Induced versus natural earthquakes: Search for a seismic discriminant

1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-281
Author(s):  
William A. Peppin ◽  
Charles G. Bufe

abstract A sizeable body (150 records) of three-component, wideband (0.2 to 50 Hz) digital seismic data has allowed a direct comparison between earthquakes at The Geysers geothermal area, California and along nearby active faults of the San Andreas system. An attempt has been made to find analog or spectral parameters which would permit discrimination between 12 events within the steam production field and 30 outside it. Results of the study for both classes of events are: (1) seismic moments vary with local magnitude ML as log M0 = (1.06 ± 0.11) ML + 16.9 ± 0.1; (2) the ratio of vertical P-wave to horizontal S-wave spectral corner frequencies is near unity; (3) seismic stress drops are low (1.0 to 10 bars); and (4) focal mechanisms are quite comparable during the time period of this study.

Author(s):  
Sean P. Bemis ◽  
Kate Scharer ◽  
James F. Dolan

ABSTRACT The structural complexity of active faults and the stress release history along the fault system may exert control on the locus and extent of individual earthquake ruptures. Fault bends, in particular, are often invoked as a possible mechanism for terminating earthquake ruptures. However, there are few records available to examine how these factors may influence the along-fault recurrence of earthquakes. We present a new paleoearthquake chronology for the southern San Andreas fault at Elizabeth Lake and integrate this record with existing paleoearthquake records to examine how the timing and frequency of earthquakes vary through a major restraining bend. This restraining bend features a mature, throughgoing right-lateral strike-slip fault, two major fault intersections, proposed subsurface fault dip changes, and a >200  km long section of fault misaligned with the regional plate motion. The Frazier Mountain, Elizabeth Lake, Pallett Creek, Wrightwood, and Pitman Canyon paleoseismic sites are located on this relatively linear surface trace of the San Andreas fault between fault bends. Our paleoseismic investigations at Elizabeth Lake document 4–5 earthquakes, since ∼1100  C.E., similar to the number of earthquakes recorded at Pallett Creek. In contrast, the Frazier Mountain and Wrightwood sites each record 8–9 earthquakes during this same time period. Differences in earthquake frequency demonstrate that fewer earthquakes rupture the central portion of the restraining bend than occur near the fault bends and intersections. Furthermore, the similarity of earthquake records from the Bidart Fan paleoseismic site northwest of the restraining bend and the Frazier Mountain paleoseismic site suggests that the broad, 30° curve of the Big Bend section of the San Andreas fault exerts less influence on fault rupture behavior than the 3D geometry of the Mojave sections of the fault.


1980 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 1547-1555
Author(s):  
Malcolm R. Somerville ◽  
William A. Peppin ◽  
J. D. VanWormer

abstract The Diamond Valley, California, earthquakes of September 1978 occurred near the southern termination of the north-striking, east-dipping Genoa Fault, a major normal fault exhibiting cumulative Holocene offsets of up to 10 meters along the eastern margin of the Carson Range. Master-event location of the 14 largest events (ML ≧ 3.0), using two close-in temporary stations for control, revealed a tight cluster 2 km in extent. P-wave first motions for the main shock (ML = 5.0) resolve a strike-slip mechanism with an east-west axis of minimum compressive stress. Faulting (right-lateral) was assigned to the southeast-striking plane on the basis of aftershock migration in that direction. This style of faulting partially accommodates the regional stress field in zones separating left-stepping normal faults of the Sierra Nevada-Great Basin boundary zone. Seismic moments, Wood-Anderson magnitudes, and stress drops were computed for aftershocks using close-in digital seismograms; stress drops were higher than those found by Douglas and Ryall (1972) for aftershocks of the 1954 Fairview Peak earthquake some 130 km to the east. One identifiable characteristic of this sequence is that the ratio of P-to S-wave spectral corner frequencies is considerably greater (2.5) than unity.


1979 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 1841-1849
Author(s):  
Michael C. Stickney

abstract On March 31, 1978, an earthquake of coda magnitude 3.3 (ML = 3.7 BRK) occurred 5 km off the coast of northern California near Fort Ross. A single foreshock preceded the earthquake and approximately 60 aftershocks followed. Locations based on P- and S-wave arrival times indicate that the earthquakes occurred offshore, west of the San Andreas fault in the vicinity of a fault that is visible on acoustic reflection profiles. All earthquakes had hypocentral depths less than 8 km. A fault-plane solution from P-wave first motions suggests that the focal mechanism of the main shock consisted of nearly equal components of dextral and vertical movement on a plane striking northwest. Other events in this sequence had first-motion patterns strikingly different than the main shock, indicating that more than one type of faulting occurred during the sequence. Seismic moments computed for three aftershocks ranged from 3.8 × 1019 to 1.1 × 1019 dyne-cm.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Yang Liu ◽  
Lan Qiao ◽  
Yuan Li ◽  
Guodong Ma ◽  
Andrei M. Golosov ◽  
...  

The self-developed dry-coupled rock ultrasonic monitoring system is adopted to set up a multidirectional and multiwaveform ultrasonic monitoring network, which aims to analyse the evolution law of acoustic spectrum parameters in the process of granite loading failure under uniaxial compression, to explore the dominant acoustic spectrum characteristic information at different stages of granite loading, and to verify in situ the damage monitoring of time-effect deformation. The results show that the wave velocity, amplitude, and amplitude-frequency of the first wave and the velocity of P-wave and S-wave show a significant upward trend in the rock compaction section. After entering the elastic stage, the three spectral parameters become peacefully stable, and the stage transformation is obvious. In the stable crack growth stage, with the initiation of the crack, the dominant frequency of S-wave shows a significant stage transition compared with the global ultrasonic wave velocity and the first arrived amplitude, and the dominant frequency decreases by 6%. In the unstable crack growth stage, the three acoustic spectrum parameters present obvious downward trend, and the first arrived wave amplitude of S-wave is found to have a significant decline of 39.1%. On the eve of failure, the amplitude-frequency of S-wave shows different feature from the P-wave; that is, S-wave transfers from the state of multipeak in wide frequency to the state of single peak in low frequency, which is the failure precursor of the rock sample.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Balling ◽  
Christoph Grützner ◽  
Bruno Tomljenović ◽  
Wim Spakman ◽  
Kamil Ustaszewski

AbstractThe Dinarides fold-thrust belt on the Balkan Peninsula resulted from convergence between the Adriatic and Eurasian plates since Mid-Jurassic times. Under the Dinarides, S-wave receiver functions, P-wave tomographic models, and shear-wave splitting data show anomalously thin lithosphere overlying a short down-flexed slab geometry. This geometry suggests a delamination of Adriatic lithosphere. Here, we link the evolution of this continental convergence system to hitherto unreported sets of extensively uplifted Oligocene–Miocene (28–17 Ma) marine terraces preserved at elevations of up to 600 m along the Dinaric coastal range. River incision on either side of the Mediterranean-Black Sea drainage divide is comparable to the amounts of terrace uplift. The preservation of the uplifted terraces implies that the most External Dinarides did not experience substantial deformation other than surface uplift in the Neogene. These observations and the contemporaneous emplacement of igneous rocks (33–22 Ma) in the internal Dinarides suggest that the Oligo-Miocene orogen-wide uplift was driven by post-break-off delamination of the Adriatic lithospheric mantle, this was followed by isostatic readjustment of the remaining crust. Our study details how lithospheric delamination exerts an important control on crustal deformation and that its crustal signature and geomorphic imprint can be preserved for millions of years.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Britta Wawerzinek ◽  
Hermann Buness ◽  
Hartwig von Hartmann ◽  
David C. Tanner

AbstractThere are many successful geothermal projects that exploit the Upper Jurassic aquifer at 2–3 km depth in the German Molasse Basin. However, up to now, only P-wave seismic exploration has been carried out. In an experiment in the Greater Munich area, we recorded S-waves that were generated by the conventional P-wave seismic survey, using 3C receivers. From this, we built a 3D volume of P- to S-converted (PS) waves using the asymptotic conversion point approach. By combining the P-volume and the resulting PS-seismic volume, we were able to derive the spatial distribution of the vp/vs ratio of both the Molasse overburden and the Upper Jurassic reservoir. We found that the vp/vs ratios for the Molasse units range from 2.0 to 2.3 with a median of 2.15, which is much higher than previously assumed. This raises the depth of hypocenters of induced earthquakes in surrounding geothermal wells. The vp/vs ratios found in the Upper Jurassic vary laterally between 1.5 and 2.2. Since no boreholes are available for verification, we test our results against an independently derived facies classification of the conventional 3D seismic volume and found it correlates well. Furthermore, we see that low vp/vs ratios correlate with high vp and vs velocities. We interpret the latter as dolomitized rocks, which are connected with enhanced permeability in the reservoir. We conclude that 3C registration of conventional P-wave surveys is worthwhile.


Author(s):  
Chen-Xu Liu ◽  
Gui-Lan Yu

This study presents an approach based on deep learning to design layered periodic wave barriers with consideration of typical range of soil parameters. Three cases are considered where P wave and S wave exist separately or simultaneously. The deep learning model is composed of an autoencoder with a pretrained decoder which has three branches to output frequency attenuation domains for three different cases. A periodic activation function is used to improve the design accuracy, and condition variables are applied in the code layer of the autoencoder to meet the requirements of practical multi working conditions. Forty thousand sets of data are generated to train, validate, and test the model, and the designed results are highly consistent with the targets. The presented approach has great generality, feasibility, rapidity, and accuracy on designing layered periodic wave barriers which exhibit good performance in wave suppression in targeted frequency range.


Geophysics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 755-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinhua Sun ◽  
Xiaoming Tang ◽  
C. H. (Arthur) Cheng ◽  
L. Neil Frazer

In this paper, a modification of an existing method for estimating relative P-wave attenuation is proposed. By generating synthetic waveforms without attenuation, the variation of geometrical spreading related to changes in formation properties with depth can be accounted for. With the modified method, reliable P- and S-wave attenuation logs can be extracted from monopole array acoustic waveform log data. Synthetic tests show that the P- and S-wave attenuation values estimated from synthetic waveforms agree well with their respective model values. In‐situ P- and S-wave attenuation profiles provide valuable information about reservoir rock properties. Field data processing results show that this method gives robust estimates of intrinsic attenuation. The attenuation profiles calculated independently from each waveform of an eight‐receiver array are consistent with one another. In fast formations where S-wave velocity exceeds the borehole fluid velocity, both P-wave attenuation ([Formula: see text]) and S-wave attenuation ([Formula: see text]) profiles can be obtained. P- and S-wave attenuation profiles and their comparisons are presented for three reservoirs. Their correlations with formation lithology, permeability, and fractures are also presented.


Geophysics ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. Majer ◽  
T. V. McEvilly ◽  
F. S. Eastwood ◽  
L. R. Myer

In a pilot vertical seismic profiling study, P-wave and cross‐polarized S-wave vibrators were used to investigate the potential utility of shear‐wave anisotropy measurements in characterizing a fractured rock mass. The caprock at The Geysers geothermal field was found to exhibit about an 11 percent velocity variation between SH-waves and SV-waves generated by rotating the S-wave vibrator orientation to two orthogonal polarizations for each survey level in the well. The effect is generally consistent with the equivalent anisotropy expected from the known fracture geometry.


1988 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-187
Author(s):  
Kenneth D. Smith ◽  
Keith F. Priestley

Abstract The ML 6.4 Chalfant, California, earthquake of 21 July 1986 was preceded by an extensive foreshock sequence. Foreshock activity is characterized by shallow clustering activity, including 7 events greater than ML 3, beginning 18 days before the earthquake, an ML 5.7 foreshock 24 hr before the main shock that ruptured only in the upper 10 km of the crust, and an “off-fault” cluster of activity perpendicular to the slip surface of the ML 5.7 foreshock associated with the hypocenter of the main shock. The Chalfant sequence occurred within the local short-period network, and the spatial and temporal development of the foreshock sequence can be observed in detail. Seismicity of the July 1986 time period is largely confined to two nearly conjugate planes; one striking N30°E and dipping 60° to the northwest associated with the ML 5.7 foreshock and the other striking N25°W and dipping 70° to the southwest associated with the main shock. Focal mechanisms for the foreshock period fall into two classes in agreement with these two planes. Shallow clustering of earthquakes in July and the ML 5.7 principal foreshock occur at the intersection of the two planes at a depth of approximately 7 km. The seismic moments determined from inversion of the teleseismic body waves are 4.2 × 1025 and 2.5 × 1025 dyne-cm for the principal foreshock and the main shock, respectively. Slip areas for these two events can be estimated from the aftershock distribution and result in stress drops of 63 bars for the principal foreshock and 16 bars for the main shock. The main shock occurred within an “off-fault” cluster of earthquakes associated with the principal foreshock. This cluster of activity occurs at a predicted local shear stress high in relation to the slip surface of the 20 July earthquake, and this appears to be the triggering mechanism of the main shock. The shallow rupture depth of the principal foreshock indicates that this event was anomalous with respect to the character of main shocks in the region.


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