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Moment magnitude estimation using Iran strong motion data

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Abstract

In this study, seismic moment, moment magnitude, and the corner frequency of Iranian earthquakes were estimated using the Iran Strong Motion Network (ISMN) data. To estimate the source parameters, Andrews (1986) method in frequency domain is employed. In this study, two horizontal components of the recordings were processed, filtered, and corrected for geometrical spreading and intrinsic attenuation and then have been used in source spectrum calculation. Here, two time windows were selected (1: S-wave and 2: from P- to end of S- window) and the results show that both windows provide acceptable results with similar mean residuals and standard deviations. However, the smallest standard deviation is related to S-window. In total, the moment magnitude for about 4171 records have been calculated. We validated our results for 209 earthquakes with at least three recorded accelerograms that had available reported moment magnitude. The results indicated that the estimated magnitudes are in good accordance with the reported moment magnitudes with mean residual of about 0.07 and standard deviation of about 0.2. This method can be employed in real time or near real time procedure, where both seismic moment and moment magnitude can be calculated soon after the earthquake originated just using available strong motion data. This information would be very helpful in crisis management so that more effective emergency response and recovery plan can be provided in future earthquakes.

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Data availability

All strong motion records selected in this study were obtained from Iran Strong Motion Network (ISMN; https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/I1). Data can be obtained from ISMN portal at https://ismn.bhrc.ac.ir/ (last accessed June 2018). The Global Centroid Moment Tensor Project database was accessed using www.globalcmt.org/CMTsearch.html (last accessed on June 2018). Moment magnitude information from National Earthquake Information Center was searched using https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/search/ (last accessed on June 2018). The information from Iran Seismological Center was obtained from http://irsc.ut.ac.ir/focal.php (last accessed on July 2018).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Plan and Budget organization and Ministry of Road and Housing for supporting the Iran Strong Motion project and providing the access to the strong motion data for scientist, students, and researchers. We also would like to appreciate two anonymous reviewers for their useful remarks and suggestions that have contributed to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Road, Housing and Urban Development Research Center, Tehran, Iran

    Attieh Eshaghi, Mohammad P. Shahvar & Esmail Farzanegan

  2. SISSA-Room 222- Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Earth System Physics, Trieste, Italy

    Abdelkrim Aoudia

Authors
  1. Attieh Eshaghi
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  2. Abdelkrim Aoudia
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  3. Mohammad P. Shahvar
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  4. Esmail Farzanegan
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Correspondence to Attieh Eshaghi.

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Highlights

1- Earthquake source parameters including seismic moment, moment magnitude, and the corner frequency were estimated for Iranian earthquakes using strong motion data. A large database of accelerograms (more than 4000) recorded by Iran Strong Motion Network has been used.

2- Andrews’s method that is based on Brune source model is used in frequency domain to calculate the moment magnitude. Two time windows were selected to be used in the analysis and the results were validated for 209 earthquakes that had reported moment magnitude. Results show good agreement between calculated and reported magnitudes for both selected windows.

3- The results suggest the use of this method and strong motion data for moment magnitude calculation for earthquakes that have not reported moment magnitudes. Also, the outcome of the implementation of this method in real time or near real time would be very helpful in crisis management after earthquake occurrences.

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Eshaghi, A., Aoudia, A., Shahvar, M.P. et al. Moment magnitude estimation using Iran strong motion data. J Seismol 26, 883–895 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-022-10107-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-022-10107-7

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