Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Analysis of the source scanning algorithm with a new P-wave picker

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Seismology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We analyze the location of earthquakes in near regional networks using complete seismic records. The method is based on the source scanning algorithm (SSA) of Kao and Shan (2004), but similarly to Grigoli et al. (2013), seismograms are substituted by a P-wave picker trace. The picker traces in a network are repeatedly stacked using grid of trial source positions, and hypocenter is identified with the point providing the best stack (the largest brightness). The first innovation of this paper is a new picker, measuring the ratio of the summed absolute values of seismogram in the right and left part of a moving time window, the RPA/LPA picker. The brightness maps based on this picker are clearer than those based on the STA/LTA picker. The second innovation is a simple theoretical model of the brightness maps. It makes it easy to identify how individual stations contribute to form the brightness spot. It is shown on synthetic tests that the performance of the method depends on focal mechanism, progressively improving from normal to reverse and strike-slip events. The method is successfully applied to four events of different mechanisms and depths, recorded at different ranges of epicentral distance by either broad-band sensors or accelerographs. The events have been located close to previously published epicenters. The brightness maps provide an estimate of the relative uncertainty of the (non-linear) location problem. The uncertainty estimate is also applicable without measured arrival times, “without earthquakes”, thus useful when designing or upgrading seismic networks for better location performance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ameri G, Gallovič F, Pacor F (2012) Complexity of the Mw 6.3 2009 L’Aquila (Central Italy) earthquake: 2. Broadband strong-motion modeling. J Geophys Res 117: no. B04308. doi:10.1029/2011JB008729

  • Bouchon M (1981) A simple method to calculate Green’s functions for elastic layered media. Bull Seism Soc Am 71:959–971

    Google Scholar 

  • Coutant O (1989) Programme de simulation numérique AXITRA. Res. Report LGIT, Grenoble, France

  • Evangelidis CP, Kao H (2014) High-frequency source imaging of the October 23, 2011 Van (Eastern Turkey) earthquake by back-projection of strong motion waveforms. Geophys J Int 196:1060–1072. doi:10.1093/gji/ggt437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fojtíková L, Kristeková M, Málek J, Zahradník J, Progseis Ltd. (2013) Uncertainty in locations and moment tensors of micro-earthquakes in Little Carpathians improved by new stations. 4th Annual Meeting of project AIM (Advanced Industrial Microseismic Monitoring). September, 11–14, 2013, Třešť castle, Czech Republic, http://www.ig.cas.cz/sites/default/files/Fojtikova_et_al_AIM2013.pdf (last accessed in November 2014)

  • Fojtíková L, Zahradník J (2014) A new strategy for weak events in sparse networks: the first-motion polarity solutions constrained by single-station waveform inversion. Seism Res Lett 85:1265–1274. doi:10.1785/0220140072

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallovič F, Zahradník J (2012) Complexity of the M 6.3 2009 L’Aquila (central Italy) earthquake: 1. Multiple finite-extent source inversion. J Geophys Res 117: no. B04307. doi:10.1029/2011JB008709

  • Gallovič F, Zahradník J, Křížová D, Plicka V, Sokos E, Serpetsidaki A, Tselentis GA (2008) From earthquake centroid to spatial-temporal rupture evolution: Mw 6.3 Movri Mountain earthquake, June 8, Greece. Geophys Res Lett 36, L21310. doi:10.1029/2009GL040283

  • Gallovič F, Ameri G, Zahradník J, Janský J, Plicka V, Sokos E, Askan A, Pakzad M (2013) Fault process and broadband ground-motion simulations of the23 October 2011 Van (eastern Turkey) earthquake. Bull Seism Soc Am 103:3164–3178. doi:10.1785/0120130044

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grigoli F, Cesca S, Vassallo M, Dahm T (2013) Automated seismic event location by travel-time stacking: an application to mining induced seismicity. Seism Res Lett 84:666–677. doi:10.1785/0220120191

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grigoli F, Cesca S, Amoroso O, Emolo A, Zollo A, Dahm T (2014) Automated seismic event location by waveform coherence analysis. Geophys J Int 196:1742–1753. doi:10.1093/gji/ggt477

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janský J, Novotný O, Plicka V, Zahradník J, Sokos E (2012) Earthquake location from P-arrivals only: problems and some solutions. Stud Geophys Geod 56:553–566. doi:10.1007/s11200-011-9036-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao H, Shan SJ (2004) The source-scanning algorithm: mapping the distribution of seismic sources in time and space. Geophys J Int 157:589–594

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao H, Shan SJ (2007) Rapid identification of earthquake rupture plane using source-scanning algorithm. Geophys J Int 168:1011–1020

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao H, Shan SJ, Dragert H, Rogers G (2009) Northern Cascadia episodic tremor and slip: A decade of tremor observations from 1997 to 2007. J Geopys Res 114: B00A12. doi:10.1029/2008JBB006046

  • Kennett BLN, Kerry NJ (1979) Seismic waves in a stratified half space. Geophys J R Astron Soc 57:557–583. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1979.tb06779.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langet N, Maggi A, Michelini A, Brenguier F (2014) Continuous kurtosis-based migration for seismic event detection and location, with application to Piton de la Fournaise volcano, La Réunion. Bull Seism Soc Am 104:229–246. doi:10.1785/0120130107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Latorre D, Virieux J, Monfret T, Monteiller V, Vanorio T, Got JL, Lyon-Caen H (2004) A new seismic tomography of Aigion area (Gulf of Corinth, Greece) from the 1991 data set. Geophys J Int 159:1013–1031

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao Y, Kao H, Rosenberger A, Hsu S, Huang B (2012) Delineating complex spatiotemporal distribution of earthquake aftershocks: An improved source-scanning algorithm. Geophys J Int 189:1753–1770. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2012.05457.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lomax A, Virieux J, Volant P, Berge C (2000) Probabilistic earthquake location in 3D and layered models: introduction of a Metropolis-Gibbs method and comparison with linear locations. In: Thurber CH, Rabinowitz N (eds) Advances in seismic event location. Kluwer, Amsterdam, pp 101–134

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Novotný O, Zahradník J, Tselentis GA (2001) Northwestern Turkey earthquakes and the structure inferred from surface waves observed in Western Greece. Bull Seism Soc Am 91:875–879

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quintero R, Zahradník J, Sokos E (2014) Near-regional CMT and multiple-point source solution of the September 5, 2012, Nicoya, Costa Rica Mw 7.6 (GCMT) earthquake. J South Am Earth Sci 55:155–165. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2014.07.009

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rigo A, Lyon-Caen H, Armijo R, Deschamps A, Hatzfeld D, Makropoulos K, Papadimitriou P, Kassaras I (1996) A microseismic study in the western part of the Gulf of Corinth (Greece): implications for large scale normal faulting mechanisms. Geophys J Int 126:663–688

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sokos E, Zahradník J (2008) ISOLA a Fortran code and a Matlab GUI to perform multiple-point source inversion of seismic data. Compt Geosci 34:967–977. doi:10.1016/j.cageo.2007.07.005

  • Sokos E, Zahradník J (2013) Evaluating centroid moment tensor uncertainty in the new version of ISOLA software. Seism Res Lett 84: doi:10.1785/0220130002

  • Sokos E, Zahradník J, Kiratzi A, Janský J, Gallovič F, Novotný O, Kostelecký J, Serpetsidaki A, Tselentis GA (2012) The January 2010 Efpalio earthquake sequence in the western Corinth Gulf (Greece). Tectonophysics 530–531:299–309. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2012.01.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahradník J, Custódio S (2012) Moment tensor resolvability: application to southwest Iberia. Bull Seism Soc Am 102:1235–1254. doi:10.1785/0120110216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zahradník J, Sokos E (2014) The Mw 7.1 Van, Eastern Turkey, earthquake 2011—two-point source modeling by iterative deconvolution and non-negative least squares. Geophys J Int 196:522–538. doi:10.1093/gji/ggt386

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

For events 1 and 2, waveform data of the Hellenic Unified Seismic Network were used, in which 12 stations are owned by the Charles University in Prague and co-operated by the University of Patras. Event 3 was processed with open-access accelerometric data available from the Italian Strong Motion Network (ITACA). For event 4, we used the accelerograms of the National Strong Motion Network of Turkey (TR-KYH) available on Internet shortly after the earthquake. Constructive comments of Dr. C. Evangelidis and an anonymous reviewer are highly appreciated. Financial support was obtained from the Czech Republic grants: GAČR 210/11/0854, MSM 0021620860 and CzechGeo/EPOS LM2010008.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University in Prague, Ke Karlovu 3, 12116, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    J. Zahradník, J. Janský & V. Plicka

Authors
  1. J. Zahradník
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. J. Janský
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. V. Plicka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Zahradník.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplement S1

Real data, Event 1. The animation shows the set of snapshots of the RPA/LPA brightness (map view) calculated for varying trial origin time, step of 0.1 s. The optimum origin time is for snapshot no. 12. (GIF 615 kb)

Supplement S2

Same as Supplement S1, but for Event 2. The optimum origin time is for snapshot no. 13. (GIF 593 kb)

Supplement S3

Same as Supplement S1, but for Event 3. The optimum origin time is for snapshot no. 15. Red rectangle shows the fault plane after Gallovič and Zahradník, 2012. (GIF 650 kb)

Supplement S4

Same as Supplement S1, but for Event 4. The optimum origin time is for snapshot no. 12. Red rectangle shows the fault plane after Gallovič et al., 2013. (GIF 658 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zahradník, J., Janský, J. & Plicka, V. Analysis of the source scanning algorithm with a new P-wave picker. J Seismol 19, 423–441 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-014-9475-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-014-9475-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation