UC Santa Cruz

Near-source path effects imprint the wave field emanating from a seismic source and, if not well resolved, can obscure the details of source characteristics determined from observations of the seismic waves at regional and teleseismic distances (>200 km). These effects are particularly strong for crustal sources such as shallow earthquakes and underground nuclear explosions. First, I explore 2D effects of random seismic P-wave velocity heterogeneity resulting from volumetric heterogeneity in the upper mantle and variability of the Moho on the amplitude decay of the regional phase Pn. Results indicate that the pattern of amplitude decay due to geometric spreading for a simple Earth model is more complex than that for an Earth model containing strong heterogeneity in the mantle lid. Next, I implement the representation theorem in a method which collects displacement and strain components output from a 3D finite difference program capable of including realistic surface topography and geologic structure in a 3D velocity model, and calculates teleseismic 3D Green functions (3DGFs) to specified receiver locations. Green functions produced from a 3D source model match Green functions produced from a 1D source model for theoretical source-receiver geometries. This new method is then applied to the problem of constraining the source depth and location of the three nuclear tests conducted by North Korea, by using a realistic topography model for the mountainous test region to calculate 3DGFs for several possible locations of each event. Amplitude ratios of P and pP from 3DGFs are correlated to those in observed stacked traces. Results show a sensitivity of this method to source depth and location across the test site region with source depths slightly greater than published estimates, but relative locations consistent with other studies. Finally, I determine a rupture model of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake using 3DGFs calculated in a velocity model containing the dramatic topographic contrast in the fault area, and compare results with a rupture model produced using 1DGFs. Rupture models derived from 1D and 3D synthetic source regions are very similar to each other, and both are consistent with other studies.