The Basics of

Earthquake Location
 What are
Earthquakes?
• The shaking or trembling caused by the sudden
release of energy
• Usually associated with faulting or breaking of
rocks
• Continuing adjustment of position results in
aftershocks
 Earthquake terminology
• Seismology (derived from Greek word Seismos
meaning Earthquake and Logos meaning science) is the
science of Earthquakes and related phenomena.

• Seismograph/ Seismogram Seismograph is an

instrument that records the ground motions. Seismogram
is a continuous written record of an earthquake recorded
by a seismograph.
Epicentre:
• It is the point on the surface of the earth, vertically above the
place of origin (hypocentre) of an earthquake. This point is
expressed by its geographical Coordinates in terms of latitude
and longitude.
Hypocentre or Focus:
It is the point within the earth, from where seismic waves
originate. Focal depth is the vertical distance between the
Hypocentre (Focus) and Epicentre.
 What are Seismic Waves?

• Response of material to the

arrival of energy fronts
released by rupture
• Two types:
– Body waves
• P and S
– Surface waves
• R and L
Body Waves: P and S waves
• Body waves
– P or primary waves
• fastest waves
• travel through solids,
liquids, or gases
• compressional wave,
material movement is
in the same direction
as wave movement
– S or secondary waves
• slower than P waves
• travel through solids
only
• shear waves - move
material
perpendicular to
wave movement
 Surface Waves: R and L waves

• Surface Waves
– Travel just below or along the ground’s surface
– Slower than body waves; rolling and side-to-side
movement
– Especially damaging to buildings
How is an Earthquake’s Epicenter Located?
Seismic wave behavior
– P waves arrive first, then S waves, then L and R
– Average speeds for all these waves is known
– After an earthquake, the difference in arrival times at a
seismograph station can be used to calculate the distance
from the seismograph to the epicenter.
METHODOLOGY

The basic data in earthquake location is

Arrival Time, t

The time of day that a wave from the

earthquake arrives at a seismograph
station
The distinction between

Arrival Time: time of day something arrives

And

Travel Time: the length of time spent

traveling

Is very important in earthquake location!

An earthquake location has
4 Parameters

x, y (epicenter)
z (depth)
τ (origin time)

Together, (x, y, z) are called the

hypocenter. The fact that origin time is
an unknown adds complexity to the
earthquake location problem!
 Suppose you
contour arrival time
on surface of earth

Earthquake’s
(x,y) is center
of bulls-eye

but what about

its depth?
 Fundamental data:
arrival time tpi of waves
from earthquake p to station i

Wave could be either P

wave or S wave. Both are
used.
 Fundamental Relationship

Arrival Time = Origin Time + Travel Time

tpi = τ p + Tpi

ray Traveltime Tpi along ray

connecting earthquake p
with station q can be
earthquake p calculated using ray theory
with origin time τ p
 Locating an earthquake
requires knowing the

earth’s seismic velocity structure

accurately
so that traveltime can be calculated
between stations and hypothetical
hypocenters
Basic Principle

Best estimates of the hypocentral parameters and origin

time are the ones that best predict the arrival times at all
the stations.

Usually, “best predicts” means minimizing

the least-squares prediction error, E:

Ep = Σ i [ tpiobserved – tpipredicted ]2

where tpipredicted = τ p
predicted
+ Tpipredicted
The mathematical problem is to find the
hypocentral parameters,
xppredicted=(xp, yp, zp)predicted
and origin time,
τ ppredicted
that give the best fit
(which is to say, minimize the error)

But the problem is that the traveltime varies in a

complicated, non-linear way with the hypocentral
parameters, xppredicted
The usual solution is to use an iterative method:

Step 1: Guess a set of hypocentral parameters,

h=(xp, yp, zp, τ p) = (xp, , τ p) and use it to predict
the traveltime

Step 2: Determine how much the arrival time would

change if the guess were changed by a small
amount, δ h = (δ x, δ τ ).

Step 3: Use that information to attempt to find a

slightly different h that reduces the error, E.

Do steps 2 and 3 over and over again, hoping that

eventually the error will become acceptably small.
The methodology for solving a linear
equation in the least-squares sense is very
well known. It requires some tedious
matrix algebra, so we wont discuss it here.
But is routine.
 but with any method, a key
question is …

What can go wrong?

here are some possibilities …

 Too few data …

Since there are four unknowns,

you must have at least four arrival
time measurements. Any fewer,
and you cannot locate the
earthquake.
 Bad Station Geometry …

But P and S waves from each of

two stations won’t do it, because
there is a left-right ambiguity

earthquake here?

station 1

station 2

or here?
 Another poor geometry …
When the stations are all to one side of the
stations, the rays all leave the source in roughly
the same direction and location trades off (A
trade-off is a situation that involves losing one
quality or aspect of something in return for gaining
another quality or aspect) with origin time

station 2
Trade off between slant distance
and origin time
shallow and late
deep and early

Depending upon ray geometry,

this trade-off can also involve
depth and origin time
 Recently, a new earthquake
location method has been
developed

that instead of locating a single

earthquake on the basis of its
arrival times (as above)

locates groups of earthquakes on

the basis of the difference
in their arrival times
This method is often called the

Double-Difference Method
The basic data in the double-difference
method is the differential arrival time between
two different earthquakes observed at the
same station: Dtpqi = tpi - tqi
But that is another story …

Thanks