Location

2015/04/03 08:29:27 67.836 -145.254 28.2 4.7 Alaska

Arrival Times (from USGS)

Arrival time list

Felt Map

USGS Felt map for this earthquake

USGS Felt reports main page

Focal Mechanism

 USGS/SLU Moment Tensor Solution
 ENS  2015/04/03 08:29:27:0  67.84 -145.25  28.2 4.7 Alaska
 
 Stations used:
   AK.BPAW AK.BWN AK.CCB AK.COLD AK.DOT AK.FYU AK.KTH AK.MCK 
   AK.MDM AK.MLY AK.NEA2 AK.PAX AK.PPD AK.RND AK.SCRK AK.TRF 
   AK.WAT3 AK.WAT4 AK.WAT5 AK.WRH AT.MENT CN.INK IM.IL31 
   IU.COLA TA.I23K TA.K27K TA.L27K TA.POKR TA.TOLK US.EGAK 
 
 Filtering commands used:
   cut o DIST/3.3 -30 o DIST/3.3 +70
   rtr
   taper w 0.1
   hp c 0.03 n 3 
   lp c 0.07 n 3 
 
 Best Fitting Double Couple
  Mo = 7.85e+22 dyne-cm
  Mw = 4.53 
  Z  = 11 km
  Plane   Strike  Dip  Rake
   NP1       30    75    20
   NP2      295    71   164
  Principal Axes:
   Axis    Value   Plunge  Azimuth
    T   7.85e+22     25     253
    N   0.00e+00     65      65
    P  -7.85e+22      3     162

 Moment Tensor: (dyne-cm)
    Component   Value
       Mxx    -6.51e+22
       Mxy     4.15e+22
       Mxz    -4.91e+21
       Myy     5.17e+22
       Myz    -2.97e+22
       Mzz     1.34e+22
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                     --------------                  
                 ---------------------#              
              ------------------------####           
             -------------------------#####          
           --------------------------########        
          ---------------------------#########       
         #########------------------###########      
        #################----------#############     
        ######################-----#############     
       ##########################-###############    
       ##########################----############    
       #########################-------##########    
       ####   #################-----------#######    
        ### T ################--------------####     
        ###   ##############-----------------###     
         ##################--------------------      
          ################--------------------       
           #############---------------------        
             ##########--------------------          
              #######---------------------           
                 #---------------   ---              
                     ------------ P                  
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
 Global CMT Convention Moment Tensor:
      R          T          P
  1.34e+22  -4.91e+21   2.97e+22 
 -4.91e+21  -6.51e+22  -4.15e+22 
  2.97e+22  -4.15e+22   5.17e+22 


Details of the solution is found at

http://www.eas.slu.edu/eqc/eqc_mt/MECH.NA/20150403082927/index.html
        

Preferred Solution

The preferred solution from an analysis of the surface-wave spectral amplitude radiation pattern, waveform inversion and first motion observations is

      STK = 30
      DIP = 75
     RAKE = 20
       MW = 4.53
       HS = 11.0

The NDK file is 20150403082927.ndk The waveform inversion is preferred.

Moment Tensor Comparison

The following compares this source inversion to others
SLU
USGSMT
USGSW
 USGS/SLU Moment Tensor Solution
 ENS  2015/04/03 08:29:27:0  67.84 -145.25  28.2 4.7 Alaska
 
 Stations used:
   AK.BPAW AK.BWN AK.CCB AK.COLD AK.DOT AK.FYU AK.KTH AK.MCK 
   AK.MDM AK.MLY AK.NEA2 AK.PAX AK.PPD AK.RND AK.SCRK AK.TRF 
   AK.WAT3 AK.WAT4 AK.WAT5 AK.WRH AT.MENT CN.INK IM.IL31 
   IU.COLA TA.I23K TA.K27K TA.L27K TA.POKR TA.TOLK US.EGAK 
 
 Filtering commands used:
   cut o DIST/3.3 -30 o DIST/3.3 +70
   rtr
   taper w 0.1
   hp c 0.03 n 3 
   lp c 0.07 n 3 
 
 Best Fitting Double Couple
  Mo = 7.85e+22 dyne-cm
  Mw = 4.53 
  Z  = 11 km
  Plane   Strike  Dip  Rake
   NP1       30    75    20
   NP2      295    71   164
  Principal Axes:
   Axis    Value   Plunge  Azimuth
    T   7.85e+22     25     253
    N   0.00e+00     65      65
    P  -7.85e+22      3     162

 Moment Tensor: (dyne-cm)
    Component   Value
       Mxx    -6.51e+22
       Mxy     4.15e+22
       Mxz    -4.91e+21
       Myy     5.17e+22
       Myz    -2.97e+22
       Mzz     1.34e+22
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                     --------------                  
                 ---------------------#              
              ------------------------####           
             -------------------------#####          
           --------------------------########        
          ---------------------------#########       
         #########------------------###########      
        #################----------#############     
        ######################-----#############     
       ##########################-###############    
       ##########################----############    
       #########################-------##########    
       ####   #################-----------#######    
        ### T ################--------------####     
        ###   ##############-----------------###     
         ##################--------------------      
          ################--------------------       
           #############---------------------        
             ##########--------------------          
              #######---------------------           
                 #---------------   ---              
                     ------------ P                  
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
 Global CMT Convention Moment Tensor:
      R          T          P
  1.34e+22  -4.91e+21   2.97e+22 
 -4.91e+21  -6.51e+22  -4.15e+22 
  2.97e+22  -4.15e+22   5.17e+22 


Details of the solution is found at

http://www.eas.slu.edu/eqc/eqc_mt/MECH.NA/20150403082927/index.html
	
Regional Moment Tensor (Mwr)
Moment	7.790e+15 N-m
Magnitude	4.53
Depth	6.0 km
Percent DC	69%
Half Duration	–
Catalog	US (us10001tiv)
Data Source	US2
Contributor	US2
Nodal Planes
Plane	Strike	Dip	Rake
NP1	208°	80°	5°
NP2	117°	85°	170°
Principal Axes
Axis	Value	Plunge	Azimuth
T	7.072	11°	73°
N	1.279	78°	270°
P	-8.351	3°	163°

        
W-phase Moment Tensor (Mww)
Moment	9.025e+15 N-m
Magnitude	4.57
Depth	11.5 km
Percent DC	90%
Half Duration	–
Catalog	US (us10001tiv)
Data Source	US2
Contributor	US2
Nodal Planes
Plane	Strike	Dip	Rake
NP1	209°	64°	12°
NP2	113°	79°	153°
Principal Axes
Axis	Value	Plunge	Azimuth
T	8.778	26°	68°
N	0.476	61°	274°
P	-9.254	11°	164°

        

Magnitudes

mLg Magnitude


(a) mLg computed using the IASPEI formula; (b) mLg residuals ; the values used for the trimmed mean are indicated.

ML Magnitude


(a) ML computed using the IASPEI formula for Horizontal components; (b) ML residuals computed using a modified IASPEI formula that accounts for path specific attenuation; the values used for the trimmed mean are indicated. The ML relation used for each figure is given at the bottom of each plot.


(a) ML computed using the IASPEI formula for Vertical components (research); (b) ML residuals computed using a modified IASPEI formula that accounts for path specific attenuation; the values used for the trimmed mean are indicated. The ML relation used for each figure is given at the bottom of each plot.

Context

The next figure presents the focal mechanism for this earthquake (red) in the context of other events (blue) in the SLU Moment Tensor Catalog which are within ± 0.5 degrees of the new event. This comparison is shown in the left panel of the figure. The right panel shows the inferred direction of maximum compressive stress and the type of faulting (green is strike-slip, red is normal, blue is thrust; oblique is shown by a combination of colors).

Waveform Inversion

The focal mechanism was determined using broadband seismic waveforms. The location of the event and the and stations used for the waveform inversion are shown in the next figure.
Location of broadband stations used for waveform inversion

The program wvfgrd96 was used with good traces observed at short distance to determine the focal mechanism, depth and seismic moment. This technique requires a high quality signal and well determined velocity model for the Green functions. To the extent that these are the quality data, this type of mechanism should be preferred over the radiation pattern technique which requires the separate step of defining the pressure and tension quadrants and the correct strike.

The observed and predicted traces are filtered using the following gsac commands:

cut o DIST/3.3 -30 o DIST/3.3 +70
rtr
taper w 0.1
hp c 0.03 n 3 
lp c 0.07 n 3 
The results of this grid search from 0.5 to 19 km depth are as follow:

           DEPTH  STK   DIP  RAKE   MW    FIT
WVFGRD96    1.0   195    60   -40   4.29 0.4110
WVFGRD96    2.0   195    55   -40   4.39 0.4971
WVFGRD96    3.0    25    65    15   4.34 0.5259
WVFGRD96    4.0    25    70    15   4.37 0.5564
WVFGRD96    5.0    30    70    20   4.40 0.5810
WVFGRD96    6.0    30    70    20   4.43 0.6023
WVFGRD96    7.0    30    75    15   4.45 0.6228
WVFGRD96    8.0    30    70    20   4.48 0.6397
WVFGRD96    9.0    30    70    20   4.50 0.6487
WVFGRD96   10.0    30    75    20   4.52 0.6543
WVFGRD96   11.0    30    75    20   4.53 0.6558
WVFGRD96   12.0    30    75    20   4.54 0.6545
WVFGRD96   13.0    30    75    20   4.55 0.6496
WVFGRD96   14.0    30    75    20   4.56 0.6411
WVFGRD96   15.0    30    75    20   4.57 0.6299
WVFGRD96   16.0    30    80    20   4.58 0.6177
WVFGRD96   17.0    30    80    20   4.59 0.6033
WVFGRD96   18.0    30    80    15   4.60 0.5874
WVFGRD96   19.0    30    80    20   4.60 0.5720
WVFGRD96   20.0    30    80    20   4.61 0.5559
WVFGRD96   21.0    30    80    20   4.62 0.5386
WVFGRD96   22.0    30    80    20   4.62 0.5209
WVFGRD96   23.0   200    80   -25   4.63 0.5060
WVFGRD96   24.0   200    80   -25   4.63 0.4905
WVFGRD96   25.0   200    80   -25   4.64 0.4750
WVFGRD96   26.0   200    80   -30   4.65 0.4598
WVFGRD96   27.0   200    75   -30   4.65 0.4455
WVFGRD96   28.0   200    75   -30   4.66 0.4312
WVFGRD96   29.0   200    75   -30   4.66 0.4171

The best solution is

WVFGRD96   11.0    30    75    20   4.53 0.6558

The mechanism correspond to the best fit is
Figure 1. Waveform inversion focal mechanism

The best fit as a function of depth is given in the following figure:

Figure 2. Depth sensitivity for waveform mechanism

The comparison of the observed and predicted waveforms is given in the next figure. The red traces are the observed and the blue are the predicted. Each observed-predicted component is plotted to the same scale and peak amplitudes are indicated by the numbers to the left of each trace. A pair of numbers is given in black at the right of each predicted traces. The upper number it the time shift required for maximum correlation between the observed and predicted traces. This time shift is required because the synthetics are not computed at exactly the same distance as the observed and because the velocity model used in the predictions may not be perfect. A positive time shift indicates that the prediction is too fast and should be delayed to match the observed trace (shift to the right in this figure). A negative value indicates that the prediction is too slow. The lower number gives the percentage of variance reduction to characterize the individual goodness of fit (100% indicates a perfect fit).

The bandpass filter used in the processing and for the display was

cut o DIST/3.3 -30 o DIST/3.3 +70
rtr
taper w 0.1
hp c 0.03 n 3 
lp c 0.07 n 3 
Figure 3. Waveform comparison for selected depth. Red: observed; Blue - predicted. The time shift with respect to the model prediction is indicated. The percent of fit is also indicated.
Focal mechanism sensitivity at the preferred depth. The red color indicates a very good fit to thewavefroms. Each solution is plotted as a vector at a given value of strike and dip with the angle of the vector representing the rake angle, measured, with respect to the upward vertical (N) in the figure.

A check on the assumed source location is possible by looking at the time shifts between the observed and predicted traces. The time shifts for waveform matching arise for several reasons:

Assuming only a mislocation, the time shifts are fit to a functional form:

 Time_shift = A + B cos Azimuth + C Sin Azimuth

The time shifts for this inversion lead to the next figure:

The derived shift in origin time and epicentral coordinates are given at the bottom of the figure.

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Thanks also to the many seismic network operators whose dedication make this effort possible: University of Nevada Reno, University of Alaska, University of Washington, Oregon State University, University of Utah, Montana Bureas of Mines, UC Berkely, Caltech, UC San Diego, Saint Louis University, University of Memphis, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, the Iris stations and the Transportable Array of EarthScope.

Velocity Model

The WUS model used for the waveform synthetic seismograms and for the surface wave eigenfunctions and dispersion is as follows:

MODEL.01
Model after     8 iterations
ISOTROPIC
KGS
FLAT EARTH
1-D
CONSTANT VELOCITY
LINE08
LINE09
LINE10
LINE11
      H(KM)   VP(KM/S)   VS(KM/S) RHO(GM/CC)         QP         QS       ETAP       ETAS      FREFP      FREFS
     1.9000     3.4065     2.0089     2.2150  0.302E-02  0.679E-02   0.00       0.00       1.00       1.00    
     6.1000     5.5445     3.2953     2.6089  0.349E-02  0.784E-02   0.00       0.00       1.00       1.00    
    13.0000     6.2708     3.7396     2.7812  0.212E-02  0.476E-02   0.00       0.00       1.00       1.00    
    19.0000     6.4075     3.7680     2.8223  0.111E-02  0.249E-02   0.00       0.00       1.00       1.00    
     0.0000     7.9000     4.6200     3.2760  0.164E-10  0.370E-10   0.00       0.00       1.00       1.00    

Quality Control

Here we tabulate the reasons for not using certain digital data sets

The following stations did not have a valid response files:

Last Changed Mon Dec 7 00:02:10 CST 2015