Time-frequency analysis of seismic excitation and estimates of attenuation parameters for the Friuli (Italy) local earthquakes

Stochastic modelling is applied to the analysis of local earthquake recordings, which are usually extremely rich in random incident-wave trains that are chaotically superimposed because of scattering effects in the Earth's crust. The presence in the seismic signal of effects connected with the scale of inhomogeneity in the lithosphere cannot be deterministically described in detail. The application of a stochastic second-order autoregressive model to accelerometric records for the higher magnitude (M_L ? 6) Friuli earthquakes and to short-period seismometric records for the aftershocks of the strong earthquake of 6 May 1976 has allowed inferences to be drawn about the spectral properties of seismic signals and the propagation mechanisms of seismic waves. These inferences are based on an extremely small number of parameters of a mathematical model suitable for simultaneously describing the random sequence of scattered wave trains in the time and frequency domains. Useful physical information has been obtained about the dynamic characteristic correlation times and the predominant frequency of the seismic signals; moreover, the strength, σ²_e(t), of the innovation of the stochastic process fitting the real digital data set has been estimated. From the envelopes of σ²_e(t), the quantity heuristically used in the stochastic approach to describe seismic excitation, the·mean free-path between successive scatterings (l), or the equivalent diffusivity coefficient (d) and turbidity (g), and their dependence on seismic wave frequency have been investigated. For Friuli, using seismometric data at an epicentral distance of ～ 20 km and earthquakes with a magnitude just under 2, mean free-path estimates obtained by means of autoregressive parameters vary from ～ 5 km for the strong interaction model to ～ 30 km for the single scattering model. Furthermore, by means of accelerometric records for the strongest earthquakes in Friuli during May and September 1976, the dependence for the maximum of the seismic excitation on the epicentral distance R was estimated as (σ²_e)_max ～ R^?ν (with ν 1.94 ± 0.13), which is in good agreement with results obtained for the same region using standard methods by means of acceleration peaks versus R. Lastly, stochastic modelling provides a method of estimating change versus time for the predominant frequency and characteristic correlation time of narrow band digital recordings. These two parameters were computed by means of autoregressive parameters in different physical situations and were found to be functions of the earthquake source, the instrumentation frequency response, and the Earth's filtering effects.