Ocean bottom seismometer detection of earthquakes on the Gorda Rise near 41.5� north

Abstract

The spatial and temporal distribution of microearthquake activity associated with the southern section of the Gorda Rise was monitored during a three week period using an array of four ocean bottom seismometers (OBS's) located at 41.5° N, 127.5° W on the rise axis. Sixty-two events were detected, of which roughly half occurred during a seismic swarm following an event of magnitude 4.9 that was well-recorded on land. A total of eighteen earthquakes could be located, seventeen of which originated from the valley floor, walls, and crestal mountains while the remaining event was located to the east of the rise in the Gorda plate. Well-constrained focal depths for four earthquakes ranged from roughly 4 to 12 km. Depths in excess of 10 km for two of the events provide strong evidence for the absence of a shallow steady-state magma chamber beneath the slow-spreading portion of the Gorda rise. Most of the events are believed to be the result of uplift of the crustal blocks comprising the valley walls. Four events located at an offset of the rise near 41.5° N may be related to strike-slip movement on a developing transform fault. Two of the events that occurred during the survey were large enough to be detected and located by land-based instruments. Comparison of these locations with the OBS locations indicates that well-recorded events having magnitudes of at least 4.5 are routinely mislocated 40–50 km to the east of their actual locations in this area while lower magnitude, poorly recorded earthquakes may have significantly larger location errors.