Open AccessSurface‐wave study of the Labrador Sea earthquake 1971 December
Author(s) -
Hashizume Michio
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
geophysical journal of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.302
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1365-246X
pISSN - 0016-8009
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-246x.1977.tb04194.x
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , continental shelf , surface wave , period (music) , slip (aerodynamics) , geodesy , oceanography , telecommunications , physics , computer science , acoustics , thermodynamics
Source parameters of an earthquake that occurred on the continental slope off the coast of Labrador, the first earthquake known to have occurred in this region, are determined by using body‐and surface‐wave data. The focal mechanism is of the dip slip type and the focal depth is 16 km. The local deviatric stress field applied to the region is estimated to be compressional oriented normal to the North American continent. The observed surface‐wave spectra are characterized by a sharp fall‐off near the period T = 15–20 s. This observed fall‐off is attributed to thick sediment at the continental slope. Consequently, when an earthquake is not located within a continental area, the source parameter determination using short‐period surface waves is restricted in application.