Improving beamforming-based methodologies for seismological analysis

dc.contributor.authorTan, Fengzhou
dc.contributor.supervisorNissen, Edwin
dc.contributor.supervisorKao, Honn
dc.date.accessioned2019-04-10T22:37:16Z
dc.date.available2019-04-10T22:37:16Z
dc.date.copyright2019en_US
dc.date.issued2019-04-10
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Earth and Ocean Sciences
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science M.Sc.en_US
dc.description.abstractWe improved two beamforming-based methodologies for seismological analysis. The first one is a new Three-Dimensional Phase-Weighted Relative Back Projection (3-D PWBP) method to improve the spatial resolution of Back Projection results. We exploit both phase and amplitude of the seismogram signal to enhance the distinction of correlated signals. Also, we implement a 3-D velocity model to provide more accurate travel times. We vindicate these refinements with several synthetic tests and an analysis of the 1997 Mw 7.2 Zirkuh (Iran) earthquake, which we show ruptured mainly unilaterally southwards at a rupture speed of ∼3.0 km/s along its ∼125 km- long, mostly single-stranded surface rupture. Then, we apply the new method to the more complex case of the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikoura (New Zealand) earthquake, which we demonstrate is divided into two major stages separated by a gap of ∼8 s and ∼30–40 km. The overall rupture speed is ∼1.7 km/s and the overall duration is ∼84 s, considerably shorter than some earlier estimates. We see no clear evidence for continuous failure of the subduction interface that underlies the known, surface-rupturing crustal faults, though we cannot rule out its involvement in the second major stage in the northern part of the rupture area. The late (∼80 s) peak in relative energy is likely a high-frequency stopping phase, and the rupture appears to terminate southwest of the offshore Needles fault. The second methodology is a novel workflow for earthquake detection and location, named Seismicity-Scanning based on Navigated Automatic Phase-picking (S-SNAP). By taking a cocktail approach that combines Source-Scanning, Kurtosis-based Phase-picking and the Maximum Intersection location technique into a single integrated workflow, this new method is capable of delineating complex spatiotemporal distributions of seismicity. It is automatic, efficiently providing earthquake locations with high comprehensiveness and accuracy. We apply S-SNAP to a dataset recorded by a dense local seismic array during a hydraulic fracturing operation to test this novel approach and to demonstrate the effectiveness of S-SNAP in comparison to existing methods. Overall, S-SNAP found nearly four times as many high-quality events as a template-matching based catalogue. All events in the previous catalogue are identi- fied with similar epicenter, depth and magnitude, while no false detections are found by visual inspection.en_US
dc.description.scholarlevelGraduateen_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationFengzhou Tan, Zengxi Ge, Honn Kao, Edwin Nissen, Validation of the 3-D phase-weighted relative back projection technique and its application to the 2016 Mw 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake, Geophysical Journal International, Volume 217, Issue 1, April 2019, Pages 375–388, https://doi.org/10.1093/gji/ggz032en_US
dc.identifier.bibliographicCitationTan, F., Kao, H., Nissen, E., & Eaton, D. ( 2019). Seismicity‐Scanning based on Navigated Automatic Phase‐picking. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 124. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JB017050en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1828/10705
dc.languageEnglisheng
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.subjectSeismologyen_US
dc.subjectSource scanningen_US
dc.subjectThree-Dimensional Phase-Weighted Relative Back Projection (3- D PWBP)en_US
dc.titleImproving beamforming-based methodologies for seismological analysisen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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