CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Du, W.; Kim, W.; and Sykes, L.R.
Date : 2001.
Title : Determination of source parameters for earthquakes in the Northeastern United States and Quebec, Canada by using regional broadband seismograms.
Publication : 2001 AGU Spring Meeting, May 29 - June 2, 2001, Massachusetts, Boston.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
We studied approximately 20 earthquakes which have occurred in the Northeastern United States and Quebec, southern Canada since 1990. These earthquakes have local magnitude (ML) ranging from 3.5 to 5.2 and are well recorded by broadband seismographic stations in the region. Focal depth and moment tensor of these earthquakes are determined by using waveform inversion technique in which the best fit double-couple mechanism is obtained through a grid search over strike, dip and rake angles. Complete synthetics for three-component displacement signals in the period range 1 to 30 seconds are calculated. In most cases, long period Pnl and surface waves are used to constrain the source parameters. Our results indicate that most of the events show the horizontal compression with near horizontal P axis striking NE-SW. However, three events along the lower St. Lawrence River shows the P axes striking ESE-SE (100-130 degrees) with plunge angles of about 20 degrees. Focal depths of these events range from 2 to 28 km. Four events along the Appalachian Mts. have occurred with 2 to 5 km depths -- Jan. 16, 1994 Reading, Pa sequence, Sep. 25, 1998 Pymatuning, Pa event, Jan. 26, 2001 Ashutabula, Oh earthquake and an event in the Charlevoix seismic zone, Canada (Oct. 28, 1997). Two events have occurred at depth greater than 20 km. These are Quebec City earthquake on Nov. 6, 1997 and Christieville, Quebec event on May 4, 1997. We also observed the apparent discrepancy between the moment magnitude (Mw) and local magnitude (ML). Preliminary results show that for the events studied, Mw tends to be about 0.3 magnitude units smaller than the corresponding ML. However, some events show comparable Mw and ML values, for instance, the 1994 Reading, Pa sequence and Oct. 28, 1997 Charlevoix earthquake. These events have occurred at shallow depths and show low stress drops (less than 100 bars). We believe that this magnitude discrepancy reflects the source characteristics of intraplate events in the region. A striking feature of the waveform inversion method in the Northeastern United States is that we can determine fairly reliable focal depth and mechanisms for earthquakes with magnitude down to 3.5 and in some cases, down to 2.5. It is mainly due to availability of high quality three-component, broadband waveform data at short epicentral distances due to increasing coverage of the broadband seismographs of the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative seismographic Network (LCSN), the National Seismographic Network (USNSN) and the Canadian National Seismographic Network (CNSN) in the region.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology