FAULT PLANE SOLUTION/FOCAL MECHANISM SOLUTION

A fault plane solution is a way of showing the fault and the direction of slip on it from
an earthquake, using circles with two intersecting curves that look like beach balls.

https://www.bgs.ac.uk/discovering-geology/earth-hazards/earthquakes/how-are-earthquakes-detected/

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Focal_mechanism
The main aim is to recognize and interpret the “beachball” diagram that graphically
represents the geometry of a moment tensor derived by seismologists using
sophisticated wave-form analysis

https://www.usna.edu/Users/oceano/pguth/md_help/geology_course/beachball_theory.htm
Focal mechanism solution (FMS) is the result of an analysis of wave forms generated by
an earthquake and recorded by a number of seismographs.

Body waves
Travel long distance

https://tenor.com/view/wave-seismic-geology-earth-quake-gif-26535956 https://www.geometrics.com/support/different-types-of-seismic-waves/

Surface
waves
Fade with distance
https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/edumod/waves/WaveDemo.htm https://gpg.geosci.xyz/content/seismic/wave_basics.html
 It usually takes at least 10 records to produce a reasonable FMS, and then only if the
seismograph stations are well distributed geographically around the epicenter

https://giphy.com/gifs/IRIS-EPO-waves-earthquake-iris-ozPwVyt5eYZ1btwYwm

https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/Gettysburg_College/Book%3A_An_Introduction_to_Geology_(Johnson_Affolter_Inkenbrandt https://geo.libretexts.org/Courses/Gettysburg_College/Book%3A_An_Introduction_to_Geology_(Johnson_Affolter_Inkenbrandt
_and_Mosher)/03%3A_Crustal_Deformation_and_Earthquakes/3.07%3A_Measuring_Earthquakes _and_Mosher)/03%3A_Crustal_Deformation_and_Earthquakes/3.07%3A_Measuring_Earthquakes
 http://www.isc.ac.uk/registries/

https://www.sms-tsunami-warning.com/pages/seismograph#.Y19Zvf1BxPY

https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-seismic-shadow-zone https://uag-earthsci.blogspot.com/2022/03/ https://giphy.com/explore/seismic-shadow-zone

 https://uag-earthsci.blogspot.com/2020/03/day-110-giftionary-measuring-distance.html https://seismo.berkeley.edu/blog/2012/01/01/how-to-read-a-seismogram-2.html

The complete characterization of an earthquake’s focal mechanism provides important

information such as:
The origin time
Epicenter location
Focal depth
Seismic moment (a direct measure of the energy radiated by an earthquake)
The magnitude and spatial orientation of the 9 components of the moment tensor
From the moment tensor, we can ultimately resolve the orientation and sense of slip of
the fault
 It’s pretty hard to interpret a 3 x 3 matrix
of numbers, so moment tensors are
usually displayed as beach balls, either
2D or 3D

https://www.iris.edu/hq/inclass/animation/focal_mechanisms_explained

https://mxrap.com/moment-tensors-a-practical-guide/

A moment tensor is a representation of the source of a seismic event. The stress

tensor and the moment tensor are very similar ideas. Much as a stress tensor describes
the state of stress at a particular point, a moment tensor describes the deformation at
the source location that generates seismic waves.
 For any moment tensor, there are two possible planes
called the nodal planes, and they are at right angles
to one another

One of the planes is the fault surface, and the other

is called the auxiliary plane and has no structural
significance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_mechanism

All a seismologist can say with reference to the moment tensor alone is that the
earthquake was generated on one or the other of the nodal planes. It takes geological
input to differentiate between the two possible fault-plane solutions

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-
5106621/134-earthquakes-rattle-San-Andreas-fault-just-
one-week.html https://slideplayer.com/slide/10551505/
 Analysis of several FMS
in a main shock-
aftershock sequence
allows us to map the
patch along the fault
that slipped, and
evaluate whether more
than one fault generated
earthquakes during the
sequence.
The great-circle arcs are
the nodal planes, one of
which coincides with the
fault surface that
generated the
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/2-Examples-of-focal-mechanism-beach-ball-diagrams-and-
earthquake https://seismo.berkeley.edu/mt/
their_fig22_343376667
FMS beachball diagrams are lower hemisphere stereographic projections that show two
black quadrants and two white quadrants separated by great- circle arcs oriented 90°
from each other.

https://slideplayer.com/slide/3277698/

http://civilengineering-notes.weebly.com/stereographic-projection.html

The great-circle arcs are the nodal

planes, one of which coincides
with the fault surface that
https://www.scribd.com/doc/219193710/Stereographic-Net
generated the earthquake
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Focal_mechanism
https://www.geological-digressions.com/stereographic-projection-the-basics/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StereoprojectStructuralgeol.jpg
Pure dip-slip faults include normal faults
and thrust faults. Only three of the four
quadrants are observable in the
beachball diagram for pure dip-slip
faults
The center of the beachball plot is white
for normal fault mechanisms (a), and the
center is black for reverse-fault
mechanisms (b). Reverse-fault FMS
diagrams look like cat’s eyes
https://slideplayer.com/slide/13516444/

Oblique-slip faults have both strike-slip and dip-slip

components. All four quadrants of a FMS beachball
diagram are included for oblique slip earthquakes

https://www.petmd.com/cat/general-health/common-cat-eye-problems
If the center of the beachball plot is in a white quadrant
(a), the fault has a normal component of slip, regardless
of which of the two nodal planes is the fault; if the center
is in a black quadrant (b), the fault has a reverse
component of slip Cronin, 2004

Some Examples

Cronin, 2004
 How is a focal mechanism solution
derived?
The basic techniques for using P-wave
D
first motions recorded by an array of
seismographs to define a FMS
D
beachball diagram

U D D U

U
U D D

U U
D D Kuang et al., 2021
Cronin, 2004
 Cronin, 2004

Data plotted on a lower-hemisphere stereographic projection on an equal-area stereonet.

The data from each seismograph station is plotted with one of three symbols: a circle (ₒ)
if the P-wave first motion was down (extension), a black dot (• ) if the first motion was up
(compression), or an x (x) if the first motion was too weak to differentiate.

For each station, the symbol is placed along a line extending from the center of the plot
toward the azimuth of the station relative to the earthquake focus, and the take-off angle
defines the angular distance from the center of the plot to the symbol.
Take-off angles depend on the velocity model of the Earth, the source depth, and the
epicentral distance at which the considered rays arrive at the Earth’s surface.

https://zdocs.hu/doc/1-seismology-4-rdpeojk2mm6e

During earthquake events the values for both the azimuth (AZM) and take-off angles of
the rays leaving the source towards the considered stations are given in the output file
 https://www.induced.pl/faq/how-should-i-provide-takeoff-angle-in-raw-ascii-file-format

https://maps.unomaha.community/Maher/GEOL3300/lab/lab5.html
https://slideplayer.com/slide/3277698/
After all of the first-motion data are plotted
(illustration “a”), two great-circle arcs are identified
on the stereonet representing two planes that are
at right angles to one another, that separate the
circles from the black dots, and that pass near or
through the x symbols (b).
Cronin, 2004

These are the nodal planes, one of which is

coincident with the fault that produced the
earthquake. Finally, we fill-in the quadrants
according to convention (c)
Just three data elements are needed to
completely specify the orientation of a FMS
beachball diagram (e.g., two elements to
specify the orientation of the fault plane and
one element to specify the orientation of
?
the slip vector on that plane).
https://slideplayer.com/slide/3277698/
Focal mechanism solution for
Divergent and Convergent
margins
 https://tenor.com/view/nuclear-underground-gif-21486437

https://mobile.twitter.com/seismofin