This book is an introductory text on seismology intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. The book, which emphasizes fundamental concepts and basic mathematical developments, is intended to be ‘student-friendly’ The author explains the fundamental concepts in full detail with step-by-step develop- ment of the mathematics, although the book does assume a knowledge of vector and tensor analysis, calculus, and ordinary and partial differential equations, as well as of fundamental physics, especially mechanics and elasticity theory. Simple examples, such as one-dimensional problems and liquid media, are used as introductory topics. The book covers most of the fundamental topics in seismology, including seismic-wave Propagation, normal mode theory, ray-theory approximation, body and surface ‘waves, source mechanisms, kinematic and dynamic models, and applications to the understanding of the structure of the Earth and seismotectonics. The book also contains appendixes on useful mathematical tools and includes extensive problems. Agustin Udias is a professor of geophysics at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Principles of Seismology AGUSTIN UDIAS Professor of Geophysics, Universidad Complutense de Madrid CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESSPUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGI The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK www.cup.cam.ac.uk 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA www.cup.org 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia Ruiz de Alarcén 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain © Cambridge University Press 1999 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1999 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge Typeface Times 10/12pt System 3B2 [wv] A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Usdias Vallina, Agustin. Principles of seismology/Agustin Udias. pcm. Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0 521 62434 7. ~ ISBN 0 521 62478 9 (pbk.) 1. Seismology. I. Title. QE534.2.U35. 1999 §51,22-de21 98-32174 CIP ISBN 0 521 62434 7 hardback ISBN 0 521 62478 9 paperbackThis book is dedicated to C. Kisslinger, O. Nuttli, and W. Stauder, my professors of seismology at Saint Louis University.Contents Preface 1 Seismology, the science of earthquakes 1.1 The historical development 1.2. Seismology, a multidisciplinary science 13. Divisions of seismology 14 Theory and observation 1.5 International cooperation 1.6 Books and journals 2 Fundamental equations of an elastic medium 2.1 Stress, strain, and displacement 2.2. Elasticity coefficients 2.3 The influence of temperature 2.4 Work and energy 2.5 Equations of continuity and motion 2.6 Potential functions of displacements and forces 2.7. The Green function of elastodynamics 2.8 Theorems of reciprocity and representation 3 Elastic waves 3.1 Wave equations for an elastic medium 3.2. Solutions of the wave equation 3.3 Displacement, velocity, and acceleration 3.4 The propagation of energy. The Lagrangian formulation 3.5 The effect of gravity on wave propagation 3.6 Plane waves 3.7. The geometry of P and $ wave displacements 3.8 Particular forms of the potentials 3.9 Cylindrical waves 3.10 Spherical waves 4 Normal mode theory 4.1 Standing waves and modes of vibration 4.2. Vibrations of an elastic string of finite length vii xiii Bake 10 10 14 7 18 19 a3 24 a 29 29 31 35 36 39 40 43 45 47 49 53 53 54Contents 4.3 Vibrations of an elastic rod 58 4.4 The general problem. The Sturm-Liouville equation 61 5. Reflection and refraction 63 5.1. Snell’s law 68 5.2 Reflection and refraction in two liquid media 64 5.3 Reflection and refraction in elastic media 4 5.4 Reflection on a free surface 80 5.5 Motion at the free surface 85 6 Ray theory. Media of constant velocity 1 6.1 Ray theory. The eikonal equation 91 6.2 Ray trajectories 95 6.3 Propagation in the (x,z) plane 96 6.4 Ray trajectories and travel times. A homogeneous half-space 98 6.5 A layer over a half-space 102 6.6 The dipping layer 106 6.7 A plane layered medium 109 7 Ray theory. Media of variable velocity 12 7.1 A variable velocity with depth 112 7.2. The generalized formulation 115 7.3. The change of distance with the ray parameter 117 7.4 The velocity distribution with ¢ constant 118. 7.5. A linear increase of velocity with depth 119 7.6 Distributions of velocity with depth 121 7.7. Travel times for deep foci 129 7.8 The determination of the velocity distribution 130 7.9. The energy propagated by ray beams. Geometric spreading 132 8 Ray propagation in a spherical medium 135 8.1 The geometry of ray trajectories and displacements 135 8.2. A sphere of constant velocity 138 8.3 A sphere with a velocity that is variable with the radius 138 8.4 A velocity distribution with ¢ constant 142 8.5 Rays of circular trajectories 143, 8.6 Distributions of the velocity with the radius 144 8.7. The determination of velocity distribution 149 8.8 Energy propagation by ray beams. Geometric spreading 150 9 Travel times and the structure of the Earth 153 9.1 Observations and methods 153 9.2 Distributions of velocity, elasticity coefficients, and density 160Contents ix 9.3 The crust 162 9.4 The upper mantle and lithosphere 168 9.5. The lower mantle 171 9.6 The core 175 10 Surface waves 183 10.1 Rayleigh waves in a half-space 183, 10.2 A liquid layer over a rigid half-space. Guided waves 188 10.3 An elastic layer over a half-space. Love waves 193 104 An elastic layer over a half-space. Rayleigh waves 199 10.5 Stoneley waves 202 10.6 Surface waves in a spherical medium 203 11 Wave propagation in layered media 205 11.1 The equation for the displacement-stress vector 205 11.2 The propagator matrix 207 11.3 A layered medium with constant parameters 208 11.4 SH motion in an elastic layer over a half-space 212 11.5 Waves in layered media 214 12 Wave dispersion. Phase and group velocities 217 12.1 Phase and group velocities 217 12.2 Groups of waves 219 12.3 The principle of a stationary phase 220 12.4 Characteristics of dispersed waves 224 12.5 The determination of group and phase velocities Instantaneous frequencies 225 12.6 The determination of phase and group velocities. Fourier analysis 228 12.7 Dispersion curves and the Earth’s structure 231 13 Free oscillations of the Earth 239 13.1 Wave propagation and modes of vibration 239 13.2 Free oscillations of a homogeneous liquid sphere 239 13.3 Free oscillations of an elastic sphere 243 13.4 Toroidal modes 245 13.5. Spheroidal modes 248 13.6 Effects on free oscillations 249 13.7 Observations 251 14 Anelasticity and anisotropy 253 14.1 Anelasticity and damping 253 14.2 Wave attenuation. The quality factor Q 258Contents xi 19 20 a Methods of determination of source mechanisms 19.1 Parameters and observations 19.2. P waves’ first motion polarities. Fault-plane solutions 19.3 Wave-form modeling 19.4 Inversion of the moment tensor 19.5 Amplitude spectra of seismic waves Seismicity, seismotectonics, and seismic risk 20.1 The spatial distribution of earthquakes 20.2 The temporal distribution of earthquakes 20.3. The distribution of magnitudes 20.4 Models of the occurrence of earthquakes 20.5 Seismotectonies 20.6 Seismic hazard and risk 20.7. The prediction of earthquakes Seismographs and seismograms 21.1. The historical evolution of seismographs 21.2 Seismologic observatories and networks 21.3 The theory of the seismometer 21.4 Recording systems, magnification, and dynamic range 21.5 Electromagnetic seismographs 21.6 Digital seismographs 21.7 Broad-band seismographs 21.8 Accelerographs 21.9 Other types of seismologic instruments 21.10 Seismograms and accelerograms Appendix 1. Vectors and tensors AL.1 Definitions AL2 Operations with vectors and tensors A1.3_ Vector and tensor calculus Appendix 2. Cyclindrical and spherical coordinates A2.1 Cylindrical coordinates ‘A2.2. Spherical coordinates Appendix 3. Bessel and Legendre functions ‘A3.1 Bessel functions A3.2. Spherical Bessel functions A3.3. Legendre functions A344. Associate Legendre functions 359 359 360 366 371 373 376 376 381 385 386 388 393 399 402 402 404, 406 409 410 414 41s 416 417 47 423 423 424 426 428 428 429 432 432 433 434 434xii Contents Appendix 4. Fourier transforms 4.1 Periodic functions A4.2. Nonperiodie functions A4.3. Convolution and correlation A4.4 Sampled functions of finite duration Appendix 5. Parameters of the Earth Appendix 6. The interior of the Earth Appendix 7. Important earthquakes Appendix 8. Problems and exercises A8.1 Elasticity A8.2. Body wave displacements and potentials 8.3 Reflection and refraction A84_ Ray theory. Plane media A8.5. Ray theory. Spherical media A8.6 Surface waves A8.7. Focal mechanisms Bibliography References Index 436 436 437 438 439 442 445, 447 447 448 449 451 452 454 455 458 461 468Preface This textbook has been developed from 25 years of experience teaching seismology at the universities of Madrid and Barcelona. The text is at an introductory level for students in the last years of European licentiate or American upper-division undergraduate courses and at similar levels in other countries. As a first book, no previous knowledge of seismology, as such, is assumed of the student. The book’s emphasis is on fundamental concepts and basic developments and for this reason a selection of topics has been made. It has been noticed that sometimes even graduate students lack a true grasp of the very fundamental ideas underlying some aspects of seismology. The most fundamental con- cepts are developed in detail. Simple cases such as one-dimensional problems and those in liquid media are used as introductory topics. Mathematical developments are worked out in complete detail for the most fundamental problems. Sometimes more difficult subjects are introduced, but not fully developed. In these cases references to more advanced books are given The book presupposes a certain amount of knowledge of mathematics and physics. Knowledge of mathematics at the level of calculus and ordinary and partial differential equations as well as a certain facility for vector and tensor analysis are assumed. Cartesian, spherical, and cylindrical coordinates and some functions such as Legendre and Bessel functions are used. Tensor index notation is used preferentially throughout the book. Fundamental ideas about certain mathematical subjects are given briefly in Appendixes 1-4. Basic knowledge of the mechanics of a continuous medium and of the theory of elasticity is also presupposed. The reader is reminded about the basic equations of elasticity in chapter 2, but they are not all fully explained. The student is referred to textbooks on elasticity that are cited in the bibliography. Throughout the book there is an emphasis on the fundamental theoretical aspects of seismology and observations are treated briefly. Thus, some readers will miss discussion of recent results; I refer them to the excellent recent book by Lay and Wallace (1995). Also advanced developments of the theory of wave propagation and generation are not treated; see Pilant (1979), Aki and Richards (1980), and Ben Menahem and Singh (1981). I hope that my book is a good introduction to these excellent advanced books. Itis difficult to decide where to stop in the subjects treated in a textbook that is designed as an introduction. I have selected to develop only, but with all mathematical detail, the very basic problems. In this sense, this book is different than those that already exist. The style and approaches are also sometimes different, and reflect those of the author The first chapters are dedicated to the fundamentals of elasticity theory, solutions of the wave equation, normal modes, and ray theory. The following chapters are dedicated to the propagation of body and surface waves, and free oscillations. Four chapters are devoted to the study of the source. One chapter gives an introduction to anelasticity and xiiiContents 15 16 17 18 14.3 The attenuation of body and surface waves 144 The attenuation of free oscillations 14.5 The attenuation of coda waves 14.6 Attenuation in the Earth 14.7 Anisotropy 14,8 Wave propagation in anisotropic media 14,9 Anisotropy in the Earth Focal parameters of earthquakes 15.1 Barthquakes and faults 15.2 The location of an earthquake’s focus 15.3 Seismic intensity 15.4 Magnitude 15.5 Seismic energy 15.6 The seismic moment, stress drop, and average stress The source mechanism 16.1 The representation of the source. Kinematic and dynamic models 16.2 Equivalent forces. Point sources 16.3 Fractures and dislocations 16.4 The Green function for an infinite medium, 16.5 The separation of near and far fields 16.6 A shear dislocation or fracture. The point source 16.7 The source time function 16.8 The equivalence between forces and dislocations ‘The seismic moment tensor 17.1 The definition of the moment tensor 17.2 The moment tensor and elastic dislocations 17.3 Eigenvalues and eigenvectors 17.4 Types of sources and separation of the moment tensor 17.5 Displacements due to a point source 17.6 The temporal dependence 17.7 Inversion of the moment tensor Models of fracture 18.1 Source dimensions. Kinematic models 18.2 Rectangular faults. Haskell’s model 18.3 Circular faults. Brune’s model 18.4 Nucleation, propagation, and arrest of a rupture 18.5 Dynamic models of fracture 18.6 The complexity of a fracture 260 263 264 266 267 269 272 214 274 275 281 285 288 289 294 294 294 299 302 307 3 316 319 323 323 326 329 330 332 333 334 337 337 339 344, 345 349 353xiv Preface anisotropy and the two final ones introduce the reader to seismicity, seismotectonics, and seismic risk, and to seismologic instrumentation. Appendixes 1-4 cover some math- ematical tools, Appendixes 5-7 give some helpful information, and Appendix 8 is a collection of problems and exercises divided into seven topics. These exercises are related to the theoretical developments in the book. The bibliography includes books on seis- mology and related topics. Other references cited in the text are given separately. Some books are listed as references, so one must use both lists. I wish to thank in the first place all my students, to whom | am indebted for their questions and suggestions that have helped me to write this book and their patience during my lectures. I must thank also a long list of Spanish seismologists, many of them former students, who will be difficult to name without omitting some of them, especially E. Buforn and D. Mufioz (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), E. Surifiach and A. Correig (Universidad de Barcelona), and A. Lopez Arroyo, G. Payo, and J. Mezcua (Instituto Geografico Nacional). Revision of some chapters was aided and valuable suggestions were given by B. A. Bolt (University of California, Berkeley), R. Madariaga (Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris), A. Cisternas (Institut de Physique du Globe, Strasbourg), and H. Kanamori (California Institute of Technology). I am especially indebted to $. Das (Oxford University) who encouraged me to write the English version and put me in contact with Cambridge University Press and S. Holt who revised the manuscript. Naturally, I am aware that I am leaving out many names that I should have listed and I hope that they all feel included in my thanks.1 SEISMOLOGY, THE SCIENCE OF EARTHQUAKES 1d The historical development The term seismology is derived from two Greek words, seismos, shaking, and logos, science ot treatise. Earthquakes were called seismos tes ges in Greek, literally shaking of the Earth; the Latin term is terrae motus, and from the equivalents of these two terms come the words used in occidental languages. Seismology means, then, the science of the shaking of the Earth or the science of earthquakes. The term seismology and similar ones in other occidental languages (séismologie, sismologia, sismologia, Seismologie, etc.) started to be used around the middle of the nineteenth century. Information about the main historical developments of seismology can be found in each chapter; a very short overview is given in the following paragraphs. In antiquity, the first rational explanations of earthquakes, beyond mythical stories, are from Greek natural philosophers. Aristotle (in the fourth century BC) discussed the nature and origin of earthquakes in the second book of his treatise on meteors (Meteorologicorum libri IV). The term meteors was used by the ancient Greeks for a variety of phenomena believed to take place somewhere above the Earth’s surface, such as rain, wind, thunder, lightning, comets, and also earthquakes and volcanic erup- tions. The term meteorology derives from this word, but in modern use it refers only to atmospheric phenomena. Aristotle, following other Greek authors, such as Anaxagoras, Empedocles, and Democritus, proposed that the cause of earthquakes consists in the shaking of the Earth due to dry heated vapors underground or winds trapped in its inter- ior and trying to leave toward the exterior. This explanation was part of his general theory for all meteors caused by various exhalations of gas or vapor (anathymiaseis) that extend from inside the Earth to the Lunar sphere. This theory was spread more widely by the encyclopedic Roman authors Seneca and Plinius. It was commented upon by medieval philosophers such as Albert the Great and Thomas of Aquinus, and, with small changes, was accepted in the West until the seventeenth century. For example, in 1678 A. Kircher related earthquakes and volcanoes to a system of fire conduits (pyrophylacii) inside the Earth. In the eighteenth century, M. Lister and N. Lesmery proposed that earthquakes are caused by explosions of flammable material concentrated in some interior regions. This explanation was accepted by Newton and Buffon. The great Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755, which caused widespread destruc- tion in that city and produced a large tsunami, may be considered the starting point of modern seismology. In 1760 J. Mitchell was the first to relate the shaking due to earthquakes to the propagation of elastic waves inside the Earth. This idea was further developed by, among others, T. Young, R. Mallet, and J. Milne. Descriptions of damage