Source Complexity of the 2015 Mw 4.0 Guthrie, Oklahoma Earthquake

Qimin Wu, Xiaowei Chen, & Rachel E. Abercrombie

Published April 30, 2019, SCEC Contribution #9038

We demonstrate the complex source process of a potentially induced Mw 4.0 earthquake near Guthrie, Oklahoma. Relative source time functions (RSTFs), retrieved using a time domain empirical Green's function (EGF) deconvolution method, show clear evidence of rupture complexity with the presence of multiple pulses and systematic azimuthal variations. Directivity analysis reveals a well‐defined rupture propagation at ~120° toward the southeast. Detailed modeling of the RSTFs results in a four‐subevent model spanning ~1 s in time and ~1.5 km in space, in which the earthquake ruptured four successive slip episodes unilaterally to the southeast. Multiple EGF spectral ratio analysis also shows significant complexity as evidenced by azimuth‐dependent deviations from the omega‐square (Brune) model. The observations of the concentration of early aftershocks at the periphery of the inferred rupture model along the rupture direction and amplified ground motions at stations to the southeast can both be well explained by the directivity effect.

Key Words
Source complexity, Rupture directivity, Induced seismicity, Relative source time function, Empirical Green's function

Citation
Wu, Q., Chen, X., & Abercrombie, R. E. (2019). Source Complexity of the 2015 Mw 4.0 Guthrie, Oklahoma Earthquake. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(9), 4674-4684. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2019GL082690