FOCAL MECHANISM DETERMINATION OF LOCAL EARTHQUAKES IN MALAY PENINSULA

CASE STUDY OF BUKIT TINGGI EVENTS 2007-2008

Presented by SITI NORBAIZURA BINTI MAT SAID

EARTHQUAKE TECHNICAL SEMINAR DECEMBER 20TH 21ST , 2011

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Outline
Introduction Background Importance of the Study Theory and Methodology Velocity model for Malay Peninsula Focal mechanism solution using polarities and amplitude ratios Data used for determination of focal mechanism Results and Discussion with related studies Focal mechanisms of four Bukit Tinggi events Comparison of the P and T axes distributions Observed polarities of the first motion of Pwaves Conclusion
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Locations of Earthquakes from 2007-2010

A total of 30 weak and felt earthquakes have been recorded in the Malay Peninsula from 2007 2010 (MMD Database as of April 2011). Most of these earthquakes are located near the Bukit Tinggi fault zone and Kuala Lumpur fault zone, which classified as inactive (MMGD, 2008). A network of 4 broadband and 3 short period sensor currently operational in Malay Peninsula (MMD).
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Local Felt EQs in Malay Peninsula (2007-2010)

Year Month
Nov 2007 Dec Jan Mar 2008 May Mar Apr 2009 Oct Nov Dec 2010 1 1 1 6 4 1 3.4 N 3.9 N 4.2 N 3.3 3.4 N 2.7 2.8 N 3.2 N 101.8 E 102.5 E 100.7 E 101-102 E 102 E 102 E Bukit Tinggi Jerantut Manjung Bukit Tinggi Kuala Pilah Bukit Tinggi Shallow 50 22 < 10 < 15 5 2.6 3.2 2.8 1 - 2.8 3.0 3.5 2.6 3.2 ml 2.2 III III III III I I

No. EQ
3 6 4 3

Epicenter (Lat/Long/Location)
3.3 3.4 N 3.3 3.5 N 3.3 3.4 N 3.3 3.4 N 101-102 E 101-102 E 101-102 E 101-102 E Bukit Tinggi Bukit Tinggi Bukit Tinggi Bukit Tinggi

Depth (km)
<7 <5 <3 Shallow

Magnitude (mb)
3.2 3.5 2.6 3.5 2.4 3.4 2.5 3.3

MMI
III III III III

No Felt EQ in Malay Peninsula

MMD, as of April 2011

Distributions of the Local Felt EQs since its first occurrence on November 30th, 2007
4 3

Magnitude (mb)

0
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 630 720 810

Day (s) since its first occurrence

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Importance of the Study

Although hypocenters and magnitudes of these local earthquakes are determined by the MMD, their focal mechanisms have not been determined. Due to an absence of the surface movement observed, these focal mechanisms are important in improving our understanding of seismic pattern and fault behavior in the Bukit Tinggi fault zone.
Since far field seismic is less of a threat, it is suggested to (re)focus on local earthquake or near field earthquake, esp. in the vicinity of an 80-km long Bentong fault, close to Bukit Tinggi fault line, where earthquake M3.5 has been recorded -Jeffrey Chiang, the Chairman of Working Group in Designing Building Code in Malaysia
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Velocity Model for Malay Peninsula

We selected three crust structure models, of which two are from CRUST2.0 (http://igpweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/crust2.html) and the other one is model iasp91 (Kennet and Engdahl, 1991). We compared the observed travel time differences between P and S to those computed for these models. We performed the similar comparison for the P-arrival. We calculated the root mean square (RMS) for both comparisons using the following equation :

where is the i-th observed data, and is the total number of data.
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is the i-th calculated data

Crustal Profile based on CRUST 2.0

CRUST 2.0 is a global crustal model at 2x2 degrees scale. Composed of 360 key 1d-profiles and one of these is assigned to each 2x2 degree cell. Each profile is a 7 layer 1D-model (ice, water, soft sediments, hard sediments, upper crust, middle crust and lower crust . For Malay Peninsula, models J1 and C2 are available from CRUST2.0 .
Source :Crustal Model CRUST2 page http://igppweb.ucsd.edu/~gabi/crust2.html

Comparison of Velocity Structure between CRUST2.0 (J1 and C2), and iasp91

Depth (km)

Vs

Vp

Velocity (km/s)

Observing P and S Onset (IPM)

(a)

(b)

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Time series of vertical channel (a) and horizontal channel (b), of IPM station for the BUkit Tinggi event occurred at 02:13 UTC, November 30, 2007 with magnitude of 3.5mb. The upper, middle and lower traces are velocity, squared velocity, and integration of squared velocity, respectively

S-P Travel-time Differences

Observed S-P (s)

Obs = 6.36 J1 = 6.79 C2 = 6.84 Iasp91 = 6.5

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Theoretical S-P (s)

Comparison of P- phase Arrivals

P-hase arrival (MMD Picking)

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Theoretical P-arrival

Comparisons of RMS among JI, C2 and iasp91

RMS J1 S-P travel time all excluding large residuals (>3s) P-phase arrival 2.65 1.44 1.49 VELOCITY MODEL C2 2.68 1.44 1.01 iasp91 2.57 1.25 0.85

The lowest RMS are consistently obtained by model iasp91, which suggests that model iasp91 predicts the observed travel times better than the models from CRUST2.0. This is consistent with the result obtained by Din (2011) in which crustal thickness beneath station IPM is similar to the thickness of iasp91 (35km). We used a velocity model from iasp91 for the calculation of take off angles.
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FOCMEC Software Package (Snoke, 1984)

We used the FOCMEC software package available at http:// www.iris.edu/software/downloads/processing/ This software determines focal mechanisms using polarities (P, SV, SH) and amplitude ratios (SV/P, SH/P, SV/SH). Focmec program calculates all acceptable solutions. We can use Focplt for further analysis and display. Horizontal components are being rotated into radial and transverse components to separate SV and SH. SH to P amplitude ratio provides what could be considered almost independent data. Polarities and ratios involving SH are likely to be more reliable than those involving SV.
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Data Used to Determine Focal Mechanism

YEAR MONTH DAY TIME (UTC) 02:13 12:42 10:01 15:38 EPICENTER LAT 3.36N 3.31N 3.47N 3.39N LONG 101.80E 101.84E 101.79E 101.73E DEPTH (KM) 2.3 6.7 10 3.0 MAGNITUDE

2007 2007 2007 2008

Nov Nov Dec Jan

30 30 12 10

3.5 mb 3.2 mb 3.2 mb 3.0 mb

We requested three-component broadband waveform data recorded at stations of IPM and KOM for four largest Bukit Tinggi events (mb 3 - 3.5) using BREQ_FAST (Batch REQuest, FAST), which provides batch access to the IRIS DMC archive. This was done by emailing a formatted file to breq_fast@iris.washington.edu
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Rotation of the 02:13 UTC,November 30, 2007 Bukit Tinggi waveform data
East-West Coordinate rota+on North-South Ver+cal

Radial Transverse Ver+cal

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Observing polarities of the 02:13 UTC November 30, 2007 Bukit Tinggi event
E-W

N-S Radial Transverse

Ver+cal
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Input Parameters for FOCMEC (1)

Station IPM IPM IPM IPM KOM KOM KOM KOM Azimuth 325.23 325.23 325.23 325.23 127.25 127.25 127.25 127.25 Take off Angle 46.17 46.17 46.17 46.17 46.17 46.17 46.17 46.17 Key D F L H D F L H Log10 (S/ P)

0.85281SH

0.77248SH

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Input parameters for the November 30th, 2007, 02:13 UTC Bukit Tinggi event.D = Dilatation, F = Away from event , L=Left and H = Log10(SH/ P)

Focal Mechanism of the 02:13 UTC November 30, 2007 Bukit Tinggi event
Fault Plane 1 Fault Plane 2 F1 F2 dip

strike

58 acceptable solutions rake

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Focal Mechanism of the 12:42 UTC November 30, 2007 Bukit Tinggi event
Fault Plane 1 F1 dip Fault Plane 2

F2 strike

10 acceptable solutions rake

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Focal Mechanism of the 10:01 UTC December 12, 2007 Bukit Tinggi event
Fault Plane 1 F1 dip Fault Plane 2

F2

strike

6 acceptable solutions rake

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Focal Mechanism of the 15:38 UTC January 10, 2008 Bukit Tinggi event
F1 Fault Plane 1 Fault Plane 2

dip F2

strike

2 acceptable solutions rake

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Comparison of the P and T axes distribution

02:13 UTC Nov 30, 2007 3.5 mb

12:42UTC Nov 30, 2007 3.2mb

10:01UTC Dec 12, 2007 3.2 mb

15:38 UTC Jan 10, 2008 3.0 mb

P, T and B are the maximum compressional, minimum compressional and null axes, respectively).
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P-wave First Motion Polarities Observations

Waveform data of the 02:13 UTC Nov, 30,2007 (left) and the 15:38 UTC Jan 10, 2008 (right)

The similar waveforms imply that the mechanisms of the events are similar. The observed polarity at a given station should be the same for each event in cluster (Hardebeck and Shearer, 2002).

Waveform data of the 12:55 UTC Dec, 9,2007 (left) and the 00:50 UTC Mar 15, 2008 (right)

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Discussion on Focal Mechanism of Bukit Tinggi with Related Studies

1. The orientation of P and T axes are different from Simons et. al (2007): compression is in the NE-SW direction T 2. One possible explanation : weak-zone-normal extension mechanisms. (Hurukawa and Imoto, 1992). 3. Westward motion of the Sunda Plate cause the weak zone in the vicinity of the Bukit Tinggi fault to rupture or open due to an extensional P movement in the East-West direction (Lat and Ibrahim, 2009). 4. (Fatt et al., 2011) shows that epicenters of Bukit Tinggi events are scattered along the Bukit Tinggi fault (striking NW-SE directions and dipping toward the NE) and Kuala Lumpur fault (striking NW-SE directions and dipping toward the SW).

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Conclusions
We obtained relatively well-constrained solutions of the events we analysed although the constraint for dip angles is weaker. The focal mechanisms of the largest 3.5mb event is mostly strike slip with some dip slip, while that of three events are strike slip fault type. The maximum compressional (P) axes of the largest 3.5mb event are in the NNW-SSE direction while the three strike slip events are in the NW-SE direction. The minimum compressional (T) axes of the strike slip events are in the NE-SW direction. Since there is no surface trace of ruptures this result is important to improve our understanding of these seismic activities.
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Thank You

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