Source mechanism studies of earthquakes in the Ibero-Maghrebian region and their tectonic implications

Seismicity of the Ibero-Maghrebian region includes the occurrence of shallow, intermediate depth, and very deep earthquakes. This is a very rare occurrence for a region not associated to an active subduction zone. Detailed studies of the source mechanism of these three types of earthquakes have been made possible through the collaboration with Prof. Madariaga. They give important information about the complex tectonic of the region. Shallow earthquakes at the west and east ends of the region have predominant reverse faulting with NW-SE trending horizontal pressure axes. The center part is the most tectonically complex. At the Strait of Gibraltar, there is a change on focal mechanisms from reverse faulting to strike-slip motion in northern Morocco, conserving the horizontal compression on NW-SE direction. In the Alboran Sea, mechanisms are of normal faulting with E-W trending horizontal tension axes, and in south Spain, mechanisms are of mixed solutions. The intermediate depth earthquakes (40–130 km) are located at both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar, at the western part distributed in E-W direction. The most important concentration, however, is located at the east of Gibraltar in a N-S trending thin vertical body and has different mechanisms. The very deep earthquakes (650 km) are concentrated at a small volume, and their mechanism corresponds to N-S vertical planes or horizontal ones. A tectonic model for the region is presented to explain the shallow, intermediate, and deep earthquakes.     

Re-appraisal of seismicity and seismotectonics in the north-eastern Algeria Part II: 20th century seismicity and seismotectonics analysis

The main objective of the research work isthe homogenisation of the two recentAlgerian earthquake catalogues for thecommon covered period of time, from 1900 to1990, for the region under considerationlimited by [33^°N–38^°N,4^°E-9.5^°E] and the updatingof the catalogue for the twentieth century(1900–2000). To mitigate the deficiencyof the incompleteness of catalogue, aneffort was made to establish a correlationbetween surface-wave magnitude Ms andbody-wave magnitude m_b in the form ofMs = a + b (m_b). A complete, exact andhomogeneous earthquake catalogue as much aspossible, comprising 870 seismic events,has been compiled. Seismicity analysis ofthe region shows a strong concentration ofseismicity along a band of no more than400 km width oriented mainly in theeast-west direction parallel to the coast.Moreover, earthquakes in this zone arerather associated to strike-slip mechanism.The focal mechanism show a regional stressregime that corresponds to horizontalcompression in NW-SE to N-S direction. As aresult of the review of the seismicity ofnorth-eastern Algeria from the compilationof checked and corrected data and itscorrelation with other geologic andgeophysical investigations based ondocumentary sources, it was possible toconstruct a most complete seismotectonicmap. It leads also to delineate fourseismogenic zones in the Tellian Atlas, aless important zone in the Saharan Atlas, asixth zone at the boundary of both Atlasand finally, a seventh one along thecoastal zone. The seismicity-active faultscorrelation of some of these defined zonesis examined in details with a specialattention to the Saharan Atlas zone, theHodna and Biban zone as well as Soummam andBabor zone where further research workallowed to find some neotectonic featuresconsidered as a significant sign of recenttectonic activity.     

Regional focal mechanisms for earthquakes in the Aegean area

The distribution of the focal mechanisms of the shallow and intermediate depth (h>40 km) earthquakes of the Aegean and the surrounding area is discussed. The data consist of all events of the period 1963–1986 for the shallow, and 1961–1985 for the intermediate depth earthquakes, withM _s 5.5. For this purpose, all published fault plane solutions for each event have been collected, reproduced, carefully checked and if possible improved accordingly. The distribution of the focal mechanisms of the earthquakes in the Aegean declares the existence of thrust faulting following the coastline of southern Yugoslavia, Albania and western Greece extending up to the island of Cephalonia. This zone of compression is due to the collision between two continental lithospheres (Apulian-Eurasian). The subduction of the African lithosphere under the Aegean results in the occurrence of thrust faulting along the convex side of the Hellenic arc. These two zones of compression are connected via strike-slip faulting observed at the area of Cephalonia island. TheP axis along the convex side of the arc keeps approximately the same strike throughout the arc (210° NNE-SSW) and plunges with a mean angle of 24° to southwest. The broad mainland of Greece as well as western Turkey are dominated by normal faulting with theT axis striking almost NS (with a trend of 174° for Greece and 180° for western Turkey). The intermediate depth seismicity is distributed into two segments of the Benioff zone. In the shallower part of the Benioff zone, which is found directly beneath the inner slope of the sedimentary arc of the Hellenic arc, earthquakes with depths in the range 40–100 km are distributed. The dip angle of the Benioff zone in this area is found equal to 23°. This part of the Benioff zone is coupled with the seismic zone of shallow earthquakes along the arc and it is here that the greatest earthquakes have been observed (M _s 8.0). The deeper part (inner) of the Benioff zone, where the earthquakes with depths in the range 100–180 km are distributed, dips with a mean angle of 38° below the volcanic arc of southern Aegean.     

A microearthquake study of the Mygdonian graben (northern Greece)

During March and April 1984, a temporary network of 29 portable stations was operated in the region of the Mygdonian graben near Thessaloniki (northern Greece), where a destructive earthquake (M_s = 6.5) had occurred in the Summer of 1978. During a period of six weeks we recorded 540 earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from −0.2 to 3.0. From this set of data, 254 events are selected which according to us have a precision in epicenter and depth better than 1.5 km. A total of 54 single-event focal mechanisms have been determined.The seismicity and focal mechanisms show a rather complex pattern. There are no clear individual faults, but the E-W and NW-SE striking zones show N-S extension. Zones striking NNE-SSW show dextral strike-slip motion but NW-SE zones with sinistral strike-slip are also observed.In the center of the graben where the 1978 earthquake was located, we observe several thrust mechanisms distributed in two groups showing either NW-SE or E-W compression; these earthquakes seem to be located 2 km above the earthquakes showing normal mechanisms.The mean direction of the T-axes, found from the focal mechanisms, trends N15° and dips sub-horizontal.We propose a model for the formation and evolution of a complex graben system comprising several stages. In the initial stage the deformation occurs along pre-existing NW-SE or NNE-SSW faults, with normal or strike-slip movements. In the second stage, a new, E-W trending group of normal faults is formed over the ancient fault network. These new faults have a direction perpendicular to the mean T-axis and accommodate better the actual state of stress. At this stage the initial faults adjust to the deformation produced by the E-W trending new faults, and may constitute geometric barriers to the evolution of the new normal faults.     

The reservoir-associated earthquakes of April 1983 in western Thailand: Source modeling and implications for induced seismicity

On 22 April 1983, a very large area of Thailand and part of Burma were strongly shaken by a rare earthquake (m _b=5.8,M _s=5.9). The epicenter was located at the Srinagarind reservoir about 190 km northwest of Bangkok, a relatively stable continental region that experienced little previous seismicity. The main shock was preceded by some foreshocks and followed by numerous aftershocks. The largest foreshock ofm _b=5.2 occurred 1 week before the main shock, and the largest aftershock ofm _b=5.3 took place about 3 hours after the main shock. Focal mechanisms of the three largest events in this earthquake sequence have been studied by other seismologists using firts-motion data. However, the solutions for the main shock and the largest aftershock showed significant inconsistency with known surface geology and regional tectonics. We reexamined the mechanisms of these three events by using teleseismicP-andS-waveforms and through careful readings ofP-wave first motions. The directions of theP axes in our study range from NNW-SSE to NNE-SSW, and nodal planes strike in the NW-SE to about E-W in agreement with regional tectonics and surface geology. The main shock mechanism strikes 255°, dips 48°, and slips 63.5°. The fault motions during the main shock and the foreshock are mainly thrust, while the largest aftershock has a large strike-slip component. The seismic moment and the stress drop of the mainshock are determined to be 3.86×10²⁴ dyne-cm and 180 bars, respectively. The occurrence of these thrust events appears to correlate with the unloading of the Srinagarind reservoir. The focal depths of the largest foreshock, the main shock, and the largest aftershock are determined to be 5.4 km, 8 km, and 22.7 km, respectively, from waveform modeling and relative location showing a downward migration of hypocenters of the three largest events during the earthquake sequence. Other characteristics of this reservoir-induced earthquake sequence are also discussed.     

Body-wave wave-form modelling and source parameters for the indochina border earthquakes

Wave-form modelling of body waves has been done to study the seismic source parameters of three earthquakes which occurred on October 21, 1964 (M _b =5.9), September 26, 1966 (M _b =5.8) and March 14, 1967 (M _b =5.8). These events occurred in the Indochina border region where a low-angle thrust fault accommodates motion between the underthrusting Indian plate and overlying Himalaya. The focal depths of all these earthquakes are between 12–37 km. The total range in dip for the three events is 5°–20°. TheT axes are NE-SW directed whereas the strikes of the northward dipping nodal planes are generally parallel to the local structural trend. The total source durations have been found to vary between 5–6 seconds. The average values of seismic moment, fault radius and dislocation are 1.0–11.0×10²⁵ dyne-cm, 7.7–8.4km and 9.4–47.4 cm, respectively whereas stress drop, apparent stress and strain energy are found to be 16–76 bars, 8.2–37.9 bars and 0.1–1.7×10²¹ ergs, respectively. These earthquakes possibly resulted due to the tension caused by the bending of the lithospheric plate into a region of former subduction which is now a zone of thrusting and crustal shortening.     

The 14 August 2003 Lefkada Island (Greece) earthquake: Focal mechanisms of the mainshock and of the aftershock sequence

The central area of the Ionian Sea is dominated by the Cephalonia Transform Fault Zone (CTFZ) with a pronounced dextral strike-slip component of motion. The CTFZ has two main segments: the Lefkada Segment (LS) in the north and the Cephalonia Segment (CS) in the south. On 14 August 2003 an M_w 6.2 earthquake ruptured the Lefkada Segment and produced extensive damage, especially to the western coast of the island. Teleseismic waveform modelling revealed the multiple source character of the mainshock, which occurred as three sub-events along a ∼N12^∘E line. The first sub-event occurred at a depth of about 15 km, followed 2.5 s later by the second and largest sub-event at a depth of 11 km and the third sub-event 14 s after the second at a depth of 15 km. The total moment from the body waves of this sequence is about 22.3×10¹⁷ Nt m (M_w 6.2) with a source duration of ∼15 s. The rupture started at the northern part of the Lefkada fault Segment and propagated southwards. The second and third sub-events are located at 7 and 40 km to the south-east in respect to the first sub-event. The focal mechanisms of the two strongest sources indicate strike-slip faulting along the NE–SW trending Lefkada segment (sub-event 2: Strike = 12^∘, Dip = 81^∘, Rake = 174^∘; sub-event 3: Strike = 20^∘, Dip = 63^∘, Rake = −179^∘). Moment tensor inversion applied to regional broad band waveforms obtained from the Greek National Seismographic Network provided focal mechanisms for 23 aftershocks with magnitudes ranging from M_w 3.6 to 5.4. The aftershock sequence presented spatial and temporal variation. The aftershocks were concentrated in two clusters one at the northern part of the activated area and another at the southern part. Most of them were of strike-slip character, following the major tectonic lines of the area, although low-angle thrust and reverse faulting mechanisms were also observed. Thrust and reverse type mechanisms are mainly concentrated in the northern and mainland part of the Lefkada Island which probably indicates the segmented character of the fault and probable activation of adjacent structures.     

Reevaluation of the earthquakes of 10 March and 19 May 1951 in southern Spain

Damage and parameters of the earthquakes of 10 March and 19 May 1951 in southern Spain have been reevaluated. Data available do not allow accurate depth determinations and previous estimates of larger depths are not confirmed, so depths have been fixed at 30 km for both shocks. Magnitudes (Ms) have been determined as 5.4 and 5.6, respectively. Intensities estimated at 22 and 29 sites from contemporary documentary sources give maximum values of VI–VII and VI (EMS Scale), lower than previous estimates. The focal mechanism for the May shock is right-lateral strike-slip with a normal component of motion, with planes with strikes 273° and 169°; seismic moment 1.9 × 10¹⁶ Nm and dimension 6 km (radius of circular fault). Shocks are located near the boundary between the Iberian plateau and the Guadalquivir Basin and may be related to faults connected with this boundary.     

Earthquake source mechanisms from body-waveform inversion and intraplate tectonics in the northern Indian Ocean

Double-couple point-source parameters for 11 of the largest intraplate earthquakes in the northern Indian Ocean during the last 20 y were determined from a formal inversion of long-period P and SH waveforms. Nine of the events have centroid depths at least 17 km below the seafloor, well into the upper mantle; two have centroid depths as great as 39 km. Using the source mechanisms of these earthquakes, we distinguish two major intraplate tectonic provinces in the northern Indian Ocean. To the west of the Ninetyeast Ridge, in the southern Bay of Bengal, intraplate earthquakes have thrust-faulting mechanisms with P axes oriented N-S. The centroid depths of these earthquakes range from 27 to 39 km below the seafloor. Lithospheric shortening in this region is thus accomplished by thrust faulting in the strong core of the oceanic upper mantle, while other geophysical evidence suggests that shallow sedimentary and crustal layers apparently deform predominantly by folding. In the immediate vicinity of the Ninetyeast Ridge, earthquakes display strike-slip mechanisms with left-lateral motion on planes parallel to the ridge. This type of faulting occurs from at least 10°S to the northern end of the Ninetyeast Ridge near 10°N, where the ridge meets the Sunda Arc. Seismic activity diminishes to the east of the Ninetyeast Ridge, but is also characterized by strike-slip faulting. Despite these variations in deformational style, the inferred orientation of greatest compressive stress in the northern Indian Ocean displays a consistent long-wavelength pattern over a large portion of the Indian plate, varying smoothly from nearly N-S in the Bay of Bengal to NW-SE in the northeastern Indian Ocean. This plate-wide stress pattern and the high level of intraplate seismicity in the northern Indian Ocean are likely the results of substantial resistance, along the Himalayan continental collision zone, to the continued northward motion of the western portion of the Indian plate. Oceanic intraplate earthquakes in other regions, where the level of deviatoric stress associated with the long-wavelength part of the stress field is likely to be smaller, need not be comparably reliable indicators of the plate-wide stress field.     

Excitation ofT waves in the Indian Ocean between Srilanka and southern India

T phases of three earthquakes from the Indian Ocean region, recorded by a short-period vertical-component seismic station network located in the vicinity of Kanyakumari on the southernmost tip of India, are studied. Two of these earthquakes are located west of 90°E ridge and one in the Nicobar Island region. However, seven other earthquakes which occurred 150–200 km south of Kanyakumari in the ocean did not produceT phases. An analysis ofT-waves (tertiary waves) travel time reveals the zone ofP-wave toT-wave conversion (i.e.,PT phase) region to coincide with the western continental slope of Srilanka. Further, it is observed that the disposition of the bathymetry between Srilanka and southern India strongly favours the downslope propagation mechanism ofT-wave travel to the southern coast of India through SOFAR channel. These observations are reported for the first time from India.     

Source parameters of some large earthquakes in Northern Aegean determined by body waveform inversion

Average source parameters for three large North Aegean events are obtained from body wave inversion for the moment tensor. The parameters for the events are as follows: The events exhibit dextral strike-slip faulting with theT axis striking NS and nearly horizontal, implying extension in this direction. The focal mechanisms obtained are in agreement with the seismotectonic regime of the North Aegean. It is known that the region is tectonically controlled by the existence of the strike-slip Anatolian fault and its westward continuation in the Aegean, as well as the NS extension the whole Aegean area undergoes.The components of the moment tensor show that the region is dominated by compression in the EW direction which is encompassed by extension in the NS direction. All the events were found to be shallow (10 km) with a source time function of approximately 8 s duration and small stress drop values.The teleseismic long period verticalP-waves exhibited distortions, that could be attributed to lateral inhomogeneities in the source structure or more probably to a nonflat water-crust interface.     

Attenuative Dispersion of <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis> Waves and Crustal <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis> in Turkey and Germany

We have measured group delays of the spectral components of high-frequency P-waves along two portions of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) in Turkey and in a region of southern Germany. Assuming that the observed dispersion is associated with attenuation in the crust and that it can be described by a continuous relaxation model, we obtained Q and the high-frequency relaxation times for those waves for each of the three regions. Individual P-wave Q values exhibit large scatter, but mean values in the NAFZ increase from about 25 to 60 over the distance range 5–90 km. Mean Q values are somewhat higher in the eastern portion of the NAFZ than in the western portion for measurements made at distances between 10 and 30 km. P-wave Q values in Germany range between about 50 and 300 over the hypocentral distance range 20–130 km. In that region we separated the effects of Q for basement rock (2–10 km depth) from that of the overlying sediment (0–2 km depth) using a least-squares method. Q varies between 100 and 500 in the upper 8–10 km of basement, with mean values for most of the distance range being about 250. Q in the overlying sediments ranges between 6 and 10. Because of large scatter in the Q determinations we investigated possible effects that variations of the source-time function of the earthquakes and truncation of the waveform may have on Q determinations. All of our studies indicate that measurement errors are relatively large and suggest that useful application of the method requires many observations, and that the method will be most useful in regions where the number of oscillations following the initial P pulse is minimized. Even though there is large scatter in our Q determinations, the mean values that we obtained in Turkey are consistent with those found in earlier studies. Our conclusions that Q is significantly higher in the basement rock of Germany than in the basement rock of Turkey and that Q is lower in western Turkey than in eastern Turkey are also consistent with results of Q studies using Lg coda.     

Seismic Sources on the Iberia-African Plate Boundary and their Tectonic Implications

—The plate boundary between Iberia and Africa has been studied using data on seismicity and focal mechanisms. The region has been divided into three areas: A; the Gulf of Cadiz; B, the Betics, Alboran Sea and northern Morocco; and C, Algeria. Seismicity shows a complex behavior, large shallow earthquakes (h < 30 km) occur in areas A and C and moderate shocks in area B; intermediate-depth activity (30 < h < 150 km) is located in area B; the depth earthquakes (h 650 km) are located to the south of Granada. Moment rate, slip velocity and b values have been estimated for shallow shocks, and show similar characteristics for the Gulf of Cadiz and Algeria, and quite different ones for the central region. Focal mechanisms of 80 selected shallow earthquakes (8 m_b 4) show thrust faulting in the Gulf of Cadiz and Algeria with horizontal NNW-SSE compression, and normal faulting in the Alboran Sea with E-W extension. Focal mechanisms of 26 intermediate-depth earthquakes in the Alboran Sea display vertical motions, with a predominant plane trending E-W. Solutions for very deep shocks correspond to vertical dip-slip along N-S trends. Frohlich diagrams and seismic moment tensors show different behavior in the Gulf of Cadiz, Betic-Alboran Sea and northern Morocco, and northern Algeria for shallow events. The stress pattern of intermediate-depth and very deep earthquakes has different directions: vertical extension in the NW-SE direction for intermediate depth earthquakes, and tension and pressure axes dipping about 45 ° for very deep earthquakes. Regional stress pattern may result from the collision between the African plate and Iberia, with extension and subduction of lithospheric material in the Alboran Sea at intermediate depth. The very deep seismicity may be correlated with older subduction processes.     

Coseismic slip in the 1964 Prince William Sound earthquake: A new geodetic inversion

The 1964 Prince William Sound earthquake (March 28, 1964;M _w =9.2) caused crustal deformation over an area of approximately 140,000 km² in south central Alaska. In this study geodetic and geologic measurements of this surface deformation were inverted for the slip distribution on the 1964 rupture surface. Previous seismologic, geologic, and geodetic studies of this region were used to constrain the geometry of the fault surface. In the Kodiak Island region, 28 rectangular planes (50 by 50 km each) oriented 218°N, with a dip varying from 8^o nearest the Aleutian trench to 9^o below Kodiak Island, define the rupture surface. In the Prince William Sound region 39 planes with variable dimensions (40 by 50 km near the trench, 64 by 50 km inland) and orientation (218°N in the west and 270°N in the east) were used to approximate the complex faulting. Prior information was introduced to constrain offshore dip-slip values, the strike-slip component, and slip variation between adjacent planes. Our results suggest a variable dip-slip component with local slip maximums occurring near Montague Island (up to 30 m), further to the east near Kayak Island (up to 14 m), and trenchward of the northeast segment of Kodiak Island (up to 17m). A single fault plane dipping 30°NW, corresponding to the Patton Bay fault, with a slip value of 8 m modeled the localized but large uplift on Montague Island. The moment calculated on the basis of our geodetically derived slip model of 5.0×10²⁹ dyne cm is 30% less than the seismic moment of 7.5×10²⁹ dyne cm calculated from long-period surface waves (Kanamori, 1970) but is close to the seismic moment of 5.9×10²⁹ dyne cm obtained byKikuchi andFukao (1987).     

Intermediate and deep earthquakes in Spain

Recent improvements in the seismological networks on the Ibero-Maghrebian region have permitted estimation of hypocentral location and focal mechanisms for earthquakes which occurred at South Spain, Alboran Sea and northern Morocco of deep and intermediate depth, with magnitudes between 3.5 and 4.5. Intermediate depth shocks, range from 60 to 100 km, with greater concentration located between Granada and Málaga. Fault-plane solutions of 5 intermediate shocks have been determined; they present a vertical plane in NE-SW or E-W direction. Seismic moments of about 10¹⁵ Nm and dimensions of about 1 km have been determined from digital records of Spanish stations.P-wave forms are complex. This may be explained by the crustal structure near the station, discontinuities in the upper mantle and inhomogeneities near the source. Deep activity at about 650 km has only 3 shocks since 1954 (1954, 1973, 1990). Shocks are located at a very small region. Fault-plane solutions show a consistent direction of the pressure axis dipping 45° in E direction. For the 1990 shock seismic moment is 10¹⁶ Nm and dimensions 2.6 km. TheP-waves are of simpler form with a single pulse. The intermediate and deep activities are not connected and no activity has been detected between 100 and 650 km. The intermediate shocks may be explained in terms of a recent subduction from Africa under Iberia in SE direction. The very deep activity must be related to a sunk detached block of lithospheric material still sufficiently cold and rigid to generate earthquakes.     

Shallow seismicity, stress distribution and crustal deformation pattern in the Andaman-West Sunda arc and Andaman Sea, northeastern Indian Ocean

Shallow seismicity and available source mechanisms in the Andaman–westSunda arc and Andaman sea region suggest distinct variation in stressdistribution pattern both along and across the arc in the overriding plate.Seismotectonic regionalisation indicates that the region could be dividedinto eight broad seismogenic sources of relatively homogeneousdeformation. Crustal deformation rates have been determined for each oneof these sources based on the summation of moment tensors. The analysisshowed that the entire fore arc region is dominated by compressive stresseswith compression in a mean direction of N23^°, and the rates ofseismic deformation velocities in this belt decrease northward from 5.2± 0.65 mm/yr near Nias island off Sumatra and 1.12 ±0.13 mm/yr near Great Nicobar islands to as much as 0.4 ±0.04 mm/yr north of 8^°N along Andaman–Nicobar islandsregion. The deformation velocities indicate, extension of 0.83 ±0.05 mm/yr along N343^° and compression of 0.19 ±0.01 mm/yr along N73^° in the Andaman back arc spreadingregion, extension of 0.18 ± 0.01 mm/yr along N125^° andcompression of 0.16 ± 0.01 mm/yr along N35^° in NicobarDeep and west Andaman fault zone, compression of 0.84 ±0.12 mm/yr N341^° and extension of 0.77 ± 0.11 mm/yralong N72^° within the transverse tectonic zone in the Andamantrench, N-S compression of 3.19 ± 0.29 mm/yr and an E-Wextension of 1.24 ± 0.11 mm/yr in the Semangko fault zone ofnorth Sumatra. The vertical deformation suggests crustal thinning in theAndaman sea and crustal thickening in the fore arc and Semangko faultzones. The apparent stresses calculated for all major events range between0.1–10 bars and the values increase with increasing seismic moment.However, the apparent stress estimates neither indicate any significantvariation with faulting type nor display any variation across the arc, incontrast to the general observation that the fore arc thrust events showhigher stress levels in the shallow subduction zones. It is inferred that theoblique plate convergence, partial subduction of 90^°E Ridge innorth below the Andaman trench and the active back arc spreading are themain contributing factors for the observed stress field within the overridingplate in this region.     

Relative seismic moment tensor determination for Vrancea intermediate depth earthquakes

The method of relative seismic moment tensor determination proposed byStrelitz (1980) is extended a) from an interactive time domain analysis to an automated frequency domain procedure, and b) from an analysis of subevents of complex deep-focus earthquakes to the study of individual source mechanism of small events recorded at few stations.The method was applied to the recovery of seismic moment tensor components of 95 intermediate depth earthquakes withM _L=2.6–4.9 from the Vrancea region, Romania. The main feature of the obtained fault plane solutions is the horizontality ofP axes and the nonhorizontal orienaation ofT axes (inverse faulting). Those events with high fracture energy per unit area of the fault can be grouped unambiguously into three depth intervals: 102–106 km, 124–135 km and 141–152 km. Moreover, their fault plane solutions are similar to ones of all strong and most moderate events from this region and the last two damaging earthquakes (November 10, 1940 withM _W=7.8 and March 4 1977 withM _W=7.5) occurred within the third and first depth interval, respectively. This suggests a possible correlation at these depths between fresh fracture of rocks and the occurrence of strong earthquakes.     

Calibration of the Tibetan Plateau Using Regional Seismic Waveforms

We use the recordings from 51 earthquakes produced by a PASSCAL deployment in Tibet to develop a two-layer crustal model for the region. Starting with their ISC locations, we iteratively fit the P-arrival times to relocate the earthquakes and estimate mantle and crustal seismic parameters. An average crustal P velocity of 6.2–6.3 km/s is obtained for a crustal thickness of 65 km while the P velocity of the uppermost mantle is 8.1 km/s. The upper layer of the model is further fine-tuned by obtaining the best synthetic SH waveform match to an observed waveform for a well-located event. Green's functions from this model are then used to estimate the source parameters for those events using a grid search procedure. Average event relocation relative to the ISC locations, excluding two poorly located earthquakes, is 16 km. All but one earthquake are determined by the waveform inversion to be at depths between 5 and 15 km. This is 15 km shallower, on average, than depths reported by the ISC. The shallow seismicity cut-off depth and low crustal velocities suggest high temperatures in the lower crust. Thrust faulting source mechanisms dominate at the margins of the plateau. Within the plateau, at locations with surface elevations less than 5 km, source mechanisms are a mixture of strike-slip and thrust. Most events occurring in the high plateau where elevations are above 5 km show normal faulting. This indicates that a large portion of the plateau is under EW extension.     

Features of deep crustal structure and the onshore-offshore transition at the Iberian flank of the Valencia Trough (Western Mediterranean)

First results are presented of a recent onshore seismic survey complementary to the Valsis-2 Cruise, which consisted of ESP, COP and CDP marine seismic profiles across the Valencia Trough (Western Mediterranean).The marine energy source used was an airgun array of 5800 cubic inch recorded at 2 land stations on the western flank of the Valencia Trough, at distances between 10–120 km.The experiment has resulted in an extended sampling of the deep crustal structure of the eastern Mediterranean flank of the Iberian peninsula, as well as the offshore-onshore transition.Three transverse NW-SE profiles have been interpreted. Local thinning of the sedimentary cover has been determined towards the centre of the basin which, together with the shallow high velocities observed on the southern profile, could be related to volcanic episodes.A seismic continental basement has been found at depths between 3 and 5 km. A thin lower crust (3–5 km) with velocities around 6.8 km/s has been identified in the northern part of the basin. Alternative crustal models considered for the 3 profiles have been tested, not only from arrival times but also from relative amplitude distributions. A first-order Moho discontinuity fits the data best. The welldefined Moho boundary results in energetic P_MP reflections, and a clear updoming is observed towards the interior of the basin, from depths about 20–21 km inshore of Barcelona to 15–17 km depths 60 km offshore. An anomalous upper mantle with low P_n velocities of about 7.7 km/s is confirmed in most of the sampled areas.