Moment Tensors of Ring-Faulting at Active Volcanoes: Insights into
Vertical-CLVD Earthquakes at the Sierra Negra Caldera, Galápagos Islands
Abstract
Moderate earthquakes (Mw > 5) with moment tensors (MTs)
dominated by a vertical compensated-linear-vector-dipole (vertical-CLVD)
component are often generated by dip slip along a curved ring-fault
system at active volcanoes. However, relating their MTs to ring-fault
parameters has been proved difficult. The objective of this study is to
find a robust way of estimating some ring-fault parameters based on
their MT solutions obtained from long-period seismic records. We first
model the MTs of idealized ring-faulting and show that MT components
representing the vertical-CLVD and vertical strike-slip mechanisms are
resolvable by the deviatoric MT inversion using long-period seismic
waves, whereas a component representing the vertical dip-slip mechanism
is indeterminate owing to a shallow source depth. We then propose a new
method for estimating the arc angle and orientation of ring-faulting
using the two resolvable MT components. For validation, we study a
vertical-CLVD earthquake that occurred during the 2005 volcanic activity
at the Sierra Negra caldera, Galápagos Islands. The resolvable MT
components are stably determined with long-period seismic waves, and our
estimation of the ring-fault parameters is consistent with the
ring-fault geometry identified by previous geodetic studies and field
surveys. We also estimate ring-fault parameters of two earthquakes that
took place during the 2018 activity at the caldera, revealing
significant differences between the two earthquakes in terms of slip
direction and location. These results show the usefulness of our method
for estimating ring-fault parameters, enabling us to examine the
kinematics and structures below active volcanoes with ring faults that
are distributed globally.