Estimation of the orientation of stress in the Earth's crust without earthquake or borehole data
- Author(s)
- Andrew Delorey, Götz Bokelmann, Christopher W. Johnson, Paul A. Johnson
- Abstract
The orientation of maximum horizontal compressive stress in the crust can be estimated in regions lacking borehole or earthquake source data through the use of ambient Earth noise to measure stress-induced anisotropy of nonlinear anelastic behavior.
Mechanical stress acting in the Earth's crust is a fundamental property that is important for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. The orientation of maximum horizontal compressive stress can be estimated by inverting earthquake source mechanisms and measured directly from borehole-based measurements, but large regions of the continents have few or no observations. Here we present an approach to determine the orientation of maximum horizontal compressive stress by measuring stress-induced anisotropy of nonlinear susceptibility, which is the derivative of elastic modulus with respect to strain. Laboratory and Earth experiments show that nonlinear susceptibility is azimuthally dependent in an anisotropic stress field and is maximum in the orientation of maximum horizontal compressive stress. We observe this behavior in the Earth-in Oklahoma and New Mexico, U.S.A, where maximum nonlinear susceptibility coincides with the orientation of maximum horizontal compressive stress measured using traditional methods. Our measurements use empirical Green's functions and solid-earth tides and can be applied at different temporal and spatial scales.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Meteorology and Geophysics
- External organisation(s)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Volume
- 2
- No. of pages
- 10
- ISSN
- 2662-4435
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00244-1
- Publication date
- 09-2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105122 Seismic
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Environmental Science, General Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/01d5ac13-d931-4cb9-ad2a-51cb1275d4d2