Split free oscillation amplitudes for the 1960 Chilean and 1964 Alaskan earthquakes

Abstract

Splitting of the Earth's normal modes was observed for both the 1960 Chilean and 1964 Alaskan earthquakes. The strong peaks in the observed spectrum of each split multiplet correspond to singlets with much higher amplitudes than the others. Using theoretical results we have derived elsewhere (Stein and Geller, 1977a), we are able to predict this pattern. We show that the source mechanisms inferred for these earthquakes from surface waves are consistent with the observed pattern of relative spectral amplitudes of the split modes. However other mechanisms, such as a slow isotropic volume change, are also consistent with the split-mode amplitudes and are excluded only by additional data.