Magnitude reassessment of New Zealand earthquakes

The surface-wave magnitudes of a selection of New Zealand earthquakes have been determined on a consistent basis using the ‘Prague formula’ and station corrections. The earthquakes range in magnitude from about 5 to 7.8, covering the instrumental period 1901–1988. Magnitudes for many of the earlier events had not been properly determined previously; and some significant discrepancies from the traditional magnitudes were found. The use of European station data (160° < D < 175°) is important to New Zealand because of its geographical isolation. These distant data were found to give consistently slightly higher M_s than closer stations, but could be used without bias through the station correction procedure. The relationship between M_s and M_L was found for 31 ‘shallow’ New Zealand events and much of the scatter was explained as a function of depth. Significant differences in M_s/M_L expressions from Europe and California were also found. The limited New Zealand data for M_w and M₀ related well to Californian and global relationships with M_s.     

Magnitude estimation of Koyna-Warna earthquakes, India

The paper presents the current state of magnitude estimation for Koyna earthquakes exceeding magnitude 3.0. We estimate coda duration magnitude from analogue seismograms recorded on the short period vertical (SPZ) seismometer at Hyderabad seismic observatory HYB and determine moment magnitude using very broad-band (VBB) data from the Geoscope station (HYB)and short period digital data from the local seismic network of NationalGeophysical Research Institute (NGRI) around the Koyna and Warna reservoirs.Firstly, the seismograms of 97 Koyna earthquakes exceeding magnitude 4.0 havebeen used to establish a new empirical coda duration magnitude scale which includes the higher order terms of log₁₀, where is the coda length in seconds. Four background noise levels (1, 2, 6 and 10 mm) areconsidered to estimate the coda duration. We found that the duration magnitudes for 1 mm background level are more stable than those for 2, 6 and 10 mm. The new coda duration magnitude (M_dnew) scale, for 1 mmlevel, is:M_dnew = –0.594 + 2.04 log₁₀ – 0.0435 (log₁₀)²The estimated M_dnew are compatible with the reported M_S values of the NGRI observatory and the m_b values of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). These magnitudes can be obtained within the standard deviation of ± 0.26 units of M_S (NGRI). A new relatively homogeneous catalog for Koyna earthquakes of M_dnew 4.0 is obtained. The momentmagnitudes for 34 Koyna-Warna events of M_dnew ranging from 3.0 to 5.4 have been estimated using two techniques. The first utilizes amplitudes of band-pass filtered (between 15 and 30 sec) velocity traces of moderate Koyna-Warna earthquakes of M_W} 4.4 to 5.4, we abbreviate the magnitude using M_A. The second is based on the S-wave spectrum of short period seismograms of local earthquakes (M_W < 3.8). Moment magnitudes estimated by spectral analysis mainly depend on the estimation of event's long-period spectral level and appears to saturate for moderate Koyna-Warnaearthquakes (M_W > 3.8). We recommend the use of both techniques whenever possible. The estimated moment magnitudes and M_dnew show an almost linear relationship with a standard deviation of ± 0.05.     

Intensity-attenuation and magnitude-intensity relationships for northwest european earthquakes

This study shows that, for Northwest Europe, an intraplate region of subdued seismicity, a comparatively simple attenuation model is adequate to predict quite accurately the fall-off of intensity with distance. The analysis shows that focal depths determined from macroseismic data are confined in the upper 25 km, and that shallow shocks attenuate far more rapidly than deeper events. There is no evidence for a regional variation of the absorption coefficient, which, together with the coefficient of geometric spreading, is a function of depth. Also, the intensity factor b, which is usually taken to be equal to 3, is a variable and a function of the energy absorption at the epicentre. It is shown that magnitudes can be predicted accurately by use of one or preferably by more isoseismal radii calibrated against re-assessed instrumental magnitudes.     

Anomalously deep earthquakes in northwestern Italy

It is usually assumed that earthquakes in intraplate regions occur in the upper crust, and northwestern Italy is generally assigned to this kind of normal seismicity. In this work, the depth distribution of the events localized in this area by the Istituto Geofisico Geodetico (IGG) seismic network in the period 1991–1997 is analyzed in detail. In particular, the location capability of the network is discussed, adopting as reference quarry blasts (for the epicentral position) and the locations obtained from a dense temporary network (for the depth estimate). Within the so-obtained error limits, the depth distribution of events show a characteristic pattern: while for most of the area covered by the network the well-located seismicity lies within the first 20 km of depth, in a band following the inner arc of the Western Alps, numerous events have anomalously large focal depths, reaching a maximum of 114 km. These depth determinations cannot be attributed to instabilities of the location procedure: different choices of the propagation models used for the hypocentral determination led to very similar depth values, always significantly larger than the standard values for the surrounding areas. A strong correlation has been found between the 3-dimensional distribution of these foci and the P-wave propagation anomalies obtained from tomographic studies, suggesting a direct link between elastic and rheological properties of lower crust and upper mantle in this area.     

Physical size of tsunamigenic earthquakes of the northwestern Pacific

The new scale M_t of tsunami magnitude is a reliable measure of the seismic moment of a tsunamigenic earthquake as well as the overall strength of a tsunami source. This M_t scale was originally defined by Abe (1979) in terms of maximum tsunami amplitudes at large distances from the source. A method is developed whereby it is possible to determine M_t at small distances on the basis of the regional tsunami data obtained at 30 tide stations in Japan. The relation between log H, maximum amplitude (m) and log Δ, a distance of not less than 100 km away from the source (km) is found to be linear, with a slope close to 1.0. Using three tsunamigenic earthquakes with known moment magnitudes M_w, for calibration, the relation, M_t = log H + log Δ + D, is obtained, where D is 5.80 for single-amplitude (crest or trough) data and 5.55 for double-amplitude (crest-to-trough) data. Using a number of tsunami amplitude data, M_t is assigned to 80 tsunamigenic earthquakes that occurred in the northwestern Pacific, mostly in Japan, during the period from 1894 to 1981. The M_t values are found to be essentially equivalent to M_w for 25 events with known M_w. The 1952 Kamchatka earthquake has the largest M_t, 9.0. Of all the 80 events listed, at least seven unusual earthquakes which generated disproportionately-large tsunamis for their surface-wave magnitude M_s are identified from the relation. From the viewpoint of tsunami hazard reduction, the present results provide a quantitative basis for predicting maximum tsunami amplitudes at a particular site.     

鲜水河断裂带北西段不同破裂源强震震级（M≥67）及复发间隔研究

鲜水河断裂带是四川西部一条晚第四纪强烈左旋走滑活动的构造带，历史上发生多次强震. 它与西北侧的甘孜—玉树断裂带一起，构成青藏高原东部的侧向滑移构造系统中的川滇活动地块的北边界——羌塘地块的东北边界. 鲜水河断裂带北西段可以分成4个段落，每一段落均可作为一个独立的基本破裂单元而发生地震破裂，亦有可能发生不同尺度的多段联合瞧裂. 对鲜水河断裂带北西段不同尺度破裂的震级及复发间隔进行研究. 根据该地区的地质、地球物理、测量及地震等方面的资料，结合我国强震复发的特点，分析了拉分盆地内部的滑动速率分布，以确定各段落的等效长度和倾向宽度，从而建立适合我国大陆走滑断裂的面波震级与断裂发震面积的关系式；进而运用地震矩方法，考虑断层之间的相互作用，结合专家意见建立了该段的矩平衡断裂破裂模型；最后，给出了鲜水河断裂带北西段各破裂源特征化地震的复发间隔、震级大小和不确定性，以及他与中小地震的联合震级分布. 结果表明，鲜水河断裂带北西段较易发生单段破裂，复发间隔在100～150年左右.     

滇西北地区现今构造应力状态及其与地震的关系

基于搜集到的2000—2018年滇西北地区MS≥3.0地震的震源机制解,运用线性叠加反演法进行应力场反演,分析了滇西北地区现今的构造应力状态,进一步探讨了应力张量方差的时空分布与地震活动的关系。结果显示：(1)滇西北地区地震的震源机制解类型复杂,主要以走滑型（46%）为主,正断型（27%）次之;(2)研究区的构造应力场具有整体的一致性和局部的非均匀性,呈现为NNW向挤压和ENE向拉张的走滑型应力结构,说明研究区受到来自NNW向的水平挤压作用,对该地区上地壳运动和断裂活动起主导作用;(3)滇西北地区的应力张量方差大都小于0.2,除北部一些地区外,应力场基本处于均匀状态。根据应力张量方差随时间的变化和后续地震可知,中强地震大都发生在应力张量方差值低于0.2的情形,且主要发生在应力张量方差减小即震源机制解趋于一致的过程中。空间上这些地震基本都发生在应力张量方差的低值分布区及其边缘,这一结果有助于判定发震地点和了解区域应力集中增强过程。     

Rapid earthquake loss assessment after damaging earthquakes

This article summarizes the work done over the last decades regarding the development of new approaches and setting up of new applications for earthquake rapid response systems that function to estimate earthquake losses in quasi-real time after an earthquake. After a critical discussion of relevant earthquake loss estimation methodologies, the essential features and characteristics of the available loss estimation software are summarized. Currently operating near-real-time loss estimation tools can be classified under two main categories depending on the size of area they cover: global and local systems. For the global or regional near-real-time loss estimation systems: GDACS, WAPMERR, PAGER, and NERIES-ELER methodologies are presented together with their loss estimations for the 2009 Abruzzo (L’Aquila) earthquake in Italy. Examples are provided for the local rapid earthquake loss estimation systems, including the Taiwan Earthquake Rapid Reporting System, Real-time Earthquake Assessment Disaster System in Yokohama, Real Time Earthquake Disaster Mitigation System of the Tokyo Gas Co., and Istanbul Earthquake Rapid Response System.     

Paleoearthquake rupture behavior and recurrence of great earthquakes along the Haiyuan fault,northwestern China

Paleoseismological studies have shown that indi-vidual past large-magnitude earthquakes can be recog-nized in the geological record and the timing betweenevents can be measured through Quaternary datingtechniques[1—6]. Thus, through paleoseismological st-udies, it is possible to determine age of each prehis-toric event so that recurrence intervals of large earth-quakes may be evaluated which provides a means toexpand the limited view of earthquakes offered by thehistorical and instrumental re…     

A uniform catalog of earthquakes for seismic hazard asesment in Iran

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Quantitative data about active tectonics and possible locations of strong earthquakes in the future in the northwestern Beijing

Introduction Northwestern Beijing covers the mountainous area from 114~116.5E and 39~41N, which is located at the joint place of the basically E-W trending Yanshan, the NE to NNE-trending Shanxi and the NW-trending ZhangjiakouPenglai active tectonic belts (regions). The long history of development and evolution in tectonics have formed the features of basin-range tectonics and multi-sets of fault systems with different ranges. Generally, they can be divided as NNE-NE, NNW-NW and appr…     

Running safety assessment of trains moving over bridges subjected to moderate earthquakes

A study about the running safety of trains moving over bridges subjected to earthquakes is presented. The study focuses on moderate earthquakes with relatively small return periods and high probability of occurrence. The analyses are performed using a nonlinear train‐bridge interaction method proposed by the authors, being the running safety evaluated with safety criteria existent in the literature. The influence on the train running safety of the seismic intensity levels, train running speed, and track quality is evaluated. Because no significant nonlinearity is likely to be exhibited in the columns for moderate levels of seismicity, the analyses are performed in the elastic domain. However, the reduction in the columns stiffness due to cracking is accounted, and a methodology to compute their effective stiffness is proposed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vulnerability assessment of reinforced concrete bridge structures in Algiers using scenario earthquakes

Algeria has an inheritance of more than 11,000 bridges, with approximately 5,000 road bridges of which more than 30 % have a high probability to be exposed to major earthquakes and serious damages in the future. Therefore, it is of great importance to retrofit the existing bridges and assess their seismic vulnerability and set a permanent monitoring survey to follow the change of their dynamic characteristics such as natural frequency and modal damping. The assessment of the seismic vulnerability of existing RC bridges was carried out based on the consistent and complete post earthquake survey after the Boumerdes earthquake. The information on the damaged existing RC bridges was investigated and evaluated by the authors. This paper presents a simple and efficient inspection method for the preliminary evaluation of the seismic vulnerability of existing bridge structures. To assess the seismic damage of 148 existing bridges, two seismic scenarios were carried out using “Khair al Din” and the “Zemmouri” faults that are capable to generate earthquakes with a maximum acceleration of 0.8g. The main findings of this study are summarized in this paper.     

Stochastic ground-motion simulation of two Himalayan earthquakes: seismic hazard assessment perspective

The earthquakes in Uttarkashi (October 20, 1991, M _w 6.8) and Chamoli (March 8, 1999, M _w 6.4) are among the recent well-documented earthquakes that occurred in the Garhwal region of India and that caused extensive damage as well as loss of life. Using strong-motion data of these two earthquakes, we estimate their source, path, and site parameters. The quality factor (Q _β ) as a function of frequency is derived as Q _β (f) = 140f ^1.018. The site amplification functions are evaluated using the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio technique. The ground motions of the Uttarkashi and Chamoli earthquakes are simulated using the stochastic method of Boore (Bull Seismol Soc Am 73:1865–1894, 1983). The estimated source, path, and site parameters are used as input for the simulation. The simulated time histories are generated for a few stations and compared with the observed data. The simulated response spectra at 5% damping are in fair agreement with the observed response spectra for most of the stations over a wide range of frequencies. Residual trends closely match the observed and simulated response spectra. The synthetic data are in rough agreement with the ground-motion attenuation equation available for the Himalayas (Sharma, Bull Seismol Soc Am 98:1063–1069, 1998).     

震后公路桥梁通行能力快速评估技术研究

针对我国地震应急指挥和抗震救灾工作的实际需要,在地震应急基础数据库的支持下,对震后公路桥梁通行能力的快速评估技术进行了研究.以唐山、海城等地震的桥梁震害资料为基础,分别建立了梁桥和拱桥的易损性模型,同时建立了一套单体桥梁损伤程度和对应通行能力的简便判断方法,可以估计出震后常见公路桥梁的通行能力指标.     

Probability-consistent earthquakes and probability-consistent conservative earthquakes

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Empirical seismic vulnerability assessment of Icelandic buildings affected by the 2000 sequence of earthquakes

In June 2000, two Mw6.5 earthquakes occurred within a 4-day interval in the largest agricultural region of Iceland causing substantial damage and no loss of life. The distance between the earthquake epicentres and the fault rupture was approximately 15 km. Nearly 5000 low-rise residential buildings were affected, some of which were located between the faults and exposed to strong ground motion from both events. The post-earthquakes damage and repair costs for every residential building in the epicentral region were assessed for insurance purposes. The database is detailed and complete for the whole region and represents one of the best quality post-earthquake vulnerability datasets used for seismic loss estimation. Nonetheless, the construction of vulnerability curves from this database is hampered by the fact that the loss values represent the cumulative damage from two sequential earthquakes in some areas, and single earthquakes in others. A novel methodology based on beta regression is proposed here in order to define the geographical limits on areas where buildings sustained cumulative damage and predict the seismic losses for future sequence of events in each area. The results show that the average building loss in areas affected by a single event is below 10% of the building replacement value, whilst this increases to an average of 25% in areas affected by the two earthquakes. The proposed methodology can be used to empirically assess the vulnerability in other areas which experienced sequence of events such as Emilia-Romagna (Italy) in 2012.