S-wave attenuation in northeastern Sonora, Mexico, near the faults that ruptured during the earthquake of 3 May 1887 Mw 7.5

We used a new data set of relocated earthquakes recorded by the Seismic Network of Northeastern Sonora, Mexico (RESNES) to characterize the attenuation of S-waves in the fault zone of the 1887 Sonora earthquake (M(w) 7.5). We determined spectral attenuation functions for hypocentral distances (r) between 10 and 140 km using a nonparametric approach and found that in this fault zone the spectral amplitudes decay slower with distance at low frequencies (f < 4 Hz) compared to those reported in previous studies in the region using more distant recordings. The attenuation functions obtained for 23 frequencies (0.4 ≤ f ≤ 63.1 Hz) permit us estimating the average quality factor Q(S) = (141 ± 1.1 )f((0.74 ± 0.04)) and a geometrical spreading term G(r) = 1/r(0.21). The values of Q estimated for S-wave paths traveling along the fault system that rupture during the 1887 event, in the north–south direction, are considerably lower than the average Q estimated using source-station paths from multiple stations and directions. These results indicate that near the fault zone S waves attenuate considerably more than at regional scale, particularly at low frequencies. This may be the result of strong scattering near the faults due to the fractured upper crust and higher intrinsic attenuation due to stress concentration near the faults. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2193-1801-3-747) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.