Earthquake source mechanics

Lecture 6
Seismic moment

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Earthquake magnitude
Richter magnitude scale
M = log A(∆) - log A0(∆)
where A is max trace
amplitude at distance ∆
and A0 is at 100 km

Surface wave magnitude MS

MS = log A + α log ∆ + β
where A is max amp of 20s period surface waves
Magnitude and energy
log Es = 11.8 + 1.5 Ms (ergs)

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment

ß Seismic intensity measures

relative strength of shaking Moment = FL F
locally
ß Instrumental earthquake
magnitude provides measure
of size on basis of wave
motion
F L Applying couple
ß Peak values used in
to fault
magnitude determination do
not reveal overall power of - two equal & opposite forces
the source = force couple
ß Seismic Moment: measure - size of couple = moment
of quake rupture size related - numerical value = product of
to leverage of forces value of one force times
(couples) across area of fault distance between
slip

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic Moment II

Stress & ß Can be applied to

strain seismogenic faults
accumulation ß Elastic rebound along a
rupturing fault can be
considered in terms of
F resulting from force couples
along and across it
Applying couple
ß Seismic moment can be
to fault determined from
a fault slip dimensions
measured in field or from
aftershock distributions
F a analysis of seismic wave
properties (frequency
Fault rupture spectrum analysis)
and rebound

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment
Seismic moment = Area of fault plane x stress drop of earthquake x
coseismic slip
[NB: Area x stress = force
force x distance = moment]]

ß provides estimate of overall size of the seismic source

Units: units of moment = newton-metres = Nm =
= joule = J = unit of energy
So seismic moment is also a measure of the energy of the earthquake

Empirical relation between moment and magnitude is

log10 M0 = c M + d
or Mw = 2/3 log10 M0 – 6
(Moment-magnitude scale (Kanamori)

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment
ß A few great fracturing events
totally dominate the
earthquake seismic moment
released (moments more
realistic than comparing
magnitudes)
ß The moment release, even
at the major plate
boundaries is distributed
very unevenly
ß About ¼ of the seismic
moment released between
1904-86 was by the great
Chilean earthquake of 1960
that ruptured 100km of the Seismic moment does not saturate
subduction zone interface at
the Peru-Chile trench e.g. Alaskan earthquake: Ms=8.4;
Mw=9.2
ß San Francisco 1906 doesn’t
even get a mention!
GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD
 Seismic moment tensor

The nine different force

couples that make up the
components of the
moment tensor:

⎛ M 11 M 12 M 13 ⎞
⎜ ⎟
M jk = ⎜ M 21 M 22 M 23 ⎟
⎜M M 33 ⎟⎠
⎝ 31 M 32

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment tensor
Example of right lateral movement on a strike-slip fault in the x1
direction corresponds to:

⎛ 0 M0 0⎞
⎜ ⎟
M = ⎜M0 0 0⎟
⎜ 0 0 ⎟⎠
⎝ 0

Note Mij = Mji

where Mo is defined as the scalar seismic moment:
M0 = µ A s
where µ is the rigidity modulus, A is the area of the fault and s
is the slip or displacement of the fault
GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD
 Scalar seismic moment
Define the scalar seismic moment (Aki)
M0 = µ A s
µ - rigidity l
A - fault area
s µ
s - slip (vector) w
Units: force x length (Nm or J)

Aspect ratio:
usually l/w ∼ 2,
except for long strike-slip
faults

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

Far-field radiation pattern for double couple source
P-waves
The orientation of the small
arrows shows the direction of
first motion; their length is
proportional to the wave
amplitude. The P-wave first
motions are outward in the
compressional quadrant and
inward in the dilatational
S-waves quadrant, with nodal lines in
between. S-wave first motions
are generally away from the
pressure axis and toward the
tension axis; there are 6 nodal
points and no nodal lines in S

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Example of focal spheres

Example of focal spheres

and their corresponding
fault geometries. The lower
half of the focal sphere is
plotted to the left, with
compressional quadrants
shaded. The block
diagrams show th two fault
geometries (the primary
and auxillary fault planes)
that could have produced
the observed radiation
pattern.

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Far-field pulse shapes
The near-field displacements
caused by an earthquake will
be permanent. M(t) would look
like this
In the far field there is a
displacement pulse. dM/dt is
proportional to the far-field
dynamic response, such as
observed with P-wave arrivals.
Note most seismometers
measure velocity or
acceleration rather than
displacement.

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment from seismograms
Define seismic moment
M0 ∝ area under pulse
Rupture length ∝ duration of pulse : l ∝ τ

Time domain - instrument corrected pulse

30
Pulse duration
Amplitude
dM/dt

Time

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment from seismograms
Define seismic moment
M0 ∝ A0
Rupture length ∝ 1/ frequency: l ∝ 1 / f0

Frequency domain
Amplitude

Frequency f0

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Earthquake characteristics
M0 = µ A s ∼ µ 2 l s
by dimensional analysis slip is:
s = 2 M0 / µ l2
stress drop with earthquake:
∆σ = 2 M0 / 2π w2 l

Note can get ∆σ from seismogram as rupture length,

l ∝ τ , pulse duration and M0 is proportional to
amplitude
Stress drops in range 1-30 MPa (Kanamori)

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Stress drop in earthquakes
ß Stress drop is
typically a small
fraction of total
stresses in double
couple earthquakes
a Varies according
to crustal
properties, fault
maturity
ß Single-force
earthquakes
Fault length versus moment for large
(landslides) have earthquakes (Scholz et al. 1986): larger stress
much larger stress drop produces more seismic moment for a
drops given rupture area

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Tectonics

Infer seismic and tectonic slip rate

slip rate = (sum of M0) / (µ l.w T)

M0 - summing and earthquake catalogue

l.w - overall tectonic setting
T - duration of earthquake catalogue
Find active slip rate (SAF) is 3 cm/yr
Aseismic (creep) rate is 3 cm/yr
Compare with satellite data, GPS

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Seismic moment - from fault area
Scalar seismic moment (Aki)
M0 = µ A s
l

s µ
w

Get area of fault plane from

aftershocks
Measure slip in the field

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Regional tectonics from seismotectonics

ß Fault plane solutions

a Type of faulting
a Slip direction
a Stress field orientation
ß Quantitative seismotectonics
a Seismic moment
a Slip
a Stress drop
a Seismic and tectonic slip rate

GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD

 Moment tensor inversions
1. NEIC fast moment tensors - from teleseismic P waveforms
http://gldss7.cr.usgs.gov/neis/FM/fast_moment.html

2. Harvard CMT solutions - Centroid momen-tensor (from long

perdiod body waves)
http://www.seismology.harvard.edu/projects/CMT/

3. EMSC rapid source parameter determination - European-

Mediterranean Seismological Centre - uses P & S waves – results in
24 hours
http://www.emsc-csem.org/

4. NEIC broadband depths and fault-plane solutions

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/nrg/bb_processing.html
GNH7/GG09/GEOL4002 EARTHQUAKE SEISMOLOGY AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD