To retrieve the parameters of a seismic source from seismograms means to deconvolve the response of the medium from the seismic records. Thus, in general, source parame- ters are determined from both the seismograms and the Green function describing the properties of the medium in which the earthquake focus is buried.
The quality of each of these two data sets is equally significant for a successful determination of the source characteristics. As a rule, both the sets are subject to contamination by effects, which decrease the resolution of the source parameters.
Seismic records are usually contami- nated by noise which appears as a spurious signal not related to the source. Error in the Green function is usually caused by the use of an improper model of the medium due to generally common poor knowledge of the seismic velocity of the area under study.
Then, the phenomena of the structure which are not modelled in the Green function are assigned to the source where they distort the source mechanism.