Moment Tensors and their Uncertainties for M3 Earthquakes in the Geysers, California, from Waveform Modeling and First Motions

We investigate moment tensor solutions and their uncertainties for magnitude (M) ~3 earthquakes located in the northwest Geysers geothermal field, California. We are exploiting an unusual opportunity where data for M~3 events have been recorded by three different networks and have moment tensor solutions calculated by three different methods. We solve for both deviatoric and full moment tensor solutions. The data sets include local short-period instruments (4.5 Hz) of the 30 stations of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), with which we obtain waveform inversion solutions at relatively high frequencies (i.e., up to 2.5 Hz), and regionally distributed broadband stations operated by the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory (BSL), with which are used to provide waveform inversion solutions with data filtered at longer periods (i.e., > 10 sec). We also utilize the LBNL data to obtain moment tensor solutions by fitting the P-wave first motions. The USGS, LBNL, and BSL obtain different event locations, utilize different velocity models, and analyze different frequency bands and wave types (i.e., body waves for LBNL method and primarily surface waves for the BSL analysis). Preliminary results indicate that the BSL and LBNL waveform modeling analyses give similar results in terms of nodal plane characteristics, moment magnitude, and moment tensor decomposition. Analysis of the P-wave first motions recorded by LBNL stations can illuminate complexities in the source processes when compared to waveform moment tensor solutions. We discuss uncertainties in the source inversions that use broadband and/or short-period waveform modeling, and in the source inversions from first motions only. We also combine the different datasets and compare their individual importance as they can help illustrate the complex source processes happening in the Geysers. This study introduces the possibility to interpret the seismic sources as complex processes in which both shear and tensile processes can occur simultaneously or sequentially.