Strongest Earthquake-Prone Areas in Kamchatka

The paper continues the series of our works on recognizing the areas prone to the strongest, strong, and significant earthquakes with the use of the Formalized Clustering And Zoning (FCAZ) intellectual clustering system. We recognized the zones prone to the probable emergence of epicenters of the strongest (M ≥ 74/3) earthquakes on the Pacific Coast of Kamchatka. The FCAZ-zones are compared to the zones that were recognized in 1984 by the classical recognition method for Earthquake-Prone Areas (EPA) by transferring the criteria of high seismicity from the Andes mountain belt to the territory of Kamchatka. The FCAZ recognition was carried out with two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects of recognition.     

Asperity Distribution of the 1952 Great Kamchatka Earthquake and its Relation to Future Earthquake Potential in Kamchatka

—The 1952 Kamchatka earthquake is among the largest earthquakes of this century, with an estimated magnitude of M _w = 9.0. We inverted tide gauge records from Japan, North America, the Aleutians, and Hawaii for the asperity distribution. The results show two areas of high slip. The average slip is over 3 m, giving a seismic moment estimate of 155×10²⁰Nm, or M _w = 8.8. The 20th century seismicity of the 1952 rupture zone shows a strong correlation to the asperity distribution, which suggests that the large earthquakes (M > 7) are controlled by the locations of the asperities and that future large earthquakes will also recur in the asperity regions.     

Modeling and forecasting the aftershock processes in Kamchatka

The aftershock processes that occurred in 1990?C2008 on the Kamchatka Peninsula and in the adjacent water area are numerically modeled with the aim of forecasting the aftershock activity. The aftershocks are identified by the Molchan-Dmitrieva algorithm followed by the analysis of spatiotemporal distribution of the earthquakes, which gives the final aftershock sequences. The simulations are based on the relaxation and triggering models of the aftershock processes. The studied models adequately describe and reliably simulate the temporal behavior of the aftershock sequences. An attempt is made to forecast the aftershock processes in Kamchatka using the ETAS model. It is shown that forecasting based on the data observed during the preceding time intervals is quite accurate. This approach can be applied in the centers of seismological monitoring for estimating the aftershock activity within the first days after a strong earthquake.     

Modeling and forecasting the aftershock processes in Kamchatka

The aftershock processes that occurred in 1990–2008 on the Kamchatka Peninsula and in the adjacent water area are numerically modeled with the aim of forecasting the aftershock activity. The aftershocks are identified by the Molchan-Dmitrieva algorithm followed by the analysis of spatiotemporal distribution of the earthquakes, which gives the final aftershock sequences. The simulations are based on the relaxation and triggering models of the aftershock processes. The studied models adequately describe and reliably simulate the temporal behavior of the aftershock sequences. An attempt is made to forecast the aftershock processes in Kamchatka using the ETAS model. It is shown that forecasting based on the data observed during the preceding time intervals is quite accurate. This approach can be applied in the centers of seismological monitoring for estimating the aftershock activity within the first days after a strong earthquake.

     

Features of Winter Thunderstorms in Kamchatka

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Winter thunderstorms in Kamchatka are a rare meteorological phenomenon. Temporal variations of the quasi-static electric field and meteorological values at the Paratunka...     

Magnetotelluric sounding of Kamchatka

The MTS data acquired in Kamchatka during the last 30 years have been analyzed and summarized. Our interpretation is based on curves oriented along and across Kamchatka. Longitudinal and transverse curves can be affected by local geoelectric inhomogeneities. These were suppressed by conformal averaging. A bimodal interpretation of average longitudinal and transverse curves yielded a deep geoelectric model, which can be adopted as a starting point to be subsequently refined by 3D numerical modeling. The model involves a crustal conductive layer extending along central Kamchatka. In the east of the peninsula this layer is connected with crustal transverse conductive zones as wide as 50 km. Those zones have extensions toward the Pacific Ocean. Major centers of present-day volcanism occur in the transverse zones. The upper mantle contains an asthenospheric conductive layer forming an uplift beneath the present-day volcanic belt of Kamchatka.     

Two 1993 Kamchatka earthquakes

Two earthquakes occurred in 1993 off southern Kamchatka. They have similar surface wave magnitudes, focal mechanisms, and depths, but have distinctly different characteristics. The November earthquake is a standard or impulsiveM7 underthrusting event. The June earthquake is a tsunamigenic or low-stress-drop event with several unusual characteristics, including a large, diffuse aftershock zone, directivity, and a long source time function. The 1993 earthquakes ruptured a segment of the Kamchatka Arc which has not ruptured since 1904. The 1993 earthquakes seem to signal the midpoint in the southern Kamchatka seismic cycle.     

Seismoionospheric effects in the F2 layer over Kamchatka

By comparing the data of ionospheric radio sounding at Petropavlovsk and Magadan stations, we eliminated the identical disturbances induced by geomagnetic storms and identified the ionospheric responses to seismic activity. It was found that strong earthquakes in the area of Petropavlovsk station are preceded by positive ionospheric variations which are more pronounced the higher the magnitude of the earth-quake.     

The sources of the upper and lower halocline water in the Canada Basin derived from isotopic tracers

The Arctic Ocean is almost entirely surrounded by land, with shallow openings to the Pacific through Bering Strait (~ 45 m deep) and to the Atlantic through the Barents Sea (~50—450 m deep) and Fram Strait where the sill depth is around 2500 m. The bathy…     

Numerical 3D modeling of the magnetotelluric field in Kamchatka

We consider the key features in the responses of magnetic tippers and MTS curves to the sharp contrast in electric conductivity at the interface between the land and the sea waters of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific bounding Kamchatka. The zones with different intensity of the coast effect are revealed. Stronger manifestations of the effect are found to occur in the East Kamchatka, which is related to the induction effects of the electric currents concentrated in the Kuril-Kamchatka trench. Indentation of the coastline resulted in the appearance of three-dimensional (3D) effects in the magnetotelluric field of the eastern Kamchatka. These effects in the variations of the geomagnetic field are vanishing with an increasing period, giving room to low-frequency effects in the MT field, which are associated with the flow of electric currents around Kamchatka (the around-flow effect). It is shown that the transverse MTS curves over the entire region of Kamchatka suffer from the S effect at low frequencies and do not characterize the deep geoelectric structure. Only in the middle segments of the West and Central Kamchatka, the longitudinal MTS curves are weakly subjected to the induction effects and thus reflect the distribution of the deep electric conductivity. On the eastern coast of Kamchatka both the longitudinal and transverse MTS curves are strongly distorted by the 3D effects caused by the abundant capes and bays. The interpretation of MTS data in this region should necessarily invoke the 3D modeling of an MT field.     

Ground tilt variations in the Klyuchevskoi Volcano Area, Kamchatka

We consider the results of ground tilt observations in the area of Klyuchevskoi Volcano, Kamchatka at the Klyuchi and Apakhonchich stations using photoelectric tiltmeters. An anomalous tilt was recorded during a period of increased activity in the summit crater of Klyuchevskoi Volcano in November 1979. In January and February 1980 three more cases of anomalous tilting before the volcano’s active periods were observed. The tilts exhibit some common kinematic features that are quite consistent with the activity periods. Various disturbing influences were estimated as affecting the observations of tilts related to seismic and volcanic events. For the first time in Kamchatka, the parameters of the five principal elastic-tide waves have been determined. Sea tides exerted an indirect effect on the amplitude factors γ(M2) on the E-W component at both sites to decrease them relative to the global value, γ(M2) = 0.7. We investigated the influence of sea tides on the elastic solid earth tide along the Trans-Kamchatka and Kola traverses. The observed and theoretical γ(M2) factors at both traverses situated in different geodynamic areas are in approximate agreement.     

Current monsoon conditions of river runoff and groundwater formation in west pacific regions: Kamchatka Peninsula and Taiwan Island

The dynamics of climate and runoff characteristics are studied in the territories of Kamchatka Peninsula and Taiwan Island, which are situated in the influence zone of monsoon circulation. Long-term variations in the temperature, precipitation, and runoff are examined in Kamchatka and Taiwan for the weather and gauging stations with the longest observation series to analyze new climate conditions of water resources generation.     

Upper mantle structure in the ocean-continent transition zone: Kamchatka

We consider results from modeling the crustal and upper mantle velocity structure in Kamchatka by seismic tomography and compare these with gravity data and present-day tectonics. We found a well-pronounced (in the physical fields) vertical and lateral variation for the upper mantle and found that it is controlled by fault tectonics. Not only are individual lithosphere blocks moving along faults, but also parts of the Benioff zone. The East Kamchatka volcanic belt (EKVB) is confined to the asthenospheric layer (the asthenosphere lens) at a depth of 70–80 km; this lens is 10–20 km thick and seismic velocity in it is lower by 2–4%. The top of the asthenosphere lens has the shape of a dome uplift beneath the Klyuchevskoi group of volcanoes and its thickness is appreciably greater; overall, the upper mantle in this region is appreciably stratified. A low-velocity heterogeneity (asthenolith) at least 100 km thick has been identified beneath the Central Kamchatka depression; we have determined its extent in the upper mantle and how it is related to the EKVB heterogeneities. Gravity data suggest the development of a rift structure under the Sredinnyi Range volcanic belt. The Benioff zone was found to exhibit velocity inhomogeneity; the anomalous zones that have been identified within it are related to asthenosphere inhomogeneities in the continental and oceanic blocks of the mantle.     

Spinel in the allivalites of Malyi Semyachik Volcano,Kamchatka

A microprobe study of Ol–An nodules (allivalites) as sampled from the basaltic andesites of Malyi Semyachik Volcano in Kamchatka revealed small inclusions of a mafic mineral in crystals of olivine and anorthite and in the intergranular mass. The mineral was later identified as spinel. A microprobe analysis of the spinel showed that the grains that were found in minerals are not zonal, with spinel inclusions of different chemical compositions occurring in a single crystal. In contrast to this situation, the spinel crystals in the intergranular basis are zonal and exhibit a reaction rim. The spinel compositions form a long and well-pronounced trend that occurs in the solvus zone of solid solutions that has not been adequately described in the literature. The existence of the resulting spinel trend in the solvus zone can be explained by an early capture of spinel grains by growing silicate crystals and by their rapid cooling after the eruption, which chilled the metastable solution. Spinel grains occasionally exhibited initial phases in the decomposition of a solid solution owing to their long residence in a cooling lava flow at temperatures below the solvus. It is supposed that these spinels were formed somewhat earlier or simultaneously with the crystallization of the silicate phase. This diversity in the compositions of non-zonal spinel can be explained by thermo diffusion that led to homogeneous compositions in the initially zonal spinel crystals after they had been included in the host mineral crystals.     

Multiharmonic model of seismic activity in Kamchatka

Based on the uniform catalogue of earthquakes of the minimum energy class 8.5 for 1962–2008, multiharmonic models of seismic activity in Kamchatka are developed. The main harmonic components with periods from a few days to 12 years are identified. Both the entire catalogue and its modified versions obtained by the elimination of aftershocks and clusters, as well as nonoverlapping time series were used to study the stability of the models. The forward-prediction testing showed that in the models with weekly averaged initial data, periods of increased and reduced seismic activity lasting for several weeks are predicted with high confidence on an interval of up to 1.8% of the education period. This testifies for the presence of deterministic components in the seismic activity.     

Giant Barkhausen jumps in Kamchatka basaltic lavas

Igneous rocks are shown to possess a magnetic fabric that admits the occurrence of giant Barkhausen jumps. It is also demonstrated that magnetic minerals of rocks can preserve information on a few magnetic fields (differing even in origin) and a few thermal magnetization temperatures.