Now showing 1 - 10 of 26
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    Apparent Stress and Corner Frequency Variations in the 1999 Taiwan (Chi-Chi) Sequence: Evidence For a Step-Wise Increase at Mw ~5.5
    (2009) ; ;
    Mayeda, K.; Weston Geophysical Corporation, Lexington, MA
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    Malagnini, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Apparent stress and corner frequencies are measured for the Chi-Chi, Taiwan sequence beginning with the Mw 7.6 mainshock on 20 September 1999. Using the coda source ratio method, we obtained stable source ratio estimates using broadband stations on Taiwan. We find the following: (1) For the mainshock and 3 of the larger aftershocks, apparent stress is clustered around 0.8 MPa (+/- 0.1 MPa); (2) Events below ~Mw 5.5 exhibit lower apparent stress with larger scatter, ranging between ~0.08 and 0.8 MPa and are spatially variable; 3) The Brune [1970, 1971] omega-square source model fits the spectral shape for events 4.7
      217  27
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Comprehensive assessments of Parkfield earthquake source estimates: a look into model variability
    We investigate source parameters and scaling of repeating and non-repeating earthquakes occurring on the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas Fault (SAF) taking into account model, or epistemic variability due to method, We will compute source corner frequency and stress drop using multi-taper spectral analysis of P and S waves, inversion for source, path and site, and coda envelope methods using data from the borehole High Resolution Seismic Network (HRSN). The result of this analysis will be compared to estimates obtained from the Nadeau and Johnson (1998) asperity loading model, as well as finite-source models of earthquakes form M 1.8 to 6.0 (Dreger et al., 2007; Uchide and Ide, 2010). One objective is to compare source parameters derived from each method with estimated uncertainties usign identical data set to evaluate the variability and resolution of source parameters. The result of such analysis give us insights into the underlying mechanics of faulting and the earthquake process. This poster presents results using the multiple-taper coda method.
      85  49
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    A break in self-similarity in the Lunigiana-Garfagnana region (northern Apennines)
    In this study, stable source parameters are determined for small earthquakes in the Lunigiana-Garfagnana region using an empirical methodology based on coda envelope measurements that are significantly less affected by the source radiation pattern, directivity, and heterogeneous path variation, than traditional direct wave measurements. We find evidence that the scaled energy ~e(=ER/M0) increases with moment and source spectra are not self-similar for 3.0 Mw 4.6. The calibration procedure allows for an independent check of three important features: (1) that the empirical path corrections provide consistent amplitude measurements for the same event at different stations, distances, and azimuths; (2) that the long-period levels of the source spectra are consistent with independent M0 derived from long-period waveform modeling; (3) that small event spectra are flat below a conservative estimate of the corner frequency and thereby effectively accounting for near-site attenuation. Citation: Morasca, P., K. Mayeda, R. Go¨k, L. Malagnini, and C. Eva (2005), A break in self-similarity in the Lunigiana-Garfagnana region (northern Apennines)
      152  1
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Source scaling comparison and validation in Central Italy: data intensive direct S waves versus the sparse data coda envelope methodology
    Robustness of source parameter estimates is a fundamental issue in understanding the relationships between small and large events; however, it is difficult to assess how much of the variability of the source parameters can be attributed to the physical source characteristics or to the uncertainties of the methods and data used to estimate the values. In this study, we apply the coda method by Mayeda et al. using the coda calibration tool (CCT), a freely available Java-based code (https://github.com/LLNL/coda-calibration-tool) to obtain a regional calibration for Central Italy for estimating stable source parameters. We demonstrate the power of the coda technique in this region and show that it provides the same robustness in source parameter estimation as a data-driven methodology [generalized inversion technique (GIT)], but with much fewer calibration events and stations. The Central Italy region is ideal for both GIT and coda approaches as it is characterized by high-quality data, including recent well-recorded seismic sequences such as L'Aquila (2009) and Amatrice–Norcia–Visso (2016–2017). This allows us to apply data-driven methods such as GIT and coda-based methods that require few, but high-quality data. The data set for GIT analysis includes ∼5000 earthquakes and more than 600 stations, while for coda analysis we used a small subset of 39 events spanning 3.5 < Mw < 6.33 and 14 well-distributed broad-band stations. For the common calibration events, as well as an additional 247 events (∼1.7 < Mw < ∼5.0) not used in either calibration, we find excellent agreement between GIT-derived and CCT-derived source spectra. This confirms the ability of the coda approach to obtain stable source parameters even with few calibration events and stations. Even reducing the coda calibration data set by 75 per cent, we found no appreciable degradation in performance. This validation of the coda calibration approach over a broad range of event size demonstrates that this procedure, once extended to other regions, represents a powerful tool for future routine applications to homogeneously evaluate robust source parameters on a national scale. Furthermore, the coda calibration procedure can homogenize the Mw estimates for small and large events without the necessity of introducing any conversion scale between narrow-band measures such as local magnitude (ML) and Mw, which has been shown to introduce significant bias.
      87  32
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    Estimating Absolute Site Effects
    (2004) ; ; ; ;
    Malagnini, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Mayeda, K.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ground-based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Program
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    Akinci, A.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Bragato, P. L.; Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche
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    We use previously determined direct-wave attenuation functions as well as stable, coda-derived source excitation spectra to isolate the absolute S-wave site effect for the horizontal and vertical components of weak ground motion. We use selected stations in the seismic network of the eastern Alps. A detailed regional attenuation function derived by Malagnini et al. (2002) for the region is used to correct the vertical and horizontal S-wave spectra. These corrections account for the gross path effects (i.e., all distance-dependent effects), although the source and site effects are still present in the distance-corrected spectra. The main goal of this study is to isolate the absolute site effect (as a function of frequency) by removing the source spectrum (moment-rate spectrum) from the distance-corrected S-wave spectra. Typically, removing the S-wave source spectrum is difficult because of inadequate corrections for the source radiation pattern, directivity, and random interference. In addition to complexities near the source, 2D and 3D structure beneath the recording site will result in an azimuth-dependent site effect. Since the direct wave only samples a narrow range in takeoff and backazimuth angles, multistation averaging is needed to minimize the inherent scatter. Because of these complicating effects, we apply the coda methodology outlined by Mayeda et al. (2003) to obtain stable moment-rate spectra. This methodology provides source amplitude and derived source spectra that are a factor of 3–4 times more stable than those derived from direct waves. Since the coda is commonly thought of as scattered energy that samples all ray parameters and backazimuths, it is not very sensitive to the source radiation pattern and 3D structure. This property makes it an excellent choice for use in obtaining average parameters to describe the source, site, and path effects in a region. Due to the characteristics of the techniques used in this study, all the inverted quantities are azimuthally averaged, since the azimuthal information is lost in the processing. Our results show that (1) all rock sites exhibited deamplification phenomena due to absorption at frequencies ranging between 0.5 and 12 Hz (the available bandwidth), on both the horizontal and vertical components; (2) rock-site transfer functions showed large variability at high-frequency; (3) vertical-motion site transfer functions show strong frequency dependence; (4) horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratios do not reproduce the charactersitics of the true horizontal site transfer functions; and (5) traditional, relative site terms obtained by using reference rock sites can be misleading in inferring the behaviors of true site transfer functions, since most rock sites have nonflat responses due to shallow heterogeneities resulting from varying degrees of weathering. Our stable source spectra are used to estimate the total radiated seismic energy and to compare against similar results obtained for different regions of the world. We find that the earthquakes in this region exhibit nonconstant dynamic stress drop scaling, which gives further support for a fundamental difference in rupture dynamics between small and large earthquakes.
      193  21
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    Characterization of earthquake-induced ground motion from the L’Aquila seismic sequence of 2009, Italy
    (2011-01) ; ; ; ; ; ;
    Malagnini, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Akinci, A.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Mayeda, K.; Berkeley Seismological Observatory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
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    Munafo, I.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Herrmann, R. B.; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences of Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA
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    Mercuri, A.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Based only on weak-motion data, we carried out a combined study on region-specific source scaling and crustal attenuation in the Central Apennines (Italy). Our goal was to obtain a reappraisal of the existing predictive relationships for the ground motion, and to test them against the strong-motion data [peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV) and spectral acceleration (SA)] gathered during the Mw 6.15 L’Aquila earthquake (2009 April 6, 01:32 UTC). The L’Aquila main shockwas not part of the predictive study, and the validation test was an extrapolation to one magnitude unit above the largest earthquake of the calibration data set. The regional attenuation was determined through a set of regressions on a data set of 12 777 high-quality, high-gain waveforms with excellent S/N ratios (4259 vertical and 8518 horizontal time histories). Seismograms were selected from the recordings of 170 foreshocks and aftershocks of the sequence (the complete set of all earthquakes with ML ≥ 3.0, from 2008 October 1 to 2010 May 10). All waveforms were downloaded from the ISIDe web page (http://iside.rm.ingv.it/iside/standard/index.jsp), a web site maintained by the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). Weak-motion data were used to obtain a moment tensor solution, as well as a coda-based moment-rate source spectrum, for each one of the 170 events of the L’Aquila sequence (2.8 ≤ Mw ≤ 6.15). Source spectra were used to verify the good agreement with the source scaling of the Colfiorito seismic sequence of 1997–1998 recently described by Malagnini et al. (2008). Finally, results on source excitation and crustal attenuationwere used to produce the absolute site terms for the 23 stations located within ∼80 km of the epicentral area. The complete set of spectral corrections (crustal attenuation and absolute site effects) was used to implement a fast and accurate tool for the automatic computation of moment magnitudes in the Central Apennines.
      413  39
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    Unbiased Moment Rate Spectra and Absolute Site Effects in the Kachchh Basin, India, from the Analysis of the Aftershocks of the 2001 Mw7.6 Bhuj Earthquake
    (2006) ; ; ; ;
    Malagnini, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Bodin, P.; Center for Earthquake Research and Information University of Memphis
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    Mayeda, K.; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ground-Based Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Program
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    Akinci, A.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    What can be learned about absolute site effects on ground motions, with no geotechnical information available, in a very poorly instrumented region? In addition, can reliable source spectra be computed at a temporary deployment? These challenges motivated our current study of aftershocks of the 2001 Mw 7.6 Bhuj earthquake, in western India, where we decouple the ambiguity between absolute source radiation and site effects by first computing robust estimates of coda-derived moment-rate spectra of about 200 aftershocks in each of two depth ranges. Crustal attenuation and spreading relationships, based on the same data used here, were determined in an an earlier study. Using our new estimates of source spectra, and our understanding of regional wave propagation, for direct S waves we isolate the absolute site terms for the stations of the temporary deployment. Absolute site terms for each station were determined in an average sense for the three components of the ground motion via an L1-norm minimization. Results for each site were averaged over wide ranges of azimuths and incidence angles. The Bhuj deployment is characterized by a variable shallow geology, mostly of soft sedimentary units. Vertical site terms in the region were observed to be almost featureless (i.e., flat), with amplifications slightly 1.0 within wide frequency ranges. As a result, the horizontal-to-vertical (H/V) spectral ratios observed at the deployment mimic the behavior of the corresponding absolute horizontal site terms, and they generally overpredict them. This differs significantly from results for sedimentary rock sites (limestone, dolomite) obtained by Malagnini et al. (2004) in northeastern Italy, where the H/V spectral ratios had little in common with the absolute horizontal site terms. Spectral ratios between the vector sum of the computed horizontal site terms for the temporary deployment with respect to the same quantity computed at the hardest rock station available, BAC1, are seriously biased by its nonflat, nonunitary site response. This indicates that, occasionally, the actual behavior of a rock outcrop may be far from that of an ideal, reference site (Steidl et al., 1996).
      153  22
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    High-stress strike-slip faults in the Apennines: An example from the 2002 San Giuliano earthquakes (southern Italy)
    (2008) ; ;
    Malagnini, L.; Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione Roma1, Roma, Italia
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    Mayeda, K.; Weston Geophysical Corporation
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    Under the hypotheses that the high-frequency part of the seismic spectrum is controlled by source duration and by peak slip velocity, we applied a recent coda envelope methodology to obtain stable relative source estimates between selected mainshocks and their aftershocks. We computed stable mainshock/aftershock S-wave spectral ratios and used a simple source model in order to quantify the scaling of the seismic sources of the San Giuliano sequence (Southern Italy). From the analysis of the ratios obtained between the main shock of 10/31/2002, and 11 aftershocks, and of those computed between the other main event of the sequence, of 11/01/2002, and 10 aftershocks, we observe that the scaling relationships: holds, with . Despite the strong discrepancy between the moment magnitude and the high-frequency ground motion excited by the main shocks (ML was much lower than Mw), that would indicate low-stress drop sources, we compute anomalously high stress parameters for both events. By comparison, the same analysis was carried out on seismic data of the Hector Mine seismic sequence (the main event of October 16, 1999, , and six of its aftershocks). We found: , with .
      123  22
  • Publication
    Open Access
    The Community Stress-Drop Validation Study—Part II: Uncertainties of the Source Parameters and Stress Drop Analysis
    As part of the community stress‐drop validation study, we evaluate the uncertainties of seismic moment M0 and corner frequency fc for earthquakes of the 2019 Ridgecrest sequence. Source spectra were obtained in the companion article by applying the spectral decomposition approach with alternative processing and model assumptions. The objective of the present study is twofold: first, to quantify the impact of different assumptions on the source parameters; and second, to use the distribution of values obtained with different assumptions to estimate an epistemic contribution to the uncertainties. Regarding the first objective, we find that the choice of the attenuation model has a strong impact on fc results: by introducing a depth‐dependent attenuation model, fc estimates of events shallower than 6 km increase of about 10%. Also, the duration of the window used to compute the Fourier spectra show an impact on fc ⁠: the average ratio between the estimates for 20 s duration to those for 5 s decreases from 1.1 for Mw<3 to 0.66 for Mw>4.5. For the second objective, we use a mixed‐effect regression to partition the intraevent variability into duration, propagation, and site contributions. The standard deviation ϕ of the intraevent residuals for log(fc) is 0.0635, corresponding to a corner frequency ratio 102ϕ=1.33. When the intraevent variability is compared to uncertainties on log(fc), we observe that 2ϕ is generally larger than the 95% confidence interval of log(fc), suggesting that the uncertainty of the source parameters provided by the fitting procedure might underestimate the model‐related (epistemic) uncertainty. Finally, although we observe an increase of log(Δσ) with log(M0) regardless of the model assumptions, the increase of Δσ with depth depends on the assumptions, and no significant trends are detected when depth‐dependent attenuation and velocity values are considered.
      81  21
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    Coda-derived source spectra, moment magnitudes and energy-moment scaling in the western Alps
    A stable estimate of the earthquake source spectra in the western Alps is obtained using an empirical method based on coda envelope amplitude measurements described by Mayeda for events ranging between MW∼ 1.0 and ∼5.0. Path corrections for consecutive narrow frequency bands ranging between 0.3 and 25.0 Hz were included using a simple 1-D model for five three-component stations of the Regional Seismic network of Northwestern Italy (RSNI). The 1-D assumption performs well, even though the region is characterized by a complex structural setting involving strong lateral variations in the Moho depth. For frequencies less than 1.0 Hz, we tied our dimensionless, distance-corrected coda amplitudes to an absolute scale in units of dyne cm by using independent moment magnitudes from long-period waveform modelling for three moderate magnitude events in the region. For the higher frequencies, we used small events as empirical Green's functions, with corner frequencies above 25.0 Hz. For each station, the procedure yields frequency-dependent corrections that account for site effects, including those related to fmax, as well as to S-to-coda transfer function effects. After the calibration was completed, the corrections were applied to the entire data set composed of 957 events. Our findings using the coda-derived source spectra are summarized as follows: (i) we derived stable estimates of seismic moment, M0, (and hence MW) as well as radiated S-wave energy, (ES), from waveforms recorded by as few as one station, for events that were too small to be waveform modelled (i.e. events less than MW∼ 3.5); (ii) the source spectra were used to derive an equivalent local magnitude, ML(coda), that is in excellent agreement with the network averaged values using direct S waves; (iii) scaled energy, graphic, where ER, the radiated seismic energy, is comparable to results from other tectonically active regions (e.g. western USA, Japan) and supports the idea that there is a fundamental difference in rupture dynamics between small and large crustal earthquakes in tectonically active regions.
      150  2