ALBERT

Beschreibung: We constrain azimuthal anisotropy in the West Antarctic upper mantle using shear wave splitting parameters obtained from teleseismic SKS, SKKS and PKS phases recorded at 37 broad-band seismometres deployed by the POLENET/ANET project. We use an eigenvalue technique to linearize the rotated and shifted shear wave horizontal particle motions and determine the fast direction and delay time for each arrival. High-quality measurements are stacked to determine the best fitting splitting parameters for each station. Overall, fast anisotropic directions are oriented at large angles to the direction of Antarctic absolute plate motion in both hotspot and no-net-rotation frameworks, showing that the anisotropy does not result from shear due to plate motion over the mantle. Further, the West Antarctic directions are substantially different from those of East Antarctica, indicating that anisotropy across the continent reflects multiple mantle regimes. We suggest that the observed anisotropy along the central Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) and adjacent West Antarctic Rift System (WARS), one of the largest zones of extended continental crust on Earth, results from asthenospheric mantle strain associated with the final pulse of western WARS extension in the late Miocene. Strong and consistent anisotropy throughout the WARS indicate fast axes subparallel to the inferred extension direction, a result unlike reports from the East African rift system and rifts within the Basin and Range, which show much greater variation. We contend that ductile shearing rather than magmatic intrusion may have been the controlling mechanism for accumulation and retention of such coherent, widespread anisotropic fabric. Splitting beneath the Marie Byrd Land Dome (MBL) is weaker than that observed elsewhere within the WARS, but shows a consistent fast direction, possibly representative of anisotropy that has been ‘frozen-in’ to remnant thicker lithosphere. Fast directions observed inland from the Amundsen Sea appear to be radial to the dome and may indicate radial horizontal mantle flow associated with an MBL plume head and low upper mantle velocities in this region, or alternatively to lithospheric features associated with the complex Cenozoic tectonics at the far-eastern end of the WARS.

Beschreibung: The frequency–wavenumber (fk) and Capon methods are widely used in seismic array studies of background or ambient noise to infer the backazimuth and slowness of microseismic sources. We present an implementation of these techniques for the analysis of microseisms (0.05–2 Hz) which draws on array signal processing literature from a range of disciplines. The presented techniques avoid frequency mixing in the cross-power spectral density and therefore yield an accurate slowness vector estimation of the incoming seismic waves. Using synthetic data, we show explicitly how the frequency averaged broad-band approach can result in a slowness-shifted spectrum. The presented implementation performs the slowness estimations individually for each frequency bin and sums the resulting slowness spectra over a specific frequency range. This may be termed an incoherently averaged signal, or IAS, approach. We further modify the method through diagonal loading to ensure a robust solution. The synthetic data show good agreement between the analytically derived and inferred error in slowness. Results for real (observed) data are compared between the approximate and IAS methods for two different seismic arrays. The IAS method results in the improved resolution of features, particularly for the Capon spectrum, and enables, for instance, Rg and Lg arrivals from similar backazimuths to be separated in the case of real data.

Beschreibung: A spatially localized seismic sequence originated few tens of kilometres offshore the Mediterranean coast of Spain, close to the Ebro river delta, starting on 2013 September 5, and lasting at least until 2013 October. The sequence culminated in a maximal moment magnitude M w 4.3 earthquake, on 2013 October 1. The most relevant seismogenic feature in the area is the Fosa de Amposta fault system, which includes different strands mapped at different distances to the coast, with a general NE–SW orientation, roughly parallel to the coastline. However, no significant known historical seismicity has involved this fault system in the past. The epicentral region is also located near the offshore platform of the Castor project, where gas is conducted through a pipeline from mainland and where it was recently injected in a depleted oil reservoir, at about 2 km depth. We analyse the temporal evolution of the seismic sequence and use full waveform techniques to derive absolute and relative locations, estimate depths and focal mechanisms for the largest events in the sequence (with magnitude mbLg larger than 3), and compare them to a previous event (2012 April 8, mbLg 3.3) taking place in the same region prior to the gas injection. Moment tensor inversion results show that the overall seismicity in this sequence is characterized by oblique mechanisms with a normal fault component, with a 30° low-dip angle plane oriented NNE–SSW and a subvertical plane oriented NW–SE. The combined analysis of hypocentral location and focal mechanisms could indicate that the seismic sequence corresponds to rupture processes along shallow low-dip surfaces, which could have been triggered by the gas injection in the reservoir, and excludes the activation of the Amposta fault, as its known orientation is inconsistent with focal mechanism results. An alternative scenario includes the iterated triggering of a system of steep faults oriented NW–SE, which were identified by prior marine seismics investigations.

Beschreibung: We examine P -wave velocity structure at the base of the mantle beneath the western Pacific, near the western edge of the Pacific Large-Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP), using high-quality seismograms provided by a large-scale mobile broad-band seismic observation in northeastern China (the NECESSArray project). Forward modelling using the reflectivity method is conducted to explain the variation of P -wave traveltimes as a function of epicentral distance near the core shadow zone. Additionally, PcP–P traveltimes are examined to enlarge the survey area. As a result, a rapid variation of P -wave velocity is detected at the base of the mantle. Regions of thin (20–50 km thick) and low velocity (–2 to –5 per cent) layers at the base of the mantle are intersected by an 80-km-thick region with a high velocity (+2 per cent). A slightly fast region exists at the northwest of the region with the thin low-velocity layer. These layers are typically separated by several hundred kilometres and would be difficult to explain by thermal effects alone. These observations suggest that very complicated thermochemical reactions occur near the edge of the Pacific LLSVP.

Beschreibung: We examine seismic attenuation in the northern South Island, New Zealand, where subduction transitions to oblique collision, and plate motion occurs along multiple crustal faults overlying the subducted slab. The 3-D inversions derive Q (1/attenuation) using path attenuation t * observations for 334 distributed earthquakes recorded on permanent and temporary stations, including both velocity and acceleration records. A 2.5 s window was used for P spectra, but for S spectra longer varied lengths were selected around the predicted S arrival, using the 5–95 per cent energy integral. The Q results highlight many aspects of the structure more clearly than previously derived seismic velocity models, including a high Q slab, low Q basins, moderately low Q active fault regions, and thick lithosphere. Qs tends to be greater than Qp , except in low Q shallow upper crust. The mantle above the slab does not exhibit low Q , unlike mantle to the north beneath the volcanic region of central North Island, and is inferred to be cool and stagnant with some vertical flux of slab dehydration fluid. In the brittle crust, low Q is imaged along those faults with most recent seismicity and may be related to distributed microfractures. In the ductile crust of the greywacke terranes, zones of low Q under the faults are attributed to localized ductile deformation with high strain-rate and grain size reduction, consistent with numerical models showing the development of enhanced strain-rate zones above the strong underlying slab. In contrast the Christchurch region has no ductile lower crust and instead has high Q indicative of strong mafic rocks at 12 km depth.

Beschreibung: We present a time-independent gridded earthquake rate forecast for the European region including Turkey. The spatial component of our model is based on kernel density estimation techniques, which we applied to both past earthquake locations and fault moment release on mapped crustal faults and subduction zone interfaces with assigned slip rates. Our forecast relies on the assumption that the locations of past seismicity is a good guide to future seismicity, and that future large-magnitude events occur more likely in the vicinity of known faults. We show that the optimal weighted sum of the corresponding two spatial densities depends on the magnitude range considered. The kernel bandwidths and density weighting function are optimized using retrospective likelihood-based forecast experiments. We computed earthquake activity rates ( a - and b -value) of the truncated Gutenberg–Richter distribution separately for crustal and subduction seismicity based on a maximum likelihood approach that considers the spatial and temporal completeness history of the catalogue. The final annual rate of our forecast is purely driven by the maximum likelihood fit of activity rates to the catalogue data, whereas its spatial component incorporates contributions from both earthquake and fault moment-rate densities. Our model constitutes one branch of the earthquake source model logic tree of the 2013 European seismic hazard model released by the EU-FP7 project ‘Seismic HAzard haRmonization in Europe’ (SHARE) and contributes to the assessment of epistemic uncertainties in earthquake activity rates. We performed retrospective and pseudo-prospective likelihood consistency tests to underline the reliability of our model and SHARE's area source model (ASM) using the testing algorithms applied in the collaboratory for the study of earthquake predictability (CSEP). We comparatively tested our model's forecasting skill against the ASM and find a statistically significant better performance for testing periods of 10–20 yr. The testing results suggest that our model is a viable candidate model to serve for long-term forecasting on timescales of years to decades for the European region.

Beschreibung: A series of six seismic events that occurred in one panel of Rudna copper-ore mine in Poland is studied. Although the events had comparable magnitudes, from 3.0 to 3.7, their ground effects were very diverse. Comparing the accelerations observed at various locations with their estimates from ground motion prediction equation the events split into three distinct pairs. The first pair ground effects exceed considerably the estimates at most of observation points, the second pair effects are abnormally high at short epicentral distances, whereas the third pair effects are much less than the estimates at most of observation points. The similarities in ground effects correlate with the fault mechanisms similarities. The first two pairs’ events, whose ground effects were strong, exhibit thrust faulting and the third pair events, which caused unexpectedly low ground motion exhibit normal faulting mechanisms. The paired events have also similar apparent stress values. These stress values of the two events of very weak ground effects are distinctly lower than the values of other four events. All events demonstrate dominating non-double-couple components in the overall mechanisms. A kinematic source analysis indicates that these events have extended rather than point sources, and five of them have distinct directivity effects. A static stress transfer analysis signifies interrelations between these events. The rupture of all events started in areas of Coulomb failure function increase due to the cumulative effect of previous events. Linking results of the ground effects, source, rupture and interaction analyses tentative geodynamic conclusions are formulated. The untypical and diverse ground effects of the studied events result likely from the events’ complexity expressed by tensile source mechanisms, finite sources, directivity of ruptures and nearly horizontal rupture planes. The above features seem to be implied by a superposition of coseismic alterations of stress field and stress changes due to mining. One cannot, therefore, exclude the possibility of other cases of significant deviations from the expected ground motion amplitudes, due to specific geodynamics in another parts of the mine. An analysis like that done within this work can allow, however, foreseeing such extreme surface impacts.

Beschreibung: The dramatic asymmetry in terms of surface elevation, Cenozoic volcanisms and earthquake activity across the Red Sea is an enigmatic issue in global tectonics, partially due to the unavailability of broad-band seismic data on the African Plate adjacent to the Red Sea. Here, we report the first comprehensive image of the mantle transition zone (MTZ) discontinuities using data from the Egyptian National Seismic Network, and compare the resulting depths of the 410 and 660-km discontinuities with those observed on the Arabian side. Our results show that when a standard earth model is used for time-to-depth conversion, the resulting depth of the discontinuities increases systematically towards the axis of the Afro-Arabian Dome (AAD) from both the west and east. Relative to the westernmost area, the maximum depression of the 410-km discontinuity is about 30 km, and that of the 660-km discontinuity is about 45 km. The observed systematic variations can best be explained by a model involving a hydrated MTZ and an upper-mantle low-velocity zone beneath the AAD. Models invoking one or more mantle plumes originated from the MTZ or the lower-mantle beneath the study area are not consistent with the observations.

Beschreibung: We use shear wave splitting (SWS) above microearthquakes to monitor stress variations before the 2010 March and April flank and summit eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. SWS time delays before Eyjafjallajökull show characteristic variations similar to those seen before earthquakes. The time delays display a nearly linear increase before the eruption, an abrupt change of slope and a rapid nearly linear decrease until the flank eruption begins. Similar variations before earthquakes are interpreted as stress-accumulation increases, and stress-relaxation decreases as microcracks coalesce onto the eventual fault plane. The changes in SWS before Eyjafjallajökull are interpreted as a similar stress-accumulation increase, as magma penetrates the crust, and stress-relaxation decrease as microcracks coalesce onto the magma conduit prior to magma release. We suggest that the remarkable similarity between stress changes before eruption and earthquake is strong evidence for the New Geophysics of a critically microcracked crust.

Beschreibung: We present a fully Bayesian inversion of kinematic rupture parameters for the 2011 M w 9 Tohoku-oki, Japan earthquake. Albeit computationally expensive, this approach to kinematic source modelling has the advantage of producing an ensemble of slip models that are consistent with physical a priori constraints, realistic data uncertainties, and realistic but simplistic uncertainties in the physics of the kinematic forward model, all without being biased by non-physical regularization constraints. Combining 1 Hz kinematic GPS, static GPS offsets, seafloor geodesy and near-field and far-field tsunami data into a massively parallel Monte Carlo simulation, we construct an ensemble of samples of the posterior probability density function describing the evolution of fault rupture. We find that most of the slip is concentrated in a depth range of 10–20 km from the trench, and that slip decreases towards the trench with significant displacements at the toe of wedge occurring in just a small region. Estimates of static stress drop and rupture velocity are ambiguous. Due to the spatial compactness of the fault rupture, the duration of the entire rupture was less than approximately 150 s.