New techniques for the analysis of earthquake sources from local array data with an application to the 1993 Scotts Mills, Oregon, aftershock sequence

Abstract

We analysed aftershocks recorded by a temporary digital seismic network following the moderate M(w) = 5.5 1993, Scotts Mills, Oregon, earthquake. A technique to retrieve source moment tensors from local waveforms was developed, tested, and applied to 41 small earthquakes (M(w) ranging from 1.6 to 3.2). The derived focal mechanisms, although well resolved, are highly variable and do not share a common nodal plane. In contrast, the majority of the events, relocated with a joint hypocentre determination algorithm, collapse to a well-focused plane. The incompatibility of the nodal planes of most events with the plane defined by their locations suggests that the aftershocks did not occur on the fault plane, but tightly around it, outlining the rupture area rather than defining it. Furthermore, the moment tensors reveal stable P-axes, whereas T-axes plunges are highly dispersed. We detect a rotation of average T-axis plunge with depth, indicating a change from shallower, predominantly dip-slip mechanisms to deeper strike-slip mechanisms. These characteristics are difficult to explain by remnant stress concentrations on the main-shock rupture plane or asperity- and barrier-type models. We suggest that the aftershocks occurred under the ambient regional stress, triggered by a sudden weakening of the region surrounding the main-shock slip, rather than from a shear stress increase due to the main shock.