Coda Q in Qeshm Island, south of Iran, using aftershocks of the Qeshm earthquake of November 27, 2005

Abstract

Coda wave attenuation is estimated for Qeshm Island which is located in the southeastern part of Zagros. For this purpose, the aftershocks of Qeshm earthquake in November 27, 2005, recorded within an epicentral distance less than 100 km, have been used. More than 829 earthquakes were recorded by a local temporary network consisting of 16 short period stations installed after a week after the main shock for ∼10 weeks. The coda quality factor, Q c, was estimated using the single-backscattering model in frequency bands of 0.5–24 Hz. In this research, lateral and vertical variations of coda Q in Qeshm Island are explored. In Qeshm Island, absence of significant lateral variation of coda Q is observed. To investigate the attenuation variation with depth, the coda Q value was calculated for coda time windows with different lengths (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 s). It is observed that coda Q increases with depth. However, in our study area, the rate of increase of coda Q with depth is not uniform. Beneath Qeshm Island, the rate of increase of coda Q is greater at depths less than ∼40 km compared with those of larger depths. This is indicating the existence of a low attenuation anomalous structure under the ∼40-km depth which may be correlated with the Moho depth in this region. The average frequency relation for this region is Q c = 36 ± 1.2f 0.94 ± 0.039 at a 5 s-lapse time window length and Q c = 110 ± 1.8f 0.88 ± 0.09 at a 30-s lapse time window length.