Tensile-crack seismic source ($M_{ij}=V(t)(\lambda {\delta }_{ij}+2\mu n_i{n}_j)$)

A small planar crack of area $S$ opening normally by $d(t)$ has volume change $V=Sd$ and the displayed seismic moment tensor. Its principal dipoles are $\lambda V,\lambda V,(\lambda +2\mu )V$: two act in the crack plane and the largest acts normally for positive opening and ordinary positive Lamé parameters. The definition follows by contracting the isotropic elastic stiffness tensor with two copies of the crack normal.

For a planar tensile-crack seismic source, $\theta$ is measured from its normal. The P wave displacement is radial with the first displayed amplitude. The S wave displacement is tangential in the plane containing the observation direction and crack normal, with four alternating signed lobes and nodes at the poles and equator. Both radiative fields depend on the opening rate and vanish once opening stops; the static displacement field depends on the final opening.