Small earthquake moment magnitude and implications for frequency–magnitude scaling of injection induced earthquakes of the Raton Basin
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Abstract
Accurate estimation of earthquake source parameters—such as moment magnitudes, corner frequencies, and stress drops—is essential for improving seismic hazard assessments and understanding earthquake physics. In this study, moment magnitudes (MW) are calculated for 31,581 earthquakes associated with wastewater injection in the Raton Basin (located along the border between northern New Mexico and southern Colorado) between 2016 and 2024 using radiative transfer theory to fit coda decay envelopes. Our results show that it is feasible to estimate moment magnitudes down to MW ~1 with coda envelopes from a small local monitoring network. Significant differences were found between MW and local magnitudes (ML) for small earthquakes (M < 3.0). A linear relationship was optimized to convert ML to MW: MW = 0.7ML + 0.96 and MW = 0.73 ML + 0.99 (for the events reported by the U.S. Geological Survey), which can be applied in future studies of Raton Basin seismicity. We find that b-values calculated employing different methods and using ML are approximately 1.0, while those using MWrange from 1.2 to 1.4. A larger estimate of the b-value could influence interpretations of the statistical behavior of earthquakes associated with injection and consequently seismic hazard assessments based on a magnitude–frequency distribution. The potential differences between local versus moment magnitude-based earthquake statistics should be considered in other seismically active regions.
Suggested Citation
Peña Castro, A.F., Schmandt, B., Glasgow, M.E., Jamalreyhani, M., Wang, R., and Cochran, E.S., 2026, Small earthquake moment magnitude and implications for frequency–magnitude scaling of injection induced earthquakes of the Raton Basin: Seismica, v. 5, no. 1, https://doi.org/10.26443/seismica.v5i1.1959.
Study Area
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | Small earthquake moment magnitude and implications for frequency–magnitude scaling of injection induced earthquakes of the Raton Basin |
| Series title | Seismica |
| DOI | 10.26443/seismica.v5i1.1959 |
| Edition | Online First |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication Date | February 24, 2026 |
| Year Published | 2026 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | OJS/PKP |
| Contributing office(s) | Volcano Science Center |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado, New Mexico |
| Other Geospatial | Raton Basin |