Published October 2014 | Published
Journal Article Open

Using systematically characterized low-frequency earthquakes as a fault probe in Guerrero, Mexico

Abstract

Studies of low‐frequency earthquakes (LFEs) have focused on detecting events within previously identified tectonic tremor. However, the principal LFE detection tools of matched‐filter searches are intrinsically incapable of detecting events that have not already been characterized previously as a template event. In this study, we therefore focus on generating the largest number possible of LFE templates by uniformly applying a recently developed LFE template detection method to a 2.5 yearlong data set in Guerrero, Mexico. Using each of the detected templates in a matched‐filter search, we then form event families that each represents a single source. We finally develop simple, empirical statistics to select the event families that represent LFEs. Our resulting catalog contains 1120 unique LFE sources and a total of 1,849,486 detected LFEs over the 2.5 yearlong data set. The locations of the LFE sources are then divided into subcatalogs based on their distance from the subduction trench. Considering each LFE as a small unit of slip along the subduction interface, we observe discrete episodes of LFE activity in the region associated with large slow‐slip events; this is in direct contrast to the near‐continuous activity observed 35 km farther downdip within the previously identified LFE/tremor sweet spot.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Geophysical Union. Issue Online: 20 November 2014; Version of Record online: 10 October 2014; Accepted manuscript online: 20 September 2014; Manuscript accepted: 17 September 2014; Manuscript revised: 08 September 2014; Manuscript received: 14 July 2014. This study's generated catalog is available upon request to the corresponding author. We thank Aldo Zollo and Claudio Satriano for their program that was used to calculate the theoretical traveltimes. This work was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France) under the contract RA0000CO69 (G‐GAP) and by the European Research Council under the contract FP7 ERC Advanced grant 227507 (WHISPER). N. M. S. was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant 14‐47‐00002). Finally, one figure was made with Generic Mapping Tools [Wessel and Smith, 1998].

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August 22, 2023
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