EAS-450 Physics and Chemistry of the Earth

Lab exercise - Focal Mechanisms

Objective: Wave propagation (using Snells law), determination and interpretation of earthquake
focal mechanisms.
Wave propagation
1. Your foot is trapped under a railwa sleeper. You feel the rail vi!rate and then "# s later ou
hear a faint whistle. $he train is coming% &stimate how much time ou have to free
ourself.
". ' ()ra arrives at the core)mantle !oundar with an angle of "*
o
, at what angle does it enter
the core+ Same question for an S)ra.
,. ' ra travels down through the interior of a sphericall laered planet and encouters a laer
that e-tends from ,1## km to ,### km radius. .f the velocities a!ove, with, and !elow the
laer are respectivel 1#, 11, and 1" km/s and the ra was incident to the laer at an angle of
0#
o
, at what angle will the ra leave the laer+
Earthquake focal mechanisms
1raphical method to determine focal mechanisms2
1. (lace a sheet of tracing paper over a thum!tack protruding from the center of an equal)area
pro3ection net (4 Schmidt pro3ection).
". 5ark the north a-is on the tracing paper.
,. 5ark the location of seismic stations and first motion2
a. 5ark the a6imuth of the station on the tracing paper.
!. 7otate the tracing paper to !ring that mark to north.
c. 7ead the take)off angle from the center of the pro3ection towards north.
d. (ut a small circle at that position, solid for dilatational first motion, open for
compressional.
e. 7epeat this for ever seismic station.
0. 8nce all the first motions are plotted, rotate the tracing paper to find a great circle that
separates compressional to dilatational first motions.
*. Without moving the tracing paper, count 9#
o
perpendicular to that plane and mark it as :(
(for pole).
;. 7otate the tracing paper to find the second great circle that separates compressional to
dilatational first motions and, in addition, contains ( (this will ensure that the two focal
planes are perpendicular).
<. 7ead the a6imuth and dip of the two nodal plane.
=. 5ark the position of the ( and $ a-es (the are !oth located in a plane perpendicular to the
nodal planes and make a 0*> with the nodal planes).
$he ta!le !elow give the a6im and take of angle of first motion data recorded at 1* seismic
stations for the &r6incan aftershock of 'pril 1", 1990.
station azimuth take-off first-motion
ALI 220 50 D
ME2 314 66 D
KAN 17 6 D
!A" 22 6# D
E"D 133 77 D
DEM 150 7 D
$I" 121 7 %
%NK 156 7# D
&AN 76 62 %
'EL 327 62 D
$%N 2#0 62 %
E&K 312 62 %
&() 31 62 D
*A2 7# 62 %
M(L 2#7 62 %
!%L 67 62 %
AL) 5# 62 D
$%M 320 62 %
$%2 320 62 D
*A& 30 62 %
*IN 2#5 62 %
+A" 24 62 D
KI, 311 62 %
AK& 24 62 D
&%) 2#5 62 %
1. ?etermine graphicall the focal mechanisn (use Schmidt stereonet attached) and write our
results in the the ta!le !elow2
strike .i/
no.a0 /0ane 1
no.a0 /0ane 2
azimuth /0un1e
'-a2is
)-a2is
". 1iven the seismotectonic conte-t of this earthquake (see figure !elow)2
a. Which is the likel fault plane+
!. What is the tpe of faulting+
c. .s our solution compati!le with the general sense of plate motion in the area as well with
the orientation of the acting fault and the orientation of stress/deformation in the area+
&picentres of aftershocks !etween 5arch "1 and @une 1;, 199" of the 5arch 1,, 199" &r6incan
earthquake, $urke. $he open circles represent the main shock and its strongest aftershock on
5arch 1*, and the open star the analsed aftershock. A1, A" and A, are secondar faults to the
Borth 'natolian Aault (B'A). Clack arrows ) directions of relative plate motion, open arrows )
direction of ma-imum hori6ontal compression as derived from centroid moment tensor solutions
of stronger earthquakes.
,. Dets look at the !igger picture, see figures !elow.
a. Docate the main faults2 Borth 'natolian fault, &ast 'natolian fault, 'egean su!duction,
5armara sea faults, 'egean sea faults, Eaucasus faults, Fagros front, ?ead Sea fault.
!. Gse the focal mechanisms to determine the sense of motion and tpe of fault for each of
these faults.
c. Gse the earthquake distri!ution and the earthquake focal mechanisms to infer the relative
motion of tectonic !locks in that area.
d. Eompare with 1(S measurements.
Your paper must include a schematic map of the area with our main o!servations (arrows
showing !lock motions, etc.)
5a3or active faults and earthquake focal mechanisms in the &astern 5editerranean.
Hori6ontal velocit of geodetic sites measured with 1(S. Ielocities are given with respect to the
&urasian plate.
(figures from 5cElusk et al. @. 1eophs. 7es., "###)