Regional Discrimination of Quarry Blasts, Earthquakes and Underground Nuclear Explosions

Abstract

Abstract : The investigations conducted under this contract focused on analyses of the higher-frequency phases observed at regional distances from underground nuclear explosions, earthquakes, and commercial blasts. These analyses systematically compared the time-domain amplitude and spectral characteristics of the observed regional seismic signals in order to identify diagnostic differences which would be indicative of source type. The sources were located in three tectonic environments: (1) eastern North America, (2) southern Soviet Union, and (3) western United States. Each source environment provides a unique contribution to the regional discrimination problem. For these source regions digital data from several different high-quality seismic networks were analyzed. The data sources were the Regional Seismic Test Network (RSTN), the Eastern Canada Telemetered Network (ECTN), the Chinese Digital Seismic Network (CDSN), the Soviet/Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) network, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) network.