Discrimination between Earthquakes and Explosions

Abstract

In this thesis, several diagnostic techniques (complexity, spectral ratio, spectral displacement, amplitude ratio of P/S and mb body wave and Ms surface wave magnitudes are applied in five regions (China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and USA) to discriminate between nuclear explosions and natural earthquakes. The waveform data were collected from different international sources for the period from 1990 to 2017 with a set of 35 seismic events; 19 events are nuclear explosions and 16 events are natural earthquakes with 4 ≤ mb ≤ 6.5. The broadband and long period stations at local, regional and teleseismic stations are used. In China region the data used are 7 earthquakes and 7 explosions. In India region the data used are one earthquake and one explosion. In Pakistan region the data used are one explosion and one earthquake. In North Korea region the data used are 6 explosions and 3 earthquakes and in USA region the data used are 4 explosions and 4 earthquakes.