Geology topics

S. G. Prejean

Publications and source records attributed to S. G. Prejean.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2012

Determination and uncertainty of moment tensors for microearthquakes at Okmok Volcano, Alaska

Efforts to determine general moment tensors (MTs) for microearthquakes in volcanic areas are often hampered by small seismic networks, which can lead to poorly constrained hypocentres and inadequate modelling of seismic velocity heterogeneity. In addition, noisy seismic signals can make it difficult to identify phase arrivals correctly for small magnitude events. However, small volcanic earthquakes can have source mechanisms that deviate from brittle double-couple shear failure due to magmatic and/or hydrothermal processes. Thus, determining reliable MTs in such conditions is a challenging but potentially rewarding pursuit. We pursued such a goal at Okmok Volcano, Alaska, which erupted recently in 1997 and in 2008. The Alaska Volcano Observatory operates a seismic network of 12 stations at Okmok and routinely catalogues recorded seismicity. Using these data, we have determined general MTs for seven microearthquakes recorded between 2004 and 2007 by inverting peak amplitude measurements of P and S phases. We computed Green's functions using precisely relocated hypocentres and a 3-D velocity model. We thoroughly assessed the quality of the solutions by computing formal uncertainty estimates, conducting a variety of synthetic and sensitivity tests, and by comparing the MTs to solutions obtained using alternative methods. The results show that MTs are sensitive to station distribution and errors in the data, velocity model and hypocentral parameters. Although each of the seven MTs contains a significant non-shear component, we judge several of the solutions to be unreliable. However, several reliable MTs are obtained for a group of previously identified repeating events, and are interpreted as compensated linear-vector dipole events.

Alaska↗

USGS2005

New constraints on mechanisms of remotely triggered seismicity at Long Valley Caldera

Regional-scale triggering of local earthquakes in the crust by seismic waves from distant main shocks has now been robustly documented for over a decade. Some of the most thoroughly recorded examples of repeated triggering of a single site from multiple, large earthquakes are measured in geothermal fields of the western United States like Long Valley Caldera. As one of the few natural cases where the causality of an earthquake sequence is apparent, triggering provides fundamental constraints on the failure processes in earthquakes. We show here that the observed triggering by seismic waves is inconsistent with any mechanism that depends on cumulative shaking as measured by integrated energy density. We also present evidence for a frequency-dependent triggering threshold. On the basis of the seismic records of 12 regional and teleseismic events recorded at Long Valley Caldera, long-period waves (>30 s) are more effective at generating local seismicity than short-period waves of comparable amplitude. If the properties of the system are stationary over time, the failure threshold for long-period waves is ~0.05 cm/s vertical shaking. Assuming a phase velocity of 3.5 km/s and an elastic modulus of 3.5 x 10 10 Pa, the threshold in terms of stress is 5 kPa. The frequency dependence is due in part to the attenuation of the surface waves with depth. Fluid flow through a porous medium can produce the rest of the observed frequency dependence of the threshold. If the threshold is not stationary with time, pore pressures that are >99.5% of lithostatic and vary over time by a factor of 4 could explain the observations with no frequency dependence of the triggering threshold.

California↗

USGS2004

Remotely triggered seismicity on the United States west coast following the Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake

The M w 7.9 Denali fault earthquake in central Alaska of 3 November 2002 triggered earthquakes across western North America at epicentral distances of up to at least 3660 km. We describe the spatial and temporal development of triggered activity in California and the Pacific Northwest, focusing on Mount Rainier, the Geysers geothermal field, the Long Valley caldera, and the Coso geothermal field. The onset of triggered seismicity at each of these areas began during the Love and Raleigh waves of the M w 7.9 wave train, which had dominant periods of 15 to 40 sec, indicating that earthquakes were triggered locally by dynamic stress changes due to low-frequency surface wave arrivals. Swarms during the wave train continued for ∼4 min (Mount Rainier) to ∼40 min (the Geysers) after the surface wave arrivals and were characterized by spasmodic bursts of small ( M ≤ 2.5) earthquakes. Dynamic stresses within the surface wave train at the time of the first triggered earthquakes ranged from 0.01 MPa (Coso) to 0.09 MPa (Mount Rainier). In addition to the swarms that began during the surface wave arrivals, Long Valley caldera and Mount Rainier experienced unusually large seismic swarms hours to days after the Denali fault earthquake. These swarms seem to represent a delayed response to the Denali fault earthquake. The occurrence of spatially and temporally distinct swarms of triggered seismicity at the same site suggests that earthquakes may be triggered by more than one physical process.

North America↗

USGS2003

Apparent break in earthquake scaling due to path and site effects on deep borehole recordings

We reexamine the scaling of stress drop and apparent stress, rigidity times the ratio between seismically radiated energy to seismic moment, with earthquake size for a set of microearthquakes recorded in a deep borehole in Long Valley, California. In the first set of calculations, we assume a constant Q and solve for the corner frequency and seismic moment. In the second set of calculations, we model the spectral ratio of nearby events to determine the same quantities. We find that the spectral ratio technique, which can account for path and site effects or nonconstant Q, yields higher stress drops, particularly for the smaller events in the data set. The measurements determined from spectral ratios indicate no departure from constant stress drop scaling down to the smallest events in our data set (Mw 0.8). Our results indicate that propagation effects can contaminate measurements of source parameters even in the relatively clean recording environment of a deep borehole, just as they do at the Earth's surface. The scaling of source properties of microearthquakes made from deep borehole recordings may need to be reevaluated.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗