Centroid Moment Tensor Inversion in a 3D heterogeneous Earth: Application to the Australasian region

Abstract:

Australia is surrounded by active complex tectonic belts causing significant seismicity. The recent expansion of permanent seismic networks in the Australasian region provides great opportunity to study Earth structure and a great variety of physical mechanisms responsible for earthquakes.

On one hand, a better understanding of the Australasian lithosphere, which is now available through tomographic images from full waveform modelling (Fichtner et al. 2010), provides a powerful tool to scrutinize the determination of earthquake source parameters. Even at relatively long periods (40-200s), the 3D effects of regional structure were shown to significantly alter the global centroid moment tensor solutions (Hingee et al. 2012). Thus, we can now explore other types of uncertainties and test the accuracy of global centroid moment tensor (GCMT) solution for the earthquakes in the Australasian region while checking for the systematic inconsistencies in the solutions. This has a significant bearing on tectonic interpretations. For example, azimuth and plunge of fault planes can be investigated in search for systematic biases.

On the other hand, the time has come to take a full advantage of the 3D Earth structural model and embrace ongoing advances in computational power and storage. We develop a semi-automated procedure to calculate the Centroid Moment Tensors in a 3D heterogeneous Earth. We utilize the reciprocity theorem to create Green's functions for point sources covering seismogenic zones of Australasia. We focus on improving the capacity of the method to fully complement the existing monitoring tools at Geosciences Australia. Furthermore, we investigate the effects of detailed velocity structure on Centroid location and double-couple percentages.

Moreover Azimuth and Plunge of focal mechanisms in GCMT (Global CMT), were investigated in search for any systematic bias.

References:

Fichtner, A., Kennett, B.L.N., Igel, H., Bunge, H.-P., 2010. Full waveform tomography for radially anisotropic structure: new insights into present and past states of the Australasian upper mantle. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 290, 270–280.

Hingee, M., Tkalčić, H., Fichtner A., Sambridge, M., 2011. Moment tensor inversion using a 3-D structural model: Applications for the Australian region, Geophys. J. Int., 184(2), 949-964.