Region-specific S-wave attenuation for earthquakes in northwestern Iran

In this study, continuous wavelet transform is applied to estimate the frequency-dependent quality factor of shear waves, Q S , in northwestern Iran. The dataset used in this study includes velocigrams of more than 50 events with magnitudes between 4.0 and 6.5, which have occurred in the study area. The CWT-based method shows a high-resolution technique for the estimation of S-wave frequency-dependent attenuation. The quality factor values are determined in the form of a power law as Q S (f) = (147 ± 16)f 0.71 ± 0.02 and (126 ± 12)f 0.73 ± 0.02 for vertical and horizontal components, respectively, where f is between 0.9 and 12 Hz. Furthermore, in order to verify the reliability of the suggested Q S estimator method, an additional test is performed by using accelerograms of Ahar-Varzaghan dual earthquakes on August 11, 2012, of moment magnitudes 6.4 and 6.3 and their aftershocks. Results indicate that the estimated Q S values from CWT-based method are not very sensitive to the numbers and types of waveforms used (velocity or acceleration).