An eigenvalue method for the statistical evaluation of fault plane solutions of earthquakes

Abstract

A method for the calculation of the tectonic motion direction in an area from fault plane solutions of earthquakes is presented. This method is similar to an earlier one described in the literature, but with an improved weighting procedure of the input data. The problem then reduces to that of calculating the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a certain matrix. The new method enables one for the first time to get easily a value for the scattering of the input data. The method is first applied to a test case, and then to a series of earthquakes that occurred in the vicinity of the Marianas Islands.