JOURNAL

OF GEOPHYSICAL
RrSrARCH VOL. 75, NO. 26, SrPT•Mr•R 10, 1970

Tectonic Stress and the Spectra of Seismic Shear

Waves from Earthquakes
JAMES N. BRUNE

Institute o• Geophysicsand Planetary Physics

University o[ California, Sar• Die'go
Scripps Institution o• Oceanography,La Jolla, California 92037

An earthquake model is derived by considering the effective stress available to accelerate

the sides of the fault. The model describesnear- and far-field displacement-time functions
and spectra and includes the effect of fractional stress drop. It succe•fully explains the
near- and far-field spectra observed for earthquakes and indicates that effective stressesare
of the order of 100 bars. For this stress, the estimated upper limit of near-fault particle
velocity is 100 cm/sec, and the estimated upper limit for accelerationsis approximately 2g
at 10 Hz and proportionally lower for lower frequencies. The 'near field displacement u
is approximately given by u(t) -- (•/•z) •(1 -- e-'/•) where • is the effective stress,•z is the
rigidity, B is the shear wave velocity, and • is of the order of the dimension of the fault
divided by the shear-wave velocity. The correspondingspectrum is

•(,o) -

The rms average far-field spectrum is given by

where ((g0•)is the rms averageof the radiationpattern; r is the radiusof an equivalentcircular
dislocationsurface; R is the distance; F(•) = [[2 -- 2•][1 -- cos (1.21 •/a)] -]- •ll•; ß is the
fraction of stressdrop; and a -- 2.21 B/r. The rms spectrum falls off as (•/a)-• at very high
frequencies.For values of •/a between I and 10 the rms spectrum falls off as (•/a)-• for
e • •0.1. At low frequenciesthe spectrum reducesto the spectrum for a double-couplepoint
source of appropriate moment. Effective stress, stress drop and source dimensionsmay be
estimated by comparingobservedseismicspectra with the theoretical spectra.

Dislocation models have been successfully
used in several studies of long-period waves
and static deformationscausedby earthquakes
[Knopo#, 1958; Maruyama, 1963; Burridge a•d
Knopo#, 1964; Haskell, 1964; Press,1965; Sav-
age and Hastie, 1966; Aki, 1966; Bru•e a•d
Allen, 1967; Wyss and Brune, 1968; Berck-
hemer and Jacob, 1968]. Recent theoretical
studies on source mechanismhave been given
by Archambeau [1968] and Burridge [1969].•
•I wish to thank one of the reviewers of my
paper for pointing out the paper by Burridge.
Burridge has used a model similar to that as-
sumed here and has presented numerical and
analytical solutions for velocity and displace-
ment (in the plane of the fault) for a two di-
mensionalmodel. His resultssupportthe approxi-
mate near sourcesolutionsgiven in this paper.
Copyright¸ 1970by the AmericanGeophysicalUnion.
4997
Two recentstudies[Aki, 1968; Haskell, 1969],
have successfullyapplied dislocation theory
to the study of near-source displacements.
Unfortunately the dislocation models used
have been somewhat arbitrary in the spe-
cification of the time function of the dislocation
motion. Aki arbitrarily assumedthe dislocation
occurred as a step function in time, whereas
Haskell assumeda ramp function with slope
estimatedfrom the expectedduration of fault
slippage.In this study, the time function is
relateddirectlyto the effectivestressavailable
to accelerate the two sides of the fault. The
resultsprovidea physicalbasisfor integration
methods such as those of Aki and Haskell and
in additionprovide• basisfor understanding
the time function and spectrumat high fre-
quencies,
which are of particularinterestin
engineering
seismologyand in the study of
4998 JAMES N. BRUNE

earthquake spectra. Obvious modifications of

the idealized model considered here may be
made in the study of particular earthquakes.

NEAR-SouRCE MOOEL OF AN
EARTHQUAKE DISLOCATION

We modelan earthquake
dislocation
as a
tangential
stress
pulse
applied
totheinterior
of at point0
a dislocation
surface'in particular,as a stress
pulse
inonedirection
applied
tothefaultblock Io
on onesideof the fault,andin the opposite
directionto the other fault block (seeFigure 1).
We assume
that the pulseis appliedinstantan-
eously
overthe faultsurfacei.e.,we neglect
fault propagation effects. This assumptionis
discussedat. the end of this section. During
rupture, the fault surface is equivalent to a
surface unable to transmit shear waves from one
block to tile other, i.e., the fault surfaceduring
rupture is totally reflecting to shear waves.
Initially,
themotion
at a pointnearthecenter Fig.1. illustration
ofthestress-pulse
model
for
of the fault occursas if the fault planewere an observation
point, C), near the dislocation
infinite (before the end effects can propagate surface(fault plane). In this schematicdiagram
to the centerof the fault). The stresspulse the displacement
u is tangential
to the disloea-
sends
a pureshear
stress
wavepropagating
tionsurface.
surface of theA dislocation
shear pulse
onthe
sends inner
a shear right
wave
perpendicular
to the dislocation
surface.
The propagating
to the right(plusx direction).
A
initial time function for this pulse follows waveof oppositesensepropagatesto the left. r is
directly from the boundaryconditions the approximateradiusof an equivalentcircular
dislocation.

a(x, t) = aH(t- (1)

where
H(t) istheHeaviside
unitstepfunctionsurface,
theparticle
displacement
is initially
given by (2). Near the edgesof tile fault the
H(t) = 0 t< 0 boundaryconditions
requirecompression
and
rarefaction of the medium, with consequent
It(t) = l t> 0 motions
normal
tothefaultplane.
These
normal
•ristheeffective
shearstress
andfi istheshear motionsare comparable
in magnitude to the
wavevelocity. tangential
motionnearthe centerof the fault,
Thetangentialdisplacement
u correspondingbut produceangularmomentum of opposite
to (1) maybe obtained
by integration
since sign,so that the net angularmomentum
is
•r = t•Ou/Ox,giving at x = 0 zero. These normal motions correspondto the
other coupleof the equivalentdouble-couple
sourcerepresentation.The initial stresshas no
(2)
angular moment since the stressis applied in
= t> o one plane (i.e., there is no moment arm).
The stresspulsel)ropagateswith shearvelocity The spectrumof (2) is
fi perpendicularto the dislocationstarface.For

a point
creases near the
linearly fault,
with timetrace
until displacement in- •2(w)
the effectsof the =fo
•ø'
t• lgt
-
e-•ø'•
dt=-- o•1•.o'1•
t•
(3)

boundaries
of the dislocation
at distance
r Theinitial
particle
velocity
is'
reach the observationpoint and stop the linear
increasein displacement.Thus, for an observa- a
tionpoint
near
thecenter
ofthedislocation a = -/• (4)
 TECTONIC STRESS AND SEISMIC SHEAR WAVE SPECTRA 4999

For a = 100bars = 108dynes/cm -•,•t = 3 X tion definedlater. The particlevelocities,/•,are

10• dynes/cm', and fl = 3 km/sec = 3 X 105
cm/sec, (4) gives /t = 100 cm/sec.A stressof
1000 bars gives/t = 1000 cm/sec.100 cm/sec
appearsto be a goodvalue for the tipper limit
of initial velocities observed in earthquakes
(Table i ).
The highest value of //t observedto date is
76 cm/sec for the Parkfield, California, earth-
quakeof June28, 1966. [Housnerand Trifunac,
1967]. in this case,the strong-motionseismo-
graph was located nearly on the fault trace.
The E1 Centro,California,earthquakeof May,
1940, generatedvelocitiesof 43 cm/sec on the
E-W componentand 41 cm/sec on the N-S
component.The vectorially resolvedvelocities
were probably somewhathigher.Theseobserva-
tions indicatethat. the effectivestresses
operat-
ing during large earthquakesare of the order
of 100 bars, in good agreementwith estimates
from static dislocationstudies[Chinnery, 1964;
Brune and Allen, 1967], with an estimatebased
on the lack of an observableheat-flow anomaly
along the San Andreas fault in California
[Brune et al., 1969], and with the apparent
stressfor large earthquakesobtainedby divid-
ing the energy by the seismicmoment [Aki,
1966; Brune, 1968].
In reality the stresspulse will be applied as
a propagatingsource,and the spectrumwill
be modifiedby a propagationdirectivity func-
alwaysmuchsmallerthan the rupture propaga-
tion velocity v (sincethe.stressesare much less
than the shearmodulus•), and thus the inter-
action of particle motion velocitywith the rup-
ture velocity will always be small, i.e., the
average energy spectrum for instantaneousap-
plication of stresswill be approximatelyvalid;
however,the finite velocity of rupture will focus
the energyin the directionof propagationand
thus introduce a strong azimuthal dependence
upon the radiation.
MAXIMUM NEAR-SOURCEACCELERATION
Althoughthe accelerations given by (2) are
infinite at the arrival time of the puls%the
forces remain finite becausethe accelerating
massesare zero in the limit. We may predict,
the maximum accelerationsexpectedat any
finite frequencyor for any frequencyband from
(3). This will correspondto the maximum
accelerationsexpected for masseswith volume
of the order of the cube of the wavelength.
During cracking of rocks, rockbursts,etc., ex-
tremely high accelerationsare obtained,buY'
cnly at, very high frequencies.
For engineering
seismology, thesehigh accelerations
at high fre-
quenciesare not important sincethe building
resistanceto damage at high frequenciesis
very great. The frequenciesof greatest interest
in engineeringseismologyare lessthan 10 Hz,

TABLE 1. Maximum Velocities Observed Near Earthquakes

x comp., y comp., • (Epicenter w.r.t.

Earthquake cm/sec cm/sec Date M Strong-Motion Station)

E-W N-S
Port Hueneme 9.1 12.7 March 18, 1957 4.7 •4 miles southeast

N 65øE
Parkfield Sta. 2 76.2 ... June 27, 1966 5.6 --•20 miles northwest

E-W N-S [(6,7), 7.01,

E1 Centro 43 41 May 18, 1940 6.4 •7 miles southeast

E-W N-S
E1 Centro 19.1 43.2 Dec. 30, 1934 6.5 --•35 miles south

N 80øE N 10øW
Olympia 22.9 20.3 April 13, 1949 7.1 ---45 miles north-northwest

N O9øW S 21øW
Taft 22.9 12.7 July 21, 1952 7.7 ,.-40 miles east-southeast

Note.
Data from D. Hudsonand M. O. Trifunac (personalcommunication).
5OOO JAMES N. BRUNE

Alternatively,we may estimatethe maximum

accelerations by considering the contributionof
finite band of frequenciesfrom 0 to somecutoff
angular frequency,

u(t)= 1 a_/•f_•
s---•e td•
I i•o
0, (7)

= •s (8)
1 • _ [sina•t\

For a cutoff frequencyof 10 Hz and •r = 100

angular frequency,•o.•.

/•(10 Hz) •--- 2g (9)

in agreementwith (6).
At any finite distancefrom the fault, the effect
of a finite rupture velocity will limit the high-
frequencyspectrum.For example,as a rough
approximation,at an observationpoint a small
distance x from the dislocation surface the
Fig. 2. Illustration of the finite rate of stressap- maximum contribution to the displacement
plicationfor a. travelingrupture. comes from the nearest segment of the fault,
of length about x, over which a stresspulse
and, in fact, higherfrequenciesare generally propagatingwith velocity v is applied. The
not stronglyrecordedon strong-motion seismo- spectrumf•(•o) is modifiedby the propagation
graphs(D. Hudson,personal communication). direetivity factor (sin X)/X [Ben-Menahem,
Consider a small time interval At as the 1961], where X = (•ox/2fi)(fi/v -- cos 0o).
rupturepropagates alongthe fault planewith Since0ois about..rr/2,X • •ox/2v.For valuesof
velocityv (Figure2). A shearpulsetravels X greaterthan aboutrr/2, (sin X)/X oscillates
•way from the fault with velocityfl. A small with mean amplitude, decreasing as 1/X.
mass of dimensionsone unit of length deep, Thus the high-frequencyaccelerationwill be
vat alongthe fault and approximately 'øfiat reduced for frequenciesabove approximately
perpendicularto the fault, is accelerated
by a (•ox)/(2v) • •-/2 or •o •_ .•-v/x. If we con-
force•'l'vAt appliedat the fault surface.The sideran observationpoint at a distancex = 0.2
km from the dislocation surface, with v = 3
accelerationis then givenby
km/sec,this giveso• --• 45 or f •-- 8 Hz. In
//- force/mass- 2a/(pflAt) (5) this case,assuming a cutofffrequencyof 10 Hz
as in (9) will be a goodapproximation. Very
In the limit of small At, // approachesm;
near the dislocation surface we may expect
however,for any finite massand finite At (finite
higheraccelerations at high frequencies.
frequency),//is finite. For example,if we con-
In applyingthe calculations in this.sectionto
sider a volume 0.3 km in dimension (At = 0.1,
estimate maximum likely accelerations, two
frequency~ 10 Hz) and •r = 100bars,we have additional factors must be taken into account:

/•(10Hz) --• o'2.10

-• - 2g
2 For v • $t the wave front actually proceeds
ahead of the rupture, and the accelerated mat
is slightly larger.
(O) focusingand amplificationof energy,and the
effect of the depth to the regionof maximum
stressrelease.Focusingand amplification(by
transition to a medium with lower rigidity) may
locallyincreasethe velocities and accelerations;
 TECTONIC STRESSAND SEISMIC SHEAR WAVE SPECTRA 5001
on the otherhand,the fact that the depthto tion of distanceand is tabulatedin Richter,
the zoneof high stressreleasewill usuallybe [1958]. The high-frequencyresponseof the
greaterthan onekilometerwill tend to reduce torsionseismometer extendsto about 40 Hz,
the observedaccelerations. but a variety of factorsusuallylimit the ob-
Richter [1958] reportsa few casesof effects served frequenciesto about 10 Hz. The com-
in the epicentral regions of large earthquakes bined effect of the •-• sourceeffect.and the •
tllablllUlU•tti2
klUCt3XCXktLIUXJ•
llklVt2
lUUailyI2AUCI2U•UlUllg-p•l'lUtlresponseof"me instrument ve, on
the forceof gravity.The largestaccelerationthe seismogram, approximately
a constantspec-
observed to date on a strong-motion seismo- tral densityversusfrequency
up to aboutthe
graphis 0.6 g for the Koyna,India,earthquake free period of the instrument,0.8 sec. The
of 1967.The Parkfield,California,earthquake record displacement
in the near field is thus
of June28, 1966,producedan acceleration of givenapproximatelyby
about0.5 g and the E1 Centro,California,earth-
quake of May, 1940, an accelerationof 0.3 g. 2800
_•/? oe•'"ø•
do.,
All thesehigh accelerationsoccurredin the fre- 2 ,a f•,,,o
quency range 5 to 10 Hz (D. Hudson, personal
(11)
communication).
7r • •
]
wot /
We concludethat accelerationsproducedby
large earthquakesmay be expectedto locallyAt t -- 0 this gives, for (r -- 100 bars and
exceedthe accelerationof gravity for fie- •o -- 0.8 sec,um.•x
• 6 x 105mm -Log Ao --
quenciesnear 10 Hz. On the other hand, 1.4 at very neardistances. The maximummag-
the observation that accelerationsexceeding nitude is thus
gravity have seldomoccurredsuggeststhat the
effectivestresses
operating
alongearthquake JilL(max)= 5.8-]- 1.4- 7.2 (12)
faultsmustbe of the orderof 100bars.An It isdifficult
to measure
localmagnitudesfor
effective
stress
of 1000barswould beexpectedlargeearthquakes because
theordinary Wood-
to occasionally
produce localaccelerations
of Andersonseismographs
areoffscalefor deftec-
over10g at 10Hz. tionsgreaterthan about300 mm. After the
1952 Tehachapi earthquakedrove most of the
MAXIMUM
LOCAL
MAGNITUDE
M••OR Wood-Anderson
torsion
seismometers
inSouth-
EARTHQUAKES ernCalifornia
offscale,
Richter
putintoopera-
The high-frequency near-sourcespectrumis tion severaltorsionseismometers
with gainsof
independent,of the sourcesize and directly 100 and 4 (shapeof responsesameas for the
relatedto the effectivestress.An instrument Wood-Anderson), but unfortunatelyno very
recordingdirectly on the fault surfacewill largeearthquakes (M > 7) have occurredin
recordapproximatelythe samehigh-frequency Californiasincethen. To the author'sknowl-
spectrumregardless of the dimensionsof the edge,the greatest.
local earthquakemagnitude
rupturesurface.
Thusthe localearthquake mag- determinations
in California,basedsolely on
nitude scalewill have an upper limit corre- records
of Wood-Andersontorsionseismometers,
sponding to the casewherea standardseismo- at near distances,
are about 6.5 (El Centro,
meter happensto be locateddirectlyon the 1940 [Trif•nac and Brune, 1970]; Borrego
faulttrace. Mountain,1968asreported by Richter,personal
The localearthquake magnitudeM,. defined communication).A reducedgainWood-Ander-
in Richter[1958]is sontorsionseismometer recordingat the site
of the accelerometer,
which gave the 0.5 g accel-
ML= Loglo
A- Loglo
Ao (10) eration
nearParkfield,
would
have
given
an
whereA is the amplitude,in millimeters,re- equivalent tracedeflection
of about3 x 10•mm
cordedon the standardWood-Anderson torsion (1000 is the approximate gain of the Wood-
seismometer (free period,0.8 sec; high fre- Andersonat 1-seeperiod,the approximate
quencymagnification, 2800), and Ao is the periodof the rise of the 30-cm displacement
empirically
determinedamplitude correspondingpulse).This corresponds to a localmagnitude
to a magnitude zeroearthquake.Aois a rune- of about
5OO2 JAMES N. BRUNE

ML = 5.4-]-- 1.4 = 6.8 At t = 0, (14) gives/• -= (•/•)• as in (4).

The Fourier transformof (13) gives
which is 0.4 less than the estimated upper
limit for ML given above.This calculationalso
suggeststhat the effective stressesoperating = +
during earthquakesin SouthernCaliforniaare
of the order of 100 bars and not as high as In this approximation
1000 bars.
=
FAULT FRICTION AND EFFECTIVE STRESS
This caseis diagrammatically illustratedin Fig-
FollowingOrowan [1960], if we assumethat ure 3. The high-frequencyspectrum and the
during the fault rupture a frictional stress•f initial rise velocity are not altered, but the
actsto resistthe fault slippage,then it follows velocity decaysto zero. As slippageproceeds,
that when,as a resultof slippage,the available perpendiculardisplacementsdevelop with ap-
stressacrossthe fault has decreasedto •rf, the proximatelythe samemagnitudeas the tangen-
fault will lock itself and slippagewill cease.At tial displacements[Aki, 1968; Haskell, 1969].
the initiation of slippagethe effectivestresswill
be •o - •; an amountof energytr•'u per unit NEAR-FIELD EFFECT OF FRACTIONAL
area will be lost as frictional heating,and an STRESS DROP
amountof energy•(e•o - •)u per unit area
If the effectivestressdoesnot drop to zero
will go into the generation of seismic waves.
but is stoppedat some fraction • of complete
Thus the dynamicsof the rupture behaveas if
stressdrop, the rise-time and high-frequency
there were no friction and the available stress
spectra are not drastically changed,but the
were only (•o - try). For this reasonthe stresses
long-periodbehaviorand spectraare reducedby
deduced from seismicwaves refer only to the •. This effect is considered in a later section for
effectivestress• = (•o -- •f). Although there far-field radiation. The spectrum is multiplied
is no way to determinethe stress•r• (and con-
by a functionF(•) = [(2 - 2•)(1 - c(•s1.21•)
sequently•,o) from seismicwaves,in the caseof .]_ •2],,. The effect in the near field is to
the San Andreas fault we may estimate an
produceabout 1.6/• higher velocitiesand accel-
upper limit for (r• from the lack of an observable erations at high frequencies than would be
heat-flow anomaly centered over the fault. expectedfor 100% fractional stressdrop corre-
Bruno et al. [1969] concludedthat available spondingto the samedislocation.
heat-flow data.indicate an upper limit for • of
the order of a hundred bars. • may actually DISLOCATION DURING THE PARKFIELD
be very small for large earthquakesbecause EARTHQUAKE
the energy available is sufficientto melt the
rock along the fault zone, thus reducingthe Aki [1968] andHaskell [1969] concluded that
the dislocation at the time of the Parkfield
friction to nearly zero. We assumethat creep
occurring after the rapid fault slippage has earthquakemust have been about 60 cm and
stoppedhas a time constanttoo great to gen- 90 cm, respectively, more than twice the
erate observable seismic waves. value of the displacementpulse observed (30
cm) and much larger than the several-cm
NEAR-FIELD EFFECT OF TYiE FINITE offset observed at the surface after the earth-
DISLOCATION SIZE
quake [Smith and Wyss, 1968]. The model
As the effectsof the edgesof the dislocation givenheresupportsthat conclusion.
Unlesssome
surfacebecomefelt at the observation point,the unusualamplificationoccurs,the displacement
particle velocitywill be decreasedand approach pulse at any distancefrom the displacement
zero for times large comparedto the distanceto surface never exceeds one-half the dislocation
the edgedividedby the shearvelocityfl. This value.We may estimatethe minimumsourcesize
effectmay be approximatedby replacing(2) by for the Parkfielddisplacement pulseby using
our model. If the velocity is about 60 cm/sec,
u(x -' 0, t) -----
(a/•)•'(1 -- e-'/•) (13) as observedfor the Parkfield earthquake,then
•(x = 0, t) = (er/•)• e-'/• (14) the time durationnecessaryto producea dis-
 TECTONIC STRESSAND SEISMIC SHEAR WAVE SPECTRA 5003
at pointo
, u= cr e-t/v) , /'• .......
o
[] /•e
-t/r
ß,., r

Fig. 3. Illustration of the effect of finite source dimensions on the near-field displacement.

placementof 30 cm is x/• sec.From equation 16, this gives,at t" = 0

this correspondsto a value of r of about 1/2sec,
giving a minimum dimensionof r of approxi- = (19)
mately 1 km. Thus a large dislocationover a The Fourier transform of (17) is
relatively small dislocationsurface nearby can
explain the large displacementpulseobservedat 1
Parkfield. In view of the often complicated g½)= + (20)
pattern of energy release observedin earth-
quakes, it is not a safe assumption that this The function (17) is similar in form to the
large value of dislocationwas consistentover approximatefar-fieldfunctionfoundby Jef]reys
the complete fault surface. It is possible,of [1931a,b] for the caseof a stresspulseapplied
course,tbat anomalousamplificationand focus- to the interior of a sphericalsurface, as given
ing of energy by a nonlineareffect in the sedi- by Bullen [1963, p. 76]:
ments near the strong-motionseismographmay
have contributed to the large displacementob-
served. mib 2(rr
2 sin••--
-- (3)1/2.R(3)1/2/•t"
e-ate,'
,/2,. (21)
FiR-FIELD I{tDItTION SPECTRUM The initial rise of (21) can be obtained by ex-
pandingthe sine term for small valuesof the
As the distance to the observation point in- argument:
creases,diffraction reduces the long-period or
static spectrum, i.e., the static field decays at
a higher order of distanceR than the dynamic
field. At large distancesand large wavelengths
(comparedto the sourcedimensions),the effect in agreementwith the form of (17).
of the opposingsideof the fault diffractsaround As an approximationfor the averagepulse
the dislocatiion surface and from a circular dislocation,we shall choose!
differentiates the
far-field spectrum [Keilis-Borok, 1960]. This and a suchthat the spectrumin the long-period
givesthe long-period,large-distanceequivalent limit agreeswith the dislocation sourcemoment,
source as a double couple [Maruyama, 1963; and in the high-frequency limit, conserves
the
Burridge and Knopof], 1964]. energy-density flux at. large distances.
To study the average far-field spectrum,we Immediatelyafter the applicationof the stress
approximatethe effect of diffractionby multi- pulse,the energyis flowingawayfromthe dis-
plyingthe displacement functionby an exponen- location surface, and its high-frequencyspec-
tial with decay time of the order of r/fi and trumis givenby (3). The totalarea.overwhich
multiply by a factor ['r/R to take into account the energyflux occursis 2A sincean equal
sphericalspreading: amountof energyflowsfrom the opposingsur-
face. This energypassesthrougha spherical
u - f. (17) surfacea.tlargedistance
R in the formof both
P waves and S waves. The area of the surface
where
is 4rrR•. Thus the conservationof energy den-
t" = t-- R/l• (18) sity at highfrequencies
gives
5004 JAMES N. BRUNE

Equations27-32 give
S.A. -

whereS is a factor correctingfor the conversion f-- 1•-•\•-/ (33)

of S wavesto P wavesand (fL -ø)is the average From (33) and (26) we obtain the following
squared spectral density of $ waves averaged condition for S and a:
over the spherical surface. This gives, for a
circulardislocationwith A -- •f, otr/• = (S/0.8)1/4(147r/9)1/2 (34)
For S = 0.9, this gives a = 2.28fi/r and
] = 1.06; for S = 0.8, a = 2.21fi/r and
• 2
] = 1.00. As a sufficientapproximationwe
R •ssHme

= (0.4)1/2•s(max)
f = 1 (35)
sincefor a doublecouplewith radiationpattern
Ro$ß a -- [(14•r)l/•'/3]fi/r
- 2.21fi/r (36)
The displacementand corresponding
spec-
trum are'

• cleb dO
R•,"= 0.4 (25)

[Wu, 1966]. Thus for ! in (17) we find

u((R,t, O,4•)---fft•o'•(r/R)t"e-"'"•(•/r)
t-
• (37)
f = (S/0.8)'/2 (26)
•s((R,
w,O,•) = • •• fi•Rw' + 1
(2.21filO'
We now determine a condition for •/ and a
from the requirementthat in the long-period (38)
limit the spectraldensityagreewith that for a,
doublecoupleof the samemomentas that from Figure 4 gives a plot comparingthe function
the dislocation.FollowingKeilis-Borok[1960] (37) with Jeffreys'ssolutionfor a stresspulse
the far-field &wave radiation for a double on the interior of a sphere.As expected,the
couple is given by: decay time is a little shorter for a circular dis-
location and the total area under the curve is

(27) less,correspondingto the lower momentof the

source.The total radiated S wave energy in
where(R•, is the radiationpattern,andM0 is the this model representedby equation32 is'
momentof onecoupleof a doublecouplesource.
From Aki [1966] and Keilis-Borok[1959] =
we alsohave,for
This is 44% of the total energy available from
Mo - •Aaa (28) the dislocation,(•a(Aua)). The model doesnot
A - (29) specify the total P-wave .energy,but it should
probably be assumedto be less than that for
3 (max) a 18 S waves.Hencesomewhatlessthan 88% of the
•d -- • Ud = - r -- (30) total availableenergyis accountedfor, and the
•z 7•r
average spectral densitiesare probably about
where ua(.....' is the maximum final dislocation
10% too low, in the neighborhoodof •/a -- 1.
for 100% stressdrop. Hence This discrepancy arisesfrom the assumed simple
form of the far-field displacement(equation17
Mo'øø-- arS(18/7) (31) and Figure 4). It is small comparedwith pres-
In the long-period
limit,thespectrum
of (20) ent uncert•intiesin the measurement of spectra.
becomes
ST•C• SLoe a• FaACT•O•An STaZSSDaoe

In many studies of earthquakesthe stress

= _afif(rlR)(1/a2) (32) drop appearsto be only a small fraction of the
 TECTONIC STRESSAND SEISMIC SHEAR WAVE SPECTRA 5005
0.3--

0.2
-• Spherical
cavity
o.•
Circular
clislo½(ffion
1 2 3

Fig. 4. Comparisonof theoreticalfar-field pulseshapes.Curvesfor Jeffreys'smodel of a

stresspulseon the insideof a sphereand the circulardislocationmodel developedhere are
shown.

effectivestress[Aki, 1967; Brune and Allen, certain portions of the fault plane for short
1967;WyssandBrune,1968;King andKnopo#, periods of time, the average slip (stress drop)
1968].A similareffectis observed in laboratory over the fault plane is much less than that
experimentsand is called'stickslip' [Braceand correspondingto 100% effectivestressdrop.
Byeflee, 1966]. We can model this effect by The displacement(37) is modifiedas follows;
supposing that at a short time t• after the neglecting
the factorsr/R and(R•,
initial shearstressis applied a reversestressof
! -- • is applied.The long-periodspectraand •z.(t)= _afit" e-""' -- (1 -- •)
seismic moment will be reduced to • times the
value for 100% stressdrop; however,the very
high frequency spectra will be much less af- _al•(t" -- ta)e-"(t"-t•' t > ta (40)
fected.Severalmechanisms can lead to average
slip (or average stress drop) over the fault ta is approximatelygiven by ½ times one-half
plane being less than that corresponding to the 100% stress-dropdislocationdivided by the
100% effectivestressdrop. For example,if the initial particle velocity, i.e.,
rupture propagatesalong the fault plane and
the fault plane locks itself after the rupture 1 • u•(max) 2.21• 12
t• - 2 • -- • 7• • 1.21•_e (41)
has passed,the rupture may travel large dis-
tances (not determined by the effective stress) Changing the exact value of ta will change the
with the total effective stress operating only positionof interferencenodesat high frequencies
for a short time as the rupture passesa given but will not critically changethe averagevalues
point. A similar situation occurs if the stress of amplitude. Taking the Fourier transform of
release is not uniform and coherent over the
(40) we find that the spectrumis multiplied by
whole fault plane, or if the rupture proceeds a functionF(•) = I1 -- (1.-- •)e-•'• I or
as a series of multiple events. The dimensions
of the zone of energy releasewill not be deter-
mined by the effectivestress,and even though r(,) = {[2-
the total effective stresswill be acting over [1 - cos(1.21 (42)
5006 JAMES N. BRUNE

For large valuesof •, F(e) oscillatesbetweene where (R•,> is the rms averageof the radiation
and 2 - e, with a mean value of pattern, 0.4. Figure 5 illustrates the properties
of this function for various values of the frac-
• + (•/•)•(• -- •) • •.• -- 0.• (4S) tion of stressdrop e. For smallvaluesof •, the
In reality the dislocationmay not stop ab- effect of rupture propagationbecomesnegli-
ruptly, as assumedhere, but may decelerate gible; F (e) --) e, and ((o3 + a')-• --) e•.
-•'; hence,
more gradually.This will reducethe high fre- as •-•0
quencyspectrumsomewhatover that givenby
(43). However,the dislocationmust stop rela- r
tively abruptly if e is small. For small values
of o•,F(e) approachese.
f•(co)
--•61•
•- • -• (45)
or, since Mo•øø-- (18/7)aF and a• - 14•r/9)
THE EFFECT Or COMPLEX RUPTURE
PROPAGATION

In actual earthquakedislocationsthe effec-

tive stresswill not be applied instantaneously in agreement with (27).
over the dislocationbut will be applied in a Thus the long-periodspectrum is reducedto
generally complexmanner. The effect is to • times its value for 100% fractional stressdrop
create a complexinterferencepattern in the because the effective moment is eMo•øø.
far field. In the caseof a smoothlypropagating For large values of (o, F(e) oscillateswith a
rupture, the interferencepattern can be easily mean value of !.6 -- 0.6•, and (•' + a') -• --)
calculated[Ben-Menahem,1961]. For the case •-•. Hence as • --) c•, the rms averagespectrum
of a moving point source,the interferencepat- becomes:
tern is given by the sin X/X function,where
X = (wb/cT)(c/v -- cos0o), b is the length <ao.>
tz• (1'6-- 0.6e)a-"(w/a)
of rupture propagation,c is the phasevelocity,
T is the wave period, v is the velocity of (47)
rupture propagation,and 0ois the anglebetween where the squarebracketsindicate a mean value
the direction of propagationand the direction of amplitude through oscillationsand nodesof
of the observation. The effect of a smoothly
amplitude of F(•). Thus at high values of
propagatingsource is to strongly focus the (o/a the rms spectrum falls off as (•o/a) -'•.
high-frequencyenergy in the direction of the Summarizingthe far field spectra, for low
rupturepropagation,
but sincethe sameamount values of o,/a the rms spectrum approachesa
of energy is radiated as in the caseof instan- constantof • times the spectrumfor 100% frac-
taneousapplication of stress,the rms spectral tional stress drop. For values of •o/a near 1
density taken over the radiation pattern will the rms spectrumbeginsto fall off as (,,/a) -•.
be the same.In a particular direction the spec-
For high valuesof ,,/a the rms spectrumdecays
trum may be considerablydistorted from the as (,,/a) -• For high values of ,,/a the spectra
caseof instantaneousstressapplication.In this have the slope of the •o-• statistical model
study we assumethat the appropriate averag-
proposedby Aki [1968] rather than the
ing over the radiation pattern has been per- model proposedby Haskell [i964]. However,
formed or that corrections have been made for
the function F(e) causes the spectra to fall
the effect of rupture propagation, so that the off only as (,,/a) -• until e,,/a is about 1. Thus
spectra may be interpreted in terms of the for e -- 0.1 the (,,/a) -'øfalloff does not begin
instantaneousstressapplicationmodel. until ,,/a is about 10, and for e -- 0.01 it does
AVERAGE FAR-FIELD SPECTRUM not begin until ,,/a is about 100. Thus, roughly
speaking, the •o-• model correspondsto large
Combining all the effects consideredabove, values of e and the o•-• model to small values of
we have the followingrelation for the rms far-
It shouldbe emphasizedthat for any particular
field spectrum:
direction of observation the spectrum will not.
have the form of the rms spectrumof equation
<•2(co)>
= ((Ro•)
a._•
r .1 (44) 44 and Figure 5 becauseof the focusingeffects
 TECTONIC STRESS AND SEISMIC SHEAR WAVE SPECTRA 5007
of rupture propagation.
One must take into suggested
by Aki [1966] and Brune [!968].
accounttheseeffectseither by averagingor by The energy/momentratio methodof estimating
knowingthe directionof rupture propagation. stressappliesthe equation
Both the cornerfrequencyand the slopeof the
spectrumversus frequencywill depend on o' = t•E/rt• Mo'øø (48)
•ZilliU bli.
where E is the radiated seismicenergyand rt
is the efficiencyof conversionof strain energy
DETERMINATION OF TECTONIC STRESSFROM
to seismicenergy. This method correspondsto
FAR-FIELD OBSERVATIONS
integrating the spectra given in this study to
By fittingthe observed
spectra.
(corrected
for determinethe total energyand then correcting
scatteringand attenuation)to the spectrapre- for the seismicefficiency
dictedby equation44, we may solvefor the The energy of earthquakesis very poorly
effectivestressr•, the sourcedimensionr, and known and is usuallycalculatedby assumingan
the fractionalstressdrop •. For a given source empiricalenergy-versus-magnitude relationsuch
dimensionr, the spectrumat low frequencies as that of Gutenbergand Richter [1956]. In
(which may easilybe determinedfrom seismo- practicethe magnitudeis usuallyestimatedfrom
grams) is controlledby the effectiveseismic a relativelynarrow frequencyband and does
moment•Mo•øø,whereasat high frequencies the not accurately describethe energy radiated.
spectrumis controlled
by the effectivestress(r. Studiessuchasthat of WyssandBrune[1968]
The factor 1.6- 0.6• doesnot critically control used the local earthquake magnitude, which
the averagelevel of the spectrumat high fre- probablygivesa fair estimateof energysince
quencies, the averagelevel varyingonly from it is definedby amplitudesrecordedon the
1.6 to 1 as • variesfrom 0 to !. If the slippage broad-band Wood-Andersontorsion seismo-
doesnot stop abruptly as assumedhere, the graph. Wyss [1970] integratedbody wavesto
high-frequency spectramay be reducedsome- estimate the energy and found fairly good
what. Physically, the spectrum at high fie- agreementwith valuespredictedby the Guten-
quenciesis controlledby the energy density berg-Richterenergy relation. Spectrumfitting
conservationequation 23 and is not critically similar to that suggestedhere was also em-
dependenton the long-periodbehaviorof the ployedby Berckhemerand Jacob [1968] but
dislocation,i.e., on whether the stressfinally for different sourceparameters,The curvesin
drops10% or 100% of •. Figure 5 may be thought of as defining
Spectrumfitting to determinethe absolute 'scalinglaw' of seismicspectrabasedon the
stressis equivalentto the methodof usingthe parametersstress,sourcedimensions and frae-
ratio of seismicenergy to seismicmoment as tional stress drop. The scaling law of seismic

Fig. 5. Average (rms) far-field spectral density curves.

5008 JAMES N. BRUNE
spectraproposedby Aki [1968] was basedon Brace, W. F., and T. D. Byerlee, Slip-stick as a
the magnitudeand on a similarity assumption mechanism for earthquakes, Science, 153, 990-
992, 1966.
that doesnot, take into account possiblevaria- Brune, J. N., and C. R. Allen, A low-stress-drop,
tions in fractional stressdrop or regionalvaria- low-magnitude earthquake with surface faulting:
tions in effective stress. The Imperial, California, earthquake of March
4, 1966, Bull. Seismol. Soc'. Amer., 57, 501-514,
CONCLUSIONS 1967.
Brune, J. N., T. L. Henyey, and R. F. Roy, Heat
An earthquake model has been derived by flow, stress, and rate of slip along the San
consideringthe effective stress available to Andreas fault, California, J. Geophys. Res., 7•,
accelerate the sides of the fault. The model 3821-3827, 1969.
Bullen, K., Introduction to the Theory o! Seis-
describes the near- and far-field displacement mology, p. 76, Cambridge University Press,
time function and spectrum and includesthe New York, 1963.
effects of fractional stress drop. The model Burridge, R., The numerical solution of certain
successfully explainsnear- and far-field spectra integral equations with non-integrable kernels
observedfor earthquakesand indicatesthat the arising in the theory of crack propagation and
elastic wave diffraction, Phi!. Trans. Roy. Soc.
effective stressesoperating during earthquakes London, 265, 353-381, 1969.
are of the order of 100 bars. The results obtained Burridge, R., and L. Knopoff, Body force equiva-
in this study may be usedto estimateeffective lents for seismic dislocations,Bull. $eismol. Soc.
stress, stress drop, and source dimensionsby Amer., 54, 1874-1888,1964.
Chinnery, M. A., The strength of the earth's crust
comparing observed seismic spectra with the under horizontal shear stress,J. Geophys. Res.,
theoretical spectra. 69, 2085-2089, 1964.
Gutenberg, B., and C. F. Richter, Magnitude and
Acknowledgments. This paper was stimulated
energy of earthquakes, Arm. Geofis., 9, 1-15,
in part by discussions with Mr. Horst Stockel in 1956.
connection with his qualifying examination at the
California Institute of Technology. Dr. Don Haskell, N. A., Total energy and energy spectral
density of elastic wave radiation from propo-
Hudson kindly provided the author with infor-
gating faults, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 54,
mation concerning strong-motion spectra, and
1811-1841, 1964.
Dr. Max Wy• and Mr. Tom Hanks participated
Haskell, N. A., Elastic displacementsin the near-
in several helpful discussions.
field of a propogating fault, Bull. Seismo!. Soc.
The research was supported in part by Na-
Amer., 59, 865-908, 1969.
tional Science Foundation grant GA-11332,
Seismic Data Analysis, California Institute of Housner, A. W., and M. O. Trifunac, Analysis of
accelerograms--Parkfield earthquake, Bull. Seis-
Technology, later transferred to the ScrippsInsti-
mol. $oc. Amer., 57, 1193-1220,1967.
tution of Oceanography,University of California,
Jeffreys, H., Damping in bodily seismic waves,
San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Mon. Notic. Roy. Astron. $oc., Geophys.$uppl.,
2, 318-323, 1931a.
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(Received December 22, 1969;
revised May 8, !970.)