Average attenuation of 0.7–5.0 Hz Lg waves and magnitude scale determination for the region bounding the western branch of the East African Rift

The investigation of L g attenuation characteristics in the region bounding the western branch of the East African rift system using digital recordings from a seismic network located along the rift between Lake Rukwa and Lake Malawi is reported. A set of 24 recordings of L g waves from 12 regional earthquakes has been used for the determination of anelastic attenuation, Q _Lg , and regional body-wave magnitude, m _{b Lg} , scale. The events used have body-wave magnitudes, m _b , between 4.6 and 5.5, which have been determined teleseismically and listed in ISC bulletins. The data were time-domain displacement amplitudes measured at 10 different frequencies (0.7–5.0  Hz). Q _Lg and its frequency dependence, η , in the region can be represented in the form Q _Lg = (186.2 ± 6.5)  f  ^(0.78±0.05). This model is in agreement with models established in other active tectonic regions. The L g -wave-based magnitude formula for the region is given by m _{b Lg} = log   A + (3.76 ± 0.38)  log   D − (5.72 ± 1.06), where A is a half-peak-to-peak maximum amplitude of the 1  s L g wave amplitude in microns and D is the epicentral distance in kilometres. Magnitude results for the 12 regional earthquakes tested are in good agreement with the ISC body-wave magnitude scale.