Discriminating between Low‐Magnitude Shallow Earthquakes and Road Construction Blasts near Big Salmon River, New Brunswick, Canada

Research Article| June 20, 2018 Discriminating between Low‐Magnitude Shallow Earthquakes and Road Construction Blasts near Big Salmon River, New Brunswick, Canada Michal Kolaj Michal Kolaj aCanadian Hazards Information Service, Natural Resources Canada, 930 Carling Avenue, CEF, Building 7, Observatory Crescent, Room 14A, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0Y3, Michal.Kolaj@Canada.ca Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Michal Kolaj aCanadian Hazards Information Service, Natural Resources Canada, 930 Carling Avenue, CEF, Building 7, Observatory Crescent, Room 14A, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0Y3, Michal.Kolaj@Canada.ca Publisher: Seismological Society of America First Online: 20 Jun 2018 Online Issn: 1938-2057 Print Issn: 0895-0695 © Seismological Society of America Seismological Research Letters (2018) 89 (5): 1966–1976. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180077 Article history First Online: 20 Jun 2018 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Michal Kolaj; Discriminating between Low‐Magnitude Shallow Earthquakes and Road Construction Blasts near Big Salmon River, New Brunswick, Canada. Seismological Research Letters 2018;; 89 (5): 1966–1976. doi: https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180077 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietySeismological Research Letters Search Advanced Search ABSTRACT Spectral ratio discriminants were developed to discriminate between low‐magnitude (⁠MN<2⁠) shallow (depth <3 km⁠) earthquakes and blasts related to road construction. The spectral ratios were formed from narrowband spectral‐energy estimates between 1 and 40 Hz of Pg, Lg, and Rg for a total of 786 unique discriminants. From these discriminants, it was found that broadband high‐frequency Pg/Lg and low‐frequency Lg/Rg provided the largest separation between earthquakes and blasts. The high‐frequency Pg/Lg spectral ratio confirms the applicability of P/S ratios for the discrimination of low‐magnitude blasts from small local/regional shallow earthquakes. Furthermore, the success of the Lg/Rg spectral ratio demonstrates that the normalized Rg component from blasts typical of road construction projects tends to be larger at small epicentral distances (⁠<50 km⁠) than that of shallow earthquakes typical of the area. Although the results presented in this work were developed for a local area, the broader conclusions are likely expandable to other regions in Canada, in particular the Northern Appalachians, where discriminating between low‐magnitude blasts related to mining and road construction and shallow earthquakes is a daily challenge. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.