Seismometersystem

• Subject Area: Geophysics and Geodesy
• Term: Funded in 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 406679277

The most effective way to mitigate hazard due to earthquakes is to understand the fault rupture process (namely the speed of rupture) by studying earthquake properties, such as radiated energy, and the duration of earthquakes. How earthquake properties scale with size, or magnitude, can tell us how the abundant information observed in more frequently occurring, smaller earthquakes, relates to less frequently occurring, larger, more destructive ones. Scaling relationships often follow predictable patterns for intermediate and larger earthquakes (approximately M > 4), but often breakdown for smaller earthquakes. Detailed earthquake source studies on local scales where fault information, including how fluids interact with faults, can help link the specific fault features to the speed of rupture, but are largely lacking due to lack of instrumentation on local scales of approximately 10s of km. The seismic array proposed here will enable local-scale studies (~10s of km) of earthquake rupture speeds so that physical geological parameters, such as fault roughness and faultfluid interaction, can be correlated with earthquake size. The array will have the capability to be installed independent of power source availability, as well as at remote sites, removing restrictions on data collection caused by infrastructural availability.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Seismometersystem
• Instrumentation Group: 0420 Seismometer und Geräte für Sprengseismik
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Leader: Professorin Rebecca Harrington, Ph.D.