Earthquake Source Spectra Estimates Vary Widely for Two Ridgecrest Aftershocks Because of Differences in Attenuation Corrections

ABSTRACT Differences in stress-drop estimates among groups of scientists for the same earthquakes suggest disagreement in the shape of the source spectra that are used to measure corner frequency. A critical step in characterizing source spectra involves applying empirical corrections for site effects and the loss of high-frequency energy that occurs along the source–receiver path. As part of the Ridgecrest stress-drop validation study, we compare path-corrected source spectra among different methods for two nearly collocated M 3 earthquakes and investigate whether systematic differences in the applied path corrections are affecting corner-frequency estimates. We find substantial disagreements in the path corrections, which are well approximated with a simple exponential function related to the strong ground motion parameter κ. These κ differences are strongly correlated with corner-frequency estimates for path-corrected spectra, suggesting they are a large source of systematic differences in corner frequency (and inferred stress drop) among the methods, reflecting varying trade-offs between the source and path contributions to observed spectra. Because each method presumably fits the data it uses sufficiently well, these results indicate the limitations of existing purely empirical techniques to estimating path corrections and the need for new approaches.

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Publication Details

Journal
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
Published
2024-12-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1785/0120240134
Citations
20
Primary Topic
earthquake and tectonic studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.69
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article

Earthquake Source Spectra Estimates Vary Widely for Two Ridgecrest Aftershocks Because of Differences in Attenuation Corrections

Dino Bindi, R. M. Harrington, William L. Ellsworth, Hongfeng Yang et al.
20 citations
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
earthquake and tectonic studies
10.69
article

Earthquake Source Spectra Estimates Vary Widely for Two Ridgecrest Aftershocks Because of Differences in Attenuation Corrections

Dino Bindi, R. M. Harrington, William L. Ellsworth, Hongfeng Yang, Giovanna Calderoni, Daniel Taylor Trugman, Yihe Huang, Mariano Supino, Peter M. Shearer, Wenyuan Fan, Claudio Satriano, Rachel E. Abercrombie, Meggy Roßbach, Xiaowei Chen, Jiewen Zhang, Ian Vandevert, Trey Knudson
article en
20 citations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Differences in stress-drop estimates among groups of scientists for the same earthquakes suggest disagreement in the shape of the source spectra that are used to measure corner frequency. A critical step in characterizing source spectra involves applying empirical corrections for site effects and the loss of high-frequency energy that occurs along the source–receiver path. As part of the Ridgecrest stress-drop validation study, we compare path-corrected source spectra among different methods for two nearly collocated M 3 earthquakes and investigate whether systematic differences in the applied path corrections are affecting corner-frequency estimates. We find substantial disagreements in the path corrections, which are well approximated with a simple exponential function related to the strong ground motion parameter κ. These κ differences are strongly correlated with corner-frequency estimates for path-corrected spectra, suggesting they are a large source of systematic differences in corner frequency (and inferred stress drop) among the methods, reflecting varying trade-offs between the source and path contributions to observed spectra. Because each method presumably fits the data it uses sufficiently well, these results indicate the limitations of existing purely empirical techniques to estimating path corrections and the need for new approaches.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaVol. 115(3)
Boston University (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Nevada, Reno (US), Institut de physique du globe de Paris (FR), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK), Université Paris Cité (FR), University of Michigan (US), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (IT), University of Massachusetts Boston (US), GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (DE), Ruhr University Bochum (DE), Texas A&M University (US), Stanford University (US)
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
earthquake and tectonic studies
10.69
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