Source mechanisms of the June 2004 Tabuk earthquake sequence, Eastern Red Sea margin, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A sequence of earthquakes took place in June 2004 approximately 60 km southeast of Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. The first felt event (M _W = 3.9) occurred on June 9 and caused minor damage in the epicentral area according to the National Earthquake Information Center and the local reports. Another moderate size event occurred on June 22 (M _W = 5.1) and was followed by a few felt aftershocks without any reported damage. This earthquake sequence caused considerable alarm at Tabuk and highlights the fact that damaging earthquakes can occur in this region away from the major plate boundary in the Red Sea. Being the largest well-recorded event in the area for which the digital and broadband records from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Cyprus, and Kuwait are available, it provides an excellent opportunity to study the tectonic process and present day stress field acting on this area. The digital records from these regional networks were used to relocate the largest three events of this sequence. Focal mechanisms were obtained from full waveform inversion and indicate normal faulting mechanisms with two nodal planes oriented NW–SE in parallel to the faults bounding the Tabuk graben and the Red Sea rift axis. These events originated at shallow focal depths of 4–5 km, possibly contributing to the widely felt ground motions. These events offer a unique opportunity to study the active tectonics of the region as well as inform future studies of seismic hazard in northwestern Saudi Arabia, the Gulf of Aqaba, and eastern Egypt.     

Ground motion models for the Molise region (Southern Italy)

The aim of this paper is to evaluate empirical attenuation relationships in order to validate peak values and pseudo-velocity spectra to calibrate shaking scenarios for the Molise area, which was struck by two earthquakes of M_w=5.7 (INGV-Harvard European-Mediterranean Regional Centroid-Moment tensor project) on October 31st and November 1st, 2002. Before the earthquake occurrence this region was classified as not hazardous, according to the former Italian seismic code. After the main-shocks, felt in many towns of the Molise and Puglia regions, a strong motion and a seismic temporary network were installed in the epicentral area and surrounding regions. This allowed the collection of a large data set, useful to characterize this area. The joint velocity-acceleration data set has been used to derive ground motion models for peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity, and pseudo-velocity response spectra for both maximum horizontal and vertical components of the motion.The results obtained for the Molise area have been compared with the attenuation pattern of the Umbria-Marche region (central Italy) and the Italian territory. Remarkable differences have been observed leading to a discussion of the possible regional dependence of ground motion.     

Large Occurrence Patterns of New Zealand Deep Earthquakes: Characterization by Use of a Switching Poisson Model

The paper studies the statistical properties of deep earthquakes around North Island, New Zealand. We first evaluate the catalogue coverage and completeness of deep events according to cusum (cumulative sum) statistics and earlier literature. The epicentral, depth, and magnitude distributions of deep earthquakes are then discussed. It is worth noting that strong grouping effects are observed in the epicentral distribution of these deep earthquakes. Also, although the spatial distribution of deep earthquakes does not change, their occurrence frequencies vary from time to time, active in one period, relatively quiescent in another. The depth distribution of deep earthquakes also hardly changes except for events with focal depth less than 100 km. On the basis of spatial concentration we partition deep earthquakes into several groups—the Taupo-Bay of Plenty group, the Taranaki group, and the Cook Strait group. Second-order moment analysis via the two-point correlation function reveals only very small-scale clustering of deep earthquakes, presumably limited to some hot spots only. We also suggest that some models usually used for shallow earthquakes fit deep earthquakes unsatisfactorily. Instead, we propose a switching Poisson model for the occurrence patterns of deep earthquakes. The goodness-of-fit test suggests that the time-varying activity is well characterized by a switching Poisson model. Furthermore, detailed analysis carried out on each deep group by use of switching Poisson models reveals similar time-varying behavior in occurrence frequencies in each group.     

A geological study of the epicentral area of the April 20(21), 2006 Olyutorskii earthquake

Primary and secondary earthquake effects were investigated (surface breakage and felt effects in the villages of Tilichiki, Korf, and Khailino) in the epicentral area of a large earthquake occurring in northern Kamchatka Krai. The primary effects include an extended surface break that can be followed for a length of about 140 km. The secondary (gravitational and vibrational) effects include soil slides and minor rockfalls, snow flows on slopes, resonant cracks, soil liquefaction phenomena consisting of mud cones, mud gryphons, and discharges of soil from cracks. Detailed maps showing the main types of earthquake surface effects have been made. Paleoseismic data show traces of several large earthquakes that have occurred in the Olyutorskii earthquake zone. Radio carbon dating of soil samples from these paleoseismic scarps revealed a history of great earthquakes occurring in Koryakia. In all, four seismic events with magnitudes about that of the 2006 Olyutorskii earthquake have occurred there during 8000 years, the return period of such events being 1000–2500 years.     

Seismic risk analysis for Northern Iraq

In this study the seismic risks of northern Iraq have been evaluated by a probabilistic method. The data contain about 500 earthquakes which occurred between 1840 and 1978. The epicentral locations and magnitudes of the included earthquakes have been presented. A linear relationship between magnitude and frequency has been assumed. The attenuation of intensities has been presented as a function of magnitude and epicentral distance. The seismic risk has been calculated for 225 points of the analysed area. The equiseismal maps related to a certain risk level have been plotted by using these point values of intensities, and assuming a linear variation between the points. The significance of the standard deviation of the attenuation law and the strict lower bound intensity has been investigated by sensitivity analyses. The intensity contours related to the annual return period of 50, 100 and 200 years have been presented, and also the intensity contours with an occurrence probability of 10 per cent during 50, 100 and 200 years have been drawn.     

Seismic Risk Region Determination by Information Entropy

During the preparation process of a great earthquake, there are certain patterns of less randomness but more order in the space-time distribution of micro-earthquakes, which had been proved by seismic events and experiments. The information entropy concerning the dimension of the order in seismic distribution is systematically defined from the point of modern statistical physics in this paper. Relations of dynamic variations of information entropy with a strong shock occurrence time and the distribution of information with a strong shock occurrence place were approached through seismic data from the Wuqia, Xikar, Wushi, and Manasi regions in Xinjiang. It is indicated that before strong earthquakes, the value of information entropy often noticeably drops in seismic region, and generally much lower in the epicentral area than the surrounding regions. These two characters are of important significance in strong shock risk region determination and large shock tendency prediction.     

Expulsion of geopressured hydrothermal system along active faults and its relation to the occurrence of earthquakes in the Shinanogawa seismic belt,Japan

The 1995 Northern Niigata Earthquake (M 6.0) occurred at a shallow depth in the Niigata seismic gap. The anomaly areas in temperature, electrical conductivity and Cl- concentration of groundwater trend northeast as linear distribution in the epicentral area and are approximately coincident with the area of the seismic intensity 6 (JMA scale). The distributions of seismic intensity 6 and groundwater anomalies convincingly imaged the presence of a buried active fault beneath the epicentral area. The occurrence of this earthquake and the anomalies of groundwater were related to the expulsion of geopressured hydrothermal system (GHS). All epicenters of the destructive earthquakes along the Shinanogawa seismic belt are actually located in the buried active fault zones characterized by the areas of temperature and geochemical anomalies of groundwater. These earthquakes might have been triggered by the activity of GHS. The expulsion of GHS along an active fault in combination with the thermal softening of fault     

大柴旦地震序列尾波衰减Q值变化特征研究

利用大柴旦数字地震台记录的2008年6.3级和2009年6.4级的数字地震资料,系统地分析了大柴旦地震序列尾波Q值随时间的变化,着重分析了尾波Q值在强震前的短期变化特征.结果表明,Q值在大震前后有较明显的变化,基本趋势是震前Q值增高,震后降低.     

The Kangding earthquake swarm of November, 2014

There was an earthquake swarm of two major events of MS6.3 and MS5.8 on the Xianshuihe fault in November, 2014. The two major earthquakes are both strike-slip events with aftershock zone along NW direction.We have analyzed the characteristics of this earthquake sequence. The b value and the h value show the significant variations in different periods before and after the MS5.8earthquake. Based on the data of historical earthquakes, we also illustrated the moderate-strong seismic activity on the Xianshuihe fault. The Kangding earthquake swarm manifests the seismic activity on Xianshuihe fault may be in the late seismic active period. The occurrence of the Kangding earthquake may be an adjustment of the strong earthquakes on the Xianshuihe fault. The Coulomb failure stress changes caused by the historical earthquakes were also given in this article. The results indicate that the earthquake swarm was encouraged by the historical earthquakes since1893, especially by the MS7.5 Kangding earthquake in1955. The Coulomb failure stress changes also shows the subsequent MS5.8 earthquake was triggered by the MS6.3earthquake.     

东汉早期的地震活动

东汉早期(公元25—127年)的地震史料十分宝贵, 它反映了从远古零散、 不系统的地震记载转入连续记载并逐渐认识地震的过程. 这时的地震事件较多, 但研究不充分, 地震参数基本呈空白状. 史料的记载方式以“郡国地震”和“京师地震”为主; 时间上, 基本在汉和帝以后; 地点上, 以大华北为主. 本文具体分析了东汉早期的33次地震事件, 利用新的地震烈度衰减关系, 采用郡国平均地理面积和有感面积的概念, 比照地震范例的标准, 按《中国地震目录》的烈度震级表进行参数估算. 研究期间最主要的地震事件是4次震级≥6 1/₂ 的强震, 即公元46年10月和119年3月南阳地震、 121年10月冀南-鲁西地震和123年5月汉阳地震, 震后都有持续1—2年的余震活动. 公元118年前的地震主要分布于大华北, 震中至京师洛阳的距离多在200 km以外. 除两次5 1/₂ —6级地震外, 均属5—5 1/₂ 级中等强度地震, 少数小于4 3/₄ 级. 京师洛阳虽经历过多次地震, 但其受影响程度并不强, 基本为有感或强有感的水平, 没有遭受过破坏性或中等强度的震害.      

Seismic characterization and monitoring of Fucino Basin (Central Italy)

The Fucino basin (Central Italy) is one of the largest intramountain alluvial plain in the Apennines range. It has a tectonic origin related to the presence of important systems of faults located in its northern and eastern edges. Some of these faults are still active and capable of generating strong seismic events. Site effects related to the soft soils filling the basin can be very important. In this paper we show the preliminary results of a seismic network installed in the Fucino area in order to collect information about site amplification effects and geometry of the basin. We analyze ambient seismic vibrations and recordings of about 150 local earthquakes mainly related to the seismic sequence of the April 6th 2009 Mw 6.3 L’Aquila event. Moreover the strongest events of L’Aquila sequence were analyzed at the three permanent strong-motion stations operating in the area. Using standard spectral techniques we investigate the variation of resonance frequencies within the basin. The ground motion recorded in the Fucino plain is mainly characterized by strong energy at low-frequencies (f < 1 Hz) affecting both horizontal and vertical components. This is particularly evident for stations deployed in correspondence of very thick deposits of sedimentary filling, where a significant increase of ground-motion amplitude and duration is likely caused by locally generated surface waves. The amplification at low-frequencies (<1 Hz) on the horizontal components can reach up a factor of 10 in comparison to nearby stiff sites. However, we found evidences of seismic amplification phenomena also for stiff sites surrounding the basin, including stations of the Italian strong motion network. The independent geological information and the shallow shear-velocity profiles available for the basin can be combined with resonance frequencies for deriving representative geological sections to be used as base for future numerical 2D–3D modeling of the basin.     

水库诱发地震震级预测的统计研究

于收集到的全球102例水库及已发地震的资料,应用隶属函数方法综合分析了水库基本属性、震中区岩性、库坝区基本烈度和震中区断层类型等与水库诱发地震之间的关系,从统计学角度给出了水库诱发最大地震震级的判定方法．通过回溯检验和费舍尔判别检验给出了预测震级的相对误差和正确识别率,总体预测效果较好,可为将来水库的设防和最大地震震级的判定提供统计学上的依据．      

Italian strong motion records in ITACA: overview and record processing

The published version 1.0 of the new Italian strong-motion database ITACA (Italian ACcelerometric Archive, ) includes to date (December 2010) about 4,000 three-component waveforms up to M 6.9, from more than 1,800 earthquakes up to 6.9, recorded by about 400 stations in the period 1972–2009. The uncorrected and corrected strong motion data are archived and can be retrieved with their metadata, concerning events, stations and waveforms. The aim of this paper is to present the procedures for processing the records included in ITACA, accounting for the heterogeneity of this data set, both in terms of quality and amplitude of records as well as illustrating the main features of the ITACA strong-motion dataset. Later, we focus on the “exceptional” ground-motion records, that we, conventionally, denote as those having peak acceleration and peak velocity larger than 300 cm/s² and 15 cm/s, respectively. These records are less than 2% of the whole ITACA dataset but they are the most relevant for the seismic hazard and engineering implications. Such large peak values, recorded at distances up to 30 km, are related not only to the strongest Italian earthquakes, but also to events with magnitude down to 4. Furthermore, we investigate the dependence of the largest peak values on horizontal and vertical directions and on source-to-site distance.     

Strong Earthquakes in 2009–2016 in Central Italy: Tectonic Position,Seismic History,and Aftershock Processes

Based on the seismological, geodynamic, and seismotectonic data on the strongest series of earthquakes in 2009–2017 in Central Italy, which were collected by many researchers, mostly Italian, the tectonic position of these events is determined and the seismic history of the region over more than 2000 years of observations of seismic manifestations in Italy is traced in the context of the strong events of the beginning of the 21st century. The aftershock processes of these earthquakes are investigated and, as a result, the possibility of a series of strong aftershocks of the earthquake of October 30, 2016 (M_W = 6.6) is predicted in advance of the actual occurrence of these events on January 18, 2017.     

On a homogeneous representation of seismic history in large regions

The possibility to obtain a more complete and unbiased long-term history of seismic shakings over large territories than is explicitly reported from inhabited localities is discussed in the paper. An approach proposed for this purpose consists in complementing the spatial distribution of the macroseismic effect of earthquakes by calculated intensities at localities where information on felt shakings is absent. The calculated intensity is obtained on the basis of data on the epicentral intensity and location of epicenters provided by earthquake catalogs. This approach is applied to the analysis of the history of seismic shaking in Spain. The calculated intensities are shown to be comparable in accuracy with the ordinary practice of intensity determinations at national seismological centers.     

Earthquakes from 1820 to 1936 in Grahamstown and surroundings (Eastern Cape Province,South Africa)

The seismicity of Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, for the years between 1820 and 1936 is investigated with recourse to contemporaneous documentary sources, leading to the development of a seismic history incorporating consideration of the broader geo-political context. Individual studies of five regional events that were felt in Grahamstown during that period, and of one that was not, are presented. Each study includes the development of a full set of intensity data points, which are used to determine reappraised epicentral locations and magnitudes, some of which differ significantly from previously listed parameters. The results thus obtained highlight the value of seeking out additional contemporary sources from different language groups when revisiting the source parameters of earthquakes for which no or only very limited instrumental information is available.     

MDCB-5型临震信息监测仪模拟未来震级大小计算初探

根据MDCB－5型临震信息监测仪记录到的某一地震临震异常幅度（电压值）、持续时间（天数）与岩石破裂、地震发生、地震波能量释放的相关性，从地震发生的物理基础出发，推导出了2个计算未来震级大小的理论公式。使用44天的监测数据对该期间发生的5次6级以上地震的震级进行了计算，在相应的震中距范围内计算的震级与实际发生的震级误差小于0．5级，初步说明了该方法应用于实际地震预报具有一定的参考价值。     

单台sPL震相测定珊溪水库地震震源深度

稀疏台网下的传统走时定位难以确定中小地震的震源深度,而地震波深度震相蕴含着震源深度信息,为确定地震震源深度提供了新的途径。近震深度震相sPL和直达Pg波到时差与震源深度呈线性关系,可用以约束地震震源深度。本文以珊溪水库2014年震群事件为例,利用单台sPL震相测定了地震震源深度。结果表明:震源深度的测定结果与基于水库台网高密度台站下Pg和Sg走时定位Hyposat方法和全波形拟合CAP方法测定的震源深度高度一致,为4—6 km,与区域活动断层探测结果相符。sPL震相的优势震中距为30—50 km,区域台网范围内sPL与Pg的到时差与震源深度的线性关系相对固定,因此利用单台sPL震相即可快速获取可靠的地震震源深度,适用于稀疏台网下的中小地震震源深度的确定,且误差可控制在1—2 km范围内。      

利用重复地震研究山东乳山地区地壳介质波速变化

利用2013年10月—2015年6月山东乳山震群的地震波形资料,基于距离乳山震群最近的3个台站所记录的地震波形互相关系数c≥0.9的地震即为重复地震的原则,识别了乳山震群的重复地震．利用波形互相关时延法,计算分析了文登台和招远台这两个固定台站的走时差随时间的变化特征．结果表明:乳山震群的地震相似性很好,且震中位置较为集中,重复地震的时间跨度较大,有利于提高观测结果的时间分辨率;乳山震群中3次M_S＞4.0地震前均出现了短期的走时差低值异常现象,反映了乳山震群震源区在中强震前会出现短期地壳介质速度明显升高的过程,可以为该区域的中强震预测提供一定依据．