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.     

Temporal changes in P-wave velocity in Southern California

P-wave delays at Tinemaha, China Lake, Pasadena, Riverside, Hayfield and Barrett, stations of the CIT Southern California seismic network, are measured for three explosions in the Aleutians and six deep-focus earthquakes in the Marianas. Except at Riverside, no change in P-delays exceeding the experimental uncertainty, ± 0.2 sec, is found during the period from 1965 to 1971. At Riverside, however, P-delay in 1971 is at least 0.4 sec smaller than that in 1965, indicating a temporal P-velocity increase beneath Riverside from 1965 to 1971. Evidence supporting this result is obtained from the P-times at Riverside for quarry blasts at Corona (Δ ≈ 20 km). Precise travel-time measurements are made for eight blasts since 1949. The travel time changes as a function of time, ranging from 3.3 to 3.7 sec. This range of variation seems to be larger than the experimental uncertainty. The trend for the period from 1964 to 1969 is consistent with the temporal change in the teleseismic P-delays observed at Riverside. The observed change in P-delays is not related in any obvious way to past seismic activity; rather it might represent a large-scale fluctuation of the property of the crust caused possibly by change in the tectonic stress and fluid-vapor flow, and may be related to future earthquake activity.     

Long-period ground motion in the epicentral area of major earthquakes

In view of the potential importance of long-period ground motion in the design of large structures, near-field ground displacement is computed by the elastic dislocation theory for several earthquake fault models. The validity of such computations is confirmed by comparing the computed seismogram with the observed long-period seismogram of the 1923 Kanto earthquake. The ground motions are computed for three hypothetical earthquakes, a hypothetical Kanto earthquake, Tokai earthquake and Nemuro-Oki earthquake. The location and the nature of the faulting of these earthquakes are predicted by plate tectonics and precise earthquake mechanism studies. Major conclusions are: Tokyo may suffer, in the hypothetical Kanto earthquake, ground motions about half as large as those experienced in the 1923 Kanto earthquake; Hamamatsu, a large city on the Tokai coast, may experience in the hypothetical Tokai earthquake ground motions which are as large as, or even larger than, those experienced in the epicentral area of the 1923 Kanto earthquake; the hypothetical Nemuro-Oki earthquake may cause ground motions as large as those experienced in the 1968 Tokachi-Oki earthquake on the coastal cities in Hokkaido.     

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Books Reviewed in this Article:
Seismic tomography and mantle circulation Eds O'Nions, R. K. & Parsons, B., Royal Society of London Special Publication , 1989, ISBN 0854 033823.     

Alkaline leaching characteristics of biogenic opal in Eocene sediments from the central Arctic Ocean: a case study in the ACEX cores

Accurate knowledge of the extent of biogenic opal preservation in marine sediment cores is important for paleoceanographic reconstructions. The alkaline leaching method is widely employed for %biogenic opal analysis due to its ease and speed. In this study, a revised method for measuring %biogenic opal in sediment from arctic coring expedition samples was suggested. The studied middle Eocene sediments from the central Arctic Ocean presented a problem in insufficiently leaching biogenic opal with a Na₂CO₃ solution. Based on XRD analysis, it was suggested that such an alkaline resistance results from slight diagenesis of biogenic opal. In order to solve this problem, an alkaline leaching method utilizing a 2 M NaOH solution was suggested for the accurate measurement of %biogenic opal in the Eocene sediments from the central Arctic. Furthermore, dissolution rates from lithogenic matter by NaOH solution were measured in order to correct the %biogenic opal values.     

Estimation of snow ablation under a dust layer covering a wide range of albedo

Ablation processes of snow under a thin dust cover are complicated compared with those under a thick cover, mainly owing to the effects of aggregation (redistribution) of dust particles on the conditions of surface melting. Aggregation of dust particles causes the snow surface to brighten after the initial dust configuration, thus affecting the relationship between initial dust concentration and surface albedo. In order to estimate snow ablation rate under a thin dust cover, we used a composite energy balance model in which the surface albedo is taken as a measured input variable. The estimated results of snow ablation agreed reasonably well with the observation, considering the measurement errors inherited in the snow depressions. Comparison of the two cases, that is, one considering the aggregation of dust particles (observation: albedo variable) and the other without aggregation (assumption: albedo constant), showed that the ablation rates were noticeably lower on the former case. This suggests that the aggregation of dust particles induces a reduction of snow ablation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New interpretation of the Franciscan mélange at San Simeon coast,California: tectonic intrusion into an accretionary prism

Many concepts and interpretations on the formation of the Franciscan mélange have been proposed on the basis of exposures at San Simeon, California. In this paper, we show the distribution of chaotic rocks, their internal structures and textures, and the interrelationship between the chaotic rocks and the surrounding sandstones (turbidites). Mélange components, particularly blueschists, oceanic rocks, including greenstone, pillow lava, bedded chert, limestone, sandstone, and conglomerate, have all been brecciated by retrograde deformation. The Cambria Slab, long interpreted as a trench slope basin, is also strongly deformed by fluidization, brecciation, isoclinal folding, and thrusting, leading us to a new interpretation that turbiditic rocks (including the Cambria Slab) represent trench deposits rather than slope basin sediments. These rocks form an accretionary prism above mélanges that were diapirically emplaced into these rocks first along sinistral-thrust faults, and then along dextral-normal faults. Riedel shear systems are observed in several orders of scale in both stages. Although the exhumation of the blueschist blocks is still controversial, the common extensional fractures and brecciation in most of the blocks in the mélanges and further mixture of various lithologies into one block with mélange muddy matrix indicate that once deeply buried blocks were exhumed from considerable depths to the accretionary prism body, before being diapirically intruded with their host mélange along thrust and normal faults, during which retrograde deformation occurred together with retrograde metamorphism. Recent similar examples of high-pressure rock exhumation have been documented along the Sofugan Tectonic Line in the Izu forearc areas, in the Mineoka belt in the Boso Peninsula, and as part of accretionary prism development in the Nankai and Sagami troughs of Japan. These modern analogues provide actively forming examples of the lithological and deformational features that characterize the Franciscan mélange processes.     

An estimation of the electric potential field generated by the diurnal atmospheric tide with the first negative mode excited in the lower ionosphere

The electric potential field in the ionosphere, which is generated by the atmospheric tide with the diurnal first negative mode excited in the lower ionosphere, is estimated. An equivalent mode is used instead of the exact mode in the following approximations : (i) the horizontal structure of the energy input is composed of the first two terms of the series expansion of the Hough function with the associated Legendre functions, and (ii) the Coriolis force is assumed to be constant in the equation of motion and the value appropriate to colatitude 45 being used. It is found that the equivalent mode gives a good approximation of the exact mode at midlatitudes in the neutral atmosphere. The result shows that the oscillation with its temperature variation of about 40 K in the excitation region generates the horizontal electric potential field of 10^?3 V/m in magnitude. The horizontal pattern of the field distribution is similar to that estimated by many authors. The maximum vertical electric current is about 3 × 10^?9 A/m² in the dynamo layer. It is found that the “virtual current,” introduced by Volland (1970) as a vertical current in and above the dynamo layer, in order to obtain a better agreement between theory and observations of the location of the diurnal symmetric Sq current vortex, is actually to be expected. The vertical current is very small, but this small steady current is necessary for the electric potential field of the dynamo layer to be mapped into the magnetosphere along the lines of the geomagnetic field.     

Regional S-wave structure for southern California from the analysis of teleseismic Rayleigh waves

Summary. Teleseismic Rayleigh waves, M_S > 7.0, in the period range 14 to 28 s, are well recorded by the short-period Benioff array within southern California. Multiple arrivals that hinder the determination of local phase velocity curves are detected by narrow band-pass filtering. The records are then windowed on distinct, coherent peaks that move uniformly across the array. Four to seven stations are included in the determination of both the phase velocity across the array and the incidence azimuth. For earthquakes in the western Pacific, the derived incidence azimuths are systematically rotated counterclockwise by 2–16°. Most of this rotation results from refraction at the continental shelf. Phase velocity data for both the southern Mojave—central Transverse Ranges and the Peninsular Ranges are inverted to obtain regional 5-wave velocity models. The starting models are constructed from travel-time studies of local sources, both natural and artificial. Poisson's ratio as a function of depth is calculated for these two regions. The comparison of Poisson's ratio with laboratory ultrasonic studies requires a quartz-rich crust within the southern Mojave—central Transverse Ranges and a mafic crust within the Peninsular Ranges.