Integration and magnitude homogenization of the Egyptian earthquake catalogue

The aim of the present work is to compile and update a catalogue of the instrumentally recorded earthquakes in Egypt, with uniform and homogeneous source parameters as required for the analysis of seismicity and seismic hazard assessment. This in turn requires a detailed analysis and comparison of the properties of different available sources, including the distribution of events with time, the magnitude completeness, and the scaling relations between different kinds of magnitude reported by different agencies. The observational data cover the time interval 1900–2004 and an area between 22°–33.5° N and 25°–36° E. The linear regressions between various magnitude types have been evaluated for different magnitude ranges. Using the best linear relationship determined for each available pair of magnitudes, as well as those identified between the magnitudes and the seismic moment, we convert the different magnitude types into moment magnitudes M _W, through a multi-step conversion process. Analysis of the catalogue completeness, based on the M _W thus estimated, allows us to identify two different time intervals with homogeneous properties. The first one (1900–1984) appears to be complete for M _W ≥ 4.5, while the second one (1985–2004) can be considered complete for magnitudes M _W ≥ 3.     

A complete and homogeneous magnitude earthquake catalogue of Iraq

A complete and homogeneous magnitude earthquake catalogue spanning the period 1900 to 2010 was created. The catalogue covers the area 29° to 37.5° N and 39° to 48° E. Entries in the new earthquake catalogue were cross checked and additions made from various sources of earthquake records to ensure that repetitions are not included in this analysis. Events were considered duplicates if they had a time difference of 10 s or less and space origin difference of 0.5° or less. In a given set of duplicate events, an event, which had a magnitude and International Seismological Center source, was retained as the record of the event. The unified magnitude scale, the moment magnitude (M _w), was applied throughout the catalogue. The M _w for 18 events was reported. The M _w for other events was estimated using empirical relations between m _b, M _s, M _L, and M _w. Magnitude of completeness, M _c, was estimated using the maximum curvature. It was 4.3 M _w. Finally, a list of 213 events from 1900 to 2010 with M _w?≥?4.3 is presented. The list is considered complete for the period from 1962 to 2010.     

The Richter earthquake magnitude scale in South Australia

Richter magnitudes M_L have been determined for 718 well recorded South Australian earthquakes by converting amplitudes derived from existing seismograph stations to equivalent Wood‐Anderson amplitudes, and substituting in Richter's formula (Richter 1935), derived for such instruments and for Southern California. The magnitudes so determined were generally found to increase with distance A for each earthquake, at least for events at distances below a few hundred kilometres, reflecting lower attenuation of crustal S waves in South Australia.

A distance‐dependent correction, which must be subtracted from Richter magnitudes, was obtained by integrating the weighted least squares fit to the (A, dM_L/dA) data. The correction increases to one‐half of a magnitude unit at a distance of 400 km, and thereafter decreases smoothly to 0.3 units at 600 km. Station corrections, due to local geological variations, have also been determined. Values range from ‐0.6 to + 0.2 units.

Empirical relationships between the revised M_L scale and the previously used local magnitude scales m_L and M_N (White 1968; Stewart 1975) and the body wave magnitude scale m_b have been established. The latter yields results consistent with the well known Gutenberg‐Richter formula (Richter 1958)     

Structure of earthquake occurrence in space,time and magnitude

Distributions of time between consecutive earthquakes verify an approximately universal scaling law for stationary seismicity. The shape of these distributions is shown to arise as a mixture of one distribution for short‐distance events and an exponential distribution for far‐off events, the distinction from short and long distances being relative to the size of the region studied. The distributions of consecutive distances show a double power law decay and verify an approximate scaling law which guarantees the simultaneous fulfillment of the scaling laws for time. The interplay between space and time can be seen as well by looking at the distribution of distances for a fixed time separation. These results suggest that seismicity can be understood as a series of intertwined independent continuous‐time random walks, with power law‐distributed waiting times and Lévy‐flight jumps. However, a simple model based on these ideas does not capture the invariance of seismicity under renormalization.     

Temporal analysis of croatian seismogenic zones to improve earthquake magnitude prediction

The prediction of earthquakes is a task of utmost difficulty that has been addressed in many different ways. However, an initial definition of the area of interest is needed, with adequate catalogs. In this work, different seismogenic zones proposals in the Republic of Croatia are studied, in terms of predictability. Such zones have been characterized with widely used seismicity parameters. Later, studies based on training and test sets properties as well as the quality of the data involved are carried out. The studies presented in this work analyze the prediction performance across the earthquake magnitude time series of the target seismogenic zones. Results show that specific prediction techniques could be used in some zones to improve earthquake magnitude prediction.     

1680年楚雄地震地表破裂遗迹及其震级讨论

1680年楚雄地震,造成楚雄州和南安州官署、寺庙、桥梁、学堂等重要建筑物几乎破坏殆尽,死亡近3000人。在航片解译的基础上,经仔细的野外调查以及白龙新村、上野马和大石碑3个探槽的开挖,在楚雄盆地西缘发现此次地震形成的地表破坏遗迹,包括地震断层、地震陡坎、地裂缝、砂脉、地震楔等,分布于上野马-尹家咀水库-上三村一线,总长约12km。地震陡坎高度0.6~1.5m,地震断层位错量0.2~1.2m;采集了19个14C样品进行AMS测年,得到断错的最新地层14C年龄为590±30a B.P.。据地表破裂规模和云南地区地震实例分析,此次地震的震级应在7级以上,宏观震中位于地表破裂非常集中的上野马-上三村一带。楚雄-南华断裂是川滇菱形块体内部一条重要的活动断裂,以右旋走滑兼逆冲运动为主,全新世有明显的活动迹象。此次地震等震线呈NW向展布并与楚雄-南华断裂走向基本一致,所揭示的地表破裂分布也与极震区相吻合,据此认为,1680年楚雄地震应是楚雄-南华断裂活动所致。     

The distribution of annual maximum earthquake magnitude around Taiwan and its application in the estimation of catastrophic earthquake recurrence probability

The annual maximum earthquake magnitudes around Taiwan from 1900 to 2009 are presented in this paper. Using the distribution of the AMEM, a probabilistic framework to estimate the recurrence probability of a large-size earthquake is also proposed and an illustration was made in this paper. The mean value of the 110-AMEM is 6.433, and the coefficient of variation is around 10%. The results of two goodness-of-fit tests show that the Gamma and lognormal distributions are relatively suitable to represent the AMEM around Taiwan among five common probability distributions. Using the proposed approach, the recurrence probability is 4% for an earthquake with magnitude greater than 7.5 in a 1-year period around Taiwan. More site-specifically, the probability is around 5% in Central Taiwan for such an earthquake to occur in a 50-year period.     

Relationship between the brightness in the coronal green line and magnetic fields on various scales

The relationship between the brightness in the FeXIV 530.3 nm coronal green line and magnetic fields on various scales in the corona is studied quantitatively. The cross-correlations of the corresponding synoptic maps for 1977–2001 have been calculated. Maps of the brightness of the coronal green line are constructed using daily monitoring data. Maps of the magnetic field are constructed separately for fields on large and small spatial scales, based on computations in a potential approximation using photospheric observations for distances of 1.1R _⊙ carried out at the Wilcox Solar Observatory. The correlations between the brightness in the coronal green line and the magnetic-field strengths on various scales as a function of latitude have a cyclic character. The correlation coefficients in the spot-formation zone are positive. Here, the green-line brightness corresponds mainly to the strength of small-scale fields, corresponding to the sizes of large active regions and activity complexes. The correlation coefficients are sign-variable above 40° latitude, and reach their greatest positive and negative values at the cyclemaximum and minimum. Larger-scale fields influence the green-line brightness at higher latitudes and near the phase of the cycle minimum. The results obtained can be used to investigate mechanisms for heating the corona. The relationship between the results obtained and the subsurface and deep solar dynamos are also discussed.     

Effect of magnetic fields on leveling

Normally, the establishment of national leveling networks was for the purpose of supporting national mapping programs of engineering projects. They are also used as a base on which to establish national gravity networks. During recent years, much study and investigation have been done concerning the characteristics and capabilities of these networks to provide data for determining height velocity changes due to crustal movements.

In the early 1960's the use of automatic (compensator) leveling instruments became common for establishing precise geodetic leveling networks. In 1981, at FIG, Montreux, Professor W.E. Rumpt and Mr. H. Meurisch reported the influence of DC-AC magnetic fields on the line of sight of compensator instruments. As a result, several manufacturers modified their automatic leveling instruments to minimize the AC-DC magnetic effect. Wild Heerbrugg, whose unmodified NA-2 level was least affected by magnetic fields, further reduced the effect by shielding it's compensator.

At the very least, the impact of this discovery will cause national geodetic agencies to modify their existing automatic leveling equipment and possibly embark on a releveling or reanalysis of their existing network. When studying micro/macro earth crustal movements, the geodesist must take this new factor into account in analysing data.     

The electric fields of radio pulsars with asymmetric nondipolar magnetic fields

The effect of the curvature of open magnetic field lines on the generation of electric fields in radio pulsars is considered in the framework of a Goldreich-Julian model, for both a regime with a free outflow of electrons from the neutron-star surface and the case of a small thermoemission current. An expression for the electron thermoemission current in a strong magnetic field is derived. The electric field associated with the curvature of the magnetic flux tubes is comparable to the field generated by the relativistic dragging of the inertial frames.     

Analytical continuation of gravitational and magnetic fields through masses

A new method of analytic continuation of gravitational and magnetic fields, which is based on the theory of continued fractions, is proposed. The method allows calculation of the geophysical fields of various origins by their measurements on the surface at depths above and below the sources of anomalies, as well as direct determination of the depth and forms of these sources without a priori information. The calculation results are given in examples of theoretical models, which prove the efficiency of the method.     

Electric and magnetic fields in the astrophysics of wormholes

We consider the properties of electric and magnetic fields in vacuum in the neighborhood of static, spherically symmetric wormholes. Although certain aspects of this problem have been considered before, some important features remained undiscovered. We study in detail the properties of electric and magnetic fields in the case of quasi-adiabatic motion of field sources near an Ellis-Bronnikov wormhole and the passage of such sources through the wormhole. An exact solution is found in closed form for a wormhole immersed in a magnetic field that is homogeneous at infinity, as well as an exact solution for a dipolar field without sources. The properties of electromagnetic fields are important for possible observational manifestations of wormholes in astrophysics.     

Monitoring ULF magnetic disturbances and schemes for recognizing earthquake precursors

Specific electromagnetic signals in the ULF range, which were observed in seismoactive regions prior to some strong and moderate earthquakes, are discussed with respect to the earthquake prediction problem. Characteristic features of such “seismogenic” ULF emissions are pointed out and compared with differential peculiarities of the ULF emissions of space origin. A new magnetometer technique for locating ULF emission sources is described. Methods are proposed for ULF data processing to investigate preparation activity within the earthquake source region, and to distinguish seismogenic signals from the background of space pulsations. Possible generation mechanisms of the ULF electromagnetic signals in seismic hazard systems are discussed.     

四川汶川Ms 8.0地震报道

据国家地震台网测定,北京时间2008年5月12日14时28分,在四川汶川县(北纬31度,东经103.4度)发生Ms 8.0级地震（图1）。宁夏、青海、甘肃、河南、山西、陕西、山东、云南、湖南、湖北、上海、重庆等省市均有震感……。这次地震造成约7万人死亡,1.7万人失踪,38多万人受伤,令人震撼。重灾区14个县（市）主要公路全部瘫痪,主要铁路、水库和城镇遭受重大破坏,特别是北川县城和映秀镇成为一片废墟,这次地震是继唐山地震之后我国又一个死亡和损失巨大的毁灭性地震。根据中国地震局台网中心和美国地质调查局公布资料,汶川地震的震中位于映秀镇西南2~3 km处,滑动面西倾,倾角40~59°,属于逆冲断裂型地震。主震之后一月时间内,记录了51次≥5级的余震,沿整个龙门山中段和北段分布。根据远程地震台站资料的反演结果显示汶川地震产生的破裂带长度超过300 km,震源深度在16~19 km,属于典型的大陆浅源地震,地震类型为单震—余震型,地震破裂属于单向扩展型,从西南震中区向北东方向快速扩展（图2）。汶川地震的发震构造为龙门山中央断裂带（传统上称为映秀-北川断裂）,是这条断裂向东逆冲运动的结果,从更大的大陆动力学尺度上考虑,这次地震破裂事件是印度/欧亚大陆持续汇聚作用下青藏高原向东扩展的表现（图3）。众所周知,龙门山构造带横亘于四川盆地和青藏高原之间,主体由三条主边界断裂组成,从西到东分别命名为茂-汶断裂、映秀-北川断裂、安县-灌县断裂。这些断裂主体形成于三叠纪印支运动时期,在中新生代多次活动。晚新生代以来,伴随着青藏高原向东构造挤出,龙门山构造带中、南段强烈挤压复活和基底拆离,形成青藏东缘宏伟的逆冲推覆构造和飞来峰群,其东缘映秀断裂向东逆冲运动,使彭-灌杂岩体推覆在龙门山前陆带中生界地层之上,推覆距离在几公里以上。野外调查和震后航空照片解译结果初步分析表明,汶川地震不仅使映秀-北川断裂发生破裂,摧毁了沿断裂带建设的所有城镇与乡村,最大地震烈度达到XI级,同时也使龙门山山前断裂带（灌县-安县断裂带）发生破裂。地震产生的地表破裂构造表现为地表拱曲、挤压脊、地震鼓包、张裂隙等。地表破裂构造几何特征指示断层由西向东逆冲运动,同震垂向位移量在2.5~3 m,北川以北伴有明显的右旋走滑分量。两个地点在这次地震中受到特别关注：一个汶川县映秀镇,另一个是北川县城。映秀镇靠近震中很近,映秀断裂恰好经过该镇,从而成为断裂的命名地点。它坐落在岷江及其支流的交汇处,其中发育至少三级河流阶地。汶川地震使该镇毁灭（图版Ⅰ）。北川县城远离震中150 km之遥,但整个县城完全被地震毁灭,是汶川地震中破坏程度最大、人员伤亡最多的县城。北川县城是北川断裂的命名地点,该断裂切过县城所在的峡谷地带,呈NE-SW向延伸。这次强震产生的动能不仅使北川县城产生毁灭性破坏,同时由于地震动触发的崩滑等山地灾害,导致人员的重大伤亡（图版Ⅱ）。汶川地震带给科学家带来诸多新的思考。历史地震记录显示,龙门山断裂带在历史上没有发生过>7级地震,中小地震数量也少。而位于龙门山断裂带以北的岷山构造带和以南的川滇断裂带,在历史上均发生过震级≧7级的强震,如1933年叠溪7.5级地震和1976年松潘7.2级地震（图4）,说明龙门山构造带长期处于构造应力能量的累积过程中。全球定位系统（GPS）重复测量结果也显示,横穿该带现今地壳近东西向缩短率很小,数量级在1~2 mm/a,与青藏高原其他边缘相比相对较弱。这种小应变构造区孕育大地震,在世界其它大陆地区很少见,其机理和破裂过程需要科学家深入的研究和持续的探索。     

An application of regional time and magnitude predictable model for long-term earthquake prediction in the vicinity of October 8, 2005 Kashmir Himalaya earthquake

A regional time and magnitude predictable model has been applied to estimate the recurrence intervals for large earthquakes in the vicinity of 8 October 2005 Kashmir Himalaya earthquake (25°–40°N and 65°–85°E), which includes India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hindukush, Pamirs, Mangolia and Tien-Shan. This region has been divided into 17 seismogenic sources on the basis of certain seismotectonics and geomorphological criteria. A complete earthquake catalogue (historical and instrumental) of magnitude Ms ≥ 5.5 during the period 1853–2005 has been used in the analysis. According to this model, the magnitude of preceding earthquake governs the time of occurrence and magnitude of future mainshock in the sequence. The interevent time between successive mainshocks with magnitude equal to or greater than a minimum magnitude threshold were considered and used for long-term earthquake prediction in each of seismogenic sources. The interevent times and magnitudes of mainshocks have been used to determine the following predictive relations: logT _t = 0.05 M _min + 0.09 M _p − 0.01 log M ₀ + 01.14; and M _f = 0.21 M _min − 0.01 M _p + 0.03 log M ₀ + 7.21 where, T _t is the interevent time of successive mainshocks, M _min is minimum magnitude threshold considered, M _p is magnitude of preceding mainshock, M _f is magnitude of following mainshock and M ₀ is the seismic moment released per year in each seismogenic source. It was found that the magnitude of following mainshock (M _f) does not depend on the interevent time (T _t), which indicates the ability to predict the time of occurrence of future mainshock. A negative correlation between magnitude of following mainshock (M _f) and preceding mainshock (M _p) indicates that the larger earthquake is followed by smaller one and vice versa. The above equations have been used for the seismic hazard assessment in the considered region. Based on the model applicability in the studied region and taking into account the occurrence time and magnitude of last mainshock in each seismogenic source, the time-dependent conditional probabilities (PC) for the occurrence of next shallow large mainshocks (Ms ≥ 6.5), during next 20 years as well as the expected magnitudes have been estimated.     

汶川地震后龙门山断裂带活动特征

利用地震后2009~2011年GPS监测数据,获得了龙门山断裂带所在地区2009~2010年、2010~2011年以及2009~2011年GPS测站运动速度场,分析了区域地壳运动总体趋势及形变特征;通过分析龙门山断裂带北段、中段、南段横切剖面的测站运动速度变化,探讨了汶川地震后龙门山断裂带运动特征。分析表明:汶川地震前后,地壳运动总体趋势未变,作顺时旋转;断裂带西侧GPS测站运动速度变大,东侧运动速度变小;龙门山断裂带的断裂性质地震前后都为右旋走滑挤压,断裂带运动速率受汶川地震影响较大,震后运动速率较震前有显著的增加。龙门山断裂带震后各段次级断裂活动不同,中南段以前山断裂运动为主,其它各段以后山断裂运动为主。地震后龙门山断裂带表现出的运动特征主要与地震活动有关。受汶川地震的影响,区域动力学、运动学平衡被打破,龙门山断裂带东侧震后初期弹性回返,表现为低速反向运动。龙门山断裂带西侧震后松弛为拉张区,运动速度加大。地震对断裂带的影响不同,导致断裂带各段及次级断裂表现出不同的运动特征。     

The 1946 magnitude 6.1 earthquake in the Valais: site-effects as contributor to the damage

The January 25, 1946 earthquake in the central Valais region in southwest Switzerland was the strongest for the last 150 years. It reached an epicentral intensity Io of VIII in the area of Sierre. The Swiss Earthquake Catalogue (ECOS 2002) assigns a moment magnitude of Mw = 6.1 to the event. Assessment of recordings from European stations resulted in a moment magnitude of 5.8 (Bernardi et al. 2005). The earthquake caused moderate to high damage within a circle of about a 25 kilometer radius. Slight damage occurred up to a distance of 200 kilometers from the epicenter. The goal of this study was to reconstruct the damage field and consider its possible site-effects. We used an approach combining historical research with seismo-/geological investigation including a large number of experiments measuring the fundamental frequency of resonance and the shear-wave velocities of the sedimentary layers, using the characteristics of ambient vibration. This kind of research is relevant, since a huge alpine valley characterizes the Valais region, showing ground conditions that make site-effects likely for earthquakes. While we searched for damage in an unlimited area, our investigation of site-effects was limited to the Rhone valley and to Sion and Sierre in the central Valais region in particular.     

Long-term earthquake prediction in the North Pacific seismic zone based on the time and magnitude predictable model

Earthquake recurrence intervals for large and great shallow mainshocks in 12 seismogenic sources along the North Pacific seismic zone (Alaska-Aleutians-Kamchatka-Kuril Islands) have been estimated and used for the determination of the following relations: