Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952*

Abstract

Mantle Rayleigh waves from the Kamchatka earthquake of November 4, 1952, are analyzed. The new Palisades long-period vertical seismograph recorded orders R₆–R₁₅, the corresponding paths involving up to seven complete passages around the earth. The dispersion data for periods below 400 sec. are in excellent agreement with earlier results and can be explained in terms of the known increase of shear velocity with depth in the mantle. Data for periods 400-480 sec. indicate a tendency for the group velocity curve to level off, suggesting that these long waves are influenced by a low or vanishing shear velocity in the core. Deduction of internal friction in the mantle from wave absorption gives a value 1/Q = 370 × 10⁻⁵ for periods 250-350 sec. This is a little over half the value reported earlier for periods 140-215 sec.