Global Centroid Moment Tensor Solutions Research Articles

Early Source Characterization of Large Earthquakes Using W Phase and Prompt Elastogravity Signals

Abstract In the minutes following a large earthquake, robust characterization of the seismic rupture can be obtained from full wavefield records at local distances or from early signals recorded by regional broadband seismometers. We focus here on the latter configuration, and evaluate the individual and joint performances of the early low-frequency elastic phases (W phase) and the recently discovered prompt elastogravity signals (PEGS). The 2011 Mw 9.1 Tohoku–Oki earthquake is a natural target for this evaluation, because the high quality of global and regional networks enabled to gather the best PEGS data set so far. We first confirm that the well-established W-phase method, using records from global seismological networks, is able to provide a reliable centroid moment tensor solution 22 min after the earthquake origin time. Using regional stations, an accurate W-phase solution can be obtained more rapidly, down to 10 min after origin time. On the other hand, a PEGS-based source inversion can provide even earlier, starting 3 min after origin time, a lower bound of the seismic moment (Mw 8.6) and constraints on the focal mechanism type. However, relying solely on PEGS introduces uncertainties caused by the hindering seismic noise and trade-offs between source parameters that limit the accuracy of source determination. We show that incorporating even a few early W phase signals to the PEGS data set reduces these uncertainties. Using more complete W phase and PEGS data sets available 5 min after origin time enables to converge towards a result close to the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution.

The 2022 Delingha, China, Earthquake Sequence and Implication for Seismic Hazard near the Western End of the Qilian–Haiyuan Fault

Abstract Although the Qilian–Haiyuan fault is known to be responsible for major earthquakes up to M 8, the potential of damaging earthquakes near its western end is not well understood. Since January 2022, three moderate earthquakes (M 5.8, M 6.0, and M 5.4) occurred around the Halahu region of Delingha, China, near the western end of the Qilian–Haiyuan fault. These earthquakes are unusual M 5+ events in this low-seismicity region, and both the U.S. Geological Survey and Global Centroid Moment Tensor solutions suggest that the focal mechanisms of the three mainshocks are distinct from the activity characteristics of the nearby mapped faults. Thus, determining the precise source parameters and identifying the causative fault of this earthquake sequence are important to analyze its seismogenic settings and seismic hazard in this region. In this article, we determined the point-source parameters of the three moderate events via regional waveform modeling and found that these earthquakes are strike-slip events with the nodal planes striking nearly north–south and east–west directions. We then resolved its seismogenic faults by analyzing the aftershock distribution and the rupture directivity. The results show that both the M 5.8 and M 6.0 events ruptured along the north–south nodal plane and expanded toward the south for ∼4 km and ∼3 km, respectively, and the ruptured fault of the M 5.4 is difficult to distinguish. Furthermore, we constrained the relative location using the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar observation, and the result is consistent with that obtained from seismic waveform data. We proposed that this earthquake sequence ruptured along an unmapped dextral fault, which forms a conjugate fault system with the sinistral strike-slip Qilian–Haiyuan fault. Its deformation mechanism may be controlled by long-term, protracted, nearly north–south-trending, right-lateral simple shear in the Qilian Shan fold-thrust belt. The accumulated static Coulomb stress changes resulted in the northwest of this ruptured fault being closer to failure in the future.

Rapid Magnitude Determinations for Tsunami Early Warning: A sample case, October 30, 2020, Samos Island Earthquake

It is vital to calculate the magnitude of an earthquake to give a response and disseminate the early warning to evacuate the people as soon as possible. Generally, the magnitude determination process takes a couple of minutes and has some difficulties because the propagation effect depends on the epicentral distances. The moment magnitude is calculated for large earthquakes, in general, using body waves that it takes at least ten minutes to calculate. This time is too much for giving an alarm and evacuating the people who live near the coastal areas. This study is concentrated improve and implementing the P-wave moment magnitude calculations to use in early warning issues by using a sample case that occurred on October 30, 2020, on Samos Island that is near to Aegean coast of Turkey. It was destructive effects on İzmir. In total, 115 people have lost their lives and more than a thousand people are wounded. The magnitude of this event was announced as 6.6 (Mw) by the Disaster and Emergency Presidency (AFAD), Earthquake Institute. A small-scale tsunami wave arrived in the Sığacık-Seferihisar region. The P-wave moment magnitude is calculated as 7.0 in this study, and it is similar to the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Solution (Mw-GCMT) result. This study shows the technique can be used for early warning purposes at regional distances.

Global centroid moment tensor solutions in a heterogeneous earth: the CMT3D catalogue

SUMMARYFor over 40 yr, the global centroid-moment tensor (GCMT) project has determined location and source parameters for globally recorded earthquakes larger than magnitude 5.0. The GCMT database remains a trusted staple for the geophysical community. Its point-source moment-tensor solutions are the result of inversions that model long-period observed seismic waveforms via normal-mode summation for a 1-D reference earth model, augmented by path corrections to capture 3-D variations in surface wave phase speeds, and to account for crustal structure. While this methodology remains essentially unchanged for the ongoing GCMT catalogue, source inversions based on waveform modelling in low-resolution 3-D earth models have revealed small but persistent biases in the standard modelling approach. Keeping pace with the increased capacity and demands of global tomography requires a revised catalogue of centroid-moment tensors (CMT), automatically and reproducibly computed using Green's functions from a state-of-the-art 3-D earth model. In this paper, we modify the current procedure for the full-waveform inversion of seismic traces for the six moment-tensor parameters, centroid latitude, longitude, depth and centroid time of global earthquakes. We take the GCMT solutions as a point of departure but update them to account for the effects of a heterogeneous earth, using the global 3-D wave speed model GLAD-M25. We generate synthetic seismograms from Green's functions computed by the spectral-element method in the 3-D model, select observed seismic data and remove their instrument response, process synthetic and observed data, select segments of observed and synthetic data based on similarity, and invert for new model parameters of the earthquake’s centroid location, time and moment tensor. The events in our new, preliminary database containing 9382 global event solutions, called CMT3D for ‘3-D centroid-moment tensors’, are on average 4 km shallower, about 1 s earlier, about 5 per cent larger in scalar moment, and more double-couple in nature than in the GCMT catalogue. We discuss in detail the geographical and statistical distributions of the updated solutions, and place them in the context of earlier work. We plan to disseminate our CMT3D solutions via the online ShakeMovie platform.

Probabilistic Near‐Field Tsunami Source and Tsunami Run‐up Distribution Inferred From Tsunami Run‐up Records in Northern Chile

AbstractUnderstanding a tsunami source and its impact is vital to assess a tsunami hazard. Thanks to the efforts of the tsunami survey teams, high‐quality tsunami run‐up data exist for contemporary events. Still, it has not been widely used to infer a tsunami source and its impact mainly due to the computational burden of the tsunami forward model. In this study, we propose a TRRF‐INV (Tsunami Run‐up Response Function‐based INVersion) model that can provide probabilistic estimates of a near‐field tsunami source and tsunami run‐up distribution from a small number of run‐up records. We tested the TRRF‐INV model with synthetic tsunami scenarios in northern Chile and applied it to the 2014 Iquique, Chile, tsunami event as a case study. The results demonstrated that the TRRF‐INV model can provide a reasonable tsunami source estimate to first order and estimate tsunami run‐up distribution well. Moreover, the case‐study results agree well with the United States Geological Survey report and the global Centroid Moment Tensor solution. We also analyzed the performance of the TRRF‐INV model depending on the number and the uncertainty of run‐up records. We believe that the TRRF‐INV model has the potential for supporting accurate hazard assessment by (1) providing new insights from tsunami run‐up records into the tsunami source and its impact, (2) using the TRRF‐INV model as a tool to support existing tsunami inversion models, and (3) estimating a tsunami source and its impact for ancient events where no data other than estimated run‐up from sediment deposit data exist.

Complementing regional moment magnitudes to GCMT: a perspective from the rebuilt International Seismological Centre Bulletin

Abstract. Seismologists and geoscientists often need earthquake catalogues for various types of research. This input usually contains basic earthquake parameters such as location (longitude, latitude, depth, and origin time), as well as magnitude information. For the latter, the moment magnitude Mw has become the most sought after magnitude scale in the seismological community to characterize the size of an earthquake. In this contribution we provide an informative account of the Mw content for the newly rebuilt Bulletin of the International Seismological Centre (ISC, http://www.isc.ac.uk, last access: May 2021), which is regarded as the most comprehensive record of the Earth's seismicity. From this data, we extracted a list of hypocentres with Mw from a multitude of agencies reporting data to the ISC. We first summarize the main temporal and spatial features of the Mw provided by global (i.e. providing results for moderate to great earthquakes worldwide) and regional agencies (i.e. also providing results for small earthquakes in a specific area). Following this, we discuss their comparisons, by considering not only Mw but also the surface wave magnitude MS and short-period body wave magnitude mb. By using the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solutions as an authoritative global agency, we identify regional agencies that best complement it and show examples of frequency–magnitude distributions in different areas obtained both from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor alone and complemented by Mw from regional agencies. The work done by the regional agencies in terms of Mw is fundamental to improve our understanding of the seismicity of an area, and we call for the implementation of procedures to compute Mw in a systematic way in areas currently not well covered in this respect, such as vast parts of continental Asia and Africa. In addition, more studies are needed to clarify the causes of the apparent overestimation of global Mw estimations compared to regional Mw. Such difference is also observed in the comparisons of Mw with MS and mb. The results presented here are obtained from the dataset (Di Giacomo and Harris, 2020, https://doi.org/10.31905/J2W2M64S) stored at the ISC Dataset Repository (http://www.isc.ac.uk/dataset_repository/, last access: May 2021).

Seismotectonics and stress perspective of the Kumaon Himalaya: A geophysical evidence of a Lesser Himalayan duplex

The Kumaon Himalaya lies in the central seismic gap and therefore bears the potential to host a great Himalayan earthquake. The seismicity and seismotectonics of the Kumaon Himalaya and the adjacent region have been investigated based on local earthquake data recorded at 18 seismological stations. The seismically active zone of the eastern segment of the Kumaon Himalaya deviates from the usual pattern of seismicity in the Himalayan Seismic Belt of the NW Himalaya. Shallow-focus earthquakes in this region largely concentrate in the Chiplakot Crystalline Belt (CCB) immediately south of the Vaikrita Thrust. The Focal Mechanism Solutions of 41 earthquakes computed through waveform inversion technique along with the solutions of 12 earthquakes obtained from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution catalog are used to investigate the kinematics of the region. The study reveals a complex faulting pattern in the Inner Lesser Himalaya. The stress inversion results show a widely distributed stress pattern and low frictional coefficient which are attributed as one of the major causes of clustered seismicity observed in the CCB. Careful examination of the fault orientations indicate the presence of a hinterland dipping Lesser Himalayan Duplex over the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust. The high compressive stress and deformation rate in the CCB are partially accommodated by this duplex structure. The large concentration of shallow-focus earthquakes in the CCB is the result of the presence of fluid-rich zone as well as strain localization and large stress build-up due to locking in the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust beneath the CCB.

Regional Earthquake Magnitude Conversion Relations for the Himalayan Seismic Belt

AbstractWe present regional earthquake magnitude conversion relations among different magnitude scales (Mw, Ms, mb, ML, and MD) for the Himalayan seismic belt developed from data of local, regional, and international seismological agencies (International Seismological Centre [ISC], National Earthquake Information Centre [NEIC], Global Centroid Moment Tensor Solution [CMT], International Data Centre [IDC], China Earthquake Administration [BJI], and National Centre for Seismology [NDI]). The intra- (within the same magnitude scale) and inter- (with different magnitude scales) magnitude regression relations have been established using the general orthogonal regression and orthogonal distance regression techniques. Results show that the intra-magnitude relations for Mw, Ms, and mb reported by the Global CMT, ISC, and NEIC exhibit 1:1 relationships, whereas ML reported by the IDC, BJI, and NDI deviates from this relationship. The IDC underestimates Ms and mb compared with the ISC, NEIC, and Global CMT; this may be due to different measurement procedures adopted by the IDC agency. The inter-magnitude relations are established between Mw,Global CMT and Ms, mb, and ML reported by the ISC, NEIC, IDC, and NDI, and compared with the previously developed regional and global regression relations. The duration (MD) and local (ML) magnitudes reported by NDI exhibit a 1:1 relationship. The derived magnitude regression relations are expected to support the homogenization of the earthquake catalogs and to improve seismic hazard assessment in this region.

Teleseismic body wave inversion in determining rupture process of Sumbawa doublet earthquake, November 25th, 2007

The rupture patterns of the Sumbawa doublet earthquake that occurred on November 25th, 2007 was estimated using teleseismic body wave inversion. The first event occurred at 16:02:18 UTC with epicenter at 8.292°N and 118.37°E, short after this, the second event occurred at 19:53:08 UTC with epicenter at -8.224°N and 118.467°E. For each event, teleseismic body wave data were retrieved from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology – Data Management Center (IRIS-DMC). The waves were windowed for 70 s which started at 20 s before the P-wave arrival, band-pass filtered between 0. 01 and 0.1 Hz and then integrated into a displacement with a sampling time of 0.5 s. The Green’s function is calculated using the Kikuchi and Kanamori method. The fault geometry is based on the earthquake parameters of the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution. Strike and dip for first event were 88° and 23°, respectively and those for the second event were 87° and 25°, respectively. The seismic moment (Mo) estimated by the inversion for the first event is 0.617×1019 Nm or equivalent to moment magnitude (Mw) 6.46 with source duration of approximately 55 s. While for the second event, the seismic moment is estimated to be 0.644×1019 Nm (Mw 6.47), with slightly longer source duration. The inversion for both events provided a similar slip pattern. The rupture propagated along the dip direction, and the maximum slip occurred near the hypocenter region. The maximum slip amount for first event and second event were 1.43 m and 1.48 m, respectively.

Estimation of the Seismic Moment Rate from an Incomplete Seismicity Catalog, in the Context of the InSight Mission to Mars

We evaluate methods to estimate the global seismic moment rate of a planet from the k >= 1 largest events observed during a limited and possibly short-time span, as can be expected, for example, for lander missions to Mars. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated with a temporary broadband seismometer that was recording in the Mojave desert, California, for 86 days in 2014, and by application to the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) catalog, subsets thereof, and a catalog of stable continental regions seismicity. From the largest event observed at Goldstone alone (M-w approximate to 7.9), we estimate the Earth's global moment rate to be 1.03 x 10(22) N . m/yr, whereas an estimation based on the 10 strongest events yields a rate of 5.79 x 10(21) N . m/yr. Summation of 42 yr of Global CMT solutions results in an average of 7.61 x 10(21) N . m/yr. In general, a 2 yr interval of Global CMT solutions is sufficient to estimate the Earth's annual moment rate to within a factor of 5 or better. A series of numerical experiments with more than 560 million synthetic catalogs based on the tapered Gutenberg-Richter distribution shows that the estimation is rather insensitive against an unknown slope of the distribution, and that bias and variance of the estimator depend on the ratio between moment rate and corner moment of the size frequency distribution. Moment rates of published Mars models differ by a factor of 1000 or more. Tests with simulated catalogs show that it will be possible to reject some of these models with data returned by NASA's InSight mission after two years of nominal mission life time.

Regional stress field in Yunnan revealed by the focal mechanisms of moderate and small earthquakes

We determined focal mechanism solutions of 627 earthquakes of magnitude M ≥ 3.0 in Yunnan from January 2008 to May 2018 by using broadband waveforms recorded by 287 permanent and temporary regional stations. The results clearly revealed predominantly strike-slip faulting characteristics for earthquakes in Yunnan, with focal depths concentrated in the top 10 km of the crust. The earthquake mechanisms obtained were combined with the global centroid moment tensor solutions of 80 additional earthquakes from 1976 to 2016 to invert for the regional variations of stress field orientation by using a damped regional-scale stress inversion scheme. Results of the stress field inversion confirmed that the Yunnan region is under a strike–slip stress regime, with both maximum and minimum stress axes being nearly horizontal. The maximum compressional axes are primarily oriented in a northwest-southeast direction, and they experience a clockwise rotation from north to south, whereas the maximum extensional axes are oriented largely northeast-southwest. The maximum compressional axes are in line with the global positioning system–inferred horizontal velocity field and the southeastward escape of the Sichuan–Yunnan Rhombic Block, whereas the maximum extensional axes are consistent with anisotropy derived from SKS splitting. Against the strike–slip background, normal faulting stress regimes can be seen in the Tengchong volcanic area as well as in other areas with complex crisscrossing fault zones.

Prediction of Tsunami Waves by Uniform Slip Models

AbstractConventional tsunami warning systems for local and far‐field areas utilize uniform slip models to predict tsunami waves. The reasons are twofold. First, it is challenging to develop accurate finite‐fault slip models in a short time after an earthquake. Second, tsunami waves are long waves, and hence, the main feature may be predicted without knowing earthquake rupture details. Still, there have been few studies that quantitatively analyze the errors caused by uniform slip models. In this paper, we evaluate if and how such models may be applied for tsunami warnings. For the 2011 Tohoku, 2014 Iquique, and 2015 Illapel tsunamis, we first construct optimum uniform slip models with minimum tsunami waveform misfit and then compare the synthetic tsunami waves with finite‐fault model predictions. Predictions from both type of models match the tsunami data very well, indicating that the prediction errors caused by neglecting slip heterogeneity are insignificant. Further, we derive a common relation between the rupture area and earthquake magnitude. Additionally, the optimum rupture length and width ratio in terms of predicting tsunami waves is determined to be 1 for the three earthquakes. Lastly, we find that moving the uniform slip model to the center of global Centroid Moment Tensor solution produces reasonably small errors in the predicted waveforms. Applying the methodology to three more historic tsunamis shows that uniform slip models can well recover the Deep‐ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis system recordings, but the rupture center can differ from the global Centroid Moment Tensor solution. Our findings can potentially prompt more reliable tsunami warning strategies for future events.

Contribution from Multiple Fault Ruptures to Tsunami Generation During the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake

The 2016 Kaikoura, New Zealand, earthquake was one of the most complex ruptures ever recorded. The epicentre was located well inland, but the rupture area extended offshore and generated a modest tsunami which was recorded by tide gauges. Here, we present a detailed estimate of seafloor vertical displacement during the earthquake sequence by a joint inversion of tsunami waveforms and vertical displacement data observed at GPS stations and obtained by field surveys. The combined dataset provides a solution with good resolution, capable of resolving test sources of 20 km of characteristic diameter throughout the study area. We found two seafloor uplift regions which are located very close to the coast, one is located offshore of the Kaikoura peninsula and the other larger uplift region is located near the Kekerengu and Needles faults. To estimate crustal deformation with a complete spatial coverage of the event, the estimated seafloor vertical displacement was combined with the inland vertical displacement from InSAR and GPS datasets. This vertical displacement is then inverted for the fault slip distributions of the Needles, Jordan–Kekerengu, Papatea, Hundalee, Hump faults, and a newly identified fault beneath Kaikoura. We also found that the Needles fault is probably an offshore extension of the Kekerengu fault. The seismic moment calculated from the fault slip distributions by assuming a rigidity of 2.7 × 1010 N/m2, is 5.19 × 1020 Nm or equivalent to Mw 7.8. This total seismic moment estimate is consistent with that of the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution. The tsunami potential energy calculated from the seafloor vertical displacement is 9.40 × 1012 J, of which about 70% is attributed to movement on the faults known to have ruptured, suggesting a secondary source for tsunami generation.

Coseismic changes of gravitational potential energy induced by global earthquakes based on spherical‐Earth elastic dislocation theory

AbstractWe compute the coseismic gravitational potential energy Eg change using the spherical‐Earth elastic dislocation theory and either the fault model treated as a point source or the finite fault model. The rate of the accumulative Eg loss produced by historical earthquakes from 1976 to 2016 (about 42,000 events) using the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Solution catalogue is estimated to be on the order of −2.1 × 1020 J/a, or −6.7 TW (1 TW = 1012 W), amounting to 15% in the total terrestrial heat flow. The energy loss is dominated by the thrust faulting, especially the megathrust earthquakes such as the 2004 Sumatra earthquake (Mw 9.0) and the 2011 Tohoku‐Oki earthquake (Mw 9.1). It is notable that the very deep focus events, the 1994 Bolivia earthquake (Mw 8.2) and the 2013 Okhotsk earthquake (Mw 8.3), produced significant overall coseismic Eg gain according to our calculation. The accumulative coseismic Eg is mainly lost in the mantle of the Earth and also lost in the core of the Earth but with a relatively smaller magnitude. By contrast, the crust of the Earth gains gravitational potential energy cumulatively because of the coseismic deformations. We further investigate the tectonic signature in the coseismic crustal Eg changes in some complex tectonic zone, such as Taiwan region and the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. We found that the coseismic Eg change is consistent with the regional tectonic character.

A Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog for Iraq in Terms of Moment Magnitude

A comprehensive earthquake catalog was compiled for Iraq and neighboring areas as part of a broader probabilistic seismic‐hazard assessment project. The Iraq Seismic Network (ISN) was established in 1976 and became operational in the early 1980s. However, recording and reporting of seismic data has been intermittent in Iraq. Hence, events were collected from various sources, including the ISN when available, International Seismological Centre (ISC), European‐Mediterranean Seismological Centre, U.S. Geological Survey Centennial Catalog, Global Centroid Moment Tensor solutions, and Ambraseys’ extensive work on cataloging of instrumental era earthquakes in the Middle East (e.g., Ambraseys, 1978, 2001, 2009). We supplement these with new direct moment magnitude calculations based on coda calibration technique. For many of the larger events in the catalog, more than one magnitude is available. Directly calculated moment magnitudes ( M w) were favored, followed by body‐wave magnitude ( m b) obtained from the ISC. Where no directly calculated M w was available, other magnitude scales were converted to M w using relationships compatible with the local catalog. The resulting earthquake catalog spans from the year 1900 until the end of 2009, covers the region bounded by 26°–40° N latitudes and 36°–51° E longitudes, and includes more than 18,000 earthquakes, of which roughly 4000 are M w 4.0 or larger.

Inversion of the moment-tensor [formula omitted] components of the 2012 Sumatra strike-slip double earthquake using radial normal modes

On April 11, 2012, two strike-slip Sumatra earthquakes with moment magnitudes higher than 8 generated strong, preferentially horizontal, motions. If only body and surface waves are inverted, their centroid-moment-tensor (CMT) parameters producing vertical motions, in particular the Mrr components, are poorly resolved. Independent constraints can be obtained from observations of the radial free-oscillation modes. The signal of radial modes is acquired from four unperturbed superconducting gravimeter records with low noise levels in submillihertz frequency range. We show that the observed signal substantially differs from the synthetic calculations for most of the published CMTs except for the Global CMT solution, which agrees better. We perform modal inversions considering uncertainties in centroid times and calculate marginal posterior probability density function of the Mrr components. The amplitude-spectrum inversion is robust enough to estimate the intervals of admissible Mrr values. Finally, we incorporate also a phase information and reduce the trade-off between the Mrr components of the two studied events.

Characteristics of Focal Mechanisms and the Stress Field in the Southeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Crustal earthquake focal mechanisms are investigated in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, where the Tibetan Plateau and stable South China Block merge. An updated database of focal mechanisms has been compiled by selecting 132 Global Centroid Moment Tensor solutions and by adding the 173 new solutions (3.5 ≤ Ms ≤ 7.4) estimated by waveform inversion in this study. A total of 305 mechanisms are included in this database. These solutions show regionally specific distributions with dominant strike-slip faulting and some normal and reverse faulting. Focal mechanism solutions have also been inverted for the stress tensor orientation to obtain the principal stress axes over the study region. Results show that the horizontal maximum principal σ 1 axes rotate clockwise with a wider range than the geodetically measured surface motion in the east, which is not limited to the Xianshuihe–Xiaojiang fault, but has some overlap with the Zhaotong–Lianfeng fault. Localized normal faulting stress regimes are observed in the Jinshajiang–Litang fault areas and the Baoshan sub-block. The minimum principal axes are oriented with a gradually changing trend from north–south to northwest–southeast, from north to south, indicating diverse compression stress patterns. Significant changes in the crustal stress field after the Wenchuan earthquake are preliminarily observed in the Baoshan sub-block where orientations of two principal axes have changed, and in the Jinggu–Ximeng sub-block areas where the strike-slip faulting stress pattern has transformed to normal faulting.

Unusual stress rotations within the Philippines possibly caused by slip heterogeneity along the Philippine fault

AbstractTo understand the complex tectonic interactions between subduction margins and transcurrent faults, we investigated the spatial distribution of stress orientations in the Philippines by using focal mechanisms derived from the waveform data of regional broadband seismic stations and Global Centroid Moment Tensor solutions. We investigated the spatial distribution of stress orientations by dividing the region into a central region containing the Philippine fault (PF) and regions to the east and west of the PF. Our stress tensor inversion results show that the σ1 axes in the central and eastern regions are WNW‐ESE oriented and parallel to the relative plate motion orientations. However, in the western region, the orientations of σ1 axes were different. In particular, the orientations of the σ1 axes in the southern part (Bohol region) differ substantially (differences exceed approximately 60°) from those of the relative plate motion. Furthermore, the orientations of the σ1 axes in the northern part (Mindoro and southwestern Luzon regions) differ by approximately 30° from those found throughout the Philippines. The σ1 axes in the Bohol region and the σ3 axes in the Mindoro and southwestern Luzon regions are parallel to the strike of the PF. It was demonstrated that our numerical model incorporating slip on the PF and interplate coupling is able to successfully reproduce the features of the observed stress pattern.

Detailed rupture imaging of the 25 April 2015 Nepal earthquake using teleseismic P waves

AbstractWe analyze the rupture process of the 25 April 2015 Nepal earthquake with globally recorded teleseismic P waves. The rupture propagated east‐southeast from the hypocenter for about 160 km with a duration of ∼55 s. Backprojection of both high‐frequency (HF, 0.2 to 3 Hz) and low‐frequency (LF, 0.05 to 0.2 Hz) P waves suggest a multistage rupture process. From the low‐frequency images, we resolve an initial slow downdip (northward) rupture near the nucleation area for the first 20 s (Stage 1), followed by two faster updip ruptures (20 to 40 s for Stage 2 and 40 to 55 s for Stage 3), which released most of the radiated energy northeast of Kathmandu. The centroid rupture power from LF backprojection agrees well with the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution. The spatial resolution of the backprojection images is validated by applying similar analysis to nearby aftershocks. The overall rupture pattern agrees well with the aftershock distribution. A multiple‐asperity model could explain the observed multistage rupture and aftershock distribution.

Seismicity distribution and focal mechanism solution of major earthquakes of northern Pakistan

Pakistan is situated very close to the subduction zone of Indian-Arabian plates and Indian-Eurasian plates. Thus, it is a country with moderate to high seismicity with a large number of major earthquakes. Therefore, the severity of seismic hazards of major earthquakes is not ignorable. The seismicity of northern areas of Pakistan (33–37°N and 70–76°E), which are the part of North West Himalaya, is studied. Three earthquake catalogues are selected and then completed for this purpose. The spatial distribution of their epicenters, as a function of depth, shows that most of the earthquakes (about 84 %) occurred in shallow to intermediate depths. Relationship between major faults and their source mechanism is also investigated. The Focal mechanism solutions of 39 significant earthquakes in this area, occurred in the period of 1976–2014 with magnitude M w > 5.0, are also analyzed. The focal depth of these events is in the range of 10–244 km. Among 39 focal mechanisms, the majority of them located in lower crust. Global centroid moment tensor solutions indicate that the majority of the seismic events show strike-slip faulting with a left-lateral sense of motion, followed by thrust and normal faulting. Most of these focal mechanisms located in the Hindu-Kush, a most seismically active, region. The major source of these events and thrusting is the subduction of the Indian plate under the Eurasian Plate. At shallow to intermediate depth, low-to-intermediate angle thrust faulting is dominant. It is seen that in a large number of seismic events the compressive stress is acting nearly in NNW–SSE to N–S directions.