Earth’s Electromagnetic Environment

The natural spectrum of electromagnetic variations surrounding Earth extends across an enormous frequency range and is controlled by diverse physical processes. Electromagnetic (EM) induction studies make use of external field variations with frequencies ranging from the solar cycle which has been used for geomagnetic depth sounding through the 10\(^{-4}\)–10\(^4\) Hz frequency band widely used for magnetotelluric and audio-magnetotelluric studies. Above 10\(^4\) Hz, the EM spectrum is dominated by man-made signals. This review emphasizes electromagnetic sources at \(\sim\)1 Hz and higher, describing major differences in physical origin and structure of short- and long-period signals. The essential role of Earth’s internal magnetic field in defining the magnetosphere through its interactions with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field is briefly outlined. At its lower boundary, the magnetosphere is engaged in two-way interactions with the underlying ionosphere and neutral atmosphere. Extremely low-frequency (3 Hz–3 kHz) electromagnetic signals are generated in the form of sferics, lightning, and whistlers which can extend to frequencies as high as the VLF range (3–30 kHz).The roughly spherical dielectric cavity bounded by the ground and the ionosphere produces the Schumann resonance at around 8 Hz and its harmonics. A transverse resonance also occurs at 1.7–2.0 kHz arising from reflection off the variable height lower boundary of the ionosphere and exhibiting line splitting due to three-dimensional structure. Ground and satellite observations are discussed in the light of their contributions to understanding the global electric circuit and for EM induction studies.     

Seismological asperities from the point of view of dynamic rupture modeling: the 2007 Mw6.6 Chuetsu-Oki,Japan, earthquake

We study the ground motion simulations based on three finite-source models for the 2007 Mw6.6 Niigata Chuetsu-oki, Japan, earthquake in order to discuss the performance of the input ground motion estimations for the near-field seismic hazard analysis. The three models include a kinematic source inverted from the regional accelerations, a dynamic source on a planar fault with three asperities inferred from the very-near-field ground motion particle motions, and another dynamic source model with conjugate fault segments. The ground motions are calculated for an available 3D geological model using a finite-difference method. For the comparison, we apply a goodness-of-fit score to the ground motion parameters at different stations, including the nearest one that is almost directly above the ruptured fault segments. The dynamic rupture models show good performance. We find that seismologically inferred earthquake asperities on a single fault plane can be expressed with two conjugate segments. The rupture transfer from one segment to another can generate a significant radiation; this could be interpreted as an asperity projected onto a single fault plane. This example illustrates the importance of the fault geometry that has to be taken into account when estimating the very-near-field ground motion.     

On the use of the autocorrelation function: the constraint of using frequency band-limited signals for monitoring relative velocity changes

Correlations of seismic noise are commonly used to monitor temporal variations of relative seismic velocity in period ranges from 1 s up to 100 s. Of particular interest is the detection of small changes in the order of 0.01–0.1 % in propagation speeds. Measuring such small differences can, however, be significantly biased by temporal variations in the properties of the noise sources within the corresponding frequency band. Using synthetic data, we show that apparent relative velocity variations might appear only due to changes in the amplitude and frequency content caused by source variations. Removing such unwanted effects by applying narrow bandpass filters in the preprocessing restricts the high-resolution analysis of any signal due to Gabor’s uncertainty limit, i.e., the correlation function suffers a limited resolution to time delay estimates for small correlation times, low-frequency ranges, and in narrow frequency bands. Better understanding of spatiotemporal noise source properties and the theoretical limitations of time–frequency analysis is critical for accurate and reliable passive monitoring.     

Earthquake dynamics on circular faults: a review 1970–2015

We review the development of earthquake dynamics taken from the point of view of the origin of seismic radiation instead of the detailed study of rupture propagation on complex surfaces. Many features of seismic radiation can be explained by simple models that serve as elementary canonical problems. Some of these properties are very well known like the fact that at low frequencies, the seismic spectrum is proportional to the seismic moment. At high frequencies, on the other hand, radiation is generated by the motion of the rupture front, in particular stopping phases and geometrical obstacles (barriers). A rupture front moving at constant speed does not produce far-field radiation. For many practical applications, for determining source size and stress drop, for example, it is not necessary to determine geometrical details of the rupture. For such cases, a simple circular crack model is quite sufficient. An improvement on this method is to do dynamic inversion on simple, elliptical-shaped sources and letting the rupture start arbitrarily from a point on the fault. This problem can be solved nowadays with finite differences and a variety of inversion techniques.     

Three-dimensional admittance analysis of lithospheric elastic thickness over the Louisville Ridge

Using bathymetry and altimetric gravity anomalies, a 1° 9 1° lithospheric effective elastic thickness(Te) model over the Louisville Ridge and its adjacent regions is calculated using the moving window admittance technique. For comparison, three bathymetry models are used: general bathymetric charts of the oceans, SIO V15.1,and BAT_VGG. The results show that BAT_VGG is more suitable for calculating T e than the other two models. T e along the Louisville Ridge was re-evaluated. The southeast of the ridge has a medium Te of 10–20 km, while Te increases dramatically seaward of the Tonga-Kermadec trench as a result of the collision of the Pacific and IndoAustralian plates.     

Singularity-free expression of magnetic field of cuboid under undulating terrain

Most of the current computing methods used to determine the magnetic field of a uniformly magnetized cuboid assume that the observation point is located in the upper half space without a source. However, such methods may generate analytical singularities for conditions of undulating terrain. Based on basic geomagnetic field theories, in this study an improved magnetic field expression is derived using an integration method of variable substitution, and all singularity problems for the entire space without a source are discussed and solved. This integration process is simpler than that of previous methods, and final integral results with a more uniform form. ΔT at all points in the source-free space can be calculated without requiring coordinate transformation; thus forward modeling is also simplified. Corresponding model tests indicate that the new magnetic field expression is more correct because there is no analytical singularity and can be used with undulating terrain.     

3D modeling of geological anomalies based on segmentation of multiattribute fusion

3D modeling of geological bodies based on 3D seismic data is used to define the shape and volume of the bodies, which then can be directly applied to reservoir prediction, reserve estimation, and exploration. However, multiattributes are not effectively used in 3D modeling. To solve this problem, we propose a novel method for building of 3D model of geological anomalies based on the segmentation of multiattribute fusion. First, we divide the seismic attributes into edge- and region-based seismic attributes. Then, the segmentation model incorporating the edge- and region-based models is constructed within the levelset-based framework. Finally, the marching cubes algorithm is adopted to extract the zero level set based on the segmentation results and build the 3D model of the geological anomaly. Combining the edge-and region-based attributes to build the segmentation model, we satisfy the independence requirement and avoid the problem of insufficient data of single seismic attribute in capturing the boundaries of geological anomalies. We apply the proposed method to seismic data from the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China and obtain 3D models of caves and channels. Compared with 3D models obtained based on single seismic attributes, the results are better agreement with reality.     

Seismic evaluation of rocking structures through performance assessment and fragility analysis

Numerical studies have been conducted for low- and medium-rise rocking structures to investigate their efficiency as earthquake-resisting systems in comparison with conventional structures. Several non-linear time-history analyses have been performed to evaluate seismic performance of selected cases at desired ground shaking levels, based on key parameters such as total and flexural story drifts and residual deformations. The Far-field record set is selected as input ground motions and median peak values of key parameters are taken as best estimates of system response. In addition, in order to evaluate the probability of exceeding relevant damage states, analytical fragility curves have been developed based on the results of the incremental dynamic analysis procedure. Small exceedance probabilities and acceptable margins against collapse, together with minor associated damages in main structural members, can be considered as superior seismic performance for medium-rise rocking systems. Low-rise rocking systems could provide significant performance improvement over their conventional counterparts notwithstanding certain weaknesses in their seismic response.     

Spatial distribution analysis of landslides triggered by the 2013-04-20 Lushan earthquake,China

The 2013-04-20 Lushan earthquake(seismic magnitude Ms 7.0 according to the State Seismological Bureau)induced a large number of landslides.In this study,spatial characteristics of landslides are developed by interpreting digital aerial photography data.Seven towns near the epicenter,with an area of about 11.11 km2,were severely affected by the earthquake,and 703 landslides were identified from April 24,2013 aerial photography data over an area of 1.185 km2.About 55.56% of the landslide area was less than 1000 m2,whereas about 3.23 % was more than 10,000 m2.Rock falls and shallow landslides were the most commonly observed types in the study area,and were primarily located in the center of Lushan County.Most landslide areas were widely distributed near river channels and along roads.Five main factors were chosen to study the distribution characteristics of landslides:elevation,slope gradients,fault,geologic unit and river system.The spatial distribution of coseismal landslides is studied statistically using both landslide point density(LPD),defined as the number of landslides(LS Number)per square kilometer,and landslide area density(LAD),interpreted as the percentage of landslides area affected by earthquake.The results show that both LPD and LAD have strong positive correlations with five main factors.Most landslides occurred in the gradient range of 40°-50° and an elevation range of 1.0-1.5 km above sea level.Statistical results also indicate that landslides were mainly formed in soft rocks such as mudstone and sandstone,and concentrated in IX intensity areas.     

Newmark design spectra considering earthquake magnitudes and site categories

Newmark design spectra have been implemented in many building codes, especially in building codes for critical structures. Previous studies show that Newmark design spectra exhibit lower amplitudes at high frequencies and larger amplitudes at low frequencies in comparison with spectra developed by statistical methods. To resolve this problem, this study considers three suites of ground motions recorded at three types of sites. Using these ground motions, influences of the shear-wave velocity, earthquake magnitudes, source-to-site distances on the ratios of ground motion parameters are studied, and spectrum amplification factors are statistically calculated. Spectral bounds for combinations of three site categories and two cases of earthquake magnitudes are estimated. Site design spectrum coefficients for the three site categories considering earthquake magnitudes are established. The problems of Newmark design spectra could be resolved by using the site design spectrum coefficients to modify the spectral values of Newmark design spectra in the acceleration sensitive, velocity sensitive, and displacement sensitive regions.