Low-Frequency Seismic Surface Waves in the Upper Mississippi Embayment

Abstract

Abstract Low-frequency seismic surface waves lasting about 6 minutes were recorded at Memphis following the magnitude 4.6 Risco, Missouri earthquake of May 4, 1991. The motion following S included a very long, sinusoidal train of Love waves with periods of 3 to 5 seconds and weaker groups of Rayleigh waves of periods between 2 and 7 seconds arriving early and late. The unusual Risco surface waves travel a source-receiver path internal to the upper Mississippi embayment, a shallow basin containing soft, young sediments overlying rigid carbonate rocks. In contrast to the strong Risco surface waves, the magnitude 4.8 Cape Girardeau, Missouri earthquake of September 26, 1990, which occurred near the edge of the basin, produced relatively weak surface waves at Memphis. The Risco and Cape Girardeau earthquakes are the largest regional earthquakes ever recorded on long-period and broad-band seismographs within the embayment. They show that (1) the sedimentary basin has a profound effect on low-frequency seismic surface waves; (2) the velocity dispersion of a Love wave mode and two Rayleigh wave modes between periods of 2 and 7 sec is well explained by the layering of low-velocity embayment sediments overlying the high-velocity Knox dolomite; (3) because of their strong dispersion, the characteristic basin surface waves can shake the entire embayment for several minutes following any large intra-basin earthquake; (4) excitation of this characteristic basin disturbance seems to be inefficient for strong earthquakes marginal or external to the basin. Lacking direct measurements of shear velocity in the young embayment clastic section, we find that a simple non-linear relationship between shear velocity and logged compressional velocity makes the sediment physical properties compatible with the observed surface wave dispersion.