Location

Location ANSS

The ANSS event ID is ak019g675trf and the event page is at https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ak019g675trf/executive.

2019/12/18 03:34:35 66.328 -157.270 9.7 4.1 Alaska

Focal Mechanism

 USGS/SLU Moment Tensor Solution
 ENS  2019/12/18 03:34:35:0  66.33 -157.27   9.7 4.1 Alaska
 
 Stations used:
   AK.ANM AK.COLD AK.H21K AK.H22K AK.J17K AK.J19K AK.J20K 
   AK.RDOG TA.C16K TA.C18K TA.C19K TA.D19K TA.D20K TA.D22K 
   TA.D23K TA.E18K TA.E19K TA.E21K TA.E22K TA.E23K TA.E24K 
   TA.F15K TA.F20K TA.F21K TA.F24K TA.G18K TA.G19K TA.G21K 
   TA.G23K TA.G24K TA.H17K TA.H18K TA.H19K TA.I17K TA.I20K 
   TA.J18K TA.K17K TA.TOLK 
 
 Filtering commands used:
   cut o DIST/3.3 -40 o DIST/3.3 +50
   rtr
   taper w 0.1
   hp c 0.03 n 3 
   lp c 0.08 n 3 
 
 Best Fitting Double Couple
  Mo = 8.32e+21 dyne-cm
  Mw = 3.88 
  Z  = 10 km
  Plane   Strike  Dip  Rake
   NP1      140    60   -40
   NP2      253    56   -143
  Principal Axes:
   Axis    Value   Plunge  Azimuth
    T   8.32e+21      2     197
    N   0.00e+00     42     289
    P  -8.32e+21     48     105

 Moment Tensor: (dyne-cm)
    Component   Value
       Mxx     7.35e+21
       Mxy     3.24e+21
       Mxz     7.22e+20
       Myy    -2.72e+21
       Myz    -4.10e+21
       Mzz    -4.63e+21
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
                     ##############                  
                 ######################              
              -###########################           
             -#############################          
           ----##############################        
          -----###############################       
         ------###########------------------###      
        --------#####--------------------------#     
        --------##------------------------------     
       --------##--------------------------------    
       ------#####-------------------------------    
       ----########------------------   ---------    
       ---###########---------------- P ---------    
        -#############---------------   --------     
        ################------------------------     
         ################----------------------      
          ##################------------------       
           ###################---------------        
             ####################----------          
              #########################---           
                 ###   ################              
                     T ############                  
                                                     
                                                     
                                                     
 Global CMT Convention Moment Tensor:
      R          T          P
 -4.63e+21   7.22e+20   4.10e+21 
  7.22e+20   7.35e+21  -3.24e+21 
  4.10e+21  -3.24e+21  -2.72e+21 


Details of the solution is found at

http://www.eas.slu.edu/eqc/eqc_mt/MECH.NA/20191218033435/index.html
        

Preferred Solution

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

      STK = 140
      DIP = 60
     RAKE = -40
       MW = 3.88
       HS = 10.0

The NDK file is 20191218033435.ndk The waveform inversion is preferred.

Magnitudes

Given the availability of digital waveforms for determination of the moment tensor, this section documents the added processing leading to mLg, if appropriate to the region, and ML by application of the respective IASPEI formulae. As a research study, the linear distance term of the IASPEI formula for ML is adjusted to remove a linear distance trend in residuals to give a regionally defined ML. The defined ML uses horizontal component recordings, but the same procedure is applied to the vertical components since there may be some interest in vertical component ground motions. Residual plots versus distance may indicate interesting features of ground motion scaling in some distance ranges. A residual plot of the regionalized magnitude is given as a function of distance and azimuth, since data sets may transcend different wave propagation provinces.

mLg Magnitude


Left: mLg computed using the IASPEI formula. Center: mLg residuals versus epicentral distance ; the values used for the trimmed mean magnitude estimate are indicated. Right: residuals as a function of distance and azimuth.

ML Magnitude


Left: ML computed using the IASPEI formula for Horizontal components. Center: 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. Right: Residuals from new relation as a function of distance and azimuth.


Left: ML computed using the IASPEI formula for Vertical components (research). Center: 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. Right: Residuals from new relation as a function of distance and azimuth.

Context

The left panel of the next figure presents the focal mechanism for this earthquake (red) in the context of other nearby events (blue) in the SLU Moment Tensor Catalog. 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). Thus context plot is useful for assessing the appropriateness of the moment tensor of this event.

Waveform Inversion using wvfgrd96

The focal mechanism was determined using broadband seismic waveforms. The location of the event (star) and the stations used for (red) 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's 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 -40 o DIST/3.3 +50
rtr
taper w 0.1
hp c 0.03 n 3 
lp c 0.08 n 3 
The results of this grid search are as follow:

           DEPTH  STK   DIP  RAKE   MW    FIT
WVFGRD96    1.0   145    70   -35   3.48 0.3016
WVFGRD96    2.0   145    75   -40   3.62 0.3880
WVFGRD96    3.0   165    60    40   3.69 0.4175
WVFGRD96    4.0   165    55    45   3.74 0.4746
WVFGRD96    5.0   165    55    45   3.77 0.5171
WVFGRD96    6.0   165    55    45   3.78 0.5411
WVFGRD96    7.0   140    60   -40   3.80 0.5571
WVFGRD96    8.0   135    60   -50   3.86 0.5898
WVFGRD96    9.0   135    55   -45   3.87 0.6019
WVFGRD96   10.0   140    60   -40   3.88 0.6029
WVFGRD96   11.0   140    65   -35   3.88 0.5970
WVFGRD96   12.0   140    65   -30   3.89 0.5871
WVFGRD96   13.0   145    70   -25   3.89 0.5764
WVFGRD96   14.0   145    75   -25   3.90 0.5642
WVFGRD96   15.0   145    75   -25   3.91 0.5516
WVFGRD96   16.0   145    75   -20   3.92 0.5396
WVFGRD96   17.0   145    75   -20   3.92 0.5286
WVFGRD96   18.0   145    75   -20   3.93 0.5166
WVFGRD96   19.0   150    70    20   3.94 0.4981
WVFGRD96   20.0   150    70    20   3.94 0.4876
WVFGRD96   21.0   150    70    25   3.95 0.4771
WVFGRD96   22.0   150    75    20   3.96 0.4662
WVFGRD96   23.0   150    70    20   3.97 0.4570
WVFGRD96   24.0   150    70    25   3.97 0.4479
WVFGRD96   25.0   150    70    25   3.98 0.4391
WVFGRD96   26.0   150    70    25   3.98 0.4302
WVFGRD96   27.0   150    70    25   3.99 0.4210
WVFGRD96   28.0   150    70    25   4.00 0.4121
WVFGRD96   29.0   145    75    25   4.00 0.4034

The best solution is

WVFGRD96   10.0   140    60   -40   3.88 0.6029

The mechanism corresponding 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, the velocity model used in the predictions may not be perfect and the epicentral parameters may be be off. 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 -40 o DIST/3.3 +50
rtr
taper w 0.1
hp c 0.03 n 3 
lp c 0.08 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. The time scale is relative to the first trace sample.

Focal mechanism sensitivity at the preferred depth. The red color indicates a very good fit to the waveforms. 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.

Velocity Model

The WUS.model used for the waveform synthetic seismograms and for the surface wave eigenfunctions and dispersion is as follows (The format is in the model96 format of Computer Programs in Seismology).

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    
Last Changed Thu Apr 25 06:06:40 PM CDT 2024