component displacement records from GPS stations in and around the source region of the 2013 MW6.6 Lushan earthquake to re-investigate the rupture model.To improve the resolution of the rupture model, records from both continuous and campaign GPS stations were gathered, and secular deformations of the GPS movements were removed from the records of the campaign stations to ensure their reliability. The rupture model was derived by the steepest descent method(SDM), which is based on a layered velocity structure. The peak slip value was about 0.75 m, with a seismic moment release of 9.89 × 10~(18) N·m, which was equivalent to an M_W6.6 event. The inferred fault geometry coincided well with the aftershock distribution of the Lushan earthquake. Unlike previous rupture models, a secondary slip asperity existed at a shallow depth and even touched the ground surface. Based on the distribution of the co-seismic ruptures of the Lushan and Wenchuan earthquakes, post-seismic relaxation of the Wenchuan earthquake, and tectonic loading process, we proposed that the seismic hazard is quite high and still needs special attention in the seismic gap between the two earthquakes.     

Variation of stress during the rupture process of the 1995 ML=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. Contribution No. 05FE3013, Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration.     

Segmented seismicity of the M w 6.2 Baladeh earthquake sequence (Alborz Mountains, Iran) revealed from regional moment tensors

The M _w 6.2 Baladeh earthquake occurred on 28 May 2004 in the Alborz Mountains, northern Iran. This earthquake was the first strong shock in this intracontinental orogen for which digital regional broadband data are available. The Baladeh event provides a rare opportunity to study fault geometry and ongoing deformation processes using modern seismological methods. A joint inversion for hypocentres and a velocity model plus a surface-wave group dispersion curve analysis were used to obtain an adapted velocity model, customised for mid- and long-period waveform modelling. Based on the new velocity model, regional waveform data of the mainshock and larger aftershocks (M _w ?≥3.3) were inverted for moment tensors. For the Baladeh mainshock, this included inversion for kinematic parameters. All analysed earthquakes show dominant thrust mechanisms at depths between 14 and 26 km, with NW–SE striking fault planes. The mainshock ruptured a 28° south-dipping area of 24 × 21 km along a north-easterly direction. The rupture plane of the mainshock does not coincide with the aftershock distribution, neither in map view nor with respect to depth. The considered aftershocks form two main clusters. The eastern cluster is associated with the mainshock. The western cluster does not appear to be connected with the rupture plane of the mainshock but, instead, indicates a second activated fault plane dipping at 85° towards the north.     

Seismic Subduction of the Nazca Ridge as Shown by the 1996–97 Peru Earthquakes

—By rupturing more than half of the shallow subduction interface of the Nazca Ridge, the great November 12, 1996 Peruvian earthquake contradicts the hypothesis that oceanic ridges subduct aseismically. The mainshock’s rupture has a length of about 200 km and has an average slip of about 1.4 m. Its moment is 1.5 × 10²⁸ dyne-cm and the corresponding M _w is 8.0. The mainshock registered three major episodes of moment release as shown by a finite fault inversion of teleseismically recorded broadband body waves. About 55% of the mainshock’s total moment release occurred south of the Nazca Ridge, and the remaining moment release occurred at the southern half of the subduction interface of the Nazca Ridge. The rupture south of the Nazca Ridge was elongated parallel to the ridge axis and extended from a shallow depth to about 65 km depth. Because the axis of the Nazca Ridge is at a high angle to the plate convergence direction, the subducting Nazca Ridge has a large southwards component of motion, 5 cm/yr parallel to the coast. The 900–1200 m relief of the southwards sweeping Nazca Ridge is interpreted to act as a "rigid indenter," causing the greatest coupling south of the ridge’s leading edge and leading to the large observed slip. The mainshock and aftershock hypocenters were relocated using a new procedure that simultaneously inverts local and teleseismic data. Most aftershocks were within the outline of the Nazca Ridge. A three-month delayed aftershock cluster occurred at the northern part of the subducting Nazca Ridge. Aftershocks were notably lacking at the zone of greatest moment release, to the south of the Nazca Ridge. However, a lone foreshock at the southern end of this zone, some 140 km downstrike of the mainshock’s epicenter, implies that conditions existed for rupture into that zone. The 1996 earthquake ruptured much of the inferred source zone of the M _w 7.9–8.2 earthquake of 1942, although the latter was a slightly larger earthquake. The rupture zone of the 1996 earthquake is immediately north of the seismic gap left by the great earthquakes (M _w ～8.8–9.1) of 1868 and 1877. The M _w 8.0 Antofagasta earthquake of 1995 occurred at the southern end of this great seismic gap. The M _w 8.2 deep-focus Bolivian earthquake of 1994 occurred directly downdip of the 1868 portion of that gap. The recent occurrence of three significant earthquakes on the periphery of the great seismic gap of the 1868 and 1877 events, among other factors, may signal an increased seismic potential for that zone.     

On a possible origin of the anomalous effects that were observed during the May 24, 2013 earthquake in the Sea of Okhotsk

The deep-focus Sea of Okhotsk earthquake that occurred on May 24, 2013 (h = 630 km, M _w = 8.3) was accompanied by anomalous effects that were unknown previously. A combined analysis of published data concerning the source rupture evolution and some features of the deep structure provided an explanation of some anomalous effects, such as the large number of aftershocks and the low level of ground shaking in the epicentral area. However, GPS observations revealed high coseismic vertical displacements in the area. The seafloor uplift in the Sea of Okhotsk and the adjacent coasts was 3–12 mm, peaking at the approximate center of the sea, while Kamchatka and the North Kuril Islands subsided by 3–18 mm, peaking at the Apacha station 190 km east of the earthquake epicenter. These maximum estimates are 1.2–1.8 times the analogous values (10 mm) for the Chile mega-earthquake of May 20, 1960 (M _w ~ 9.5). It is known that the large distances at which ground shaking is felt during deep-focus earthquakes are due to the fact that the body waves travel through the high-Q lower mantle. However, this does not explain the paradox of the present earthquake in the Sea of Okhotsk, viz., a constant intensity of shaking (two grades) in the range of epicentral distances between 1300 and 9500 km. The explanation requires consideration of the earth’s free oscillations excited by the earthquake.     

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.     

Seismic source-parameter relations for earthquakes in Greece

A data set of nineteen, mainly shallow, moderate to large earthquakes, which occurred in the Aegean and the surrounding area, has been used to derive empirical relations for kinematic fault parameters. Thus the relations between seismic momentM ₀ and magnitudeM _s andm _b and betweenM ₀ andM _s and fault dimensionsS andL have been determined. From these relations and theoretical ones it was deduced that earthquakes in the Aegean and the surrounding events, chiefly interplate, are characterized by low average stress drop values. Values of ranging from 1 to 30 bar are consistent with the data. It was also found that, in general terms, most of the data obey the geometrical similarity conditionL=2w, whereL is the fault length measured along the strike andw is its width measured along the dip. For strike-slip faults, however, the conditionL=4w seems to hold.     

Patterns of significant seismic quiescence on the Mexican Pacific coast

Many authors have proposed that the study of seismicity rates is an appropriate technique for evaluating how close a seismic gap may be to rupture. We designed an algorithm for identification of patterns of significant seismic quiescence by using the definition of seismic quiescence proposed by Schreider (1990). This algorithm shows the area of quiescence where an earthquake of great magnitude may probably occur. We have applied our algorithm to the earthquake catalog on the Mexican Pacific coast located between 14 and 21 degrees of North latitude and 94 and 106 degrees West longitude; with depths less than or equal to 60 km and magnitude greater than or equal to 4.3, which occurred from January, 1965 until December, 2014. We have found significant patterns of seismic quietude before the earthquakes of Oaxaca (November 1978, M_w = 7.8), Petatlán (March 1979, M_w = 7.6), Michoacán (September 1985, M_w = 8.0, and M_w = 7.6) and Colima (October 1995, M_w = 8.0). Fortunately, in this century earthquakes of great magnitude have not occurred in Mexico. However, we have identified well-defined seismic quiescences in the Guerrero seismic-gap, which are apparently correlated with the occurrence of silent earthquakes in 2002, 2006 and 2010 recently discovered by GPS technology.     

Source parameters of central California earthquakes on February 24 and September 4, 1972

The directivity function method is combined with an earthquake sequence study to obtain the reliable estimates of rupture area and rupture velocity of two right-lateral strike-slip earthquakes occurring along the San Andreas fault zone in central California. By utilizing a significant difference in velocity structure on both sides of the main fault, a modified version of the directivity function is formulated and applied to near-field SH waves. On assuming aftershock areas following their step-wise increase with time as rupture areas, an extensive systematic search for the best fit between the observed and theoretical directivity functions is made for a combination of both source parameters. The rupture at the February 24, 1972 earthquake (M_L = 5.0) propagated unilaterally with an average velocity of about 2.3 km/sec. It produced a rectangular area, the horizontal and vertical lengths being about 5 and 2 km, respectively. The rupture at the September 4, 1972 earthquake (M_L = 4.6) was of bilateral, yielding a nearly square rupture area of which side length is about 2 km. The rupture velocity of this earthquake, though some ambiguities resulting from a lower quality of the observed directivity function, is estimated at 1.9 km/sec or less. A difference in average rupture velocity between both earthquakes might imply its dependence on the ambient tectonic environment such as represented by local stress and humidity. By taking into account a post-earthquake creep increase of about 3.0–3.5 cm observed at a creepmeter station situated over the focus of the February 24, 1972 earthquake, its stress drop and seismic moment are estimated at about 10 bar and 10²³ dyn · cm, respectively. The above procedure has a broad applicability for recovering reliable estimates of source parameters, especially when it is combined with a synthetic approach.     

Large earthquake doublets and fault plane heterogeneity in the northern Solomon Islands subduction zone

In the Solomon Islands and New Britain subduction zones, the largest earthquakes commonly occur as pairs with small separation in time, space and magnitude. This doublet behavior has been attributed to a pattern of fault plane heterogeneity consisting of closely spaced asperities such that the failure of one asperity triggers slip in adjacent asperities. We analyzed body waves of the January 31, 1974,M _w =7.3, February 1, 1974,M _w =7.4, July 20, 1975 (1437)M _w =7.6 and July 20, 1975 (1945),M _w =7.3 doublet events using an iterative, multiple station inversion technique to determine the spatio-temporal distribution of seismic moment release associated with these events. Although the 1974 doublet has smaller body wave moments than the 1975 events, their source histories are more complicated, lasting over 40 seconds and consisting of several subevents located near the epicentral regions. The second 1975 event is well modeled by a simple point source initiating at a depth of 15 km and rupturing an approximate 20 km region about the epicenter. The source history of the first 1975 event reveals a westerly propagating rupture, extending about 50 km from its hypocenter at a depth of 25 km. The asperities of the 1975 events are of comparable size and do not overlap one another, consistent with the asperity triggering hypothesis. The relatively large source areas and small seismic moments of the 1974 doublet events indicate failure of weaker portions of the fault plane in their epicentral regions. Variations in the roughness of the bathymetry of the subducting plate, accompanying subduction of the Woodlark Rise, may be responsible for changes in the mechanical properties of the plate interface.To understand how variations in fault plane coupling and strength affect the interplate seismicity pattern, we relocated 85 underthrusting earthquakes in the northern Solomon Islands Are since 1964. Relatively few smaller magnitude underthrusting events overlap the Solomon Islands doublet asperity regions, where fault coupling and strength are inferred to be the greatest. However, these asperity regions have been the sites of several previous earthquakes withM _s 7.0. The source regions of the 1974 doublet events, which we infer to be mechanically weak, contain many smaller magnitude events but have not generated any otherM _s 7.0 earthquakes in the historic past. The central portion of the northern Solomon Islands Arc between the two largest doublet events in 1971 (studied in detail bySchwartz et al., 1989a) and 1975 contains the greatest number of smaller magnitude underthrusting earthquakes. The location of this small region sandwiched between two strongly coupled portions of the plate interface suggest that it may be the site of the next large northern Solomon Islands earthquake. However, this region has experienced no known earthquakes withM _s 7.0 and may represent a relatively aseismic portion of the subduction zone.     

DIRDOP: a directivity approach to determining the seismic rupture velocity vector

Directivity effects are a characteristic of seismic source finiteness and are a consequence of the rupture spread in preferential directions. These effects are manifested through seismic spectral deviations as a function of the observation location. The directivity by Doppler effect method permits estimation of the directions and rupture velocities, beginning from the duration of common pulses, which are identified in waveforms or relative source time functions. The general model of directivity that supports the method presented here is a Doppler analysis based on a kinematic source model of rupture (Haskell, Bull Seismol Soc Am 54:1811–1841, 1964) and a structural medium with spherical symmetry. To evaluate its performance, we subjected the method to a series of tests with synthetic data obtained from ten typical seismic ruptures. The experimental conditions studied correspond with scenarios of simple and complex, unilaterally and bilaterally extended ruptures with different mechanisms and datasets with different levels of azimuthal coverage. The obtained results generally agree with the expected values. We also present four real case studies, applying the method to the following earthquakes: Arequipa, Peru (M _w = 8.4, June 23, 2001); Denali, AK, USA (M _w = 7.8; November 3, 2002); Zemmouri–Boumerdes, Algeria (M _w = 6.8, May 21, 2003); and Sumatra, Indonesia (M _w = 9.3, December 26, 2004). The results obtained from the dataset of the four earthquakes agreed, in general, with the values presented by other authors using different methods and data.     

Temporal Changes of Shallow Seismic Velocity Around the Karadere-Düzce Branch of the North Anatolian Fault and Strong Ground Motion

We analyze temporal variations of seismic velocity along the Karadere-Düzce branch of the north Anatolian fault using seismograms generated by repeating earthquake clusters in the aftershock zones of the 1999 M_w7.4 İzmit and M_w7.1 Düzce earthquakes. The analysis employs 36 sets of highly repeating earthquakes, each containing 4–18 events. The events in each cluster are relocated by detailed multi-step analysis and are likely to rupture approximately the same fault patch at different times. The decay rates of the repeating events in individual clusters are compatible with the Omori's law for the decay rate of regional aftershocks. A sliding window waveform cross-correlation technique is used to measure travel time differences and evolving decorrelation in waveforms generated by each set of the repeating events. We find clear step-like delays in the direct S and early S-coda waves (sharp seismic velocity reduction) immediately after the Düzce main shock, followed by gradual logarithmic-type recoveries. A gradual increase of seismic velocities is also observed before the Düzce main shock, probably reflecting post-seismic recovery from the earlier İzmit main shock. The temporal behavior is similar at each station for clusters at various source locations, indicating that the temporal changes of material properties occur in the top most portion of the crust. The effects are most prominent at stations situated in the immediate vicinity of the recently ruptured fault zones, and generally decrease with normal distance from the fault. A strong correlation between the co-seismic delays and intensities of the strong ground motion generated by the Düzce main shock implies that the radiated seismic waves produced the velocity reductions in the shallow material.     

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.