BERMUDA T PHASES WITH LARGE CONTINENTAL PATHS

Abstract

Results are presented from an investigation of earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6 1.2 occurring in southern Mexico, Central America, and South America since the installation of Benioff short-period seismographs on Bermuda in 1951. Selected Benioff short-period vertical records from the San Juan station were also used in the investigation. A short-period arrival on records of the Bermuda-Columbia Seismograph Station is identified as the T phase. The following conclusions were reached i the study of T phases generated by inland earthquakes; (1) the energy travels as P before entering the water, and the S phase is not an effective generator of T at the Puerto Rico Scorp; (2) a deep-focus earthquake is a better generator of this T phase; (3) both magnitude and frequency of the P phase are critical in determining whether it will generate a T phase a T phase upon its arrival at a steep submarine slope; (4) a T phase will be generated by the arrival of a P phase at a steep submarine slope if the P phase contains energy within the characteristic frequency range of the T phase, and this T phase can be detected at distant stations if there are no obstacles in the path between the submarine slope and the station; (5) the P-T transmission could have been predicted by considerations of reciprocity from earlier observation at inland stations; and (6) background noises in the Sofar channel arise in some cases from earthquakes as much as several thousand miles inland.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1953
Accession Number
AD0020539

Entities

People

  • D. H. Shurbet

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Background Noise
  • Central America
  • Continents
  • Earthquakes
  • Epicenters
  • Frequency
  • Geodetic Surveys
  • Geography
  • Noise
  • Puerto Rico
  • Seabed
  • Seismographs
  • South America
  • Submarines
  • Surveys
  • Travel Time

Readers

  • Atmospheric Science / Meteorology, specifically Wind Wave Turbulence.
  • Oceanography.
  • Seismology