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; May 2002; v. 92; no. 4; p. 1318-1332; DOI: 10.1785/0120000909
© 2002 Seismological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
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 ISI Web of Science (15)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Li, Y.-G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Article

Study of the 1999 M 7.1 Hector Mine, California, Earthquake Fault Plane by Trapped Waves

Yong-Gang Li, John E. Vidale, Steven M. Day, David D. Oglesby and the SCEC Field Working Team

Department of Earth Sciences
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0740
ygli{at}terra.usc.edu
(Y.G.L.)

Department of Earth and Space Sciences
University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095
vidale{at}moho.ess.ucla.edu
(J.E.V.)

Department of Geological Sciences
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182
day{at}moho.sdsu.edu
(S.M.D.)

Department of Earth Sciences
University of Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
david.oglesby{at}ucr.edu
(D.D.O.)

We recorded fault-zone trapped waves from aftershocks on portable seismometers in a tight linear array across the Lavic Lake fault, which was one of several faults that ruptured in the M 7.1 Hector Mine, California, earthquake on 16 October 1999. Trapped waves with large amplitudes and long duration at 4 to 7 Hz produced by aftershocks occurring within the rupture zone were recorded at stations close to the fault trace. However, the S waves registered at stations farther from the rupture zone for the same events were much briefer. Trapped waves recorded at the Hector Mine rupture zone are similar to those observed in the Landers rupture zone [Li et al., 1994a,b], but show higher frequencies. Simulations of these trapped waves indicate a 75 to 100-m-wide low-velocity and low-Q waveguide along the Hector Mine rupture zone in which the S velocity is reduced by about 40% to 50% from wall-rock velocities, and Q is 10 to 60 in the depth range from the surface to ~10 km.

We interpret this low-velocity waveguide as being a remnant of the process zone formed by inelastic deformation around the propagating crack tip during dynamic rupture in the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake. The reductions of velocities and Q within the Hector Mine rupture zone are similar to those within the Landers rupture zone, suggesting that the fault-zone rock was damaged to the same degree in the two earthquakes. The wave-guide width (75–100 m) on the Hector Mine rupture zone (~40 km in the total length) is half that (150–250 m) of the Landers rupture zone (~80 km in the total length), consistent with the scaling of process zone size to rupture length as predicted in some published dynamic rupture models. Locations of aftershocks for which we observed trapped waves show bifurcation of the northern Hector Mine rupture at depth, although only the west rupture branch broke to the surface.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
Evidence for Widespread Nonlinear Strong Ground Motion in the MW 6.9 Loma Prieta Earthquake
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, October 1, 2004; 94(5): 1595 - 1608.



Home page
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
Y. Mamada and H. Takenaka
Strong Attenuation of Shear Waves in the Focal Region of the 1997 Northwestern Kagoshima Earthquakes, Japan
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 2004; 94(2): 464 - 478.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
Postseismic Fault Healing on the Rupture Zone of the 1999 M 7.1 Hector Mine, California, Earthquake
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, April 1, 2003; 93(2): 854 - 869.



Home page
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of AmericaHome page
Displaced Rocks, Strong Motion, and the Mechanics of Shallow Faulting Associated with the 1999 Hector Mine, California, Earthquake
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, May 1, 2002; 92(4): 1561 - 1569.





HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2002 by the Seismological Society of America.