Computer program for automatic processing of Basin and Range seismic data

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A program has been written for the University of Nevada's IBM 1620 computer which locates epicenters of seismic events that occur within the Nevada region. The program utilizes readings of P and S waves at up to eight stations in the Basin and Range province, rejects readings for events which are outside the region of interest or events recorded at less than three Nevada stations, establishes trial epicenters for locatable events by means of a table-lookup routine which utilized P-time differences between pairs of stations, and adjusts the trial epicenter by a least-squares procedure based on a sloping-layer crustal model derived from recent U. S. Geological Survey seismic refraction profiles. Epicenters calculated by the program are found to be affected by near-surface structural irregularities in the vicinity of receiving stations, but are not affected either by near-surface features in the source region or direction of the propagation paths with respect to regional structural trends. Traveltime delays calculated for Nevada seismographic stations appear to correlate with Bouguer gravity anomalies at the station sites.