Low-frequency earthquakes in the Mexican Sweet Spot
Author(s)
Frank, William B.; Shapiro, Nikolaï M.; Kostoglodov, Vladimir; Husker, Allen L.; Campillo, Michel; Payero, Juan S.; Prieto Gomez, German A.; ... Show more Show less
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We use data from the Meso-America Subduction Experiment to detect and locate low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) in the Mexican subduction zone. We use visually-identified templates to perform a network waveform correlation search that produced ~17,000 robustly detected LFEs that form 15 distinct families. Stacking an LFE family's corresponding detections results in seismograms with high signal-to-noise ratios and clear P and S wave arrivals; we use these travel times to locate the sources. The resulting locations superpose a previously identified region of permanent non-volcanic tremor (NVT) activity. Husker et al. (2012) called this region a Sweet Spot, suggesting that the local conditions are adequate to continuously generate NVT. The LFE hypocenters have been located at a depth of 40–45 km in an area that is surrounding the upper slab-plate interface. We characterize their focal mechanisms by comparing their stacked seismograms to synthetic seismograms. This analysis reveals a common low-dipping focal mechanism.
Date issued
2013-06Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary SciencesJournal
Geophysical Research Letters
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Frank, William B., Nikolaï M. Shapiro, Vladimir Kostoglodov, Allen L. Husker, Michel Campillo, Juan S. Payero, and Germán A. Prieto. “Low-Frequency Earthquakes in the Mexican Sweet Spot.” Geophys. Res. Lett. 40, no. 11 (June 16, 2013): 2661–2666.
Version: Final published version
ISSN
00948276