Significance of non-double couple components of deep and intermediate-depth earthquakes: implication from moment tensor inversions of various long-period seismic waves,


Kuge, K., and H. Kawakatsu
Phys. Earth Planet. Int., 75, 243-266, 1993.

Abstract

Analysis of moment tensor inversions of various long-period seismic waves suggests that non-double couple components of intermediate-depth and deep earthquakes really exist in the source moment tensors and appear to respond to the state of predominant strain release within slabs, partially or fully caused by sources themselves or slab structures near the sources. We observe consistency in the non-double couple components from three different inversions of different seismic waves: Among 21 non-double couple earthquakes that we studied, 16 events show the same sign in the three non-double couple components, and the signs have a correlation with the state of strain release within the slabs. The propagation effects of unmodeled structure and instability in the inversion procedure are unlikely to be responsible for the consistent non-double couple components because different seismic waves traverse different paths and different inversion schemes are performed under the different resolvability.