Simulation Of Seismic Wave Propagation Research Articles

Successive Tsunamigenic Events Near Sofu Seamount Inferred From High‐Frequency Teleseismic P and Regional T Waves

AbstractAn unexpected major tsunami from the region near Sofu Seamount was observed on 8 October 2023. Sofu Seamount is located approximately 600 km from the coast of Japan. Due to far epicentral distances and the successive occurrence of seismic events, the conventional seismic analysis to reveal the accompanying seismic sequence cannot work well. We investigated high‐frequency teleseismic P and regional T waves from the accompanying seismic sequence during the tsunamigenic events near Sofu Seamount. Envelope shapes of teleseismic P and regional T waves were similar, indicating that T‐wave envelopes also reflected source properties of seismic sequence. During seismic events near Sofu Seamount, observed regional envelopes were characterized by weak body waves and large amplitude T waves with durations of 39–68 s. According to numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation using a realistic topography model, characteristics of T waves exhibit weak slope‐angle and strong source‐depth dependencies. Strong T waves with durations less than 60 s only appeared in results with sources at depths ≤0.5 km below the seafloor. We concluded that high‐frequency radiation of the accompanying seismic sequence during the tsunamigenic events near Sofu Seamount possibly occurred at shallower depths just below the seafloor. If seismic and tsunami sources coincide, shallower source depths might cause tsunamigenic uplifts. The observed peak seafloor uplifts and T‐wave amplitudes during tsunamigenic events were scaled. This result suggests the possibility of tsunami forecasting based on T‐wave amplitudes from submarine volcanoes.

Deep neural helmholtz operators for 3D elastic wave propagation and inversion

Summary Numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation in heterogeneous 3D media are central to investigating subsurface structures and understanding earthquake processes, yet are computationally expensive for large problems. This is particularly problematic for full waveform inversion, which typically involves numerous runs of the forward process. In machine learning there has been considerable recent work in the area of operator learning, with a new class of models called neural operators allowing for data-driven solutions to partial differential equations. Recent works in seismology have shown that when neural operators are adequately trained, they can significantly shorten the compute time for wave propagation. However, the memory required for the 3D time domain equations may be prohibitive. In this study, we show that these limitations can be overcome by solving the wave equations in the frequency domain, also known as the Helmholtz equations, since the solutions for a set of frequencies can be determined in parallel. The 3D Helmholtz neural operator is 40 times more memory-efficient than an equivalent time-domain version. We employ a Helmholtz neural operator for 2D and 3D elastic wave modeling, achieving two orders of magnitude acceleration compared to a baseline spectral element method. The neural operator accurately generalizes to variable velocity structures and can be evaluated on denser input meshes than used in the training simulations. We also show that when solving for wavefields strictly on the surface, the accuracy can be significantly improved via a graph neural operator layer. In leveraging automatic differentiation, the proposed method can serve as an alternative to the adjoint-state approach for 3D full-waveform inversion, reducing the computation time by a factor of 350.

Hydro‐Mechanical Characterization of a Fractured Aquifer Using Groundwater Level Tidal Analysis: Effect of Pore Pressure and Seismic Dynamic Shear Stresses on Permeability Variations

AbstractGroundwater level tidal analysis is a powerful technique to monitor aquifer's permeability and hence its change over time. Earthquakes are known to affect aquifer's properties, in their vicinity through static stress changes but also further away through dynamic stresses. Most often changes are in the form of permeability increases, but sometimes decreases; the changes can be either permanent or transient. These observations are relatively well documented but the physical processes behind these changes are not well understood. By combining solid‐earth and barometric tidal groundwater level responses in a borehole in a coherent poroelastic theoretical framework, and a bi‐layer hydrogeological model, we recover a 15 years‐long time series evolution of aquifer transmissivity and shear modulus. This study showcases the full potential of the tidal analysis method, coupling pore pressure diffusion and rock deformation, at the frontier of hydrogeology and rock physics. This unprecedented measurement of permeability and shear modulus evolution by tidal analysis reveals, during interseismic period, high sensitivity of this shallow aquifer to effective stress, and thus to pore pressure. Thanks to additional finite element simulation of seismic wave propagation, we explore the different mechanisms affecting permeability and shear modulus in the studied fractured andesite aquifer. This study confirms the predominant role of seismic dynamic stresses, and more precisely of dynamic shear stresses, in the change of permeability following an earthquake.

Numerical simulation of acoustic waves propagation by finite element method based on optimized matrices

Abstract Based on the wave equation, scholars worldwide have proposed various methods for numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation in underground and surface media. The finite element method offers a unique advantage in accurately depicting the undulating surfaces and steep palaeoburial hills with its triangular mesh. However, its computational efficiency cannot meet our needs while lots of memories are occupied. To address this, we optimized and improved the critical Mass matrix and Stiffness matrix of spatial discretization of the acoustic wave equation. We first fully utilized the flexibility of triangles to fit different undulating terrains, then reorganized the numbering of triangle mesh nodes and elements to reduce the bandwidth of the matrices, and then used optimized matrices for solving. The Crank-Nicolson scheme was adopted for time discretization, and the Perfectly Matched Layer condition was utilized to eliminate false waves reflected from the boundary. The numerical experiments with simple and significant fluctuation models proved that this method can accelerate computational efficiency while ensuring computational accuracy.

Earthquake source impacts on the generation and propagation of seismic infrasound to the upper atmosphere

SUMMARY Earthquakes with moment magnitude (Mw) ranging from 6.5 to 7.0 have been observed to generate sufficiently strong acoustic waves (AWs) in the upper atmosphere. These AWs are detectable in Global Navigation Satellite System satellite signals-based total electron content (TEC) observations in the ionosphere at altitudes ∼250–300 km. However, the specific earthquake source parameters that influence the detectability and characteristics of AWs are not comprehensively understood. Here, we extend our approach of coupled earthquake-atmosphere dynamics modelling by combing dynamic rupture and seismic wave propagation simulations with 2-D and 3-D atmospheric numerical models, to investigate how the characteristics of earthquakes impact the generation and propagation of AWs. We developed a set of idealized dynamic rupture models varying faulting types and fault sizes, hypocentral depths and stress drops. We focus on earthquakes of Mw 6.0–6.5, which are considered the smallest detectable with TEC, and find that the resulting AWs undergo non-linear evolution and form acoustic shock N waves reaching thermosphere at ∼90–140 km. The results reveal that the magnitude of the earthquakes is not the sole or primary factor determining the amplitudes of AWs in the upper atmosphere. Instead, various earthquake source characteristics, including the direction of rupture propagation, the polarity of seismic wave imprints on the surface, earthquake mechanism, stress drop and radiated energy, significantly influence the amplitudes and periods of AWs. The simulation results are also compared with observed TEC fluctuations from AWs generated by the 2023 Mw 6.2 Suzu (Japan) earthquake, finding preliminary agreement in terms of model-predicted signal periods and amplitudes. Understanding these nuanced relationships between earthquake source parameters and AW characteristics is essential for refining our ability to detect and interpret AW signals in the ionosphere.

Linked and fully coupled 3D earthquake dynamic rupture and tsunami modeling for the Húsavík–Flatey Fault Zone in North Iceland

Abstract. Tsunamigenic earthquakes pose considerable risks, both economically and socially, yet earthquake and tsunami hazard assessments are typically conducted separately. Earthquakes associated with unexpected tsunamis, such as the 2018 Mw 7.5 strike-slip Sulawesi earthquake, emphasize the need to study the tsunami potential of active submarine faults in different tectonic settings. Here, we investigate physics-based scenarios combining simulations of 3D earthquake dynamic rupture and seismic wave propagation with tsunami generation and propagation. We present time-dependent modeling of one-way linked and 3D fully coupled earthquakes and tsunamis for the ∼ 100 km long Húsavík–Flatey Fault Zone (HFFZ) in North Iceland. Our analysis shows that the HFFZ has the potential to generate sizable tsunamis. The six dynamic rupture models sourcing our tsunami scenarios vary regarding hypocenter location, spatiotemporal evolution, fault slip, and fault structure complexity but coincide with historical earthquake magnitudes. Earthquake dynamic rupture scenarios on a less segmented fault system, particularly with a hypocenter location in the eastern part of the fault system, have a larger potential for local tsunami generation. Here, dynamically evolving large shallow fault slip (∼ 8 m), near-surface rake rotation (± 20∘), and significant coseismic vertical displacements of the local bathymetry (± 1 m) facilitate strike-slip faulting tsunami generation. We model tsunami crest to trough differences (total wave heights) of up to ∼ 0.9 m near the town Ólafsfjörður. In contrast, none of our scenarios endanger the town of Akureyri, which is shielded by multiple reflections within the narrow Eyjafjörður bay and by Hrísey island. We compare the modeled one-way linked tsunami waveforms with simulation results using a 3D fully coupled approach. We find good agreement in the tsunami arrival times and location of maximum tsunami heights. While seismic waves result in transient motions of the sea surface and affect the ocean response, they do not appear to contribute to tsunami generation. However, complex source effects arise in the fully coupled simulations, such as tsunami dispersion effects and the complex superposition of seismic and acoustic waves within the shallow continental shelf of North Iceland. We find that the vertical velocity amplitudes of near-source acoustic waves are unexpectedly high – larger than those corresponding to the actual tsunami – which may serve as a rapid indicator of surface dynamic rupture. Our results have important implications for understanding the tsunamigenic potential of strike-slip fault systems worldwide and the coseismic acoustic wave excitation during tsunami generation and may help to inform future tsunami early warning systems.

2D parallel simulation of seismic wave propagation in poroelastic media to monitor a CO2 geological sequestration process

Geological sequestration of carbon dioxide CO2 involves storing CO2 beneath geological formations to reduce atmospheric emissions. Typically, CO2 is pressurized into a liquid state and injected into porous rock formations. Monitoring this process relies on seismic data. For the effective monitoring of seismic wave propagation in extensive formations, a highly efficient and robust algorithm is essential. We developed an efficient approach to alleviate the computational workload associated with simulating CO2 sequestration using the staggered grid finite difference method. The method developed was applied to a moderately complex medium which represents pre- and post-CO2 injection of Utsira Formation, North Sea. The model was developed for two scenarios, representing the stages before and after the injection of CO2 into the Formation. The effect of CO2 was observed and picked efficiently in the reservoir by the algorithm developed for the scenarios before and after the injection of CO2. We could see the brightening of reflections with an increased CO2 saturation in the post-CO2 injection cases. The method developed greatly reduces the computational requirement of the simulation which makes it more efficient for large scale applications.

Simplified implicit finite-difference method of spatial derivative using explicit schemes with optimized constant coefficients based on L1 norm

The explicit finite-difference (EFD) method is widely used in numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation to approximate spatial derivatives. However, the traditional and optimized high-order EFD methods suffer from the saturation effect, which seriously restricts the improvement of numerical accuracy. In contrast, the implicit FD (IFD) method approximates the spatial derivatives in the form of rational functions and thus can obtain much higher numerical accuracy with relatively low orders; however, its computational cost is expensive due to the need to invert a multidiagonal matrix. We derive an explicit strategy for the IFD method to reduce the computational cost by constructing the IFD method with the discrete Fourier matrix; then, we transform the inversion of the multidiagonal matrix into an explicit matrix multiplication; next, we construct an objective function based on the [Formula: see text] norm to reduce approximation error of the IFD method. This explicit strategy of the IFD method can avoid inverting the multidiagonal matrix, thus improving the computational efficiency. This constant coefficient optimization method reduces the approximation error in the medium-wavenumber range at the cost of tolerable deviation (smaller than 0.0001) in the low-wavenumber range. For the 2D Marmousi model, the root-mean-square error of the numerical results obtained by this method is one-fifth that of the traditional IFD method with the same order (i.e., 5/3) and one-third that of the traditional EFD method with much higher orders (i.e., 72). The significant reduction of numerical error makes the developed method promising for numerical simulation in large-scale models, especially for long-time simulations.

Numerical and experimental study of ultrasonic seismic waves propagation and attenuation on high‐quality factor samples

AbstractWe propose an approach for measuring seismic attenuation at ultrasonic frequencies on laboratory‐scale samples. We use a Gaussian filter to select a bandwidth of frequencies to identify the attenuation in a small window and, by moving the window across the frequency content of the data, we determine the frequency‐dependent attenuation function. We assess the validity of the method with three‐dimensional numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation across different sample geometries, using free surface boundary conditions. We perform the simulations using viscoelastic media under various seismic attenuation models. Our numerical results indicate that we can successfully recover the representative viscoelastic attenuation parameters of the media, regardless of the sample geometry, by processing the seismic signal recorded either within the volume or at the boundaries. Due to the equipartition phenomenon, the energy of S‐waves is consistently higher in seismic records than that of P‐waves. Therefore, we systematically recover the attenuating properties of S‐waves in the medium. We also conduct experiments of seismic wave propagation on samples of aluminum and Fontainebleau sandstone to validate our approach with real data. The quality factor of the S‐wave in the aluminum medium increases from 300 to 7000 between 60 kHz and 1.2 MHz. The Fontainebleau sandstone, which is more attenuating, exhibits a that increases from 200 at 60 kHz to 1000 at 1.2 MHz. With our approach, we are not only able to recover the attenuation property but also identify the frequency‐dependent attenuation model of the samples. Our method allows for seismic attenuation recovery at ultrasonic frequencies in low‐attenuating media.

Geophysical Research on an Open Pit Mine for Geotechnical Planning and Future Land Reclamation: A Case Study from NW Macedonia, Greece

In open pit mining areas, knowledge of geotechnical conditions (e.g., overburden thickness, background slope, and fault locations) ensures geotechnical safety during exploitation as well as reclamation planning. The Greek Public Power Corporation initiated a research program after stability issues emerged on the southern side of the Mavropigi open pit mine in NW Macedonia. Geotechnical wells revealed steeply dipping bedrock and thin tectonic contact, indicating the need for the detailed imaging of the subsurface for future stability measures. For this purpose, a geophysical investigation aimed to extract information mostly for the dip of the interface between schist bedrock and overlaying Neogene sediments and/or limestones. Based on the high contrast of electrical properties between schists and limestones, as well as the differences in acoustic impedance and formation thickness, the seismic reflection and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) methods were selected. The suitability of the seismic reflection for its application in this area was checked by generating synthetic seismic data, which resulted from the simulation of seismic wave propagation for geological models of the area. The acquisition parameters were determined after the noise test. Field seismic data processing produced a depth-migrated section, which revealed the existence of a fault. The use of dipole–dipole and gradient arrays, in 2D and 3D electrical resistivity measurements, ensured both the lateral and vertical mapping of schist bedrock and detected limestone bodies within the overburden. Also, the tectonic contact zone between limestone and schist formations was properly imaged. The comparison between geoelectrical and seismic sections indicated that the seismic reflection method provided a more accurate estimate of fault inclination. Finally, the geophysical survey enriched the geotechnical models necessary for sustainable mining (e.g., rational exploitation, the optimization of productivity, and zero accidents) including the planning of future reclamation.

Spectral-infinite-element simulations of seismic wave propagation in self-gravitating, rotating 3-D Earth models

SUMMARY Although observation of gravity perturbations induced by earthquakes is possible, simulation of seismic wave propagation in a self-gravitating, rotating Earth model with 3-D heterogeneity is challenging due to the numerical complexities associated with the unbounded Poisson/Laplace equation that governs gravity perturbations. Therefore, gravity perturbations are generally omitted, and only the background gravity is taken into account using the so-called Cowling approximation. However, gravity perturbations may be significant for large earthquakes (Mw ≥ 6.0) and long-period responses. In this study, we develop a time-domain solver based on the spectral-infinite-element approach, which combines the spectral element method inside the Earth domain with a mapped-infinite-element method in the infinite space outside. This combination allows us to solve the complete, coupled momentum-gravitational equations in a fully discretized domain while accommodating complex 3-D Earth models. We compute displacement and gravity perturbations considering various Earth models, including Preliminary Reference Earth Model and S40RTS and conduct comprehensive benchmarks of our method against the spherical harmonics normal-mode approach and the direct radial integration method. Our 3-D simulations accommodate topography, bathymetry, rotation, ellipticity and oceans. Results show that our technique is accurate and stable for long simulations. Our method provides a new scope for incorporating earthquake-induced gravity perturbations into source and adjoint tomographic inversions.

Time-domain Green’s function in poroelastic mediums and its application to 3-D spontaneous rupture simulation

SUMMARY Plenty of studies have suggested that pore fluid may play an important role in earthquake rupture processes. Establishing numerical models can provide great insight into how pore fluid may affect earthquake rupture processes. However, numerical simulation of 3-D spontaneous ruptures in poroelastic mediums is still a challenging task. In this paper, it is found that a closed-form time-domain Green’s function of Biot’s poroelastodynamic model can be constructed when the source frequency and source-field distance are within a certain range. The time-domain Green’s function is validated by being transformed into the frequency domain and comparing with the frequency-domain Green’s functions obtained by former papers. Poroelastic wave propagation phase diagrams for various two-phase poroelastic mediums are then plotted to show the applicable range of frequency and source-field distance for the new time-domain Green’s function. It is shown that the applicable range not only include the frequency and spatial range of concern in seismology but also overlap that in acoustics. Based on the time-domain Green’s function, the boundary integral equations (BIEs) for modelling dynamic ruptures in elastic mediums are extended to fluid-saturated mediums. In the meantime, a functional relationship between the effective stress tensor and the total stress tensor in fluid-saturated mediums is also obtained, which allows us to directly obtain the effective stress by BIEs. The spontaneous rupture processes controlled by the slip-weakening friction law on faults in elastic mediums and in fluid-saturated mediums are compared. It is found that under the same conditions, fluid-saturated rocks are more prone to supershear rupture than dry rocks. This result suggests that pore fluid may promote the excitation of supershear rupture. The poroelastic wave propagation phase diagrams also suggest that simulating a coseismic phase in the real scale requires a certain sample length in laboratories. They also suggest that an undrained governing equation is suitable for seismic wave propagation simulation in poroelastic media.

Generalized finite difference method applied to solve seismic wave propagation problems. Examples of 3D simulations

The simulation of seismic wave propagation generally requires dealing with complex tridimensional geometries that are irregular in shape and have non‐uniform properties, features that make the application of the generalized finite difference method in this field interesting. This work continues the extensive developments by the research team focused on the simulation of seismic wave propagation in two‐dimensional domains. In this new contribution, the general formulation and the treatment of free surface boundary conditions are extended for the three‐dimensional case, and the results obtained from different examples are analyzed.

High-frequency S and S-coda waves at ocean-bottom seismometers

To clarify the characteristics of high-frequency (> 1 Hz) S and S-coda waves at ocean-bottom seismometers (OBSs), we analyzed seismograms observed at permanent OBSs and inland broadband seismometers around the Kii Peninsula in southwest Japan along the Nankai Trough. The coda amplitudes (both horizontal and vertical) at the OBSs were much larger than those at the inland rock-site stations. Because coda amplitudes relative to those at inland rock-site stations have been used as site-amplification factors, large site amplifications for both components can be expected due to the presence of thick oceanic sediments just below the OBSs; however, the observed maximum S-wave amplitudes in the vertical component exhibited similar attenuation trends against epicentral distances at both OBS and inland stations. To clarify the causes of this discrepancy, we conducted numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation using various three-dimensional seismic velocity structure models. The results demonstrated that coda waves at OBSs mostly comprise multiple scattered waves within a thick (> 2 km) sedimentary layer; consequently, coda amplitudes at OBSs become much larger than those at inland rock-site stations. Our numerical simulations also confirmed the generation of large coda amplitudes at regions with seawater depths ≥ 4 km, where no OBS was deployed. However, the thick sedimentary layer and seawater have limited effects on maximum S-wave amplitudes at the OBSs. Given that the effects of a thick sedimentary layer and seawater on S and S-coda waves differ, we concluded that the coda-normalization technique for site-amplification correction against a rock-site station could not be applied if stations are located within regions above the thick sedimentary layer or deeper sea depths. The site amplifications at the OBSs were corrected according to the horizontal-to-vertical ratios at each OBS; we adjusted the simulated horizontal envelopes at the OBSs using these ratios of the observed S-coda waves. As well as inland seismometers, the site-corrected simulation results practically reproduced the observed high-frequency envelopes at OBSs.Graphical

Unified framework based parallel FEM code for simulating marine seismoacoustic scattering

The simulation of seismic wave propagation in marine areas, which belongs to seismoacoustic scattering problem, is complicated due to the fluid-solid interaction between seawater and seabed, especially when the seabed is saturated with fluid. Meanwhile, huge computation resources are required for large-scale marine seismic wave simulation. In the paper, an efficient parallel simulation code is developed to solve the near-field seismoacoustic scattering problem. The method and technologies used in this code includes: 1) Unified framework for acoustic-solid-poroelastic interaction analysis, in which seawater and dry bedrock are considered as generalized saturated porous media with porosity equals to one and zero, respectively, and the coupling between seawater, saturated seabed and dry bedrock can be analyzed in the unified framework of generalized saturated porous media and avoid interaction between solvers of different differential equation; 2) Element-by-element strategy and voxel finite-element method (VFEM), with these strategies, it only needs to calculate several classes of element matrix and avoid assembling and storing the global system matrices, which significantly reduces the amount of memory required; 3) Domain-partitioning procedure and parallel computation technology, it performs 3D and 2D model partitioning for the 3D and 2D codes respectively, sets up the velocity structure model for the partitioned domain on each CPU or CPU core, and calculates the seismic wave propagation in the domain using Message Passing Interface data communication at each time step; 4) Local transmitting boundary condition, we adopt multi-transmitting formula, which is independent of specific wave equations, to minimize reflections from the boundaries of the computational model. A horizontal layered model with the plane P-wave incident vertically from bottom is used to demonstrate the computational efficiency and accuracy of our code. Then, the code is used to simulate the wave propagation in Tokyo Bay. All codes were written following to the standards of Fortran 95.

Modeling 3-D Elastic Wave Propagation in TI Media Using Discontinuous Galerkin Method on Tetrahedral Meshes

Transversely isotropic (TI) medium is a widely studied anisotropic solid medium in seismology. The numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation in TI media is an effective tool to analyze the mechanism of seismic waves in complex anisotropic media. In this study, we introduce a double-weighted Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) method for numerically solving wave propagation problems in 3D TI media with surface topography. This method incorporates the discontinuous Galerkin spatial discretization with an explicit double-weighted two-step iteration time discretization. The local Lax-Friedrichs flux is used as the numerical flux in the formulations. This method can solve the first-order velocity-stress seismic wave equations including TI media as well as more general anisotropic media. Due to the large scale of 3D problems, the parallel technology is adopted. Regions with irregular boundaries are discretized into unstructured tetrahedral meshes. Numerical experiments for various anisotropic media including the vertical and tilted TI media are presented. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the double-weighted RKDG method in wavefield simulations in 3D complicated anisotropic media.

Distinctive seismic reflections from the subducting Pacific slab for earthquakes in the Ryukyu arc

SUMMARY During moderate to deep (35–260 km) earthquakes within the Philippine-sea slab along the Ryukyu arc, distinctive later phases after S are observed across the Japanese archipelago for epicentral distances from 1500 to 2200 km, producing anomalous amplification of ground motion in central and northern Japan. Broad-band observations show that these later phases have a faster apparent wave speed (7–9.5 km s−1) than S, and are dominant at low frequencies (0.05–1 Hz), indicating S-wave reflections returned from the upper mantle with strong attenuation for high frequencies. Numerical simulation of seismic wave propagation in 3-D models including subduction of both the Pacific (PAC) and Philippine-sea (PHS) plates reveal the origin of these reflections. The triplicated S wave front from the 410 km discontinuity undergoes wide-angle reflection at the top of the Pacific slab bringing strong amplitudes in a narrow band of epicentral distance near 1500 km. Also, wide-angle S reflections at the 660 km discontinuity are reinforced by refraction when travelling through the high-wave speed Pacific slab; these arrive at the surface beyond 2000 km epicentral distance. The characteristics of the deep mantle reflections and the distribution of large ground motion across Japan due to the reflections are strongly dependent on the source depth and distance to the Ryukyu earthquakes. Tomographic imagery for western Japan indicates loss of the high-wave speed signal of the PAC slab below 200 km depth; the character of the large S reflections and pattern of enhanced ground motions favours a model in which the PAC slab is thinned rather than fully broken. The peculiar pattern of ground motion from Ryukyu earthquakes can be useful for constraining deep slab structures that are difficult to identify based on tomography.

A site-specific earthquake ground response analysis using a fault-based approach and nonlinear modeling: The Case Pente site (Sulmona, Italy)

In this paper we present the ground response analyses (GRA) of a site where an industrial facility is planned. Due to its location on an active normal fault system known as a relevant seismic gap, the Mt. Morrone Fault system (MMF), and at the edge of a basin filled with slow velocity continental deposits, a inter-disciplinary and non-standard approach has been applied to assess the seismic input of the dynamic numerical analyses. It includes geological, seismological, geotechnical and engineering contributions. Two fault scenarios, MMF1 and MMF2, were considered and scenario-based (SSHA) and probabilistic (time-dependent, TD, and time-independent, TI) seismic hazard (PSHA) analyses were implemented. Comparison among the spectra corresponding to the 90th percentile of the SSHA statistical distribution and the PSHA average ones shows that the SSHA MMF2 has values similar to the PSHA TD model. The SSHA 90th percentile distribution was selected as target spectra to retrieve the seismic input for GRA. Nonlinear numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation were implemented to derive surface ground motion parameters. GRA acceleration response spectra and their PGA are notably higher, and thus on the side of safety, than those obtained following the Italian code approach for seismic resistant buildings. These results confirm that a scenario-based methodology can better capture the shaking effect in near-field conditions, avoiding possibly unconservative underestimations of the seismic actions and in view of a more robust performance-based approach used by engineers for either new design and/or assessment/retrofit purposes of the built environment.

Quantitative Evaluation of the Lunar Seismic Scattering and Comparison Between the Earth, Mars, and the Moon

AbstractThe intense seismic scattering seen in Apollo lunar seismic data is one of the most characteristic features, making the seismic signals much different from those observed on the Earth. The scattering is considered to be attributed to subsurface heterogeneity. While the heterogeneous structure of the Moon reflects the past geological activities and evolution processes from the formation, the detailed description remains an open issue. Here, we present a new model of the subsurface heterogeneity within the upper lunar crust derived through a full 3D seismic wave propagation simulation. Our simulation successfully reproduced the Apollo seismic observations, leading to a significant update of the scattering properties of the Moon. The results showed that the scattering intensity of the Moon is about 10 times higher than that of the heterogeneous region on the Earth. The quantified scattering parameters could give us a constraint on the surface evolution process of the Moon and enable the comparative study for answering a fundamental question of why the seismological features are different on various planetary bodies.

Seismic Full‐Waveform Inversion of the Crust‐Mantle Structure Beneath China and Adjacent Regions

AbstractWe present the first‐generation full‐waveform tomographic model (SinoScope 1.0) for the crust‐mantle structure beneath China and adjacent regions. The three‐component seismograms from 410 earthquakes recorded at 2,427 stations are employed in iterative gradient‐based inversions for three successively broadened period bands of 70–120 s, 50–120 s, and 30–120 s. Synthetic seismograms were computed using GPU‐accelerated spectral‐element simulations of seismic wave propagation in 3‐D anelastic models, and Fréchet derivatives were calculated based on an adjoint‐state method facilitated by a checkpointing algorithm. The inversion involved 352 iterations, which required 18,600 wavefield simulations. SinoScope 1.0 is described in terms of isotropic P‐wave (VP), horizontally and vertically polarized S‐wave velocities (VSH and VSV), and mass density (ρ), which are independently constrained with the same data set coupled with a stochastic L‐BFGS quasi‐Newton optimization scheme. It systematically reduced differences between observed and synthetic full‐length seismograms. We performed a detailed resolution analysis by repairing input random parametric perturbations, indicating that resolution lengths can approach the half propagated wavelength within the well‐covered areas. SinoScope 1.0 reveals strong lateral heterogeneities in the lithosphere, and features correlate well with geological observations, such as sedimentary basins, Holocene volcanoes, Tibetan Plateau, Philippine Sea Plate, and various tectonic units. The asthenosphere lies below the lithosphere beneath East and Southeast Asia, bounded by subduction trenches and cratonic blocks. Furthermore, we observe an enhanced image of well‐known slabs along strongly curved subduction zones, which do not exist in the initial model.