Above or Below the Moho? Depth analysis of continental U.S. earthquakes
using Sn/Lg ratio
Abstract
The occurrence of earthquakes in the continental upper mantle is highly
debated, and bears directly on lithospheric rheology (e.g.
“jelly-sandwich” vs. “crème-brulée” models). Because Sn waves travel
only below the Moho, a detection of high Sn amplitudes indicates that
the source earthquake occurred below the Moho. In contrast, because Lg
waves propagate in the crust, strong Lg amplitudes signify a crustal
earthquake above the Moho. In this project, we use Sn/Lg amplitude
ratios as evidence to support prior identifications of mantle
earthquakes. We develop a novel workflow to analyze data from the IRIS
database. Using the expected velocities of Sn and Lg waves, we calculate
the RMS amplitude of the Sn and Lg windows, to determine the Sn/Lg
amplitude for each recording. To validate our approach, we apply our
methods to the well-recorded 2013 Mw 4.8 Wyoming event, reported to be
76 km deep, and the 2016 Mw 4.8 Wyoming event, just 12 km deep. Contrary
to simple expectation, the deep Wyoming earthquake does not show a
strong Sn/Lg ratio. However, the Sn/Lg amplitude ratio for the deep
(upper-mantle) event is significantly larger than the equivalent ratio
at the equivalent station for the shallow (upper-crustal) event (Figure
1). We apply the same algorithm to Californian events reported to be in
the crust, near the Moho, and in the mantle, to test our methodology and
theory. We present our results in the form of raypath maps and record
sections for each earthquake that we studied. Our results show that the
1D assumptions of the Sn/Lg theory are successful in Wyoming and
corroborate the existence of rare deep earthquakes, which indicates that
some parts of the mantle possesses brittle properties like the upper
crust. However, in other areas our 1D assumptions are insufficient, as
shown by contrasting results from the East African Rift (see adjacent
poster by Espinal et al.).