Decomposition of seismic moment tensors for underground nuclear explosions

Generally the decomposition of a seismic moment tensor is not unique. However, to favorably view the characteristics of a certain seismic source, one must decompose a seismic moment tensor into parts according to assumptions about the properties of the seismic source. Different from natural earthquakes in which the shear dislocation component plays a predominant role in the source process, and the seismic moment tensor can be separated into an isotropic component, a double couple, and a compensated linear vector dipole (CLVD), underground nuclear explosions have three major components in their source process, i.e., the explosion, the tensional spalling, and the tectonic strain release associated with the explosion. In such a situation the conventional moment tensor decomposition for earthquakes is not convenient to estimate the yield of the explosion and to characterize the tectonic strain release. In this paper, an alternative decomposition scheme is proposed to deal with the moment tensor of underground nuclear explosions, which might benefit the approach to study the tectonic strain release induced by underground nuclear detonations.