An empirical study of the distribution of earthquakes with respect to rock type and depth
Abstract
Whether fault slip occurs seismically or aseismically depends on the frictional properties of the fault, which might be expected to depend on rock type and depth, as well as other factors. To view the effect of rock type and depth on the distribution of earthquakes, we compare geologic models of the San Francisco Bay and the Southern California regions to the distribution of seismicity. We normalize the number of earthquakes within each rock type and depth interval by the corresponding volume to determine the earthquake density. Earthquake density is confirmed primarily by depth, while whether the rock is sedimentary or basement has only a secondary, depth-dependent effect on the earthquake density. At very shallow depths, there is no difference in earthquake density between sedimentary and basement rocks. The earthquake density of basement rocks increases with depth more rapidly than that of sedimentary rocks to a similar but shallower maximum.
- Authors:
-
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1548282
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1402359
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FE0009738
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 42; Journal Issue: 18; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; earthquake density; California seismicity; 3‐D geologic models; Gutenberg‐Richter
Citation Formats
Tal, Yuval, and Hager, Bradford H. An empirical study of the distribution of earthquakes with respect to rock type and depth. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/2015GL064934.
Tal, Yuval, & Hager, Bradford H. An empirical study of the distribution of earthquakes with respect to rock type and depth. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064934
Tal, Yuval, and Hager, Bradford H. Wed .
"An empirical study of the distribution of earthquakes with respect to rock type and depth". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL064934. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1548282.
@article{osti_1548282,
title = {An empirical study of the distribution of earthquakes with respect to rock type and depth},
author = {Tal, Yuval and Hager, Bradford H.},
abstractNote = {Whether fault slip occurs seismically or aseismically depends on the frictional properties of the fault, which might be expected to depend on rock type and depth, as well as other factors. To view the effect of rock type and depth on the distribution of earthquakes, we compare geologic models of the San Francisco Bay and the Southern California regions to the distribution of seismicity. We normalize the number of earthquakes within each rock type and depth interval by the corresponding volume to determine the earthquake density. Earthquake density is confirmed primarily by depth, while whether the rock is sedimentary or basement has only a secondary, depth-dependent effect on the earthquake density. At very shallow depths, there is no difference in earthquake density between sedimentary and basement rocks. The earthquake density of basement rocks increases with depth more rapidly than that of sedimentary rocks to a similar but shallower maximum.},
doi = {10.1002/2015GL064934},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 18,
volume = 42,
place = {United States},
year = {2015},
month = {8}
}
Web of Science
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