Locating earthquake hypocenter using first arrivals and depth phase in 3D model at local and regional distances

Abstract

Precise determination of earthquake hypocenter (longitude, latitude and depth) and its origin time is of fundamental importance for not only understanding the seismogenic process but also revealing the Earth’s interior structure. Instrumental coverage plays the first-order role in determining earthquake locations. For earthquakes that occurred in the continental interior, it is favorable to have seismic stations with full azimuthal coverage; nonetheless, precise determination of earthquake depth is often challenging due to its tradeoff with earthquake origin time. The situation is even worse for earthquakes that occurred in offshore regions, e.g., Pacific ring of fire, because regional seismic stations are mostly installed on the continent. To deal with those challenges aforementioned, we propose to constrain the earthquake hypocenter by jointly using first arrivals (P and S waves) and depth phase traveltimes. The theoretical travelling times of these phases are precisely and efficiently calculated in 3D velocity model through solving the Eikonal equation. Once the earthquake hypocenter is well constrained, we further improve the accuracy of the origin time. We tested and verified the proposed earthquake location strategy in the Ridgecrest area (southern California), which serves as an end member of continental setting, and central Chile, which serves as another end member of offshore setting. The station coverage is complete in the Ridgecrest area. We have identified and picked first arrivals and sPL phases at local distances. On the contrary, seismic stations are only installed on the continent in central Chile. We have identified and picked first arrivals and sPn phases at regional distances. Determined earthquakes have comparable location accuracy as the regional catalog in the horizontal plane, while the depth uncertainty has been reduced greatly. Our study shows that incorporating depth phases into the earthquake location algorithm together with first arrivals can greatly increase earthquake location accuracy, especially earthquake depth, which will lay the solid foundation for wide-scope topics in earth science studies.