Display and assessment of earthquake focal mechanisms by vector representation

Abstract

Abstract The isomorphism between symmetric, three-dimensional, second-order tensors and six-dimensional vectors is exploited to display suites of seismic moment tensors and to asses their similarities and differences, both graphically and quantitatively. Using the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge as an example, I show that this method successfully differentiates between different mechanism types and orientations. In addition, the dispersion within a group of mechanisms is successfully quantified.