1. Near-Source Observations of Earthquakes:
Implications for Earthquake Rupture and Fault Mechanics
Bill Ellsworth
U.S. Geological Survey
and
Kaz Imanishi
Geological Survey of Japan
A.I.S.T.

2. A central goal of seismology is to understand the physical conditions under which earthquakes occur
Key question seismology can address in
the near-source region include:
Minimum size of earthquakes
Magnitude dependence of source parameters
Rupture nucleation r D
Illustrations by Peter Shearer

3. A central goal of seismology is to understand the physical conditions under which earthquakes occur
Key question seismology can address in
the near-source region include:
Minimum size of earthquakes
Magnitude dependence of source parameters
Rupture nucleation .
u(t) σd Dc ES

4. Deep Geophysical Observatories in California
San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth
(SAFOD)
2.7 km deep
Long Valley
Exploratory Well
(LVEW)
2.7 km deep

5. Earthquakes at 300 m distance to seismometer in LVEW with magnitudes as small as Mw -2.5
Seconds

6. May 2006 Multiplet at SAFOD
This multiplet occurred at distance of about 600 m (S-P time is 0.1 s).
Spectrogram of M1.12 event
M1.12
M1.25
0.1 s
High signal-to-noise ratio
High frequency energy is observed.

7. Static Stress Drop Mw: 0.38 and 0.11 Multi-Window Spectral Ratio
Eshelby (1957)
Sato & Hirasawa (1973)
Static Stress Drop
Mw: 0.38 and 0.11
Multi-Window
Spectral Ratio
Method
(Imanishi &
Ellsworth, 2006)
Stress drops range from approximately 1 to 100 MPa.
For any given cluster, the stress drops are nearly constant within a factor of 2-3.

8. Aftershocks of M1.8 “Hawaii” Target (August 11, 2006)
Spectral ratios relative to EV1
Mw –2.1
Mw –2.7
Mw –2.5
Mw –2.6
Spectral ratios are almost constant.
Mw –2.6
Corner frequencies of these events are beyond the frequency band
Or all the events have the same corner frequency

9. Static Stress Drop Measurements at SAFOD
Hickman & Zoback (2004)
Average value is near the strength of the rock.

10. Stress Drop Scaling

11. Stress Drop Scaling

12. The existence of picoearthquake implies lab-like values for Dc
Stress Drop Scaling
The existence of picoearthquake implies lab-like values for Dc

13. Apparent Stress Scaling
(Radiated Energy / Seismic Moment)
Ide and Beroza (2001)
SAFOD Pilot Hole Apparent Stress Measurements
(Imanishi and Ellsworth, 2006)

14. Kostrov (1964) solution for a growing circular crack:
Dynamic Stress Drop
Kostrov (1964) solution for a growing circular crack:
sD = r vp3 r ü /(k vr2Vs)

15. Kostrov (1964) solution for a growing circular crack:
Dynamic Stress Drop
Kostrov (1964) solution for a growing circular crack:
sD = r vp3 r ü /(k vr2Vs)
Some events begin simply, while others have a nucleation phase.
1.1 MPa
3.2 MPa
5.0 MPa
2.2 MPa

16. August 11, 2006 M 1.8 Hawaii Repeat
Seismometer at 2.65 km depth at a distance of 120 m

17. Dynamic Stress Drop in Initial Millisecond
sD = r vp3 r ü /(k vr2Vs)
Dynamic Stress Drop = 4 – 7 MPa

18. Critical Dimension for Instability in Rate & State Theory h
Critical Dimension for Instability in Rate & State Theory h* = G Dc /(s-P0)(b-a)
Laboratory
August 11, 2006
“Hawaii” M 1.8
at 0.5 ms.

19. Conclusions
Stress Drop and Apparent Stress are scale-invariant for Mw>0. We do not as yet have measurements for smaller earthquakes.
The dynamic stress drops in the first 1-2 ms (rupture dimension ~2-4 m) are typically in the range from 1 – 10 MPa and are comparable to the event stress drops.
Earthquakes as small as Mw -3.5 (picoearthquakes) occur along the San Andreas Fault at SAFOD and in Long Valley Caldera. If there is a minimum earthquake magnitude, we have not yet seen it.
Lab values of Dc are consistent with the occurrence of picoearthquakes at SAFOD.
The August 11, 2006 Mw 1.8 “Hawaii” earthquake began without a Slow Initial Phase and has (b-a) ~ 0.01.