Regional seismic velocity changes following the 2019 Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest, California earthquake from autocorrelations and P/S converted waves

Autor(en)
Yang Lu, Yehuda Ben-Zion
Abstrakt

We examine regional transient changes of seismic velocities generated by the 2019 Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquake in California, using autocorrelations of moving time windows in continuous waveforms recorded at regional stations. We focus on traveltime differences in a prominent phase generated by an interface around 2 km depth, associated with transmitted Pp waves and converted Ps waves from the ongoing microseismicity. Synthetic tests demonstrate the feasibility of the method for monitoring seismic velocity changes. Taking advantage of the numerous aftershocks in the early period following the main shock, we obtain a temporal resolution of velocity changes up to 20 min in the early post-main-shock period. The results reveal regional coseismic velocity drops in the top 1-3 km with an average value of ∼2 per cent over distances up to 100 km from the Ridgecrest event. These average velocity drops are likely dominated by larger changes in the shallow materials and are followed by rapid recoveries on timescales of days. Around the north end of the Ridgecrest rupture and the nearby Coso geothermal region, the observed coseismic velocity drops are up to ∼8 per cent. The method allows monitoring temporal changes of seismic velocities with high temporal resolution, fast computation and precise spatial mapping of changes. The results suggest that significant temporal changes of seismic velocities of shallow materials are commonly generated on a regional scale by large events.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Meteorologie und Geophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
University of Southern California
Journal
Geophysical Journal International
Band
228
Seiten
620-630
Anzahl der Seiten
11
ISSN
0956-540X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggab350
Publikationsdatum
01-2022
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
105122 Seismik
Schlagwörter
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Geochemistry and Petrology, Geophysics
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/189c631e-674f-4faf-aa94-e37abe179016