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An Updated Catalog of Seismicity for New Mexico

Description: 

Seismic monitoring in New Mexico began in 1962, when Dr. Allan R. Sanford, a professor of seismology at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, combined data from seismic instruments installed to monitor earthquakes from the Socorro Seismic Anomaly with data collected by the USGS, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Air Force Technical Applications Center, and several universities in Texas to examine seismicity throughout the state. The first catalog of New Mexico seismicity was published in 2002, and included instrumented data from 1962-1998 as well as information about pre-instrumented earthquakes from felt reports beginning in 1869. The catalog was updated twice to include earthquakes through 2009. Earthquake locations and magnitudes were calculated using a program called SEISMOS that was developed to study earthquakes in the Socorro area, and magnitudes were calculated using duration magnitude.

In recent years, seismicity in New Mexico and the methods used to study it have changed significantly. Increasing numbers of induced earthquakes have occurred in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the state, and stations have been added in those regions to better study those events. TexNet began operating in Texas in 2017, and both Arizona and Colorado have built networks starting with stations from the Transportable Array that provide additional data that can be used to locate earthquakes in New Mexico. However, New Mexico still experiences naturally occurring seismicity in other parts of the state that are not fully instrumented, and there is a need to improve the overall level of seismic monitoring throughout the state. Despite the limited network, improved processing methods including using machine learning detection (using EasyQuake) have allowed us to detect events throughout the state and compute local magnitudes using Seiscomp. Here we present our updated catalog, assess the current magnitude of completeness in various parts of the state, and suggest improvements for the future.

Session: Network Seismology: Recent Developments, Challenges and Lessons Learned [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/20/2023

Presentation Time: 08:00 AM (local time)

Presenting Author: Mairi Litherland

Student Presenter: No

Invited Presentation: 

Authors