IDENTIFYING MINING EXPLOSIONS AND TESTING DISCRIMINANTS IN EASTERN KAZAKHSTAN
HARTSE, H.E., GREENE, M.K., and ROWE, C.A., Los Alamos National Laboratory, 
Earth Sciences Division, M.S. D-408, Los Alamos, NM 87545; MACCARTHY, J.K., 
New Mexico Tech, Dept of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Socorro, NM 87801

We have identified about 250 events associated with several different mines located in eastern Kazakhstan by
using event time-of-day analysis and seismic waveform cross correlations. We have confirmed the existence of some
mines by comparing seismic event locations to features on satellite images. Also, we find all suspected mining
events occur during local day time. Hence, for ground truth purposes, we assume these events are open pit mining
explosions. We have also selected about 60 night time seismic events, which do not correlate with one another, as
ground truth earthquakes. Using these 250 mining events and 60 presumed earthquakes we will report on the
performance of spectral-ratio and phase-ratio amplitude discriminants at far-local to near-regional distances.
Our study area overlaps the former nuclear test site in Kazakhstan, covering the region from 48 to 51 deg N lat
and from 76 to 84 deg E lon. We obtain most waveforms from GSN station KURK via the IRIS DMC and from IMS array
MKAR. To guide wave selection we use bulletin information (2002-2005) obtained from the Kazakh National Data
Center (KNDC) public website.