Application of cluster analysis based on waveform cross-correlation coefficients to data recorded by ocean-bottom seismometers: results from off the Kii Peninsula

Waveform cross-correlation coefficients (CCs) have often been used to investigate clustering of earthquakes. Such techniques, however, have rarely been applied to waveform data recorded by ocean-bottom seismometers (OBSs). The data recorded by some OBSs are strongly influenced by site effects such as the existence of unconsolidated sediment layers. The resulting waveforms tend to have a monotone frequency so that the calculated CCs stay artificially high, and false delay times are obtained at certain multiples of the period. This effect also varies from place to place. To overcome such problems, CC measurements were first performed using multiple time windows with different lengths in order to reject unstable results. Station-specific CC thresholds were then objectively determined based on the CC distributions. This method was applied to seismic measurements obtained by OBSs deployed off the Kii Peninsula from 2003 to 2007 in order to identify characteristic hypocenter patterns. Two types of earthquake clusters were found. The first occurred within the oceanic mantle, and the component events were linearly aligned along the NNE direction. Such earthquakes are considered to occur on preexisting faults due to dehydration of the serpentinized mantle. The second type of cluster consisted of interplate earthquakes that occurred at the southern tip of the Kii Peninsula. These are thought to be the result of stress caused by local structural heterogeneity of the dense rock body.