Detection of small earthquakes along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge from T-waves recorded by abyssal ocean-bottom observatories

A number of seismoacoustic T-wave events were observed between January 2003 and January 2004 by broadband ocean-bottom seismometers installed on the French Polynesia seafloor at depths of 4,000?C5,000?m, well below the conjugate depth of the SOFAR channel. Using T-wave arrival times, we located 89 T-wave events along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. Among these, 63 events were not detected by land-based seismic observations of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which was nearly twice the number of earthquakes reported by the USGS in the area during the observation period. We used a simple method to estimate earthquake magnitude from T-wave energy. The magnitudes of the events unidentified by the USGS ranged from 2.3 to 5.5, whereas magnitudes of the earthquakes reported by the USGS ranged from 4.1 to 6.2. Our study suggests that T-wave observations with abyssal ocean-bottom seismometers can improve the detection of small earthquakes and help our understanding of the seismotectonics of remote oceanic areas.     

Scattering and attenuation of high-frequency body waves (1–25 Hz) in the lithosphere

A strong frequency dependence of apparent Q_β^?1 of shear waves was found for the frequency range from 1 to 25 Hz using band-pass filtered records of about 900 earthquakes occurring in the central Japan area with focal depths from 0 to 150 km. The method used for estimating Q_β is a single-station method based on elimination of the source effect from S waves by the use of coda spectra. The validity of the method is confirmed by agreement between the results obtained independently using data from two stations in the same area.     

Source mechanism of the deep Colombian earthquake of 1970 July 31 from the free oscillation data

Summary. The method proposed by Mendiguren to determine the source parameters from free oscillation data is applied to the 1970 July 31 deep Colombian earthquake. The results indicate a source propagating horizontally for about 150 km along the lithosphere and cutting across its width. The slab behaves as a guide for source propagation. The horizontal propagation velocity is determined as 3.8 km/s. The intensity of the source grew proportionately to the second power of the propagation distance. This rate of source intensity growth may be interpreted either by a fan-shaped fault model or by a cone-shaped volume source. The average slip and stress drop are estimated as 360 cm and 300 bar for the fault model. For the volume source model the transformational shear strain and stress are estimated as 11 × 10⁻⁵ and 160 bar. There is no evidence of a double couple radiation preceding the P origin time. It is shown that the isotropic and deviatoric components of the moment tensor cannot be uniquely resolved when only observations of a single mode are available. It is observed that, from a statistical basis, the available ₀ S_n data for Colombian shock can be equally well explained by a pure deviatoric source model or by a source model including an isotropic component. Numerical experiments indicate that the inclusion of higher mode data does not change this situation. But, on the other hand, numerical experiments show that the available data and the scheme used for the inversion would not result in a solution including an artificial implosive component if the actual source were pure deviatoric. If the departure from a pure deviatoric source is produced by noise, it has to be non-random, as it could be produced by lateral heterogeneities not included in the inversion scheme.     

Three-dimensional geologic modeling and visualization of the Virttaankangas aquifer,southwestern Finland

A need exists for a reliable and long-term water supply for the 285,000 inhabitants of the Turku area in southwestern Finland. In response to this need, there are plans to replace the present water supply from the surface sources with artificially infiltrated groundwater from a Quaternary esker aquifer called the Virttaankangas aquifer. New sedimentological studies of the Virttaankangas area have revealed the complexities of the esker system and its surrounding glacial, glaciofluvial, and glaciolacustrine geology. This led to the characterization of the hydrogeological units of the aquifer, the result of which has been a three-dimensional (3-D) truly integrated solids model that represents the geometry, interrelationships, and hydrostratigraphy of the study area. The 3-D model was made with EarthVision geologic modeling software. The 3-D geological model of the Virttaankangas aquifer can be used for planning the infiltration of river water into the aquifer and to understand the geologic and geographic boundaries of the hydrogeologic units hosting the groundwater reserve and the geologic relationships between the units. Another major outcome of this study is a powerful visualization tool that will be provided to municipal and government authorities who must understand the geologic complexities involved with water-resource planning prior to their decision making. Electronic Publication     

Temporal and spatial variation on codaQ −1 associated with the North Palm Springs earthquake of July 8, 1986

A temporal and spatial change of codaQ ^–1 associated with the occurrence of the North Palm Springs earthquake of July 8, 1986 was studied by using 242 small local earthquakes in the vicinity of the mainshock. We found that the codaQ ^–1 of earthquakes which occurred before the mainshock was significantly higher than that of the aftershocks in the mainshock area while the codaQ ^–1 for the surrounding area remained almost constant throughout 1986. CodaQ ^–1 was determined separately for the lapse time windows of 10 to 20 sec. and 15 to 40 sec. for the period from 1981 to 1987. The result for the time window 10 to 20 sec. showed a peak in codaQ ^–1 before the time of mainshock at all frequencies. The peak appeared earlier at lower frequencies. There was no significant change in codaQ ^–1 for the time window 15 to 40 sec., probably because the change was restricted to a small area.     

Observation and modelling of fault-zone fracture seismic anisotropy – II. P-wave polarization anomalies

Summary. In Part I of this paper we modelled shear-wave splitting observed in crystalline rock bordering an active, normal fault-zone at Oroville, California, with Červený's ray-tracing system applied to anisotropic heterogeneous media using Hudson's formulation of elastic constants for a medium containing aligned cracks. In Part II we use the ray-tracing results of Part I to quantitatively interpret P -wave polarization anomalies observed in the three-component seismograms recorded in the Oroville fault zone. We show that the eigenvectors of the first-order Christoffel tensor defined by the ray-tracing slowness vector and Hudson's first-order anisotropic corrections to the isotropic elastic tensor correctly account for P -wave first motion that deviates from the ray vector.     

Continental impact on marine boundary layer coarse particles over the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Antarctica

Aerosol samples were collected in the Atlantic marine boundary layer between the English Channel and Antarctica during November–December 1999. The composition of coarse (aerodynamic diameter 1–3 μm) individual aerosol particles was studied using the SEM/EDX method. The major particle types observed were fresh sea salt, sea-salt particles reacted partly or totally with sulphuric acid or nitric acid, Mg-sulphate, Ca-sulphate, mixed aluminosilicates and sea salt, aluminosilicates, Ca-rich particles and Fe-rich particles. The relative fractions of sea-salt particles with moderate or strong Cl depletion were high near the coasts of Europe (65–74%) and Northern Africa (44–87%), low far from the coast of Western Africa (10–20%) and very low in remote sea areas between Africa and Antarctica (1%). The Cl depletion was strongest when air masses arrived from the direction of anthropogenic pollution sources. The fractions of Mg-sulphate particles were high (18–25%) in 2 samples near Europe. The Mg-sulphate particles were probably formed as a result of fractional recrystallization of sea-salt particles in which Cl was substituted by sulphate. It remained unclear whether these particles were formed in the atmosphere or during and after sampling. The relative fractions of particles from continental sources were quite low (10–15%) near Europe, very high (25–78%) near the coast of Northwestern Africa and very low in the remote sea areas (0–2%). Most of the continental particles were aluminosilicates and some of them were internally mixed with sea salt. Near the coast of Northwestern Africa, the main source of aluminosilicates was Saharan dust, and near the Gulf of Guinea, emissions from biomass burning were also mixed with aluminosilicates and sea salt.