Geology topics

Jon B. Fletcher

Publications and source records attributed to Jon B. Fletcher.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2014

Frequency-dependent effects of rupture for the 2004 Parkfield mainshock, results from UPSAR

The frequency-dependent effects of rupture propagation of the Parkfield, California earthquake (Sept. 28, 2004, M6) to the northwest along the San Andreas fault can be seen in acceleration records at UPSAR (USGS Parkfield Seismic Array) in at least two ways. First, we can see the effects of directivity in the acceleration traces at UPSAR, which is about 11.5 km from the epicenter. Directivity or the seismic equivalent of a Doppler shift has been documented in many cases by comparing short duration, high-amplitude pulses (P or S) in the forward direction with longer duration body waves in the backward direction. In this case we detect a change from a relatively large amplitude, coherent, high-frequency signal at the start of rupture to a low-amplitude, low-coherent, low-frequency signal at about the time the rupture front transfers from the forward azimuth to the back azimuth at about 34-36 s (time is UTC and are the seconds after day 272 and 17 hours and 15 minutes. S arrival is just after 30s) for rays leaving the fault and propagating to UPSAR. The frequency change is obvious in the band about 5 to 30 Hz, which is significantly above the corner frequency of the earthquake (about 0.11Hz). From kinematic source models, the duration of faulting is about 9.2 s and the change in frequency is during faulting as the rupture extends to the northwest. Understanding the systematic change in frequency and amplitude of seismic waves in relation to the propagation of the rupture front is important for predicting strong ground motion. Second, we can filter the acceleration records from the array to determine if the low frequency energy emerges from the same part of the fault as the high frequency signal (e.g. has the same back azimuth and apparent velocity at UPSAR) an important clue to the dynamics of rupture. Analysis of sources of strong motion (characterized by relatively high frequencies) compared to kinematic slip models (relatively low frequency) for the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake as well as Maule (Feb. 27, 2010) and Chi-Chi (Sept. 20, 1999) earthquakes show that high- and low-frequency sources do not have the same locations on the fault. In this paper we filter the accelerograms from UPSAR for the 2004 mainshock in various passbands and then re-compute the cross correlations to determine the vector slowness of the incoming waves. At Parkfield, it appears that for seismic waves with frequencies above 1 Hz there is no discernible frequency-dependent difference in source position (up to 8 Hz) based on estimates of back azimuth and apparent velocity. However at lower frequencies, sources appear to be from shallower depths and trail the high frequencies as the rupture proceeds down the fault. This result is greater than one standard deviation of an estimate of error, based on a new method of estimating error that is a measure of how broad the peak in correlation is and an estimate of the variance of the correlation values. These observations can be understood in terms of a rupture front that is more energetic and coherent near the front of rupture (radiating higher frequencies) and less coherent and less energetic (radiating in a lower frequency band) behind the initial rupture front. This result is a qualitative assessment of changes in azimuth and apparent velocity with frequency and time and does not include corrections to find the source location on the fault.

California↗

USGS2012

Tidal variation of seismic travel times in a Massachusetts granite quarry

Conflicting results on tidal variation of seismic travel times exist in the literature. With improved methods, we have conducted a seismic survey at a Massachusetts granite quarry. The survey was conducted in the intervals (230d 23h, 231d11h) and (231d22h, 233d10h), 1983 (U.T.) along a 148 m baseline situated in nearly flat topography. The source for the present experiment was an air gun placed in a mud-filled pit. Travel times for the first five body wave extrema were analyzed. The results are: I. The 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th extrema show travel time variations; the 3rd extremum remains constant throughout the experiment. The magnitude of the fractional travel time variation, Δt/t, ranges from 0.5 to 0.9%. II. Changes in travel times of the 1st and 2nd extrema correspond to opposite changes in travel times of the 4th and 5th extrema. III. Two sets of nearly orthogonal joint systems are observed in the granite; the theoretical tidal strain in the direction perpendicular to the nearly vertical joints matches the travel time variations of the 1st and 2nd extrema whereas the tidal strain in the direction perpendicular to the nearly horizontal sheets matches the travel time variations of the 4th and 5th extrema, when a 4-hr delay is introduced for all the tidal strains. These results are interpreted in terms of the velocity changes of seismic rays as the two joint systems open and close due to the tidal stress.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2010

Analysis of nonvolcanic tremor on the San Andreas Fault near Parkfield, CA using U.S. Geological Survey Parkfield Seismic Array

Reports by Nadeau and Dolenc (2005) that tremor had been detected near Cholame Valley spawned an effort to use UPSAR (U. S. Geological Survey Parkfield Seismic Array) to study characteristics of tremor. UPSAR was modified to record three channels of velocity at 40–50 sps continuously in January 2005 and ran for about 1 month, during which time we recorded numerous episodes of tremor. One tremor, on 21 January at 0728, was recorded with particularly high signal levels as well as another episode 3 days later. Both events were very emergent, had a frequency content between 2 and 8 Hz, and had numerous high-amplitude, short-duration arrivals within the tremor signal. Here using the first episode as an example, we discuss an analysis procedure, which yields azimuth and apparent velocity of the tremor at UPSAR. We then provide locations for both tremor episodes. The emphasis here is how the tremor episode evolves. Twelve stations were operating at the time of recording. Slowness of arrivals was determined using cross correlation of pairs of stations; the same method used in analyzing the main shock data from 28 September 2004. A feature of this analysis is that 20 s of the time series were used at a time to calculate correlation; the longer windows resulted in more consistent estimates of slowness, but lower peak correlations. These values of correlation (peaks of about 0.25), however, are similar to that obtained for the S wave of a microearthquake. Observed peaks in slowness were traced back to source locations assumed to lie on the San Andreas fault. Our inferred locations for the two tremor events cluster near the locations of previously observed tremor, south of the Cholame Valley. Tremor source depths are in the 14–24 km range, which is below the seismogenic brittle zone, but above the Moho. Estimates of error do not preclude locations below the Moho, however. The tremor signal is very emergent but contains packets that are several times larger than the background tremor signal and lasts about 5 s. These impulsive wavelets are similar to low-frequency earthquakes signals seen in Japan but appear to be broader band rather than just higher in low-frequency energy. They may be more appropriately called high-energy tremor (HET). HET signals at UPSAR correlate well with the record of this event from station GHIB of the HRSN borehole array at Parkfield and HETs typically have a higher cross-correlation coefficient than the rest of the tremor event. The amplitudes of a large HET are consistent with a magnitude of 0.1 when compared with a M2.3 event that had about the same epicenter. Polarizations of the tremor episode at UPSAR are mostly just north of east. Both linearity and azimuth evolve over time suggesting a change in tremor source location over time and linearity is typically higher at the HETs.

California↗

USGS2009

Software for inference of dynamic ground strains and rotations and their errors from short baseline array observations of ground motions

In two previous articles we presented a formulation for inferring the strains and rotations of the ground beneath a seismic array having a finite footprint. In this article we derive expressions for the error covariance matrices of the inferred strains and rotations, and we present software for the calculation of ground strains, rotations, and their variances from short baseline array ground-motion data.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America↗

USGS1986

MODE IDENTIFICATION OF AN ARCH DAM BY A DYNAMIC AIR-GUN TEST.

Thirteen natural frequencies of a concrete arch dam (Monticello Dam near Sacramento, California) have been identified by using a dynamic testing method which employs an air gun firing in the reservoir as the excitation source. These vibrations modes are determined from the peak responses in the Fourier amplitude spectra of the free-vibration data recorded at three crest locations using three-component geophones. Comparisons of the first five natural frequencies with results obtained by forced vibration tests using rotating mass shakers show good agreement. The next eight higher-frequency modes, not previously identified, are determined from data of the present tests.

Conference Paper↗