Gravity and the earthquake mechanism

N. J. Vlaar*, M. J.R. Wortel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Earthquake sources exhibiting anelastic volume changes are studied in a gravitating earth. The excitation of seismic displacement fields by such sources cannot be fully described by a moment tensor. The effect of gravity manifests itself through the action of a buoyancy force at the source, which is compensated by a continuous distribution of volume forces through the earth. An inversion scheme which does not take into account these gravitational forces may lead to a pseudo-precursive action in the source and to an erroneous source characterisation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)240-246
Number of pages7
JournalPhysics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors
Volume16
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 1978

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