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Unusual Seismic Signals in the Sevier Desert, Utah Possibly Related to the Black Rock Volcanic Field
Author(s) -
Mesimeri Maria,
Pankow Kristine L.,
Barnhart William D.,
Whidden Katherine M.,
Hale J. Mark
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl090949
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , aftershock , volcano , sequence (biology) , seismic moment , landslide , desert (philosophy) , fault (geology) , genetics , philosophy , epistemology , biology
On September 12, 2018 and April 14, 2019 shallow (<2.5 km from the surface, <1 km relative to sea level) earthquakes ( M w 4.0 and 4.1, respectively) struck a relatively aseismic area in south‐central Utah, within the Black Rock Desert volcanic field. Seismic waveforms are dominated by long‐period energy, no clear direct S‐wave arrivals, and signal durations of ∼100 s. Using co‐seismic interferograms, we detect clear and distinguishable surface deformation confirming the shallowness of the two mainshocks, while full moment tensor solutions rule out an isotropic source, such as an explosion or collapse. For the April 2019 sequence, we build an earthquake catalog using a dense temporary geophone array. The enhanced earthquake catalog shows a rapidly decaying aftershock sequence, with 85% of aftershocks occurring during the first three hours. Combining these observations, we argue that these earthquake sequences are related to the Black Rock Desert volcanic field.