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Distance attenuation and local magnitude scale based on constant geometrical spreading in Northern Punjab, Pakistan

  • Research Article - Solid Earth Sciences
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Abstract

Development and calibration of distance attenuation curve for local seismic data are requisite for better seismo-tectonic modeling and seismic hazard estimation. Local magnitude scale developed for Northern Punjab (Potwar Plateau and Salt Range) has been tested against different geometrical spreading values. Trade-off or linear inter dependence has been observed between local magnitude scale parameters. To address this issue, either nonparametric approach with proper smoothing factor or parametric approach with single parameter (a) as constant may be used. In this study, we fixed geometrical spreading parameter to eliminate parameters dependency and hence reduction in error was achieved. Geometrical spreading was observed to be distance-dependent factor rather than a constant parameter. A variance reduction of 11%, with zero error in anelsatic attenuation parameter was achieved by fixing geometrical parameter and performing parametric inversion. The new magnitude scale with distance correction factor is given by the expression; \(-{\mathrm{log}}A_o = {\mathrm{log}}(R)+0.0006(R)-1.7419\), where R is hypocentral distance, valid for \(R < 130\) km and depth < 30 km. Lower attenuation (i.e., \(b = 0.0006\)) was observed in new magnitude scale as compared to previously developed magnitude scale (i.e., \(b = 0.00115\)) for the same area. The pronounced lower attenuation of seismic waves beneath the intraplate region of Northern Punjab is apparently owes to regional tectonics. Northern Punjab is relatively stable part of the Indian shield with Precambrian basement rock overlaid by varying thickness of salt diapirs and thick sedimentary cover.

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Acknowledgements

We received significant help from Mr. Bilal Saif regarding Cartography. The GMT mapping package by P. Wessel and W. Smith, 1991, was used for plotting most of the figures. The authors are thankful to the Director General, Centre for Earthquake Studies, Islamabad, for permission to publish the paper. Digital broadband waveform data are recorded by the permanent observatories of the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD), Islamabad. The authors highly appreciate the valuable remarks, detailed comments and suggestions of the two anonymous reviewers and editor that helped much to improve this paper.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Tahir.

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Communicated by Prof. Ramon Zuñiga (CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF).

Appendix

Appendix

Error in location

The appendix represents error in location parameters (i.e., latitude, longitude and depth). Seisan software has been used for earthquake location, with Hypo71 routine. We use the 2D velocity model that developed for Southern California. In location, if azimuthal coverage is poor, i.e., less than 100\(^\circ \), then we additionally use seismic stations from other networks. In most of cases, stations of Pakistan Meteorological Department(PMD) are added, other than PMD stations, we also use data of USGS stations in certain cases for improvement in location. Error in latitude, longitude and depth of seismic events used in this study is shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Average value of error in latitude and longitude for our network is 8 and 10 km, respectively.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Histogram representation of error in latitude (left) and longitude (right) of earthquake location. Dark and light vertical is average and one standard deviation error, respectively

Fig. 12
figure 12

Distribution of events depth (left) and error (right) used in this study

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Tahir, M., Khan, A., Mushtaq, M.N. et al. Distance attenuation and local magnitude scale based on constant geometrical spreading in Northern Punjab, Pakistan. Acta Geophys. 69, 1567–1584 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-021-00634-1

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