Cooperative Seismology between Michigan State …...Cooperative Seismology between Michigan State University in the USA, and Russia Kevin Mackey1, Kazuya Fujita1, Larissa Gounbina2,

Cooperative Seismology between Michigan State University in the USA, and Russia

Kevin Mackey1, Kazuya Fujita1, Larissa Gounbina2, and Sergei Shibaev3

1Michigan State University 2Magadan Affiliate - GS RAS, 3Yakutsk Affiliate – SB GS RAS

1. Abstract

Michigan State University in the USA and several seismic networks and institutions in Russia,

primarily in the east, have been cooperating in seismological research for over 20 years. Our

cooperative program has produced a large seismological database, and the most complete

seismicity map of eastern Russia. One main focus is the improvement of hypocenter

determinations and the acquisition of high quality ground truth (GT) data. We have recently

determined GT0 or GT1 locations for all PNEs that were conducted in Yakutia. For about half of

these PNEs, published coordinates were seismically determined, and we find that the locations

move about 7 km on average to the new GT0 or GT1 location. We are actively researching a new

set of GT determination criteria for use with the seismological data of eastern Russia. In this region,

most recorded seismological phases reported are secondary Pg and Sg (Lg onset) phases, which

are not compatible with the GT criteria established by Bondar et al. (2004). With the assistance of

mining companies in the Magadan region, we record blasting at both permanent and temporary

seismic stations, and analyze the data in the same manner as earthquakes, with particular attention

to secondary phase time picks. Subsequently, through statistical methods applied to varying

recorded phases and station distributions, we determine a set of rules for GT classification of

events.

4. Revised Source Parameters for PNEs in Yakutia3. Digitization of PNE Records

Figure 5. Hand digitized SP waveforms of PNEs originally recorded on photopaper.

7. Acknowledgments

We thank the Geophysical Survey, Russian Academy of Sciences and its affiliated branches, and the

Geophysical Survey, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences and its affiliated branches for

making this project possible. Support for this work has been provided by the United States AFRL and DoE

contracts FA8718-08-C-0018 and DE-AC52-09NA29323 respectively.

2. Seismicity Database

Over several years, we have assembled the largest eastern Russia seismicity database

covering several seismic networks and containing over 275,000 distinct events, 2.1 million arrival

times and 1 million phase amplitudes. This database has been used to produce the first

comprehensive map of eastern Russia (Figure 1). We are now working to expand this database to

include the Altai-Sayan Network (Figure 2).

Figure 1. Seismicity map of eastern Russia.

Figure 2. Seismic networks of the former Soviet Union showing the coverage of our existing

seismicity database in blue (see Figure 1) and our planned expansion to include the Altai

Sayan network in red.

6. Extension of GT Criteria for Eastern RussiaWe are developing an improved set of GT determination criteria for Eastern Russia, which currently

do not typically lend themselves to the Bondár et al. (2004) criteria. The Bondár et al. (2004) criteria do

not accept Sg phases nor Pg phases available beyond the Pg/Pn crossover distance. Such Pg and Sg

phases comprise the bulk of our database and are of high quality. We have recently undertaken fieldwork

in eastern Russia to develop the new GT criteria for the region using mine blasts and temporary station

deployments. In April-May 2011 we deployed 9 temporary seismic stations in the Susuman mining region

of eastern Russia and recorded 6 explosions ranging up to 70 tons (Figure 11). The temporary sites

supplemented the regions permanent stations and were arranged to maximize statistical possibilities in

analysis. Data have not yet been analyzed. Similar fieldwork, but with a less than ideal station

distribution, was conducted in 2004, when it was generally found that that events could be located at the

GT-3 level using multiple phases and a locally calibrated travel-time curve, but with a poor distribution of

stations (Figure 12).

We are working to assemble, scan, digitize, and

analyze the historic Peaceful Nuclear Explosion (PNE)

seismograms from the regional networks of Russia.

Most seismograms are short period, and we have

collected and scanned approximately 350 thus far

(Figure 3). Figure 4 shows a screen capture of the

digitization process and Figure 5 shows examples of

completed 3-component digitizations. Although the

manual digitization of the short period seismograms is

labor intensive, we are able to recover the frequency

content from 1 Hz up to 5-8 Hz, depending on the

record (Figure 6).

Figure 4. Sample record showing the seismogram digitization process. This record depicts the

Z-component of the Neva 2-2 PNE as recorded at Yakutsk, 746 km distant.

Figure 3. PNE (circles) seismograms

collected and scanned (blue lines).

Figure 6. A) Hand digitized short period waveforms of a regional earthquake on 21 September

2008 recorded on photo paper at Yuzhno Sakhalinsk (YSS). B-D) Comparisons of frequency

spectra (left) and 1-5 Hz filtered waveforms (right) of the digitized data to GSN data from the co-

located IRIS station at YSS. Components are, top to bottom, Z, E-W, and N-S.

D

C

BA

N-S

Z

E-W

Table 1. Revised GT locations of Yakutian PNEs.

The use of satellite imagery combined with information being published in the open literature about

many of the PNE sites allows improvement or confirmation of the ground truth coordinates and derivative

velocity and origin time estimates. We are hoping to expand this study to PNEs in other regions of the

Former Soviet Union.

PNE02/13/2011

Proposed Coordinates Sultanov Coordinates Difference

(km)

Proposed GT

Latitude (ºN) Longitude (ºE) Latitude (ºN) Longitude (ºE)

Crystal (1974 10 02) 66.4573±.0001 112.3989±.0001 66.10 112.65 41.4 GT0

Neva 2-1 (1987 07 07) 61.4317±.0006 112.8860±.0012 61.50 112.85 7.8 GT0

Neva 2-2 (1987 07 25) 61.4172±.0011 112.8927±.0017 61.45 112.80 6.1 GT1

Neva 2-3 (1987 08 12) 61.4266±.0007 112.8879±.0012 61.45 112.80 5.4 GT0

Oka (1976 11 05) 61.4608±.0006 112.8592±.0010 61.458 112.860 0.3 GT1

Neva-1 (1982 10 10) 61.5006±.0006 112.9110±.0010 61.55 112.85 6.4 GT0

Vyatka (1978 10 08) 61.5565±.0008 112.9922±.0012 61.55 112.85 7.6 GT2

Sheksna (1979 10 07) 61.7679±.0001 113.1554±.0004 61.85 113.10 9.6 GT0

Craton-3 (1978 08 24) 65.9254±.0002 112.3330±.0002 65.925 112.338 0.2 GT0

Horizon-4 (1975 08 12) 70.7636±.0001 126.9518±.0001 70.763 126.953 0.1 GT1

Kimberlite-4 (1979 08 12) 61.7997±.0004 122.4161±.0007 61.803 122.430 0.8 GT0

Craton-4 (1978 08 24) 63.6800±.0002 125.5267±.0004 63.678 125.522 0.3 GT0

Recently, information on the detonation sites of the 12 PNEs conducted in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)

in northeast Russia (hereafter, Yakutia) were published as parts of radionuclide contamination and

environmental studies (not all studies or information are cited here). These descriptions allow for the

improvement of the coordinates of these PNEs through the identification of disturbed areas, craters, and

containment features in satellite imagery. Accounting for uncertainties and alternative sites, all of them can

be located to within 0-2 km (GT0-GT2). Relative to the published coordinates of Sultanov et al. (1999), our

locations have a mean change of 6 km, with a maximum of 41km.

Figure 7. Index map of PNEs conducted in the Sakha

Republic (Yakutia). 1 – Crystal; 2 – Horizon-4, 3 – Oka, 4 –

Craton-4, 5 – Craton-3, 6 – Vyatka, 7 – Kimberlite-4, 8 –

Sheksna, 9 – Neva-1, 10 – Neva 2-1, 11 – Neva 2-2, and 12 –

Neva 2-3. Lines represent the three major DSS profiles: A –

Horizon, B – Kimberlite, and C – Craton. After Fujita (1995).

12 PNEs were detonated in the Yakutia between 1974 and

1987 (Figure 7), four as part of DSS profiles and the remainder

for oil recovery and mining purposes.

From 1978 to 2007, studies were conducted in the Sakha

Republic (Yakutia) to investigate possible radioactive

contamination around the PNE sites. Publications from these

studies yield much information about that is used to identify

likely detonation sites on satellite imagery. A few examples are

shown below.

Crystal was detonated to create a foundation for a tailings storage pond dam 2.5 km north of the

Udachnyi diamond mine. It produced a crater which was covered in 1992 with a “sarcophagus” (Figure 8a,

b). This site falls 41 km north-northwest from the location given by Sultanov et al. (1999).

Figure 8b. Detailed maps of the Crystal

site (Gedeonov et al., 1997) and

“sarcophagus” built to cover it in 1992.

Figure 8a. Google Earth image of the Udachnyi Mining

complex and encapsulated crater from the Crystal PNE

(dome). The small image shows a close-up of the site.

Figure 9. Location of PNEs in the Central Botuobuya Oil and

Gas field as published in a) Mikulenko et al. (2006; left) and

b) on satellite imagery (above). Locations of the PNEs as

given by Sultanov et al. (1999; yellow), and in this poster

(red) also shown. The town of Tas-Yuryakh shown as blue

dot.

A series of PNEs were detonated in the Tas-Yuryakh

region to enhance oil recovery and create storage in the

Central Botuobuya Oil and Gas field. The location of the

boreholes are given (e.g., Burtsev, 1993) in terms of

distances from the town of Tas-Yuryakh. However,

Mikulenko et al. (2006) presented a map showing the

details of the locations. Our proposed locations (Figure 9)

are based on areas of disturbed ground, often at the

confluence of roads, at localities constrained by the map

of Mikulenko et al. (2006).

5. Revised Source Parameters for the Mangyshlak

1 and 2 PNEs in KazakhstanIn 1969 and 1970, three PNEs were detonated in the Mangyshlak region of Kazakhstan. We have

identified what appear to be the collapse craters of the Mangyshlak 1 and 2 explosions (Figure 10).

Revised coordinates are shown in Table 2.

PNE6/6/2011

Proposed Coordinates Sultanov Coordinates Difference

(km)

Proposed GT

Latitude (ºN) Longitude (ºE) Latitude (ºN) Longitude (ºE)

Mangyshlak 1 (06-12-1969) 43.9099±.0002 54.7933±.0002 43.867 54.800 4.78 GT0

Mangyshlak 2 (12-12-1970) 43.8623±.0002 54.7727±.0002 43.85 54.80 2.59 GT0

Table 2. Revised GT locations of the Mangyshlak 1 and 2 PNEs.

Figure 10. Left – Locations of the Mangyshlak 1 and 2 PNE locations from Sultanov et al. (1999)

and this study. The new locations are identified by apparent collapse craters visible on Google Earth

Imagery. Right – The collapse crater from Mangyshlak 1 and associated topographic profiles.

Figure 11. Left – Locations of the temporary (pink) and permanent (red) seismic station deployments in

April-May 2011 to record GT mine explosions (yellow). Temporary stations were also deployed at the

mine sites. Right – Fieldwork and temporary station deployment photos.

Figure 12. Left – 2004 fieldwork temporary (small red) and permanent (large red) seismic station

deployments to record GT mine explosions (green). Center – Seismically determined locations of the

mine explosions. Each location was determined using only two of the temporary station sited, yet errors

do not exceed 3 km. Right - Sample seismograms from the mine explosions.