Local magnitudes of small contained explosions.
The relationship between explosive yield and seismic magnitude has been extensively studied for underground nuclear tests larger than about 1 kt. For monitoring smaller tests over local ranges (within 200 km), we need to know whether the available formulas can be extrapolated to much lower yields. Here, we review published information on amplitude decay with distance, and on the seismic magnitudes of industrial blasts and refraction explosions in the western U. S. Next we measure the magnitudes of some similar shots in the northeast. We find that local magnitudes ML of small, contained explosions are reasonably consistent with the magnitude-yield formulas developed for nuclear tests. These results are useful for estimating the detection performance of proposed local seismic networks.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratories
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 973338
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2009-7941
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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