Earthquake locations using single‐station deep borehole recordings: Implications for microseismicity on the San Andreas fault in southern California

Abstract

We have located and estimated source parameters of 109 earthquakes (0 to 5 M) using seismograms recorded at 2.5 km depth in the Cajon Pass borehole, southern California. The borehole is about 4 km from the San Andreas fault, at the boundary between the locked, almost aseismic Mojave and San Bernardino segments, where the San Jacinto fault approaches the San Andreas. This area is of interest both on account of its tectonic complexity and its high potential seismic hazard. The clear, relatively unattenuated downhole recordings are rotated to determine the incoming azimuth of the P wave, and the delay time between the P and S arrivals is used to estimate the hypocentral distance. The difference between the hypocenters located this way and the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) locations of the same earthquakes increases with hypocentral distance from the borehole. Of the earthquakes within 20 km of the borehole, 95% are within 1–2 km of the SCSN epicenters and all are within 5 km of the SCSN depths. All but three of the 58 earthquakes located here which the SCSN did not record were within 20 km of the borehole and so the location errors are similar to those of SCSN A and B quality events. Most of the small earthquakes occurred within the relatively active San Jacinto fault zone, but at least eight are located close to or within the San Andreas fault zone. The stress drops for these events range from 0.1 to 18 MPa. These earthquakes appear similar to the other events in this study suggesting that the San Andreas fault is similar to other faults at the scale of these small earthquakes. The variation in stress drop and slip orientation of these small earthquakes suggests that larger scale heterogeneity continues to these small scales. Also, the location of these small earthquakes in major established fault zones implies that earthquake source dimensions are not geometrically controlled by fault zone width.