A

Dissertation Report
On
ESTIMATION OF EARTQUAKE SOURCE PARAMETERS OF KINNAUR HIMALAYA
USING SESMIC DATA AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS

Submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the award of the Degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE (TECHNOLOGY)
IN
APPLIED GEOPHYSICS

Under the Supervision of

Dr. RBS Yadav
Assistant Professor
Department of Geophysics
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
Submitted By:
Keshvi
(Roll No. - 4080414, 6th Semester)

Department of Geophysics
Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra
(Session: 2022-2023)

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 Certificate
This is to certify that Ms. Keshvi has completed her dissertation as a compulsory
activity in the course of completing her M.Sc. (Tech.) Applied Geophysics under
my supervision. Her dissertation work entitled “Estimation of Earthquake Source
Parameter of Kinnaur Himalaya using Seismic data and spectral analysis”
embodies the result of the work carried out during the period of the dissertation.
Her work is carefully reviewed and thus she is entitled to submit her work in
partial fulfilment for the award of the concerned degree for the session 2020-
2023.
I wish her the best of fortune in her future endeavors.

Date: Dr. RBS Yadav

Place: Kurukshetra, Haryana Department of Geophysics,
Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra

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 Candidate’s Declaration
I, Keshvi , Final year student in M.Sc. (Tech.) Applied Geophysics, Department of
Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, hereby declare that this
dissertation work entitled “Estimation of Earthquake Source Parameter of
Kinnaur Himalaya using Seismic data and spectral analysis “ has been carried out
by me at Department of Geophysics Kurukshetra and Wadia Institute of
Himalayan Geology, Government of India, Dehradun. The literature described
herewith is an authentic inscription of my work. This dissertation is submitted for
the partial fulfilment of the degree of M.Sc. (Tech.) Applied Geophysics from the
Department of Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Haryana and this
work has not formed the basis for awarding any degree, diploma or other similar
title and recognition.

Date -
Place - Keshvi
(Roll No: -4080414)
M.Sc. (Tech.) Applied Geophysics,
Department of Geophysics,
Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra

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 Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the esteemed scientists and proficient professionals who
have contributed to the successful completion of my dissertation work titled
–“Estimation of Earthquake Source Parameter of Kinnaur Himalaya using
Seismic data and spectral analysis “ at the wadia institute of himalyan geology ,
dehradun. I am obliged and blessed to be given such a wonderful, once-in-a-
lifetime opportunity to work under the guidance and supervision of reputed
scientists during my dissertation.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Kalachand Sain, Director,
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Government of India, Dehradun for
accepting me as a capable candidate to work in this domain.
I’d want to convey my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Dinesh Kumar, Chairperson,
Department of Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra for believing in
my calibre and approving the necessary documentation.
I would like to extend gratitude from the bottom of my heart to Dr. Naresh
Kumar, Scientist ‘E’, WIHG, Government of India, Dehradun, for his indispensable
guidance, support, and patience. It has been a delightful, fun, and great learning
experience to work under his supervision.
I am really thankful for the guidance and timely help given by Mr. Abhishek
Kumar Gupta, Research Associate in WIHG.
I would also like to thank my Supervisor, Dr. RBS Yadav, Department of
Geophysics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra for making the necessary
arrangements for this dissertation work.
Time spent at the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology; Dehradun has been
delightful. From being my first formal office to bonding with amazing colleagues,
I’ll always carry memories of the time spent at WIHG deep in my heart.

Keshvi

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 ABOUT THE INSTITUTE

Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun is an autonomous body

under Department Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.
The “WADIA INSTITUTE OF HIMALAYAN GEOLOGY”, is situated at 33,
General Mahadeo Singh Road, and lies about 400 meters east of Ballupur crossing
on Chakrata road. It is being run of by Department of Science & Technology of
Government of India, and is devoted to carry basic research in Himalayan
Geology and its related fields. It was because of the initiatives of Prof.
D.N.Wadia, the former president of institute, that the Institute of Himalayan
Geology was established in 1968 and was renamed after the name of Prof. Wadia,
“WADIA INSTITUTE OF HIMALAYAN GEOLOGY”, in 1969 in his
memory. From the last four decades the institute is continuously dedicated to
unravel the geological truths related to building of Himalayan with the support of
well-equipped laboratories and other infrastructural facilities to carry out advance
level of research work in the country. The institute, apart from its research
facilities, also has its own museum which takes us in millions of years ago into the
past of Himalayas. Institute has its own library, having a very rich collection of
books, reference works, seminars and conference proceeding on various
disciplines of science with special reference to Himalaya .

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 Content
Certificate
Candidate’s Declaration
Acknowledgement
Content
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.1 A Natural History of earthquakes
1.2 Earthquakes: Basic of Seismology
1.3 Types of Earthquakes
1.4 Seismic Waves
1.5 Location of Earthquake
1.6 Earthquake Magnitude and Intensity
1.7 Earthquake Source Characterization
1.8 Foreshocks, Aftershocks and Swarm
1.9 Earthquakes Aftereffects

2. Earthquake location and source parameter estimation

2.1. Overview of SEISAN
2.2. Workflow of the SEISAN database
2.3. Commands for using EEV
2.4. Filtering and phase reading
2.5. Earthquake location
2.6. Magnitude

3. Geology and tectonics

4. Methodology
4.1 SEISAN
4.2 DIRECTORIES
4.3 THE DATABASE
4.4 CREATING DATABASE
4.5 LISTING THE EVENTS
4.6 CONVERTING A FILE TO SEISAN FILE AND THEN PLOTTING IT
4.7 REGISTERING AND MARKING THE EVENT
4.8 LOCATING THE EVENT
4.9 Spectral magnitude Mw for a local event

5. Result and Conclusion

References

6
 Abstract

In the present study, results are presented for the M w 1.5 – 3.6 earthquake in the
Kinnaur region of the NW region of India. The source parameter like location,
magnitude, depth etc. The various events in the north-west Indian region, have
been estimated by using the SESIAN to understand the in- depth knowledge
related to the earthquake. A total of 75 local events happened in Kinnaur region
of NW Himalayan of Mw 1.5 - 3.6 are utilized for present work. The local
earthquakes are obtained to estimate the source parameters of NW Himalayan.
Then by using the data of local events the source spectra obtained from the
Brune's Source Model. The obtained source spectrum corrected for two term is
compared with the theoretical source spectrum based on the brune’s model .

The obtained results are also found in agreement with the geological and
geomorphological exposure of the studied region. The study therefore, provides
valuable insights into the seismic hazards in NW India as it helps in identifying
vulnerable areas and facilitates the planning, design and construction of new
structures which strengthen the pre-existing ones.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 A NATURAL HISTORY OF EARTHQUAKES
By causing building collapses and related dangers including fire, landslides, and
tsunamis, earthquakes can result in a high number of fatalities among susceptible
populations. A lot of money might be lost as a result of earthquakes. They are
capable of causing extensive damage. Individuals that reside in earthquake-prone
areas have developed a range of coping mechanisms. For instance, neighborhood-
based volunteer fire departments have existed in Japan since the 1700s, and the
country's traditional architecture frequently makes use of light, flexible materials.
The Prime Minister ordered the first city master plan in Europe after a devastating
earthquake devastated Lisbon, Portugal, in 1755. Lisbon was rebuilt with
mandatory clearance between buildings to prevent the spread of fire, wide
avenues and maximum building heights (Mullin 1992). Thus, people have been
learning experientially and adapting their way of life to sudden release of seismic
energy in the Earth’s crust. However, it was only recently that contemporary
approaches to earthquake have taken shape. The twin disciplines of seismology
and earthquake engineering began to take their modern form after the 1906 San
Francisco earthquake. Engineering had grown in sophistication during the period
of rapid industrialization in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Seismology
did not yet know the precise cause of earthquakes, but it did have detailed
knowledge of the kinds of ground motions (accelerations) that manifested on the
surface (Howell 1990). It was assumed that homes and other buildings were
destroyed by earthquakes because they were built to resist only the downward
force of gravity, not lateral shaking. In the late 1920s and early 1930s Japan and
California codified in building codes resistance to a horizontal (side-to-side) design
force of ten percent of the force of gravity. Engineered structures would have to
be built to withstand a push from any direction amounting to ten percent of the
force of gravity. In 1967 a revolution occurred in understanding of the geological
causes of earthquakes. This was the discovery of plate tectonics, following the
general idea of continental drift put forward by Alfred Wegener Fig 1.1. Previously
it was believed that continents did not move. However, the position of continents
was, in fact, the result of slow drifting in different directions over millions of
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years. The Earth’s outer layer, known as the lithosphere, is like a puzzle of plates
fitting together and moving away 288 from or under each other at a rate of
centimeters per year. About seventy-six percent of all earthquakes are caused by
relative motion (friction) between adjacent plates. Nevertheless, there are also
intra-plate earthquakes that take place far from the edges (Stein and Mazzotti
2007). Examples of intra-place earthquakes include ones in Kenya and as far south
as Malawi and Mozambique in the region of the Great Rift Valley, and the very
large earthquakes associated with the New Madrid fault that affected a large area
surrounding the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in the USA in 1811–12 (Gunn
2008: 90–94 EP3).

1.2 EARTHQUAKES: BASIC OF SEISMOLOGY

An earthquake is the shaking of the Earth’s surface due to the sudden release of
accumulated strain energy in the Earth’s crust and upper mantle. The shaking due
to earthquake scan cause a surface rupture, liquefaction, landslides, destruction
of buildings, bridges, dams, and other man-made structures. Therefore, it is
considered as one of the deadliest natural hazards that sometimes claims the
highest causalities and loss of lives and properties. Large earthquakes on the
seafloor, when rock slabs vertically move past each other suddenly, cause water
body move up-and-down resulting into the tsunami, which can be responsible for
the devastation in the coastal region. Seismologists record the ground vibrations
during an earthquake with the help of an instrument, called a seismograph. The
record as a function of time is known as a seismogram. The earthquake produces
body waves (P and S waves) and surface waves (e.g. Rayleigh and Love waves).
The body waves can travel along a variety of paths through core, mantle, and
crust. The surface waves travel near the surface of the earth. Although the
surface wave velocity is slower than S-waves, they can be much larger in
amplitude and much more destructive compared to the body waves.
Seismologists extract a wealth of information from such seismic waves regarding
earthquake source, shallow and deep structures of the earth, seismicity, and
understanding several other subsurface processes. Several approaches have been
attempted for forecasting earthquakes on different time scales but with almost
negligible success in a short time period. However, the recent advancements in
digital technology are useful to obtain real-time warning to shut down the heavy
machinery and trains for reducing the destruction. Researches are being carried
out on resilient building construction based on reinforced measurements which is
9
the need of the hour to create earthquake-safe society. Earthquakes mostly occur
in and around the tectonic plate boundaries. Seismicity of over the past one
century marks the seismic belt to be denoted as interpolate zones. Source
characterization of a predominantly large magnitude earthquake assists to classify
the plate boundaries. Several numerical methods and computational simulations
provide a new way to deal with the investigation of subsurface structures and
their relationship with the generations of earthquakes.

1.3 TYPES OF EARTHQUAKES:

An earthquake can be classified mainly on the basis of its origin or cause. There
are three major types of earthquakes viz. Tectonic, Induced, and Volcanic
earthquakes. The earthquakes are also classified based on distance from the
source of occurrence to the epicenter (epicentral distance), earthquake size, and
focal depth.
1.3.1 Classification based on origin or cause of an earthquake
The reservoir and explosive earthquakes are due to man-made activities while the
tectonic and volcanic earthquakes are natural. Testing and conducting a nuclear
explosion trigger the earthquake described as an explosive earthquake. The
detonation of nuclear weapons causes a big blast and therefore due to release of
energy takes place in the form of an earthquake.
1.3.1.1 TECTONIC EARTHQUAKES:
Earthquake is originated in the Earth’s subsurface stratum up to B700 km depth.
The uppermost part (100 km) of the earth with a variable thickness of rock slabs is
known as the tectonic plate. This is divided into many parts such as Indian and
Eurasian plates (Fig. 4.1). The strata below the tectonic plate are in a molten state
over which the tectonic plates move resulting into the divergent (where plates
move apart), transform (plates slide past), and convergent (where plates collide)
boundaries places of earthquake occurrences. Tectonic earthquakes are the most
common earthquakes throughout the globe. The tectonic earthquake can be
quantified based on fault types at which the deformation is initiated and then the
accumulated strain is released in the form of earthquake e.g. (i) reverse/thrust,
(ii) normal, and (iii) strike-slip faults as discussed in section 6.0. Further division is
the inter-plate and intra-plate earthquake. Inter-plate earthquakes take place at
the boundary of the tectonic plates.
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 Fig 1.1 – Major tectonic plates of the earth ( Source : GMT Plots )

1.3.1.2 Induced Earthquake:

Some earthquakes are induced through human activity and hence known as an
induced earthquake. The most common example of an induced earthquake is the
Reservoir triggered or induced earthquake. Such earthquakes occur in
conjunction with the impoundment of water or rapid water level changes behind
large dams (Gupta and Rastogi, 1976). The phenomenon of earthquake
occurrence may be the gravitational imbalance due to the addition of water in the
reservoir. The filling of water in the reservoir enhances the amount of pressure in
that area. The more likely explanation for reservoir induced seismicity is the
increase of pore pressure because of the hydrostatic head of the reservoir. Also,
annual/seasonal fluctuation of water creates stress beneath the reservoir causing
earthquake occurrence. These earthquakes are not bigger in size but may cause
considerable damage. The largest reservoir induced earthquake is a magnitude
6.7 Koyna earthquake of 1967 occurred in western India (Gupta and Rastogi,
1976). This earthquake took place due to the Koyna dam after its construction
and water filling for the first three years. This earthquake caused a loss of about
200 human lives. The reservoir induced earthquake was first observed with the
filling of Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam beginning in 1935 (Simpson, 1976).

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1.3.1.3 Volcanic Earthquake:
The earthquake triggered by the volcanic eruption is known as a volcanic
earthquake. These earthquakes are generally of small size and take place in the
form of swarm activity. The largest volcanic earthquake is the magnitude 5.5
Cascade earthquake triggered by Mount St. Helens volcano in 1981. There are
two types of volcanic earthquakes: (i) volcanic tectonic earthquakes and (ii) long-
period earthquakes. Volcanic tectonic earthquakes are triggered due to the
injection or withdraw of magma particularly underneath the volcano. When the
magma injected into the surrounding rocks, the long period earthquakes occur.

1.3.2 Classification based on Epicentral Distance

Earthquakes generate the seismic waves, which propagate in the spherical earth
medium. Body waves, primary wave (P-wave) and secondary wave (S-wave)
propagating with different velocities are used to describe the distance from the
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origin of the earthquake. This distance from the observation point to the
epicenter is known as epicenter distance. Earthquake recorded at different
epicenter distance has variable characteristics and therefore is used for
earthquake classification. Earthquake within 500 km distance is the local
earthquake having dominant high-frequency waves. The earthquakes that occur
within the epicentral distance from 500 to 1500 km are known as a regional
earthquake. The earthquakes that occurred beyond 1500 km epicentral distance
are known as tele seismic earthquakes. Seismic wave energy attenuated with the
passage of time or distance from the source. The loss of energy is proportional to
the square of the frequency of the wave and therefore, the high-frequency waves
cannot propagate long distances.
1.3.3 Classification based on Size or Magnitude
Earthquake magnitude equivalent to the amount of seismic energy release is an
important parameter. Magnitude is measured from the maximum amplitude of
the particular seismic wave compensated with the epicenter distance or in some
cases the focal depth of the earthquake.
Earthquake is originated at sub-surface in the upper part of the earth. Density and
the frequency of the earthquake occurrence are variable in the depth section and
therefore the earthquake can be divided into three types. Classifications based on
the depth of occurrences are deep-focus earthquake, Inter-meditate focus
earthquake, and Shallow focus earthquake. Earthquakes occurring from surface
to 70 km depth are the shallow focus. Inter-mediate focus earthquakes are
located between 70 to 300 km. Remaining earthquakes are deep focus which
occurs up to B700 km depth. Reported earthquake all over the world indicates a
high density of shallow focus, comparatively less number as intermediate and
very less in number as deep focus.

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1.4 Seismic Waves
Sudden movement at the focus or hypocenter of an earthquake put the
surrounding region into vibration causing generation and propagation of seismic
waves. These waves travel away from focus in all directions in three dimensions.
These are mainly categorized into two types as body waves and surface waves.
Propagation of the body wave takes place throughout the body of the Earth
crossing different discontinuities. Surface waves traveling along the Earth’s
surface and creates the most damage during an earthquake. Body waves are of
two types described as the P-wave and S-wave. P-wave, also known as a primary
wave, is the fastest wave recorded first on the seismograph. Particle motion in P-
wave is longitudinal where particles in the rock move back and forth in the same
direction as the wave propagates. S-wave, known as the secondary wave is the
transverse or shear wave which causes transverse vibration of the rock particles.
Wave propagation through rock material causes particle vibrations at the right
angle to the direction of the propagation of S-wave. The relative motion of the P-
and S-waves is used to measure the epicentral distance, and therefore, the
information of three and more stations is used to locate the location of the
earthquake. These waves travel inside the Earth and thus provide information to
the interior of the Earth.
Surface waves, propagating along the surface of the Earth, are slower compared
to body waves and show the largest amplitudes on seismogram (Fig. 1.4).
Vibration due to these waves causes most of the destruction near the hypocentral
region. These waves are generated due to superposition and interference of body
waves on the surface of the earth. Movement of the rock particle due to surface
wave is complex and their amplitudes decrease with depth from the surface.
These are also divided mainly into two types, known as Rayleigh wave and Love
wave. Rayleigh wave moves rocks along the Earth’s surface in a backward rolling
motion. The particles have transverse vibration with movement perpendicular to
wave direction, radial, and also to the surface of the earth. Love wave is also
transverse in nature in which wave-particles vibrate in a side-to-side motion
parallel to Earth’s surface. Rock particle motion is parallel to the Earth’s surface
and the right angle to the direction of wave propagation. Movement by this wave
is particularly devastating to the building causing the highest destruction.
Surface waves in layers of the earth are dispersed having variable velocity as a
function of wave period (or frequency). It indicates that these waves are formed
by a combination of trains of waves, with different periods arriving at different

14
times . Arrival times, amplitudes, and phases for each period depending on the
characteristic of layers through which they travel. These dispersive characteristics
are also used in surface wave and ambient noise tomography to explore the
structure of the earth.

Fig 1.4:- Particle motions during propagation of different seismic waves. (A) P-wave motion with
longitudinal propagation of compression and dilations; (B) S-wave motion with transverse particle
propagation; (C) Love wave with particles propagating orthogonal to the wave propagation direction and
parallel to earth surface; and ( D ) Rayleigh wave with elliptical retrograde motion in the vertical plane.

1.5 Location of Earthquake

Strain energy is built up when the rocks are stressed with the ongoing tectonic
plate movement and the resultant deformation. The sudden movements along
the fault release this strain energy in the form of an earthquake. When the
potential energy stored in the rocks is released by the tectonic plate then the
earth medium comes into motion as propagating the energy from one point to
another point due to waveform movement. The origin point inside the earth
where the motion starts is known as the focus or hypocenter of the earthquake. A
vertical point on the surface of the earth above the focus is known as the
epicenter of the earthquake (Fig 1.5).

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Fig 1.5: - A Cartoon diagram to show propagation of P,S, and surface waves. The wave fronts are shown by circular
lines. Focus (Hypocenter) and Epicenter of the earthquake are shown by black stars and seismic station by the
yellow triangle.

The seismic waves generated at the hypocenter or focus are propagated through
earth medium and recorded at the seismic stations. The ground vibrations with
respect to time (seismogram) are recorded in three mutually perpendicular
components: vertical, north-south, and east-west at a recording site. The
amplitude and time of arrival of different seismic waves are observed in 3-
component digital waveform data. The arrival times of different seismic phases
recorded at different seismograph stations surrounding an earthquake are the
primary input for determining the hypocentral parameters and magnitude. The
hypocentral parameters include the origin time of the earthquake, epicentral
location (latitude, longitude), and focal depth. At least three seismic stations are
required to locate the earthquake.
Identification of P-wave (Primary) and S-wave (Secondary) on the seismogram is
required to locate an earthquake. The basic principle of earthquake location can
be understood with the help of a graphical method. The P-waves are about 1.73
(O3) times faster than the S-wave and it appears first on the seismogram followed
by S-waves. Their arrival time difference observed in a seismogram provides an
estimate of the distance between the recording station and the epicenter
provided velocities are known. If the recording station is close to the epicenter,
then the difference between P and S wave arrival times will be less and
accordingly larger difference indicates the larger epicentral distance. The amount
of time difference on the seismogram, and also velocity-time charts indicate the
distance of the location from the earthquake epicenter. However, the location of
the earthquake can not be fixed based on the S-P time difference measured at
one recording seismograph. If we draw a circle considering epicentral distance as
radius, the epicenter can be anywhere in the circumference of the circle. To fix
the location of the earthquake, it is essential to record the earthquake by at least
16
three stations. In such a case, we can draw three circles considering epicentral
distance as radius and the common intersecting point provides the epicenter of
the earthquake.
This is known as the triangulation method which is a simple but fundamental
method to locate the earthquake and calculate the epicenter distance. The recent
advancements of computational techniques made it possible to obtain precise
locations of earthquakes considering 2D and 3D velocity models. Sophisticated
algorithms e.g., Hypo71, Joint Hypocenter Determination (JHD), HypoDD, etc.
have been developed for precise estimation of locations.

Fig 1.5: - Pictorial depiction of basic principle of estimation of location an earthquake using earthquake data
recorded at three seismological stations. The epicenter of the earthquake and recording stations are shown by a
red star and blue triangle respectively. The circles are drawn considering stations as a center and station-source
distance as a radius. The common intersecting point of the three circles is shown as the epicenter of an
earthquake.

1.6 Earthquake Magnitude and Intensity

The strain energy release during an earthquake depends on the relative
movements along the fault. Since the regions around the earthquake hypocenter
and the propagation path are complex, it is difficult to express every detail of an
earthquake. It necessitates defining a single number to represent the amount of
strain energy release. Magnitude is one of the basic and important parameters to
describe the size of an earthquake in terms of the amount of energy released by
an earthquake. The intensity of an earthquake is a subjective measure of the
force of an earthquake at a particular place as determined by its effects, i.e.
degree of damage; for example number of collapsed houses, bridges, other man-
made structures, loss of life, etc. created by an earthquake at a particular place.
The intensity depends not only upon the strength of the earthquake (i.e.
17
magnitude) but also upon the distance from the earthquake to the point, local
geology at that point, and depth of occurrence. Intensity observations are, thus,
subject to personal estimates and are limited by the circumstances of reported
effects (Cecic et al., 1996). Intensity varies from place to place for the same
earthquake. Therefore, it is desirable to have a scale for rating earthquakes in
terms of energy, independent of the effects produced in a particular area.
1.6.1 Different Magnitude Scales
Various magnitude scales are developed depending upon a range of epicentral
distance, focal depth, wave types, wave periods, and rupture dimensions. This is
because the characteristics of the seismic waves to vary with these factors. These
magnitude scales provide significant information about earthquake source
parameters such as rupture dimension, fault length, wave energy, and seismic
moment. Also, the relations between different magnitude scales provide valuable
information about source types. Here we are discussing the common magnitude
scales that are frequently used in earthquakes seismology.
1.6.1.1 Local Richter Magnitude
During 1935, Charles F. Richter, for the first time, introduced the magnitude scale
to measure the size of an earthquake. This scale is known as the Richter
magnitude scale. It is based on the maximum amplitude of seismic waves
recorded by the Wood-Anderson seismograph. Since this particular seismograph
properly records seismic waves at local and regional distances therefore it is used
to measure the size of local earthquakes only. Since then, advancement in
technology and processing methods, concerning seismic instruments and
interpretation techniques, have made it possible to do measurement for all local,
regional, and teleseismic distances.
The local Richter magnitude M L of an earthquake observed at a station is defined
as (Richter, 1935)
ML = logA - logAo (Δ)
Where A is the maximum amplitude in millimeters recorded on the Wood-
Anderson seismograph for an earthquake at an epicentral distance of Δ km, and
Ao (Δ) is the maximum amplitude at Δ km for a standard earthquake. To define the
Richter scale, three arbitrary choices are made: (a) the use of standard Wood-
Anderson seismograph, (b) the use of common logarithms to the base 10, and (c)
selection of standard earthquake whose amplitudes as a function of distance are
represented by Ao (Δ). The zero level of Ao (Δ) can be fixed by selecting its value at
18
a particular distance. Richter chose the zero level of A o (Δ) to be 1 μm (or 0.001
mm) at a distance of 100 km from the earthquake epicenter. This magnitude scale
is valid for epicenter distance up to 600 km and magnitude 6.0. The graphical
procedure of estimating Local Richter Magnitude (Fig 1.6).
1.6.1.2 Body Wave Magnitude (mb)
Body wave magnitude (mb) is measured from the amplitude of the P-wave which
is not affected by the focal depth. Gutenberg (1945a) defined body-wave
magnitude mb for teleseismic body waves for P in the period range 0.512 s:
mb = log (A/ T) - f (Δ,h)
Where, A/T is the amplitude-to-period ratio in micrometers per second,
and f (Δ, h) is a calibration function of epicentral distance Δ in degree and focal
depth h in kilometer. The largest amplitude is taken within the first few cycles of
P-wave train recorded mostly in a vertical component seismogram.
1.6.1.3 Surface Wave Magnitude (Ms)
The surface wave magnitude (Ms) is obtained from surface waves of an
earthquake. Gutenberg (1945b) defined the surface wave magnitude M s as:
Ms = logAHmax - logAo (Δ0)
Where AHmax is the maximum combined horizontal ground amplitude in
micrometers for surface waves with a period (T) of 20 + 2 seconds, and (-logAo) is
a calibration function that is tabulated as a function of epicentral distance Δ in
degrees similarly to that for local magnitude (Richter, 1935).

19
Fig 1.6: - Estimating the Richter magnitude (ML) of a local earthquake. A graphical procedure for estimating the
magnitude based on the epicenter distance (or S-P time difference) and the maximum amplitude recorded at
Wood-Anderson seismograph.

That is tabulated as a function of epicentral distance Δ in degrees similarly to that for local magnitude.

1.6.1.4 Seismic Moment Magnitude

The physical mechanism of earthquake occurrence in its hypocenter zone is

specified by sudden displacement of discontinuity or dislocation along a fault
plane. It is the relative movement of the strata along a fault plane as rupture
propagates. It defines a physical dynamic fault model where slip on the fault is a
function of space and time. Haskell (1964) introduced a dislocation model where
suddenly at time t = 0 dislocation of width W propagates along the fault length L
of the fault to rupture an area A = L × W. Fault area A slips a distance d against
rigidity μ of the earth medium to cause seismic rupture. Measurement of relative
movement or the sudden displacement can be described by the seismic moment
as given in Equation below.

Mo = μ × A × d
or
Mo = μLWd
Haskell’s model is simple which is used extensively to invert the seismic source
parameters from far-field and near-field seismic data. Haskell (1964) and
Madariga (1978) noted that this model fails at high frequencies because of stress
singularities. However, it can be improved by tapering the slip discontinuity near
the edges of the fault.
Quantification of earthquake source parameters has been improved based on the
kinetic model for the seismic data evaluation. At wavelengths much longer than
the size of the rupturing fault, a reasonable approximation of the seismic rupture,
is obtained from the displacement spectrum at low frequencies seismic data.

1.6.2 Intensity

20
The measurement of the earthquake size was first started from the amount of
damage and destruction takes place during an earthquake. Generally, the
evaluation of the intensity of an earthquake is the assessment of its impacts on
the destruction and damage. However, in fact, the damage varies on the
observation point from the epicenter of the earthquake which also depends on
many other subjective factors based on the strata and focal depth. Juzeppe
Mercalli, the Italian scientist first time in 1902, characterizes the earthquake into
12 points which were based on the variable intensity of an earthquake at different
points. This was modified by Q. Vud and F. Nyumen in 1931 and later on by
Richter in 1956. This modified scale is now known as the Modified Mercalli
Intensity (MMI) scale. Later in 1964, the European and Soviet Union developed 12
points which are now known as the European Macro seismic (EMS) scale. These
scales are given as below

1.7 Earthquake Source Characterization

A tectonic earthquake source is usually characterized by the type of faulting,
geometry of fault associated with the earthquake, and rupture dimension of a
fault. The style of faulting is an indicator of rock deformation and reflects the type
of force pushing or pulling on the region. It reflects the relative size of the vertical
to the horizontal forces. The geometry of the fault and its 3D beachballs
presentation are described below in this section (Fig 1.7).

1.7.1 Fault Geometry

Fault geometry is usually described as a planner surface across which the relative
motion of rock mass occurred during an earthquake. This assumption is
considered to simplify the computational methods; however, a real fault may
have complicated geometry. The fault geometry indicates the fault plane and the
direction of the slip along the plane. Fig. shows that a fault plane with a normal
vector n^ separates the footwall from the hanging wall (not shown). The motion of
the hanging wall block with respect to the footwall block is described by a slip
vector, d^ . The coordinate axes X3 is vertical, X1 and X2 are horizontal axes, and all
the axes are mutually perpendicular to each other.

21
Two angular parameters are required to describe the orientation of the fault
plane, (i) strike of the fault, φ i.e., the azimuth of the fault’s projection onto the
surface measured from the north and (ii) the dip of the fault, δ i.e., the angle
measured downward from the surface to the fault plane in the vertical plane
perpendicular to the strike. The actual motion of the two blocks of rocks on either
side of the fault is defined by the slip vector ( d^ ). The direction of the slip vector is
given by angle of slip or rake (λ), measured in the plane of the fault from the
strike direction to the slip vector showing the motion of hanging wall relative to
the footwall. If a fault is considered as rectangular, the dimension along the strike
is called the fault length and the dimension in the dip direction is known as the
fault width.
1.7.2 Rupture dimension
Earthquake occurrence takes place in the form of sudden displacement in a weak
zone which initiates and causes a rupture either along the already existing or
newly formed tectonic fault. Rupture is the resultant of a steady buildup of the
stress across two parts of the fault due to tectonic movement. The present-day
Global Positioning System (GPS) successfully describes a continuous movement of
the earth’s surface. This movement in the form of surface deformation is variable
and mainly depends on the position of the measurement point of the tectonic
plate. Therefore, the rupture dimension is the approximation of the area of
deformation on the plane of tectonic fault.
X3 N
Epicent
ψ θ Strike
φ X1
V
X2 Receiv
R
T

δ n̂ λA
d̂

Sourc Faul
plan

Fig 1.7: - Fault geometry used in earthquake studies. A: area affected on the fault plane. Source: After Hazarika, D.,
2006. Attenuation of Coda Wave and Waveform Analysis for North-Eastern Region of India with Special Emphasis
on Seismotectonics of Chedrang Valley, The Rupture area of 1897 (M 5 8.7), Great Assam

1.7.3 Types of Faulting

Faults can be classified based on relative motions of two rock masses on either
side of the fault as well as based on relative forces acting on the rock masses.

22
There are three basic types of faulting i.e., reverse/thrust fault, normal fault, and
strike-slip fault.
1.7.3.1 Reverse/Thrust Fault
Reverse/thrust fault results from horizontal compressional forces caused by a
shortening, or contraction, of Earth’s crust. In case of reverse fault one side of the
fault, the hanging wall moves up over the foot-wall. The movements of the
hanging and footwall are shown in Fig. The reverse fault with gently inclined fault
planes (dip angle <45o) is referred to as the thrust fault. If the dip angle of the
fault plane is low (often less than 15 degrees from the horizontal) and the
displacement of overlying rock is large then the fault is called an overthrust fault.
In the case of reverse/thrust fault, the vertical force is smaller compared to the
horizontal compressive forces (Fig 1.8).

Fig 1.8: - Normal and Reverse Fault Depiction.

1.7.3.2 Normal Fault

The normal faults are generated when the parts across the fault are pulled apart.
Two thick arrows, pointing away from each other indicates the direction of
extensional forces causing the formation of a normal fault. This deformation
causes a downward movement of the hanging wall relative to the footwall. The
vertical force is the largest for normal faulting. Normal faulting usually represents
extension tectonics.
1.7.3.3 Strike-slip Fault
When the two blocks across the fault move laterally or sideways slip then it is
described as the strike-slip fault. Strike-slip faults with left-lateral motion are also
known as sinistral faults whereas those with right-lateral motion as a dextral
strike-slip fault. In the case of a strike-slip fault, the vertical force is
intermediate(Fig 1.9).

23
 Fig 1.9: - Strike-slip Fault

1.7.3.4 Oblique Fault

When the two blocks across the fault have simultaneous movement in two
directions then it is described as the oblique fault. This movement is a
combination of pure normal or reverse fault with the strike-slip component. The
overall movement across the fault is due to the resultant force of two
movements. The description of the oblique fault with the normal component and
that of reverse fault is in Figure in section 1.7.3.1.

Figure: - Oblique Slip

1.7.4 Beach Ball Presentation

The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the direction of slip in an
earthquake and the orientation of the fault on which it occurs. Seismologists use
information from seismograms to calculate the focal mechanism and usually
display it on maps as a “beach ball” symbol. Beach ball is the projection on a
horizontal plane of the lower half of an imaginary, spherical shell described as the
focal sphere surrounding an earthquake source. It is a 2-D presentation of a 3-D
feature of fault deformation. In this 3D presentation, a plane is denoted by a line
and a point represents a line. The pressure and tension axis at the time of rupture
is also presented in the beach ball presentation as shown in Figure. In this
diagram, the red quadrants contain the tension axis (T), which reflects the
minimum compressive stress direction, and the white quadrants contain the

24
pressure axis (P), which reflects the maximum compressive stress direction (Fig
1.21).

Fig 1.21: - Cartoon diagram showing a reverse/thrust fault. Reverse/thrust fault results from horizontal
compressional forces caused by a shortening, or contraction, of Earth’s crust. The hanging wall moves up and over
the footwall. The arrows indicate the direction of the compressional force.

1.8 Foreshocks, Aftershocks and Swarm

The earthquake generation is a complex process and one earthquake cannot be
considered as an isolated event. The major and great earthquakes are sometimes
preceded by a comparatively smaller magnitude earthquakes, known as
foreshocks. Moreover, in almost all cases, there are many smaller magnitude
earthquakes after the occurrence of a major or great earthquake, known as the
aftershocks. The foreshocks and aftershocks mostly occur in the epicentral zone
associated with the same fault system of the mainshock. On the other hand, there
are a series of small magnitude earthquake occur for a certain duration recorded

25
in certain localities without any relationship with any main earthquake event.
Such earthquakes are known as earthquake swarms.
Foreshocks are reported for many large earthquakes in various parts of the world
(Jones and Molnar, 1979) and can be used for earthquake precursory research. It
is sometimes difficult to identify foreshock from normal background seismicity of
a tectonically active region. However, based on locations and mechanisms of
earthquakes, foreshocks can be identified. Usually, foreshocks occur in the
epicentral region of the mainshock. The sizes of foreshocks are less than the
mainshock. About 70% of earthquakes of M $ 7.0 is preceded by foreshock
activities (Kayal, 2008). However, sometimes foreshock activities are not reported
even before the major earthquakes e.g., the 1950 great Assam earthquake (M
8.7) of the Himalaya. The temporal distribution of the foreshocks is variable. The
foreshock sequence is classified into two types (Mogi, 1985). In one sequence,
earthquake occurrence increases gradually while in other the foreshock activity
dies towards the occurrence of the mainshock.
are frequently reported after the occurrence of a sizable earthquake. The
maximum size of the aftershock earthquakes is less than the mainshock by about
one magnitude unit. The hypocenter distribution of the aftershocks nearly
represents the rupture extent of the fault plane ruptured during the occurrence
of mainshock. Duration of the aftershock sequence is longer for the large
mainshock so that aftershocks can continue over a period of weeks, months, and
years. Larger is the size of the main event, the aftershocks earthquake has a larger
size, more frequent, and the number of aftershocks and longer the sequence. The
seismicity observed for a long period follows magnitude-frequency distribution
power-law (Gutenberg and Richter, 1944) which is not valid for aftershock
activity. In this, the sequence of earthquakes follows a different power-law in the
number of aftershocks, N(t) 5 (t0 1 t)2p as a function of lapse time ‘t’ after the
mainshock (Utsu, 1961; Utsu et al., 1995). Here, t 0 and p are the constants.
Earthquakes generally follows the Poisson distribution which is disturbed by
aftershock sequence (Gardner and Knopoff, 1974).
Swarm is the most common localized phenomenon with no relation with any
mainshock (Mogi, 1963; Scholz et al., 1973; Barros et al., 2020). The spatial extent
of the swarm is much larger than the rupture length of its largest earthquake. It
can be distinguished from the foreshock and aftershock sequences as it is not
associated with a mainshock. Swarm activity is related with the volcanic,
geothermal and also the tectonic activities by slow and aseismic slips on creeping
faults such as major and local tectonics of Himalaya (Evison and Rhoades, 1998;
26
Singh et al., 2018). Swarm activity has been reported in the volcanic region,
subduction/thrust zones, transform plate boundaries (Barros et al., 2020;
Heinicke et al., 2019). However, occasionally, it is also related to large and
damaging events such as a swarm-like earthquake activity that was observed
before the occurrence of Mw 6.3 l’Aquila, Italy earthquake of 2009 (Barros et al.,
2020). This swarm activity is interpreted with a slow-slip seismic event.
Earthquake takes place in the zones which are seismically active. However, the
occurrence is not a continuance process but there are patterns. Gutenberg-
Richter relation suggests a general trend based on the number of earthquakes
and magnitudes. It indicates that different regions have defined recurrence
intervals for a particular magnitude earthquake. Light and higher magnitude
earthquakes have approximate recurrence interval which followed by frequent
seismicity of smaller magnitude earthquakes. In a few cases, it is also preceded by
small-magnitude earthquakes. Sometimes, many similar magnitude earthquakes
take place within a small interval of time. Therefore, the general trend of
Gutenberg-Richter relation also deviates and the earthquake occurrence has
complex behavior. These different patterns are defined by foreshocks,
aftershocks, and swarm activity.

1.9 Earthquakes Aftereffects

1.9.1 Ground Rupture
Earthquakes not only destroy the man-made structures but also affect the
ground. Ground rupture occurs when the earthquake movement along a fault
breaks the Earth’s surface. Sometimes such ruptures are visible on the surface of
the earth. In some cases, earthquakes occur due to hidden fault, and surface
expression of the fault rupture may not be visible on the surface. The earthquakes
affect the ground in the different form e.g., regional warping, faulting,
development of scarps, offsets, fissures, cracks, changes in elevation or
depression, changes in coastline, etc. The geographical extent of such post-
earthquake effects can be as large as thousands of kilometers. The large effects of
earthquakes on the ground are sometimes preserved in the geologic record which
can be unzipped with the help of paleo-seismological studies.
1.9.2 Liquefaction

27
Liquefaction is one of the significant secondary effects of an earthquake. The
earthquake shaking reduces the strength and stiffness of soil causing liquefaction.
Liquefaction is often seen in alluvial deposits. Even the solid sand formation,
when saturated with water, can transform into a state of suspension owing to the
earth’s vibration during an earthquake. Liquefaction can cause the total collapse
of man-made structures. This phenomenon is responsible for tremendous
amounts of damage in historical earthquakes around the world.
1.9.3 Landslide
Landslide is frequently triggered by strong ground motions. The micro-earthquake
activity can also trigger landslides. It is a significant secondary effect of an
earthquake that creates a hazard by destroying buildings, other man-made
structures, and roads. Landslides are observed in the form of earth slumps, earth
flows, earth avalanches, etc. If slope material is saturated with water, then during
an earthquake it can develop a debris flow or mudflow. The volume of instability
can sometimes reach several million m3 causing huge damage to structures and
loss of lives.
1.9.4 Tsunami
Tsunami is a series of long giant waves in the water body of the ocean caused by
the displacement of a large volume of water due to earthquakes or volcanic
eruptions at the ocean bottom. The tsunami waves do not dramatically increase in
height at the origin but as the waves travel towards inland, they build up higher
and higher heights as the depth of ocean decreases. The large height of the
tsunamis crashes down upon the shore with disastrous effects. The speed of
tsunami waves depends on ocean depth rather than the distance from the source
of the wave. Most of the tsunamis are originated by fault rupture long a
submerged fault in the ocean. The most significant example of a devastating
tsunami is in the Indian Ocean, which was generated due to the megathrust
Sumatra earthquake of December 26, 2004 (M 9.3). This earthquake caused about
B1300 km long rupture from Sumatra to North Andaman killing about 300,000
people in the coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indian parts of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

28
Chapter-2
Earthquake Location and Source Parameter Estimation
2.1. Overview of SEISAN
The SEISAN is a seismic analysis software developed by Lars Ottem¨oller, Peter
Voss and Jens Havskov. It contains a set of programs and basic training data. The
Programs are, mostly written in FORTRAN, for analyzing earthquakes, capable of
performing routine processing of all kinds of seismic data, like digital, analogue,
broadband, teleseismic or local earthquake data. SEISAN allows to enter phase
readings manually or pick them with a cursor, locate events, edit events,
determine spectral parameters, seismic moment, azimuth of arrival from 3-
component stations, plot epicentres, etc. Almost all source codes are also given to
let the user be able to fix bugs and make modifications.
One of the important goals of SEISAN is to be able to store and retrieve all data in
a single system so that when any analysis like spectral analysis requires
parameters like a hypocentre and an attenuation function, it should be
automatically available if obtained earlier or already given in a parameter file. This
is achieved by having an event-oriented database that stores all data
chronologically. The foremost step to begin with SEISAN is to get familiar with and
understand different types of databases and how to manipulate data in them.
A database is an organized collection of data stored in form of multiple datasets,
while any dataset is a structured assemblage of data generally associated with a
unique system of work. In the SEISAN system, each data set consists of various
types of files, like S-files, waveform files, calibration files and parameter files.
2.2. Workflow of the SEISAN Database
The whole SEISAN system is located in various subdirectories in a tree-like
structure as shown in fig. 2.1, all of which the user has access to, under the main
directory SEISMO. The smallest data unit in the system is a file containing original
phase readings, like arrival times, amplitude, period, back azimuth, and apparent
velocity for one event. The name of that file is the key to all information about
that event in the database and is known as the event ID (Fig 2.1).
29
 Figure 2.1: The SEISAN directories and associated parameter file

2.2.1. WOR Directory

The training data consists of data sets from different regions and networks, which
require different parameter files so each data set is collected in one separate
directory under WOR. It is the user’s work directory which is initially empty and
built with the intention to work with the data in a local database.
2.2.2. REA Directory
REA directory acts as a database where all the information for the registered and
located events is kept. When new data is registered in the SEISAN database, a
single event file or S-file is generated for each single waveform file. Each S-file
contains phase readings and derived source information like hypocenters, fault
plane solutions etc. in the Nordic format. Fig. 2.2 depicts key components of an S-
file.

30
 Figure 2.2: S-file in Nordic format depicting key components

Line type 1 (Header Line): Date, Origin time, Location (lat, long), Depth,
Magnitude, Agency name(s), etc.
Line type I (ID Line): Event ID (unique for each event), Status (last action on the
file), etc.
Line type 6: Names of the associated waveform files
Line type 3 (Comment Line): Comments from the user (if any)
Line type 7: Header line for the phase lines; lines next to line 7 are the phase
lines (One line = one phase reading.)
Interactive work with the S-files in the database is performed with the program
EEV. This program enables users to access and do interactive work with any
registered event in the database, like phase picking, spectral analysis, etc.
Alternative programs like MULPLT are also available, however, EEV is the fastest.
2.2.3. Waveform Data and WAV Directory
Various waveform data formats, like SEED, MINISEED, SEISAN, SAC ASCII, SAC
binary and GSE format are read by SEISAN. Accessing waveform data in another
format must first be converted to the formats listed. Conversion can be made
using SEISAN or other programs.
All digital waveform data is contained in the WAV directory. The directory, by
default, has no sub-directories which is adequate for a small part of the waveform
data corresponding to the entries in the REA database. However, for more
31
significant amounts of data WAV can also be subdivided similarly to the REA
directory using the MAKEREA command. Interactive programs like EEV always
look for waveform files first in the user’s own directory under WOR and then in
WAV.

2.2.4. Calibration Data and CAL Directory

Response files or calibration files for each channel of the digital data are also
provided with the waveform data. These calibration files contain instrument
responses including poles and zeros of the recording instrument. Response files
are normally stored in the CAL directory, however, in SEISAN versions higher than
8.2, they can also be stored in the working directory.

2.2.5. DAT Directory and Parameter Files

The DAT directory contains station files and program parameter files. Parameters
used for spectral analysis, map contours, etc. are all stored in parameter files.
Changes are made to the files in this directory occasionally only when a new
crustal model is to be used or new stations are to be added. In such cases, the file
modified is STATION0.HYP file. It contains the list of stations with station codes,
locations and elevations. At the end of the STATION0.HYP file, crustal velocity
model, VP/VS ratio, initial depth for iteration, etc. are available. This information
is very important to locate the events and also to estimate the depth of the
earthquakes.

2.3. Commands for Interacting with the Database using EEV

For interacting with the database, the EEV program is used. The most useful
commands for interactive work using EEV are given below:
 DATABASE_NAME > point at an event on a particular date
 Enter > go to next event
 b > move back one event
 3 > move to event #3
 d23 > move to the first event on the 23rd or later
 t > type the event (S-file) to see the parameters for the event
32
  tt > ------ only header line
 e > edit single event file
 l > locate event
 po > plots the complete waveform data available of the selected event
 p > plots the selected file(s) of waveform data of the selected event
 u > update
 d > delete event
 r > change the event type (Local, Regional, or Distant)
 w > displays the associated waveform file names and their complete path
 onotepad print.out > details of the location
 GMAP > plots epicentres using Google Earth
Commands are not case sensitive in Windows, which means., all the commands
can be entered in uppercase or lowercase. However, in UNIX, all the commands
must be given in lowercase only.

2.4. Filtering and Phase Reading

Filters can significantly affect the waveforms and phase picking. This effect can be
clearly seen while assigning the polarity to first arrivals. Filtering the waveform
once leads to phase shift which results in an error in the arrival times of the
picked phases as well as in the polarity of the first arrival. Thus, it is suggested to
pick phases on unfiltered traces.

SEISAN can filter the waveform in two following ways:

1. By pressing the filter key once (results in phase shift)
2. By pressing the filter key twice (no phase shift occurs)
However, in some cases, the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio) is relatively small due
to which the arrival can not be seen without filtering. If the upper limit of a filter
is higher than or equal to half the sampling rate, it leads to aliasing and
information loss, no filtering is done and an error message is displayed.

33
2.5. Earthquake Location
Source location can be determined in two ways:
1. Single Station Location
2. Three Station Location (Triangulation Method)

2.5.1. Single Station Location

To locate the source using a single station, good three component data is
required with a correlation coefficient positive and as close to unity as possible.
The depth is anyhow fixed and is defined at the beginning of the very next line to
the crustal velocity model in STATION0.HYP file.
Following are the steps to locate a source using single station data in three
components,
1. Pick P and S phases by plotting all three components of the selected
station. The p phase should always be picked on the Z component and the S
phase on either of the horizontal components.
2. After picking the phases, plot the Z component of the station in single trace
mode.
3. On clicking the ‘Azim’ option from the menu or pressing the ‘h’ key on the
keyboard, SEISAN will ask to select a window for a 3 component
plot. The window picked affects the correlation coefficient, and is to be one
to two seconds long around the P phase to include only the first arrival.
4. If the correlation coefficient is positive and close to 1, the ‘e’ key is pressed
with the cursor on the Z component. This marks a pick with an ‘E’ written
over it.
5. Finally, the single trace mode is plotted on the screen by pressing ‘t’. The
event is then located by either clicking on the ‘Locate’ option in the menu
or by pressing the ‘l’ key (lowercase L) on the keyboard. The results are
displayed on the screen.

34
2.5.2. Three Station Location (Triangulation Method)
To enhance location accuracy, multiple stations are picked (here are three). Then
P and S arrival times for one station and their average crustal velocity for the

region are noted. The distance of the source from the station can be calculated
using the following equation,
On calculation, the above equations give:

Here, ts, vs: S-phase arrival time (sec) and S-wave velocity (km/sec).
tp, vp: P-phase arrival time (sec) and P-wave velocity (km/sec).
𝚫: Epicentral distance (km)

Considering recording station as the centre, infinite number of points are

available in all directions at the calculated epicentral distance plotting which will
form a circle. Similarly, a second circle can be obtained for the second station.
Ideally, these two circles shall intersect at a single point but due to the presence
of some inherent noise, slight errors arise during phase picking. Due to these
errors, instead of a single intersection point, a common region is obtained as
shown in (Fig. 2.3).

35
 Figure 2.3: Illustration of a) Single station, b) Two stations and c) Three stations for locating earthquake

Steps used in SEISAN for locating the earthquake:

1. Plot three stations with minimal noise and clear phases in multitrace mode
(fig. 2.4)

36
Figure 2.4: Three stations Guwahati (GUWA), Tawang (TAWA), and Tezpur (TEZP) plotted in
multitrace mode

2. P and S phases on all three stations are picked. This can be done in either
single trace mode or in multi-trace mode.
3. ‘Locate’ option from the Menu or ‘l’ key (lowercase L) on the keyboard is
selected to obtain results in the cmd as shown in (Fig.2.5).

Figure 2.5: - Result for locating Earthquake.

Note: Residues are dependent on the crustal velocity model used for the
considered region. In case the velocity model used is not satisfactorily accurate
for the region, larger residues may arise. These residues reflect the difference
between crustal velocities and the used model. Studies are conducted to
determine the velocity model of the considered area using the arrival time
inversion technique. However, for just locating the earthquake source if picked
phases are accurate, much attention is not paid to the residues.

2.6. Magnitude
Magnitude is a value that quantifies the size of an earthquake. It is calculated
based on the maximum motion recorded by a seismograph. Various magnitude
scales are used in the field of earthquake science including a) Local Magnitude
Scale ML (commonly known as the Richter Magnitude Scale), b) Body-wave
Magnitude Scale Mb, c) Surface-wave Magnitude Scale M S and d) Moment
Magnitude Scale MW. Here, two different types of magnitudes, that is local and
37
moment magnitude, are used to compare for accuracy of the signal. However, the
reason behind the similarity in magnitudes is the lower magnitude of selected
earthquakes (2 < ML < 6). This is because the local magnitude scale tends to
saturate for larger earthquakes (Magnitude > 7). If the results are compared for
such large earthquakes, the results will show a significant difference.
2.6.1. Local (or Richter) Magnitude, ML
According to Richter (1935), the classical formula for determining the local
magnitude ML is,
ML = log10Amax - log10 AO
Here, Amax is the zero-to-peak trace amplitude in a Wood-Anderson seismogram,
- log10Ao is a calibration factor and is a function of epicentral distance Δ (table 2.2)
and Ao are the trace amplitudes in mm recorded by a Wood Anderson Standard
Torsion Seismometer from an earthquake of ML = 0
Table 2.2: Values of - log10AO as a function of epicentral dist. for ML given by C.F. Richter (1958)

In SEISAN, local magnitude (ML) is calculated as follows,

1. As magnitude readings are always taken on the Z component of the
seismogram, firstly the Z component of any station is plotted in single trace
mode.
2. Filters are used to minimise the noise. By selecting ‘W A’ from the Menu or
‘w’ key on the keyboard, a window can be selected. It is selected around
the maximum amplitude on the trace, preferably in the S-wave portion as
shown in (Fig. 2.6).

38
Figure 2.6: Waveform plot in single trace mode after selecting a window and maximum
amplitude.

3. Another trace showing an unfiltered plot of the waveform appears beneath

the window selection trace to manually or automatically select the
maximum amplitude.
4. For manual selection, place the cursor at the peak in one direction and then
place the cursor at the peak in the other direction. For automatic selection,
press the ‘A’ key.
5. After selecting the maximum amplitude, exit the single trace mode and
locate the event. The results are displayed as shown in (Fig. 2.7).

Figure 2.7: Locating the event after selecting the maximum amplitude to calculate ML.

Note: An additional line for the magnitude is added right after the phase lines.
The first column contains the station code followed by the component on which
the amplitude is picked. The next columns are the hypocentral distance from the
stations (‘hdist’), amplitude picked (in nm), and time period and type of
magnitude with its value.
6. For accuracy, magnitude is picked using three stations or the Triangulation
method. The average magnitude is written at the end of the header line
(Fig. aa2.8)

39
 Figure 2.8: Locating event after selecting max amplitude to calculate ML for 3 stations

2.6.2. Moment Magnitude, Mw

Moment magnitude MW is calculated from the seismic moment, which along with
the spectral level of the S or P-wave spectrum is determined by SEISAN. The
seismic moment can be calculated from the seismograms using the following
equation:
log10 MO = a + b log10(C x D x Δ p)
where, C: maximum peak-to-peak amplitude (mm)
D: duration between the S-arrival and the onset with amplitude C/d
Δ: epicentral distance (km)
a, b, p (=1) and d (=3) are constants
SEISAN calculates seismic moment from the displacement spectrum of the
waveform using the following equation (Keilis-Borok ):

Where, p: average crustal density

β: average shear wave velocity
FS: factor for the free surface effect
40
RθΦ: factor for the shear wave radiation pattern
Computed seismic moment is then converted to magnitude in a range that
overlaps with the Richter scale using,
MW = 2/3log10M0 - 10.7

Steps to calculate the moment magnitude in SEISAN are,

1. As magnitude readings are always taken on the Z component, the first step
is to plot it in the single trace mode.
2. By clicking ‘Spec’ or the key ‘s’ on the keyboard, a window around the
maximum amplitude, preferably in the S-wave portion, can be selected.
3. The displacement spectrum can either be plotted manually by pressing the
‘d’ key on the keyboard, fitting a trendline manually by moving the cursor
and clicking on the spectrum or it can be autofitted by pressing the key ‘s’
(Fig.2.9).

Fi
gure 2.9: Displacement spectrum with trend line fitted as per the fall of the curve at corner
frequency

Note: Parameters like seismic moment (MO), low-frequency level (OM), corner
frequency (fO), etc. are also calculated and displayed on the right of the spectrum
window. The top spectrum is the Displacement spectrum and the bottom one is
the Fourier spectrum (or S-spectrum).
4. Locating the event will display results on the screen as shown in fig. 2.10.

41
 Figure 2.10: Results for moment magnitude.

Note: There is a separate line (similar to the local magnitude) in the output for
moment magnitude.
In this chapter, it is discussed that SEISAN, an open-source software, offers a
complete seismic analysis system and a sample database for analyzing
earthquakes from analogue and digital data. Beginning with the workflow of
SEISAN, different phases depending on earthquake location with respect to the
seismic station were read, followed by determining both local and moment
magnitude after spectral analysis of the concerned event. Both single station
location and three station location or Triangulation method were used and have
been discussed above in the chapter. Precise evaluation of location had been
carried out by reducing root mean square (rms) value below 0.5 for all events.

Chapter-3
Geology and Tectonics

42
The inter-plate Himalayan zone on the boundary of the Indian and the Eurasian
tectonic plates has a very complex lithospheric setup. Ongoing NNE directed
motion of the Indian plate movement with respect to the Eurasian plate is the
main cause of widespread tectonic deformation within the Himalayan wedge
system and adjoining parts. Geological investigations of the Himalaya and
surrounding regions portray these assumptions supported by global positioning
system (GPS) measurements and other geophysical methods.

Fig. 3.1. Cumulative seismic energy obtained from all earthquakes occurred during 1551–2005

GPS measurement provides a very accurate assessment of earth surface

movements and has a vital application in subsurface deformation. It has identified
a north–south shortening rate of 15–20 mm per year for the Himalayan region.
This deformation is mainly consumed by under- thrusting of the Indian plate
below the Eurasian plate and the remaining part is result of increasing topography
of the Himalaya and Tibet. Due to the pilling of thrust sheets, the Himalaya
topography follows a trough and crest pattern with maximum height (8848 m)
towards the northern extremity in the form of Mount Everest. Tectonic pressure
and stress acting under the action of subsurface deep-seated forces give rise to
unidirectional or multidirectional extension, compression, or displacement. These
are evidenced in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks in the form of
fracture, fold, and fault. Although, the overall mountain structures within the
Himalaya are quite complex, however, most of these mountains aligned nearly to
EW direction.

43
The ongoing convergence zone or shortening surface in the Himalayan region
started ~45 my ago and continues till date, has caused the formation of many
major and regional tectonic fault systems in addition to other tectonic
deformation. Well documented major tectonic faults are the Himalayan Frontal
Thrust (HFT), the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT), the Main Central Thrust (MCT),
the South Tibetan Detachment (STD), and the Indus-Tsangpo Suture Zone (ITSZ)
striking along the Himalayan arc. Spatial distribution of past seismicity (ML ≥4.0)
over the region demonstrates a high density of earthquakes in Lesser Himalaya
and Higher Himalaya, the regions north of MBT and MCT respectively. Throughout
the Himalayan arc, this high seismicity zone of ~50 km wide is aligned in nearly
NNW-SSE direction which is located around the surface trace of MCT. The Seismic
catalogue of NW Himalaya compiled for over 400 years has a completeness
threshold of magnitude 4.3 since 1965. To remove the ambiguity of earthquake
size, events data are converted in a form of energy release and plotted as spatial
variation in the NW Himalaya. Epicenters indicate that the events are mainly
concentrated in the higher Himalayan zone with an exceptional part of Kinnaur
Himalaya. Past reported high seismic activity of the Kinnaur region to the north of
STD is a unique feature of the Himalayan geodynamic setup. Seismic activity is as
high as all-time prevalent seismicity throughout Himalaya along the surface trace
of MCT. However, high seismicity of the Kinnaur region is mainly noticed after the
occurrence of the strong MS 6.8 Kinnaur earthquake of 1975 and its aftershock
activity. This was due to the limited number of seismic stations in this part of the
remote region to the north of the higher Himalaya.
Earlier focal mechanism solutions in the upper Sutlej River and adjoining part of
Spiti River exhibit N- and NNE-trending normal faults.Upper Sutlej River Basin is a
large pull-apart structure, which has higher topography compared to surrounding
regions. In the vicinity of the MS6.8 earthquake, four moderate magnitude
earthquakes occurred. Three earthquakes have a pure normal fault mechanism
and one earthquake is generated with oblique deformation. The seismicity is
cumulative seismic energy obtained from all earthquakes occurred during 1551–
2005. The epicenters of big size earthquakes (M ≥5.0) are marked with circles and
star denotes the epicentre location of the devastating 1905 great Kangra
earthquake. Focal mechanism solutions of well reported past earthquakes
occurred during 1905 to 1999 are shown with lower hemisphere beachball. Inset:
The tectonic setup of the Himalaya-Tibet region, the present study region is
shown with a rectangle. HFT: Himalayan Frontal Thrust; MBT: Main Boundary
thrust; MCT: Main Central Thrust; PT: Panjal Thrust; STD: South Tibetan

44
Detachment; KEQ: Kinnaur Earthquake; UEQ: Uttarkashi Earthquake; CEQ:
Chamoli Earthquake. associated with the Kaurik-Chango fault zone (KCFZ) of the
Kinnaur Himalaya which is aligned nearly in the N-S direction. KCFZ tends to
emphasize the importance of transverse tectonics in the seismogenesis of seismic
activity in the part of Kinnaur Himalaya.
Therefore, the present study region elaborates significantly the deformation
patterns of several different faults like normal, strike-slip, and thrust faulting due
to active tectonics. Predominately, an east-–west extension is interpreted in the
Tethys Himalaya in the northern part of the study region, which is also inferred as
a consequence of extension in the lower crust and upper Mantle beneath Tethys
Himalaya and Tibet. It is also noticed that the observed extensional tectonics is
just aligned along with sub-surface NNE extension of Aravali-Delhi and Delhi-
Haridwar ridges of Indo-Gangetic plains where N-S trending normal faults are
resultant of local uplift. Seismic events mainly of M ≥3.0 extracted from the
International Seismological Centre (ISC) from 2007 to 2012 highlight seismicity
based on global and regional seismic networks. A small, local temporary
seismological network was deployed in Kinnaur Himalaya in and around the
epicentral zone of the 1975 MS 6.8 earthquake. Its main aim is to develop a new
local seismic velocity model and to enhance the knowledge of seismogenesis of
existing active faults. Present seismicity has been monitored the first time using
this dense broadband seismic (BBS) network. The local network was installed in
stringent high altitude terrain in the year 2008 by the Wadia Institute of
Himalayan Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, India. Similar local velocity models have
been established in the western and south-eastern parts of the study region.
However, the present study region has a different geotectonic setup and seismic
activities.
The present data is the first high-quality seismic events of the region used to
obtain the 1D velocity model. An additional goal of this temporary network was to
highlight local micro- seismicity sectors to the north of the High Himalayan
Seismic Belt (HHSB). It is also interesting because until now we lack a clear
understanding of seismo-tectonics of this area. To understand seismo- tectonics,
micro-earthquake data is analyzed that is recorded during the 2008–2012 period.
In addition, the earthquake data of Mw 5.0 of 2007 and its aftershock events from
the southern part of the study region are also used for seismotectonic
investigation. Results are integrated with available complementary geological,
geophysical, geomorphic, and neo-tectonic data to synthesize the seismotectonic
model of the region. It suggests that a region to the north of STD and west of the
45
Karakoram fault (KF) consists of several tectonic blocks and earthquakes occur on
the edges of these blocks. Work done to date by various authors suggests that in
the study region focal mechanism along KCFZ is a normal mechanism which is
contrary to the general reverse type of focal mechanism occurring in most of the
parts of NW Himalaya.

3.1 Geological Setting and Tectonic Evolution

Kinematics of the Himalayan evolution is largely controlled by major faults
predominated as thrust faulting. In this process of the Himalayan orogeny,
tectonic faults have developed bounding of various terraces that have been
gradually scraped off due to under-thrusting the Indian plate and accreted
to the Himalayan Wedge. The region under study belongs to the western
part of the Indo-Eurasian plate boundary, which is geologically very
complex zone. The recent upper crustal set is formed by three types of
geological domains namely:
(1) Lesser Himalaya, the region between MBT and MCT mainly
composed of low-grade Proterozoic sediments of Indian plate.
(2) High Himalaya Crystalline (HHC) rocks, to the north of MCT are
Precambrian to Proterozoic in ages which are dominantly gneisses
and schists with green-schist to amphibolite facies metamorphism
(3) Tethys Himalaya to the north of STD contains Upper Proterozoic to
Eocene sedimentary cover of the north Indian margin.

In the north, the ITSZ fault with the NW-SE trend has thrust-type faulting
parallel to its strike. Further north, the Karakorum fault has a right-lateral
motion parallel to ITSZ. Parts of the present study region also contain the
oceanic crust or thinned continental crust formed during the Neogene
period. Kinnaur region located to the north of STD belongs to the south
Tibetan detachment zone which was also a part of Tethys oceanic crust.
NNE trending faults are of Late Cenozoic origin in which Leo Pargil Block is
bounded by high-angle faults on both east and west flank. A local
seismically active Kaurik-Chango normal fault exists to the southwest of Leo
Pargil host. This major upper crustal-scale tectonic unit is nearly aligned to
N-S and dips towards the west with high angle dip. Here, the HHC sequence
is limited by MCT at its base, and by extensional Sangla Detachment (SD) at
its top.

46
 This sequence is well exposed along Sutlej Valley to the south of STD.
Toward foreland, the MCT becomes a shallow-dipping thrust, separating
HHC Sequence from low to medium-grade sediments of the Lesser
Himalaya. The extent of MCT perpendicular to this range, from the north-
eastern limit of Kullu-Larji-Rampur Window (KLRW) to the outermost klippe
of the HHC sequence (Shimla klippe), indicates a minimum displacement of
about 100 km.

3.2 The Local and Regional Seismic Network

A dense regional broadband seismic (BBS) network in the NW Himalaya
region is operated and maintained by WIHG, Dehradun India. The network
was installed in a phased manner in different sections of the NW Himalaya
with overall emphasis to monitor seismicity, evaluate subsurface structures
and tectonics in this Himalayan region to the south of India-Eurasia collision
boundary. In addition to this local seismic network, the India
Meteorological Department (IMD) New Delhi, India as a nodal agency of
India seismological network is also operating stations to monitor regional
seismicity in this region of the Himalaya.

In the present study region of Kinnaur Himalaya, WIHG installed a network

of 10 BBS stations in mid-2008 to monitor seismic activity to micro-
earthquake level in the epicenter zone of Ms 6.8 Kinnaur earthquake of
1975. This is the only region in the NW Himalaya where a localized zone of
high seismic activity exists to the north of the STD. These stations are
having a Trillium 240 broadband seismometer of Nanometric, Canada with
a natural period of 240s. A seismometer is attached with the Taurus
digitizer that is recording data with a dynamic range of >140 dB. At each
station, the data is sampled at a sampling rate of 100 SPS and synchronized
with a GPS clock. As a part of the regional seismic network, two nearby
stations (inverted triangles) of IMD are combined to make a network of 12
stations to obtain crustal velocity structure and seismotectonic model of
the region(Fig 3.2).

3.3 Regional Seismicity

NW Himalaya region has experienced several large earthquakes in the past
and many moderate earthquakes have been reported in recent times.
Kangra event of 1905 is the great earthquake that occurred in the central
part of NW Himalaya and after 100 years on October 8, 2005, a major
47
earthquake (Mw7.6) occurred in the western part of the Kashmir region.
This recent large earthquake has caused casualties of over 80,000 in
Pakistan and India. During the last 50 years, three strong earthquakes
occurred in the NW Himalaya are M6.8 Kinnaur earthquake of 1975, the
M6.4 Uttarkashi earthquake of 1991, and the M6.6 Chamoli earthquake of
1999. Kinnaur region and its southern part to the west of Garhwal Himalaya
cover the present study zone. M6.8 earthquake occurred in 1975 within
Kinnaur has normal fault mechanism, while the M6.4 earthquake of 1991 of
the Garhwal region supports reverse faulting. A moderate magnitude
earthquake of Mw5.0 occurred at Kharsali in 2007 in the western Garhwal
exhibits areverse fault mechanism which is located towards the southeast
to the epicentre of the Uttarkashi earthquake of 1991.

The fault mechanisms of these prominent earthquakes suggest that the

northern part of the study region has a different tectonic environment of
normal faulting perpendicular to the Himalayan arc. It has been observed
that smaller size earthquakes in the Himalaya are mostly focused at a
shallow depth above the detachment surface along imbricate planes arising
from the detachment zone around MCT. Except for the Kinnaur earthquake
of 1975, above mentioned three recent earthquakes were also located in
the depth range which had deformed sub-surface region at the junction of
the detachment plane and MCT having a focal mechanism of thrust type.
Kinnaur earthquake to the north was located within the upper crust above
detachment at a depth of 15–20 km. It developed a normal focal
mechanism resulting extension along the East-West direction.

The epicentre of this earthquake to the north of STD is far away from the
high seismic belt of the Himalaya. Based on observed seismicity, the study
region is divided into two zones. The southern part denoted as zone 1
represents seismicity of the higher Himalayan seismic belt aligned towards
NW-SE and related to the major tectonics of Himalaya. In this zone, a
higher concentration of earthquake epicentres is along the surface trace of
MCT up to Sankri in the Garhwal Himalaya. West to Sankri, MCT bends
towards SW from NW-SE alignment, making a narrow zone of Lesser
Himalaya in the Nahan Salient region. However, epicentres extend towards
the west with similar NW-SE alignment and high activity zone is prevalent in
the KLRW. This zone is a part of HHSB where epicentres are always dense
compared to the other parts as observed throughout the Himalayan belt.
48
 Seismicity extends to the adjoining parts of Garhwal-Kumaon Himalaya
towards the east and the Kangra-Chamba region towards the west. Most of
the seismic events are related to the detachment zone confined in a depth
range of 10–15 km. At this depth, the Indian plate detached from the upper
zone of the Himalayan wedge system. The majority of the seismic events
has a thrust/reverse focal mechanism.

Fig. 3.2. The present seismicity of the NW Himalaya along with tectonic features (a) grey color-filled
circles represent available epicentres of whole NW Himalaya extracted from International Seismological
Centre (ISC) for the study period (b) red-filled circles represent microearthquake epicentres of the
Kinnaur-Garhwal region obtained through the recent local seismic network where blue triangles (WIHG)
and inverted triangles (IMD) are the seismic stations.

49
Chapter-4
Methodology

4.1 SEISAN
Seisan is a computer program or a set of programs that facilitates the conversion
of analog machine-readable data into digital data that could be interpreted by
humans. Seisan allows user to locate local as well as global earthquakes , calculate
azimuth and rake and at the same time can plot them and provide most
reasonable FPS. Seisan can run under wide variety of programs including Sun
Solaris , Linux , MacOSX and windows .The programs are written in Fortran , a few
in C and almost all source codes is given so a user can easily modify the program
in accordance with the output requirement.

4.2 DIRECTORIES
The system contains the following subdirectories:
 REA: Earthquake readings and full epicenter solutions in a database
 WOR: The users work directory, initially empty
 TMP: Temporal storage of files, initially empty
 PRO: Programs, source code and executables
 LIB: Libraries and subroutines
 DAT: Default and parameter files, e.g. station coordinates
 WAV: Digital waveform data files
 CAL: System calibration files
 INF: Documentation and information
 ISO: Macro seismic information
 SUP: Supplementary files and programs
 INC: Include files for programs and subroutines in PRO and LIB
 COM: Command procedures

50
4.3 THE DATABASE
The database of SEISAN consists of the two directories REA and WAV. The REA
directory and its subdirectories contain readings and source information while all
waveform data is normally in the directory WAV with no subdirectories.
Optionally WAV can also be divided into a similar subdirectory structure which is
useful when storing continuous data in particular. The DELET database contains all
events deleted from any of the databases (here BERGE/BER and NAO). Filenames
are identical between all platforms.

Figure 4.1: Structure of SEISAN. Note that BERGE under WAV is optional and
DELET (not shown) under REA has a similar directory structure as e.g. NAO.
4.4 CREATING DATABASE
Databases are created by using the command MAKEREA.
 STEP 1- First open the command prompt window.
 STEP 2- then enter the command MAKEREA.
 STEP 3- now enter the database name.
 STEP 4- enter the start time, year month.

51
  STEP 5- now enter the end date, year month.
 STEP 6- now enter BOTH.
Now the database has been created.

Figure 4.2: Output screen after creating a database.

4.5 LISTING THE EVENTS

Events are listed using the command cd
 STEP 1 -Go to the path where seisan file is stored and copy the path and
type CMD command promote is open.
 STEP 2 -now use the command dirf * to view the files in the designated
folder.

52
 Figure 4.3 – Output screen after events are listed.
4.6 CONVERTING A FILE TO SEISAN FILE AND THEN PLOTTING IT
 STEP 1 - First list the data contents of the folder.
 STEP 2 - then use the command rt_seis file name.
 STEP 3 - then use the command dirf *.
 STEP 4 - finally enter the command mulplt.
 STEP 5 - enter the file name or number of the file that is newly created.
 STEP 6 - press 0 for multi-trace plot on the screen.
 STEP 7 - press return for no filters.

Figure 4.4– Input screen

53
 Figure 4.5 - Output screen.
4.7 REGISTERING AND MARKING THE EVENT
 STEP 1- after plotting press 4 to register the event. Press L or R for local and
regional events.
 STEP 2- give any random 4 alphabet operator code
 STEP 3- Now enter the directory name that was created in the previous
steps.
 STEP 4- After getting the output from the previous step move the cursor to
the z component of the waveform and press 2 for the P wave.
 STEP 5- Mark the highest and lowest amplitude in either of E or N
component by clicking on the seisan menu option on “WA w” press A after
putting cursor on highest and lowest amplitude.
 STEP6- similarly press 8 for the onset of S-wave and press c for coda length.
The same procedure is repeated for other stations. At least three stations must be
marked for location.
Now your event has been saved permanently and can be viewed, edited and
plotted anytime.

54
Figure 4.6 - Output screen

55
 Figure 4.7– Output screen

4.8 LOCATING THE EVENT

After plotting the p, s, amplitude and coda events are located by pressing the
Command ‘l’. The RMS error should be less than 0.5 to obtain an almost perfect
result.

56
Spectral parameters used for the analysis are mostly found in file MULPLT.DEF in
DAT. The spectrum can also be fitted automatically by giving option Autofit
spectrum (‘s’) instead of ‘d’ just before the spectrum comes up. This will often be
more reliable than the manual fit but must be checked, particularly for
correctness of the automatically selected frequency band used.

4.9 Methodology
The recorded amplitude of an earth quake depends on the combined effect of the
source size, propagation path, and local site effects.,

Fig 4.8: – Seismotectonic Map of Study reason with location of epicenter of earthquake used in present
work

it can be expressed as
y ( t ) =s ( t )∗p ( t )∗e(t) (4.1)

where s(t), p(t), and e(t) describe the source, path, and site effects, respectively.
To estimate the source parameters, one must isolate the source term by
removing the path and site effects from the wave - form. First, the site and path
effects are computed in terms of site amplification curves and shear- wave quality
factors by using the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) and coda
57
normalization method. The obtained site and path effects are then used to
deconvolve the path and site response in order to separate the source term,
which is then further utilized to estimate the source parameters. The scaling
relations of the obtained source parameters are also developed in this work.
Figure shows a flow diagram to visualize this workflow. A detailed description
regarding the computation of (1) site effects, (2) path effects, and (3) their
implication when estimating the source parameters is provided in ‘‘Site Effects’’,
‘‘Path Effects’’, and ‘‘Source Parameters’’ sections.

4.9.1 Site Effects

An earthquake waveform is modified by site effects, which are related to local site
conditions, e.g.., he presence of the variation within the rock strata, which may
amplify or suppress certain frequencies of the incident waveform, depending on
the physical properties of the near-surface strata and top soil. The local site
condition can be estimated from the vertical and horizontal components. To
evaluate the site effects, Nakamura (1989) proposed the horizontal to vertical
spectral ratio (H/V) method for the recording site. The H/V method proposed by
Nakamura (1989) and modified by Lermo & Chavez-Garcia (1993) is applied here
to compute the site effects. In this method, the average spectral amplitude of the
horizontal component is divided by the spectral amplitude of the vertical
component. The horizontal component is considered to be the combined effect of
the NS and EW components. The HVSR is then expressed as

HSVR=
√
1 ( H N )+¿ ( H )
2
E
¿
2

(4.2)
√2 V

where HN, HE, and V are the Fourier amplitude spectra of the north–south, east–
west, and vertical component, respectively. The obtained H/V ratio is smoothed
using a Gaussian window of constant length. The selection of the window length
for each event has been thoroughly investigated, and in order to achieve
consistent smoothing, a constant window length is considered in the present
work.

58
 Figure 4.9: - Systematic flow chart of methodology adopted in present work.

Table 1: - Geographical locations of recording stations used in present work.

The number of events considered at a single station is presented in Table 4.1,

depending on the availability of data, further providing the resultant averaged
H/V curve for a given station. The computation of the H/V curve using an event on
15/1/2010 recorded at Sarhan station is exemplified in Fig. 4.10.

59
The S-phase is selected on the basis of visual inspection. The selected portion is
converted to the frequency domain by using the fast Fourier transform (FFT)
algorithm. The resulting north–south and east west components are obtained as
the root mean square of these components. The resultant horizontal component
is divided by the Fourier spectra of the vertical component, thus providing the
H/V curve for this event. In the same way, different numbers of events are utilized
to compute the H/V curves at a station, and the average of these curves provides
the final H/V curve for a particular station.
4.9.2 Path Effects
The amplitude of an earthquake waveform decays with the distance traveled
from its source. The decay of the amplitude depends upon various factors as it
loses energy due to heat loss, frictional loss, or redistribution of energy within the
propagation region. The decay of the amplitude is termed attenuation, and the
wave attenuation is quantified by a dimensionless quantity known as the quality
factor (Q). The coda normalization method proposed by Aki (1980) is adopted to
estimate the S wave quality factor Q s(f). The basic assumption behind this method
is to normalize the S-wave spectral amplitude by that of the coda wave.

60
 Figure 4.10: - Computation of H/V curve for an event recorded at Sarhan station. Black and
blue site amplification curves are unsmoothed and smoothed, respectively.

The spectral amplitude of the coda at a lapse time t c for frequency f, i.e., A c(f, tc),
is given as
Ac ( f ,t c )=S s ( f ) P (f , t c )G (f )I (f ) (4.3)
In the above equation, Ss (f), P(f, tc), G(f), and I(f) are the S-wave source spectral
amplitude, coda excitation factor, site amplification factor, and instrumental
response, respectively. The S-wave spectral amplitude As (f, r) is expressed as
−πfr
−γ
A s ( f ,r )=Rθϕ S s ( f ) r e
(
Qs ( f ) V s
)
G ( f ,ψ ) I ( f ) (4.4)

In Eq.4.4, r denotes the hypo central distance, Rθϕ represents the radiation
pattern, and γ is the geometrical spreading exponent. For this computation,
events having r ≤ 100 km are considered, so the geometrical spreading is taken as
r-1. The term ψ denotes the angle of incidence of S-wave, and V s represents the
shear wave velocity, which is considered to be 3.21 km/s for this work. Equation
(4.4) is normalized by using Eq. (4.3), assuming that Rθϕ is negligible in the present
61
situation, where several earthquakes with good azimuthal coverage are
considered. After averaging several earthquakes, the ratio G ( f , ψ ) /G(f ) becomes
independent of ψ and now Eq. (4.4) divided by Eq. (4.3), taking an average over
the hypocentral distance range of r ± ∆ r, can be denoted in the form

ln
[ A s ( f ,r ) r
A c ( f ,t c ) ]
r ± Δr
=
−Πfr
( QS ( f ) V s )
+Const (f ) (4.5)

4.9.3 Source Parameters

The HVSR curves are used to remove the site effects from the observed record.
For the removal of site effects, decoupling of the H/V curve is achieved by using
the observed spectra with a FFT, where the observed spectra are divided by the
obtained H/V curves. The average H/V curve is obtained at each recording station,
and the H/V curve computed for a particular station is used to correct the
waveform records from that station. In this manner, separate H/V average curves
obtained for each individual station are used to correct each record. Now, from
this corrected record, the spectral analysis of S-phase is carried out to compute
the source parameters. A definite time window covering the S-phase with
10%cosine taper at both ends is applied to obtain the displacement spectrum.
The selection of this window is carried out on the basis of visual inspection of the
entire seismogram, starting from the onset of the S-phase until the arrival of the
low-frequency surface wave. We fit the Brune spectra proposed for the circular
model, as later modified for the high-frequency attenuation parameter j as
proposed by Anderson and Hough, to the corrected observed displacement
spectra using the expression

(−πfR
Q V )
Ω0
D ( f , R )= G ( R ) exp exp (−πkf )

[ ( )] (4.6)
2
f S s
1+
fC

In the above equation, fc and Ω0 denote the corner frequency and long-period
spectral level, defined as the amplitude of the spectrum that corresponds to the
flat, low-frequency part. The term G(r) describes the geometrical spreading,
which is considered to go as 1/R for R≤100 km and 1/(10√ R) for R > 100 km in this
work, where R is the hypo central distance. The term exp (−πfR /QS V s ) accounts for
the elastic attenuation, and to compensate this term, the Q s computed at each
individual station is utilized in this work. The Q s value is calculated at each
recording station, so different values of Q s corresponding to each station are
62
utilized to correct the spectrum for this path attenuation term V s is the shear
wave velocity, which is taken as 3.21 km/s in this work. k is the kappa value,
which represents the high-frequency attenuation of the near-surface region. In
this work, the kappa value is estimated from least squares linear fitting of the
spectrum above the corner frequency from where the linear downward trend is
observed in the spectrum; the obtained kappa values lie in the range of 0.017–
0.041. The estimated k values for each record are then used in Eq. (4.6) to obtain
the corrected source spectra.
The source parameters are estimated by varying the parameters f c andΩ0 using a
grid search technique, in which the corrected spectrum is compared with the
theoretical spectrum obtained by using Brune’s model. In the grid search method,
the parameters f c and Ω0 are used as variables within a specified range. The initial
values and varying range of these parameters are determined on the basis of
visual inspection. An example of the selection of the final f c and Ω0 values for the
spectrum of the event at Sarhan station is presented in Fig 4.11.

63
Figure 4.11 : - Selection of final f c and Ω0 values for the spectrum of the 24/9/2014 event at
Sarhan station: (a) different values of f cand Ω0 used in the grid search method; (b) distribution
of RMSE corresponding to different values of f c and Ω0 ; (c) misfit between observed and
theoretical spectra for different values of f c and Ω0 .

For this, the initial guesses for f c andΩ0 are considered to be 1.0 and 1 x 10 –6,
respectively. The f c and Ω0 values selected on the basis of the minimum RMSE are
further used to compute various parameters, viz. the seismic moment (M o),
source radius (r ), stress drop (σ ), and moment magnitude (M w), by using the
following expressions

64
 3
4 πρ β R Ω0
M 0= (4.7)
Rθϕ S a
2.34 β
r=
2πfc
(4.8)

7 M0
σ= 3 (4.9)
16 r
2
M w = ( log 10 M 0−16.1 ) (4.10)
3

where β and ρ are the S-wave velocity and density, which are considered to be
3.21 km/s and 2.67 g/cm 3 , respectively, Sa is the free surface amplification (= 2),
and Rθϕ is the radiation factor with a value of 0.63.
The source parameters of an event are estimate by using each individual
waveform recorded at various recording stations. The average values of the
source parameters obtained from the individual records represent the final
source parameters of a particular event. The f candΩ0 values obtained from the
spectral analysis provide the seismic moment value through the empirical relation
in Eq. (4.7), which is further utilized to compute the moment magnitude of the
earthquakes.

65
Chapter-5
Result and Conclusions

The data I have analyzed, was of North West Himalayan India. We have taken
about 75 earthquakes from the NW Himalayan region, recorded by the seismic
network of Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) during the period. The
source parameters and spectrum are determined using the earthquake location
program. The magnitude ranges of earthquakes are between 1.5 – 3.6.
A total of 75 local earthquakes are recorded by the recently installed BBC network
with a high signal -to-noise ratio (usual inspection) are analyzed by the SESIAN
software ( Hauskov and Ottemoller 1999) to read arrival time of different seismic
phases. The hypocentre and parameters of the earthquakes are compelled using
the program of Lee and Lohe (1975). Some of the epicenters are much away from
the networks. The earthquakes within the area are:
LATITUD
DATE ORIGIN DURATION (in sec.) E LONGITUDE DEPTH MAGNITUDE
02-09-2016 08:49 49.13 3130.84N 7135.1E 16.4 2.1
02-09-2016 16:14 18.45 3199.61N 7815.6E 0.8 1.6
03-09-2016 19:37 12.06 3129.70N 7739.7E 0.3 1.0
03-09-2016 22:09 54.65 3131.70N 7731.3E 22.0 1.7
03-09-2016 22:11 33.56 3142.27N 7193.2E 8.0 1.2
03-09-2016 23:19 12.81 3292.47N 7712.7E 18.1 1.5
01-09-2016 08:36 8.80 3057.51N 7832.2E 126.0 1.3
01-09-2016 09:35 4.25 3215.66N 7816.0E 7.4 1.6
01-09-2016 13:12 15.92 3135.88N 7544.4E 0.0 2.6
02-09-2016 07:09 34.15 3172.66N 7859.7E 77.3 1.6
02-09-2016 12:14 10.19 3149.84N 7844.3E 109.9 2.2
02-09-2016 14:05 48.98 3130.16N 7787.3E 10.0 1.9
03-09-2016 13:10 37.60 3141.03N 7811.0E 3.5 0.9
03-09-2016 19:21 25.57 3145.33N 7881.0E 12.5 1.3
28-08-2016 01:46 50.97 3230.73N 7736.5E 13.6 1.5
28-08-2016 15:21 28.23 3112.61N 7731.9E 0.0 1.6
28-08-2016 19:04 13.70 3241.68N 7610.4E 46.1 1.9
28-08-2016 19:38 52.78 3131.66N 7735.2E 16.4 2.5
28-08-2016 20:31 51.65 3129.04N 7738.5E 9.0 1.8
28-08-2016 21:32 7.87 3122.71N 7736.5E 9.5 1.5
28-08-2016 21:58 2.88 3133.37N 7738.6E 0.0 1.1

66
 28-08-2016 06:04 6.87 3129.68N 7735.5E 19.5 1.6
28-08-2016 06:39 7.49 3131.36N 7735.8E 16.3 2.2
28-08-2016 08:23 33.87 3139.13N 7739.1E 4.4 1.2
28-08-2016 09:18 49.60 3258.44N 7613.9E 0.0 5.5
28-08-2016 12:22 41.31 3235.01N 7612.7E 4.8 2.4
30-08-2016 20:08 9.16 3130.71N 7735.4E 17.1 1.5
30-08-2016 20:34 33.03 3131.63N 7735.1E 12.7 2.2
30-08-2016 04:44 29.90 3137.63N 7655.2E 0.9 1.8
30-08-2016 03:52 22.16 3145.12N 7648.0E 0.0 1.9
31-08-2016 10:40 42.58 3123.31N 7861.9E 10.0 1.7
31-08-2016 21:56 10.15 3123.14N 7736.3E 7.1 1.5
31-08-2016 23:26 41.71 3131.65N 7736.6E 15.4 2.2
31-08-2016 13:58 24.18 3132.35N 7737.7E 4.4 1.6
29-08-2016 00:25 21.36 3136.36N 7787.8E 3.8 1.3
29-08-2016 00:35 46.59 3117.60N 7741.9E 27.8 1.5
29-08-2016 06:40 38.55 3127.88N 7739.3E 25.8 1.6
29-08-2016 06:44 55.11 3111.06N 7737.1E 26.1 1.5
29-08-2016 18:33 14.41 3124.11N 7737.3E 15.6 1.6
29-08-2016 21:25 58.49 3119.09N 7824.1E 18.0 1.2
08-12-2013 14:00 21.51 3128.84N 7746.1E 10.0 2.4
08-12-2013 21:25 59.17 323.35N 7759.0E 38.7 3.0
10-12-2013 15:18 35.09 3139.57N 7823.2E 11.8 2.3
02-12-2013 03:33 8.93 3237.58N 7645.6E 11.8 3.3
03-12-2013 23:07 37.31 3158.38N 7831.3E 0.1 1.8
04-12-2013 23:09 19.95 3140.10N 7813.4E 0.0 2.1
04-12-2013 15:51 2.55 3151.99N 7814.2E 0.0 2.3
06-12-2013 10:08 57.54 3245.50N 7853.1E 18.7 4.5
01-12-2013 00:41 28.93 3152.10N 7843.6E 15.0 1.6
02-12-2013 01:43 19.93 3746.44N 7814.8E 0.1 2.0
02-12-2013 03:20 7.94 3153.05N 7716.6E 0.0 1.7
02-12-2013 22:57 8.71 3118.08N 7833.1E 25.2 2.1
03-12-2013 19:49 13.08 3144.62N 7718.4E 0.0 1.9
05-12-2013 02:16 21.97 3121.07N 7752.1E 14.9 2.4
07-12-2013 00:50 26.84 3134.49N 7143.7E 15.0 2.8
08-12-2013 14:00 19.36 3126.70N 7749.5E 12.7 2.5
08-12-2013 21:25 59.11 3231.12N 7815.2E 17.7 3.0
10-12-2013 15:18 35.91 3140.34N 7813.8E 5.9 2.7
13-12-2013 15:32 11.74 3022.24N 7731.3E 6.5 3.1
14-12-2013 16:29 42.84 3127.82N 7812.9E 28.4 2.1
16-12-2012 22:27 47.45 3041.60N 7753.4E 0.1 2.4

5.1 Results
67
The source spectra obtained after removal of the site effects and attenuation
properties are used to compute the earthquake source parameters. Earthquake
data recorded at the surface are always influenced by local site effects and the
attenuation properties along the propagation ray path. The H/V curves and
quality factor (Q) are estimated at each recording station. The Qs values obtained
at each individual station are further used to develop a regional attenuation
relation for the study region. A numerical experiment is carried out to confirm the
effect of the site amplification and attenuation properties in the estimation of the
earthquake source parameters. This experiment uses an event recorded at Sarhan
station to validate the presence of site effects and the attenuation properties in
the earth-quake waveform (Fig. 5.1). In this, the observed spectrum includes (1)
the correction of the regional Qs relation, without site effects correction (Fig.
5.1a), (2) the correction of the Qs relation for Sarhan station without site effects
correction (Fig. 5.1b), and (3) the correction of the Qs relation for Sarhan station
with site effects correction (Fig. 5.1c). In each case, the observed spectrum is
compared with the theoretical Brune spectrum, and the best match
corresponding to the minimum RMSE is obtained by using the grid search
method. A comparison between the observed and theoretical spectra provides
the minimum error in case 3, where the Qs relation of the particular station with
site effects correction is applied to the observed spectrum. This finding reveals
that the best match between the observed and theoretical spectra is obtained
after the application of both corrections (Fig. 5.1c), as compared with the two
other cases (Fig. 5.1a, b). This numerical test is for demonstration purposes; the
same procedure is adopted to obtain the spectrum for the other stations.

68
Figure 5.1: - Comparison of observed and theoretical spectra for Sarhan station, where the
observed spectrum is corrected for a) regional Q but not site effects, b) station-specific Q but
not site effects, and c) regional Q and site effects

In another experiment, the role of site amplification and attenuation term is

studied to estimate the scaling relation. In this context, the scaling relation of the
seismic moment (Mo ) and corner frequency ( f c) is evaluated for Sarhan station. A
total of 45 earthquakes recorded at Sarhan station are utilized for this numerical
test. The least-squares fit of Mo and f c provides the scaling relation for these two
parameters. In this exercise, the scaling relation for M o and f c is computed for
three cases, where (1) Mo and f c are calculated from the spectrum corrected for
the regional Qs relation but without site effects correction (Fig.5.2a), (2) these
parameters are calculated from the spectrum corrected for the Qs relation of
Sarhan station but without site effects correction (Fig.5.3b), and (3) M o and f c are
calculated from the spectrum corrected for the Qs relation of Sarhan station along
with site effects correction. The scaling laws obtained in these three cases
indicate that Mo is proportional to powers of f c in the form Mo∝ f c -2.78, Mo∝ f c -3.36,
and Mo∝ f c -3.05,

The scaling relation obtained by using the third case provides the closest
agreement with a scaling relation of the form M 0 ∝ f −3
c given by Aki (1967) as com-

pared with the other two cases. The coefficient of determination (R 2) is also
improved when both the site effects and attenuation corrections are applied
when obtaining this scaling relation, as shown in Fig. 5.2. It can thus be concluded
that site and path effects play an important role in the establishment of this
scaling relation.

 Site Effects and Attenuation Characteristics

The HVSR method is implemented to quantify the site effects in terms of H/V
curves. At each recording station, H/V curves are enumerated from each event,
and the average of these events provides the final site amplification curve. The
resonance frequency corresponding to the maximum amplification is computed at
each recording station (Fig.5.3). The results indicate that the variation in the
resonance frequency matches the geology of the study region. The prominent

69
tectonic feature that divides the study area is the South Tibetan Detachment
System. Stations located toward the northern side of the South Tibetan
Detachment System have resonance frequency in a low range as compared with
stations on the southern side. This variation may occur due to the presence of less
compacted metasedimentary rocks towards the northern side as compared with
the southern side. The attenuation characteristic is evaluated in terms of the S-
wave quality factor by using the coda normalization method. Various events are
used at each recording station to compute the quality factor; these Q values
correspond to different central frequencies and provide the frequency-dependent
S-wave quality factor relations Qs ( f ) at each individual recording station, as
shown in Fig. 9. These individual relations for each station are further used to
establish a regional relationship of Qs ( f ) = (38 ± 5) f (1.1 ± 0.06) for the Kinnaur region.

 Scaling Relations for Different Source Parameters

Various source parameters, i.e., the seismic moment (M o), source radius (r ), stress
drop (σ ), and moment magnitude (Mw), are calculated by using Eqs. (4.7, 4.8, 4.9,
4.10), respectively. The scaling relations among the various parameters are
developed for the study region as explained below.
 Seismic Moment versus Corner Frequency
The obtained seismic moment varies within the range of 2.73 × 1011 – 3.44
× 1014 N-m, whereas the corner frequency varies between 1.3 and 7.9 Hz
for the earthquakes considered in this work. The least squares fit of these
two parameters for each event yields the following relationship (Fig. 5.4a):
log M o=50−3.31 log(f c ) (5.1)
The plot of the seismic moment versus the corner frequency is shown in
Fig. 5.4(a). If the slope value is rounded off to -3, then the equation above
provides a scaling law of M 0 ∝ f −3
c . This law resembles the scaling relation of

spectral parameters given by Aki (1967) and is also consistent with that
obtained for different parts of the Himalayan region.

 Stress Drop versus Seismic Moment

The obtained stress drop values vary from 0.03 to 13 bar for the events
considered in this work. The average stress drop value is 1.61 ± 2.25 bar for
70
 the present study region. The events used in this work provide low stress
drops because more than 75% of them have values below 2 bar. Most of
these earthquakes are shallow focused and located within the upper 20 km
of the crust, for which a low stress drop indicates brittle nature. The
following scaling law is developed between the seismic moment and stress
drop (Fig. 5.4b) based on the data for the 75 events:
log (∆ σ )=0.7 log(M o )−32 (5.2)

 Stress Drop versus Apparent Stress

Two types of stress drop can be defined, that is evaluated before and after
an earthquake occurs (the static stress drop) and one related to the energy
released per seismic moment (the apparent stress drop, ∆ σ a ¿. The
relationship between the apparent stress drop and static stress drop
indicates an increasing trend of apparent stress drop with increasing static
stress drop (Fig. 5.4c).
log (∆ σ a)=0.71 log (∆ σ)−1.68 (5.3)

 Radiated Energy versus Seismic Moment

The energy released by a seismic wave can be estimated from the energy
flow starting from its source, and the seismic moment is used to measure
the size of the earthquake. A plot of the radiated energy versus seismic
moment is shown in Fig.5.4d, thus providing the scaling relation between
these two parameters. The results indicate that, with increasing seismic
moment, the energy released also increases.
log ( E s )=1.46 log ( M 0 ) −54 (5.4)

71
Figure 5.4: - Different scaling laws established for the study region.

72
Chapter 6
Conclusions

A temporary local seismic network comprising 10 broadband seisimometers

was installed in the highly mountain region in the altitude range from 1369 –
1441 m in the Kinnaur Himalaya region .sesmic data recorded during 2009 –
2014 were used in the study. During that period ,a total 760 records from 75
earthquakes recorded at a sampling rate of 0.01s (100HZ) . The 75
earthquakes with moment magnitude in the range of 1.5 ≤ mw ≤3.6 were
recordrd within the epicentral distance of 150 km.

For the estimation of the earthquake source characterstics, A total 75 local

eathquakes were recorded at 10 stations in the highly terrain of Kinnaur
Himalaya are utilized to compute earthquake source parameters. The site
amplification is determined by adopting the HVSR method. The best match
between the observed spectrum and theoretical spectrum is obtained using
grid search method , thus providind various sorce parameter such as sesmic
moment , stress drop , moment magnitude. These relations provide important
inputs that could be used in simulation for future earthquakes in the scenario .

73
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