Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; June 1989; v. 79; no. 3; p. 774-789
© 1989 Seismological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by LANGSTON, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Scattering of long-period Rayleigh waves in Western North America and the interpretation of coda Q measurements

CHARLES A. LANGSTON

DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES, 440 DEIKE BUILDINGPENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA 16802

Abstract

The codas of long-period Rayleigh waves recorded at WWSSN and Canadian network stations in Western North America from eight underground explosions at NTS are examined in an effort to separate scattering and anelastic attenuation effects. Coda behavior of 0.1 and 0.2 hz Rayleigh waves follows coda characteristics seen in studies of short-period S waves. Coda decay rate is seen to be a stable observation over most stations in Western North America and is consistent with the hypothesis that backscattered surface waves from heterogeneities contained within the western half of the continent form the Rayleigh wave coda. The basic data observables of coda level and decay are interpreted using several plausible models. The single scattering model yields a coda Q consistent with previously determined Rayleigh anelastic attenuation coefficients. Separation of anelastic and scattering Q is possible using an energy flux model and shows that scattering Q is one to two orders of magnitude higher than anelastic Q. However, an energy flux model that incorporates a layer of scatterers over a homogeneous half-space shows that all Rayleigh-wave attenuation can be explained purely by scattering effects which include Rayleigh- to body-wave conversion. Coda can be fit equally well by these mutually incompatible models. It is not likely that the mechanisms of scattering or anelastic attenuation can be addressed by coda observations of a single homogeneous data set.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc R Soc AHome page
S. Kedar, M. Longuet-Higgins, F. Webb, N. Graham, R. Clayton, and C. Jones
The origin of deep ocean microseisms in the North Atlantic Ocean
Proc R Soc A, March 8, 2008; 464(2091): 777 - 793.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
A. L. Jemberie and C. A. Langston
Site Amplification, Scattering, and Intrinsic Attenuation in the Mississippi Embayment from Coda Waves
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 2005; 95(5): 1716 - 1730.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
C. A. LANGSTON and C. J. AMMON
Scattering of teleseismic body waves along the hayward-calaveras fault system
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 1991; 81(2): 576 - 591.
[Abstract] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1989 by the Seismological Society of America.