Accurate estimates of earthquake magnitude are necessary to improve our understanding of seismic hazard. Unbiased magnitudes for small earthquakes are especially important because magnitude exceedance probabilities for large earthquakes are derived from the behavior of small earthquakes. Also, accurate characterization of small events is becoming increasingly important for ground motion models. However, catalog magnitudes may vary for the same event depending on network procedures and capabilities. In addition, different magnitude scales are often used for events of varying sizes. For example, moment magnitude (Mw) is the widely preferred estimate for earthquake size but it is often not available for small earthquakes (M < 3.5). As a result, statistical measures such as magnitude frequency distribution (MFD) and b-value can be biased depending on magnitude type and uncertainties that arise during the measurement process.
In this research we demonstrate the capability of the relative magnitude method to provide a uniform and accurate estimate of earthquake magnitude in a variety of regions, while only requiring the use of waveform data. The study regions include the Permian Basin in Texas, central Oklahoma, and southern California. We present results in which only relative magnitudes are used to estimate MFD and b-value as well as relative magnitudes that are benchmarked to an absolute scale using a coda-envelope derived Mw calibration for small events. We also discuss potential sources of uncertainty in the relative magnitude method such as acceptable signal-to-noise ratios, cross-correlation thresholds, and choice of scaling constant, as well as our attempts to mitigate those uncertainties.
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New Estimates of Magnitude‐Frequency Distribution and b ‐Value Using Relative Magnitudes for the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma Earthquake Sequence
The magnitude‐frequency distribution (MFD) describes the relative proportion of earthquake magnitudes and provides vital information for seismic hazard assessment. The
- Award ID(s):
- 2315814
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10483832
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
- Volume:
- 129
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2169-9313
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We compare source parameter estimates for earthquakes in the 2011 Prague Mw 5.7, Oklahoma, sequence to investigate random uncertainty and systematic bias, and resolve reliable relative variations in stress drop. Source parameters provide insight into the earthquake rupture processes but large variations between studies occur. The Prague earthquake sequence is a prime example of this, with different studies reaching contrasting interpretations of the effects of injection on source parameters. We examine the Prague earthquake sequence using a single coherent catalog for all the events detected by the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS) and McMahon et al. (2017). We use three principal approaches to estimate stress drop in order to understand the biases of each: a spectral decomposition method based on stacking, individual event spectral modeling, and a spectral ratio method based on highly correlated events. We also compare our results with previous studies for the Prague sequences aftershocks, as well as past results for the Mw 4.8 foreshock and Mw 4.8 aftershock and Mw 5.7 mainshock. The absolute values of stress drop vary significantly between methods, but the relative patterns remain consistent, except when low quality or low bandwidth data are included. The consistent relative patterns reveal that the stress drops of aftershocks are dependent on the fault orientation and the proximity of the events to the mainshocks slip. These results indicate that fault structure as well as past events play an important role in stress drop patterns.
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Abstract The interaction of aseismic and seismic slip before and after an earthquake is fundamental for both earthquake nucleation and postseismic stress relaxation. However, it can be difficult to determine where and when aseismic slip occurs within the seismogenic zone because geodetic techniques are limited to detecting moderate to large slip amplitudes or long duration small slip amplitudes. Here, we use repeating earthquakes (earthquakes that re‐rupture the same fault patch) as a proxy for aseismic slip during the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma earthquake sequence. We find that aseismic slip in the Prague earthquake sequence occurs both within the granitic basement and the overlying sedimentary rocks. The repeating earthquakes show that patches of aseismic slip are mostly located at fault intersections. These fault intersections hosted possible mainshock slip, abundant aftershocks, and afterslip. We estimate that ∼40% of the aftershocks are driven by afterslip. We interpret that aseismic slip occurs at fault intersections where stress heterogeneity creates patches of lower stress that are stable within a nonsteady state, rate‐state framework.
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A precise understanding of earthquake magnitudes is vital for accurate calculations of magnitude exceedance probabilities and seismic hazard assessment. However, characterization of earthquake magnitude, particularly for small events, is complicated by differences in network capabilities and procedures. Furthermore, the use of differing magnitude scales for events of various sizes introduces additional challenges and produces disparate magnitude estimates for the same events. To address the need for a consistent magnitude estimation procedure that can accurately estimate magnitude across a wide magnitude range and in diverse tectonic environments, we investigate the use of the relative magnitude method. This approach utilizes amplitude ratios of highly correlated waveforms among numerous interlinked event pairs to compute magnitude for a group of events. While the relative magnitude method is advantageous because it can be applied uniformly in various regions and does not require distance or attenuation corrections, there are several parameters that currently require human decision which may introduce bias. These include acceptable thresholds for signal-to-noise ratios and cross-correlation, filtering procedures, sampling windows, and station selection. Our research focuses on computing new relative magnitudes for events in southern California, including the 2019 Ridgecrest sequence. We investigate the uncertainty that human decision may impose on the resulting magnitudes and compare our results to other magnitude estimation methods. Finally, we present our recommendations for routine procedures that minimize uncertainty and variability in the relative magnitude method, aiming to enhance the utility of this method for future users.more » « less
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Abstract Understanding earthquake foreshocks is essential for deciphering earthquake rupture physics and can aid seismic hazard mitigation. With regional dense seismic arrays, we identify immediate foreshocks of 527 0.9
M 5.4 events of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, including 48 earthquakes with series of immediate foreshocks. These immediate foreshocks are adjacent to the mainshocks occurring within 100 s of the mainshocks, and their P waves share high resemblances with the mainshock P waves. However, attributes of the immediate‐foreshock P waves, including the amplitudes and preceding times, do not clearly scale with the mainshock magnitudes. Our observations suggest that earthquake rupture may initiate in a universal fashion but evolves stochastically. This indicates that earthquake rupture development is likely controlled by fine‐scale fault heterogeneities in the Ridgecrest fault system, and the final magnitude is the only difference between small and large earthquakes.
