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Measurement of seismic moments at the RSTN station RSSD for NTS explosions

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6304604· OSTI ID:6304604
We have estimated the seismic moment for two Nevada Test Site (NTS) explosions (Nebbiolo, 6/24/82; Atrisco, 8/5/82) at the Regional Seismic Test Network (RSTN) station in South Dakota (RSSD; distance from NTS approx. 1280 km). The moments are calculated from the vertical component mid-period channel for the Rayleigh waves and the merged mid- and short-period band for the P waves. The moment estimates from surface waves give values of 1.0 x 10/sup 23/ and 2.0 x 10/sup 23/ dyn-cm for Nebbiolo and Atrisco, respectively. The body-wave moments obtained at 0.5 Hz are approximately five times greater than those from surface waves and give values of 4.8 x 10/sup 23/ and 1.0 x 10/sup 24/ dyn-cm for Nebbiolo and Atrisco, respectively. The apparent discrepancy between the body and surface-wave moments can be resolved if there is overshoot (of 5:1) in the explosion source spectrum. As a check on the absolute value of the surface-wave moments, we compared them to moment values predicted from empirical moment-yield relationships for different emplacement media at NTS (Patton, 1983). We found that the agreement between observed and predicted values is satisfactory, within the measurement error on the moments at the one sigma level.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6304604
Report Number(s):
UCID-19778; ON: DE83011215
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English