Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

focal mechanism: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a single construct in seismology Nearest construct by meaning·not indexed
focalmechanism1 CONSTRUCTFocal mechanismAKI & RICHARDS · BEACHBALL

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Seismology

The geometry of slip read from radiated waves

A focal mechanism (or fault-plane solution) describes the orientation of the fault and the direction of slip in an earthquake, inferred from the pattern of first motions and wave amplitudes recorded around it. It is summarised by the familiar 'beachball' diagram, whose shaded and unshaded quadrants show where the ground first moved outward versus inward, and whose two nodal planes give the fault plane and an auxiliary plane. Aki and Richards's Quantitative seismology and Stein and Wysession's An introduction to seismology, earthquakes, and earth structure set out how it is derived from the radiation pattern or the moment tensor. The referent is the slip geometry of a seismic source, used to classify faulting as normal, reverse, or strike-slip.[1][2]

Unit
The strike, dip, and rake of the fault and slip direction (or the moment tensor)
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Determined from P-wave first-motion polarities and amplitudes across a station network, or by inverting waveforms for the moment tensor

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Nearby constructs

stress drop1 fields · 2 citationsanchor · a single construct in seismologyfault3 fields · 3 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsground4 fields · 7 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Aki, K., & Richards, P. G. (2002). Quantitative seismology (2nd ed.). University Science Books. ISBN 9780935702965
  2. Stein, S., & Wysession, M. (2003). An introduction to seismology, earthquakes, and earth structure. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9780865420786

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