Seismic attenuation of coda waves in the eastern region of Cuba

Abstract

Cuba's seismic attenuation had never been studied in detail. In this paper we present the results of the research on the seismic attenuation of Cuba's eastern zone based upon the information collected by the seismological Cuban network from 1998 to 2003. 581 earthquakes were selected from the Cuban catalogue to make this study. All of them, recorded by at least three seismic stations, had their epicenters located in the eastern Cuban region (19.3–22 N, 79–73 W), epicentral distances between 15 km and 213 km, their coda duration magnitudes ranging from 2 and 4.1 and their focal depths reaching up to 30 km. The seismic wave attenuation was studied using coda waves. The single scattering method proposed by Sato in 1977 was applied, the attenuation and frequency dependency for different paths and the correlation of the results with the geotectonics of the region are presented in this paper. The mean Q c value calculated was Q c = (64 ± 2) f 0.84 ± 0.01 . The relatively low Q 0 and the high frequency dependency agree with the values of a region characterized by a high tectonic activity. The Q c values of seven subregions of eastern Cuba were calculated and correlated with the geology and tectonics of the area.