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A Comprehensive Study of the Observed Spectral Decay in Strong-Motion Accelerations Recorded in Guerrero, Mexico

Seismological Laboratory
Mackay School of Mines
University of Nevada
Reno, Nevada 89557

The Fourier spectra of S waves on strong-motion accelerograms fall off rapidly at the highest frequencies. Anderson and Hough (1984) suggested characterizing the high-frequency fall-off as A(f) exp(–f), defining the observed rate of fall-off, , as the spectral decay parameter. It has been proposed that variability in results from variable near-surface attenuation and that estimates of from small- to moderate-magnitude events apply to the largest earthquakes. No systematic investigation into the behavior of over a broad magnitude range has been previously undertaken. The Guerrero Accelerograph Array has recorded enough strong-motion data from earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from under 3.0 to 8.0 to achieve a high level of statistical significance. The records are chosen to minimize the influence of the corner frequency on the spectral shape, and the values are estimated from the high-frequency slopes alone. This study finds that the terms in the model = _site + _event reduce the misfit significantly, with the _site and _event contributing similarly to the total value. Evidence suggests that _event results primarily from source characteristics as opposed to propagation path effects. The absence of a statistically significant dependence of on epicentral distance is observed in the Guerrero region. Measuring over the frequency bands from 10 to 30 Hz and 10 to 45 Hz reveals increasing _event with magnitude. When is measured from 25 to 45 Hz, _event is not correlated with magnitude, although its role in error reduction remains significant. _event also varies systematically with focal mechanism: of all M 5.1 earthquakes with available focal mechanisms, _event is on average 4.5 msec less in normal-faulting earthquakes than in thrusting events.

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