Integration of Arrival-Time Datasets for Consistent Quality Control: A Case Study of Amphibious Experiments along the Middle America Trench

We have integrated waveform and arrival‐onset data collected in Costa Rica as part of the National Science Foundation (NSF)‐sponsored Costa Rica Seismogenic Zone Experiment (CRSEIZE) and along central Costa Rica and Nicaragua as part of the German SFB 574 program. The five arrays, composed of different sensor types (one‐ and three‐component land and ocean bottom seismometers and hydrophones), were archived using different software packages (Antelope and SEISAN) and were automatically and manually picked using various quality criteria resulting in a disparate set of pick weights. We evaluate pick quality using automated arrival detection and picking algorithm based on the wavelet transform and Akaike information criterion picker. The consistency of the arrival information over various scales provides a basis for assigning a quality to the analyst pick. Approximately 31% of P arrival times and 26% of S times have been classified as high‐quality picks (quality 0–1). An additional 21% of P times and 27% of S arrivals are good quality (quality 2–3). The revised quality picks are mapped directly into new pick weights for inversion studies. We explore the effect of new weighting and removal of poor data by relocating hypocenters through a minimum 1D velocity model and conducting double‐difference local earthquake tomography (LET). Analysis of the hypocenter relocation and seismic velocity tomography results suggest that using the improved quality determinations have a greater effect on improving sharpness in the velocity images than on the magnitude of hypocentral movement. Online Material: Figures of waveforms, event statistics, and tomography; and tables of station and event parameters, station qualities, velocity model, and hypocentral parameters.

[1]  E. Kissling,et al.  Users Guide for Consistent Phase Picking at Local to Regional Scales by , 2009 .

[2]  B. Kennett,et al.  Traveltimes for global earthquake location and phase identification , 1991 .

[3]  T. Dixon,et al.  The Seismogenic Zone of Subduction Thrust Faults , 2007 .

[4]  Haijiang Zhang.  Double-difference seismic tomography method and its applications , 2003 .

[5]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Control of seafloor roughness on earthquake rupture behavior , 2003 .

[6]  M. Yamano,et al.  The seismogenic zone of subduction thrust faults , 1997 .

[7]  Genshiro Kitagawa,et al.  Estimation of the arrival times of seismic waves by multivariate time series model , 1991 .

[8]  W. Rabbel,et al.  Local earthquake tomography of central Costa Rica: transition from seamount to ridge subduction , 2010 .

[9]  J. Bialas,et al.  Morphotectonics of the Pacific convergent margin of Costa Rica , 1995 .

[10]  John E. Vidale,et al.  Complex polarization analysis of particle motion , 1986 .

[11]  W. Strauch,et al.  Strong along‐arc variations in attenuation in the mantle wedge beneath Costa Rica and Nicaragua , 2008 .

[12]  M. Leonard,et al.  Comparison of Manual and Automatic Onset Time Picking , 2000 .

[13]  P. Podvin,et al.  Finite difference computation of traveltimes in very contrasted velocity models: a massively parallel approach and its associated tools , 1991 .

[14]  R. Hyndman,et al.  Thermal models of the Mexico subduction zone: Implications for the megathrust seismogenic zone , 2002 .

[15]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Earthquake Relocation Using Cross-Correlation Time Delay Estimates Verified with the Bispectrum Method , 2004 .

[16]  Urs Kradolfer,et al.  Initial reference models in local earthquake tomography , 1994 .

[17]  Abhijit Ghosh,et al.  Interface locking along the subduction megathrust from b‐value mapping near Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica , 2008 .

[18]  N. Maeda.  A Method for Reading and Checking Phase Time in Auto-Processing System of Seismic Wave Data , 1985 .

[19]  T. Dixon,et al.  Seismogenic zone structure beneath the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, from three‐dimensional local earthquake P‐ and S‐wave tomography , 2006 .

[20]  Fred W. Klein,et al.  Deep fault plane geometry inferred from multiplet relative relocation beneath the south flank of Kilauea , 1994 .

[21]  M. Protti,et al.  Correlation between the age of the subducting Cocos plate and the geometry of the Wadati-Benioff zone under Nicaragua and Costa Rica , 1995 .

[22]  J. Virieux,et al.  Ray tracing for earthquake location in laterally heterogeneous media , 1988 .

[23]  H. Akaike,et al.  Information Theory and an Extension of the Maximum Likelihood Principle , 1973 .

[24]  S. Schwartz,et al.  Evidence for serpentinization of the forearc mantle wedge along the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica , 2004 .

[25]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Automatic P-Wave Arrival Detection and Picking with Multiscale Wavelet Analysis for Single-Component Recordings , 2003 .

[26]  W. Weinrebe,et al.  Relationship between bend‐faulting at trenches and intermediate‐depth seismicity , 2005 .

[27]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Earthquake locations and three‐dimensional crustal structure in the Coyote Lake Area, central California , 1983 .

[28]  W. Rabbel,et al.  Mantle wedge hydration in Nicaragua from local earthquake tomography , 2011 .

[29]  H. DeShon.  Seismogenic zone structure along the Middle America subduction zone, Costa Rica , 2004 .

[30]  William L. Ellsworth,et al.  Monitoring velocity variations in the crust using earthquake doublets: An application to the Calaveras Fault, California , 1984 .

[31]  F. Waldhauser,et al.  A Double-Difference Earthquake Location Algorithm: Method and Application to the Northern Hayward Fault, California , 2000 .

[32]  M. Protti,et al.  The geometry of the Wadati-Benioff zone under southern Central America and its tectonic significance: results from a high-resolution local seismographic network , 1994 .

[33]  Gregory C. Beroza,et al.  Foreshock sequence of the 1992 Landers, California, earthquake and its implications for earthquake nucleation , 1995 .

[34]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  A fast algorithm for two-point seismic ray tracing , 1987 .

[35]  Christopher John Young,et al.  An Automatic, Adaptive Algorithm for Refining Phase Picks in Large Seismic Data Sets , 2002 .

[36]  Weijian Mao,et al.  Polarization filtering for automatic picking of seismic data and improved converted phase detection , 2001 .

[37]  E. Kissling,et al.  Three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure on the shallow part of the Central Costa Rican Pacific margin from local earthquake tomography using off- and onshore networks , 2009 .

[38]  W. Strauch,et al.  Seismic tomography and earthquake locations in the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican upper mantle , 2008 .

[39]  Genshiro Kitagawa,et al.  A procedure for the modeling of non-stationary time series , 1978 .

[40]  Timothy H. Dixon,et al.  Seismogenic zone structure of the southern Middle America Trench, Costa Rica , 2003 .

[41]  E. Kissling,et al.  An improved P-wave velocity reference model for Costa Rica , 2001 .

[42]  Kelin Wang,et al.  Thermal constraints on the zone of major thrust earthquake failure: The Cascadia Subduction Zone , 1993 .

[43]  Farid U. Dowla,et al.  Wavelet transform methods for phase identification in three-component seismograms , 1997, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.

[44]  Genshiro Kitagawa,et al.  A NEW EFFICIENT PROCEDURE FOR THE ESTIMATION OF ONSET TIMES OF SEISMIC WAVES , 1988 .

[45]  Kelin Wang,et al.  Thermal models of the Middle America Trench at the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica , 2002 .

[46]  E. Kissling,et al.  Investigating effects of 3-D ray tracing methods in local earthquake tomography , 2001 .

[47]  P. Shearer.  Application to the Whittier Narrows California aftershock sequence , 1997 .

[48]  Clifford H. Thurber,et al.  Double-Difference Tomography: The Method and Its Application to the Hayward Fault, California , 2003 .

[49]  Tobias Diehl,et al.  Automatic S-Wave Picker for Local Earthquake Tomography , 2009 .

[50]  E. Möbius,et al.  Charge states of energetic (≈0.5 MeV/n) ions in corotating interaction regions at 1 AU and implications on source populations , 2002 .

[51]  D. Giardini,et al.  Automatic seismic phase picking and consistent observation error assessment: application to the Italian seismicity , 2006 .

[52]  S. Cande,et al.  Revised tectonic boundaries in the Cocos Plate off Costa Rica: Implications for the segmentation of the convergent margin and for plate tectonic models , 2001 .

[53]  M. Leonard,et al.  Multi-component autoregressive techniques for the analysis of seismograms , 1999 .

[54]  V. González,et al.  Along‐strike variability in the seismogenic zone below Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica , 2002 .

[55]  Christopher T. Russell,et al.  Growing “Alfvenic” modes in the upstream region of Saturn , 1994 .

[56]  Reinoud Sleeman,et al.  Robust automatic P-phase picking: an on-line implementation in the analysis of broadband seismogram recordings , 1999 .

[57]  Peter Goldstein,et al.  85.5 SAC2000: Signal processing and analysis tools for seismologists and engineers , 2003 .

[58]  Walter H. F. Smith,et al.  New, improved version of generic mapping tools released , 1998 .

[59]  Jens Havskov,et al.  A Computer Program for Locating Earthquakes Both Locally and Globally , 1995 .

[60]  Stephan Husen,et al.  Local earthquake tomography between rays and waves : fat ray tomography , 2001 .

[61]  Tobias Diehl,et al.  The effects of data quality in local earthquake tomography: Application to the Alpine region , 2009 .

[62]  Allan M. Rubin,et al.  A reinterpretation of seismicity associated with the January 1983 dike intrusion at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii , 1998 .