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Characteristics of high-frequency attenuation in the Dead Sea Basin

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Abstract

In this study, we derive the characteristics of high-frequency attenuation and excitation of ground motion for the Dead Sea Basin (DSB) area by regressing the peak amplitudes of narrowband-filtered velocity seismograms measured around the shear wave arrivals. We analyzed about 2000 seismograms from 43 local earthquakes in the magnitude range of MW = 0.9–4.5 that occurred in and around the DSB. The regional crustal attenuation is modeled with a frequency-independent piece-wise continuous linear geometrical spreading function and a frequency-dependent quality parameter Q. Our analysis exhibits that S wave attenuation in the DSB has irregular behavior with the effects of arrivals of supercritical reflections. For distances r ≤ 20 km, the geometrical spreading is 1/r; for distances r ≥ 40 km, the geometric attenuation is r−0.4; and for distances 20 < r <40 km, it is r−0.5. The quality parameter Q is modeled as Q = 68f0.5. The excitation is modeled using the proposed propagation model, increasing stress drop and a high-frequency roll-off parameter κ = 0.03 s. To model the theoretical excitation, we use stress drop values ∆σ = 3 ΜPa, ∆σ = 4 ΜPa, ∆σ = 8 ΜPa, and ∆σ = 9 MPa for earthquakes of MW = 3, MW = 3.3, MW = 4, and MW = 4.5 and site amplification factor of 3. Applying the extended coda normalization method to earthquakes in the DSB area provides quality factors for S and P waves of Qs =80f0.81 and QP = 41f0.84 and QS/QP ratio varying in the range of 1.7–2.9. Anisotropy of seismic wave attenuation in the DSB area is observed. The main direction of anisotropy N20° (110°) is determined based on the model of two orthogonal components producing maximum separation of the attenuation function values.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Geophysical Instrument Pool Potsdam for providing the instruments for the DESIRE experiments and GEOFON for data archiving (http://geofon-open2.gfz-potsdam.de/doi/network/Z4/2006). Figures in this report were prepared using the GMT program (Wessel and Smith 1991). We thank anonymous reviewer whose comments and suggestions were helpful in preparing our paper.

Funding

The Earth Sciences and Research Administration, Ministry of Energy and Water, Israel, supported the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    T. Meirova & L. Eppelbaum

  2. Geophysical Institute of Israel, Lod, Israel

    A. Hofstetter

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  1. T. Meirova
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  2. A. Hofstetter
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  3. L. Eppelbaum
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Correspondence to T. Meirova.

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Highlights

• Characteristics of S wave propagation and excitation in the Dead Sea Basin area obtained by regressing the peak amplitudes of narrowband-filtered velocity seismograms

• Anisotropy of seismic wave attenuation in the DSB area is observed based on the model of two orthogonal components

• Prediction of earthquake-induced ground motions in the DSB region

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Meirova, T., Hofstetter, A. & Eppelbaum, L. Characteristics of high-frequency attenuation in the Dead Sea Basin. J Seismol 24, 479–494 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-020-09927-2

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