Temporal variations of focal mechanisms in the Novy Kostel focal zone (Vogtland/NW-Bohemia)—comparison of the swarms of 1994, 1997 and 2000

The seismicity in the Vogtland/NW-Bohemia region is mainly characterized by the occurrence of earthquake swarms. A key to a better understanding of the reasons of earthquake swarms can be provided by focal mechanism investigations. Here we present focal mechanisms for 12 of the strongest events (M_L⩾3.0) for the new swarm of 2000. With more than 10,000 events and magnitudes up to 3.7 the new swarm is the most prominent one since the big swarm in 1985/1986. The focal mechanisms of the swarm 2000 show different styles of faulting, namely strike-slip, normal and reverse faulting. There are indications for systematic temporal variations in the dislocation type. A comparison with the mechanisms of the preceding swarms of 1985/1986, 1994 and 1997 which all took place at the same location shows similarities in the faulting types and orientations of the nodal planes for the swarms of 1985/1986, 1994 and 2000. However, the focal mechanisms of 1997 do not fit into the scheme of the others. The focal mechanisms have also been used to determine the regional stress field. It turned out that the stress field in the Vogtland/NW-Bohemia region does not substantially differ from the known stress field in West and Central Europe. It is a strike slip regime with a SE–NW directed σ₁-axis and a NE–SW directed σ₃-axis.     

The 2008 West Bohemia earthquake swarm in the light of the WEBNET network

A swarm of earthquakes of magnitudes up to M _L = 3.8 stroke the region of West Bohemia/Vogtland (border area between Czechia and Germany) in October 2008. It occurred in the Novy Kostel focal zone, where also all recent earthquake swarms (1985/1986, 1997, and 2000) took place, and was striking by a fast sequence of macroseismically observed earthquakes. We present the basic characteristics of this swarm based on the observations of a local network WEBNET (West Bohemia seismic network), which has been operated in the epicentral area, on the Czech territory. The swarm was recorded by 13 to 23 permanent and mobile WEBNET stations surrounding the swarm epicenters. In addition, a part of the swarm was also recorded by strong-motion accelerometers, which represent the first true accelerograms of the swarm earthquakes in the region. The peak ground acceleration reached 0.65 m/s². A comparison with previous earthquake swarms indicates that the total seismic moments released during the 1985/1986 and 2008 swarms are similar, of about 4E16 Nm, and that they represent the two largest swarms that occurred in the West Bohemia/ Vogtland region since the M _L = 5.0 swarm of 1908. Characteristic features of the 2008 swarm are its short duration (4 weeks) and rapidity and, consequently, the fastest seismic moment release compared to previous swarms. Up to 25,000 events in the magnitude range of 0.5 < M _L < 3.8 were detected using an automatic picker. A total of nine swarm phases can be distinguished in the swarm, five of them exceeding the magnitude level of 2.5. The magnitude–frequency distribution of the complete 2008 swarm activity shows a b value close to 1. The swarm hypocenters fall precisely on the same fault portion of the Novy Kostel focal zone that was activated by the 2000 swarm (M _L ≤ 3.2) in a depth interval from 6 to 11 km and also by the 1985/1986 swarm (M _L ≤ 4.6). The steeply dipping fault planes of the 2000 and 2008 swarms seem to be identical considering the location error of about 100 m. Furthermore, focal mechanisms of the 2008 swarm are identical with those of the 2000 swarm, both matching an average strike of 170° and dip of 80° of the activated fault segment. An overall upward migration of activity is observed with first events at the bottom and last events at the top of the of the activated fault patch. Similarities in the activated fault area and in the seismic moments released during the three largest recent swarms enable to estimate the seismic potential of the focal zone. If the whole segment of the fault plane was activated simultaneously, it would represent an earthquake of M _L ~5. This is in good agreement with the estimates of the maximum magnitudes of earthquakes that occurred in the West Bohemia/Vogtland region in the past.     

Fractal analysis of earthquake swarms of Vogtland/NW-Bohemia intraplate seismicity

The special type of intraplate microseismicity with swarm-like occurrence of earthquakes within the Vogtland/NW-Bohemian Region is analysed to reveal the nature and the origin of the seismogenic regime. The long-term data set of continuous seismic monitoring since 1962, including more than 26000 events within a range of about 5 units of local magnitude, provides an unique database for statistical investigations. Most earthquakes occur in narrow hypocentral volumes (clusters) within the lower part of the upper crust, but also single event occurrence outside of spatial clusters is observed. Temporal distribution of events is concentrated in clusters (swarms), which last some days until few month in dependence of intensity. Since 1962 three strong swarms occurred (1962, 1985/86, 2000), including two seismic cycles. Spatial clusters are distributed along a fault system of regional extension (Leipzig-Regensburger Störung), which is supposed to act as the joint tectonic fracture zone for the whole seismogenic region. Seismicity is analysed by fractal analysis, suggesting a unifractal behaviour of seismicity and uniform character of seismotectonic regime for the whole region. A tendency of decreasing fractal dimension values is observed for temporal distribution of earthquakes, indicating an increasing degree of temporal clustering from swarm to swarm. Following the idea of earthquake triggering by magma intrusions and related fluid and gas release into the tectonically pre-stressed parts of the crust, a steady increased intensity of intrusion and/or fluid and gas release might account for that observation. Additionally, seismic parameters for Vogtland/NW-Bohemia intraplate seismicity are compared with an adequate data set of mining-induced seismicity in a nearby mine of Lubin/Poland and with synthetic data sets to evaluate parameter estimation. Due to different seismogenic regime of tectonic and induced seismicity, significant differences between b-values and temporal dimension values are observed. Most significant for intraplate seismicity are relatively low fractal dimension values for temporal distribution. That observation reflects the strong degree of temporal earthquake clustering, which might explain the episodic character of earthquake swarms and support the idea of push-like triggering of earthquake avalanches by intruding magma.     

Magma Intrusions and Earthquake Swarm Occurrence in the Western Part of the Bohemian Massif

We are proposing a hypothesis that earthquake swarms in the West Bohemia/Vogtland seismoactive region are generated by magmatic activity currently transported to the upper crustal layers. We assume that the injection of magma and/or related fluids and gases causes hydraulic fracturing which is manifested as an earthquake swarm at the surface. Our statements are supported by three spheres of evidence coming from the western part of the Bohemian Massif: characteristic manifestations of recent geodynamic activity, the information from the neighbouring KTB deep drilling project and from the 9HR seismic reflection profile, and the detailed analysis of local seismological data. (1) Recent manifestations of geodynamic activity include Quaternary volcanism, rich CO ₂ emissions, anomalies of mantle-derived ³ He, mineral springs, moffets, etc. (2) The fluid injection experiment in the neighbouring KTB deep borehole at a depth of 9 km induced hundreds of micro-earthquakes. This indicates that the Earth's crust is near frictional failure in the western part of the Bohemian Massif and an addition of a small amount of energy to the tectonic stress is enough to induce an earthquake. Some pronounced reflections in the closely passing 9HR seismic reflection profile are interpreted as being caused by recent magmatic sills in the crust. (3) The local broadband seismological network WEBNET provides high quality data that enable precise localization of seismic events. The events of the January 1997 earthquake swarm are confined to an extremely narrow volume at depths of about 9 km. Their seismograms display pronounced reflections of P- and S-waves in the upper crust. The analysis of the process of faulting has disclosed a considerable variability of the source mechanism during the swarm. We conclude that the mechanism of intraplate earthquake swarms generated by magma intrusions is similar to that of induced seismicity. As the recent tectonic processes and manifestations of geodynamic activity are similar in European areas with repeated earthquake swarm occurrence (Bohemian Massif, French Massif Central, Rhine Graben), we assume that magma intrusions and related fluid and gas release at depths of about 10 km are the universal cause of intraplate earthquake swarm generation     

Characteristic frequencies for earthquake families and their tectonic implications: Evidence from earthquake swarms in the kanto district,Japan

Through the analyses of waveform and spectrum for two swarm sequences in the Kanto District, including the results from 15 earthquake swarsm obtained previously, the mechanism of the faulting process in earthquake swarms is clarified in more detail. Earthquakes occurring in short time intervals consist mainly of events with similar waveforms andS-P times. These are called “earthquake families,” and many families are observed during a swarm sequence (70–80 percent); for example, 15 families were observed in the 1983 Izu Peninsula earthquake swarm. The source spectra of earthquake families share the same corner frequency, even though their low-frequency levels may differ by a factor as great as 1000, and the value of the corner frequency depends on the size of the largest event in the family. Local variations of corner frequencies within a factor of 25 are found among the earthquake swarms in the Kanto District. These observations suggest the existence of a characteristic fault length depending on the swarm area, and its length may be responsible for the size of the largest event in the family. The characteristic fault length is about 100 m for Ashio, about 400 m for the Izu Peninsula and about 2.5 km for areas off the Chiba Prefecture, and the magnitudes of the largest events expected from these fault lengths are about 2.5, 4, and 6, respectively.     

Structural Preconditions of West Bohemia Earthquake Swarms

The West Bohemia and adjacent Vogtland are well known for quasi-periodical earthquake swarms persisting for centuries. The seismogenic area near Nový Kostel involved about 90 % of overall earthquake activity clustered here in space and time. The latest major earthquake swarm took place in August–September 2011. In 1994 and 1997, two minor earthquake swarms appeared in another location, near Lazy. Recently, the depth-recursive tomography yielded a velocity image with an improved resolution along the CEL09 refraction profile passing between these swarm areas. The resolution, achieved in the velocity image and its agreement with the inverse gravity modeling along the collateral 9HR reflection profile, enabled us to reveal the key structural background of these West Bohemia earthquake swarms. The CEL09 velocity image detected two deeply rooted high-velocity bodies adjacent to the Nový Kostel and Lazy focal zones. They correspond to two Variscan mafic intrusions influenced by the SE inclined slab of Saxothuringian crust that subducted beneath the Teplá-Barrandian terrane in the Devonian era. In their uppermost SE inclined parts, they roof both focal zones. The high P-wave velocities of 6,100–6,200 m/s, detected in both roofing caps, indicate their relative compactness and impermeability. The focal domains themselves are located in the almost gradient-free zones with the swarm foci spread near the axial planes of profound velocity depressions. The lower velocities of 5,950–6,050 m/s, observed in the upper parts of focal zones, are indicative of less compact rock complexes corrugated and tectonically disturbed by the SE bordering magma ascents. The high-velocity/high-density caps obviously seal the swarm focal domains because almost no magmatic fluids of mantle origin occur in the Nový Kostel and Lazy seismogenic areas of the West Bohemia/Vogtland territory, otherwise rich in the mantle-derived fluids. This supports the hypothesis of the fluid triggering of earthquake swarms. The sealed focal domains retain ascending magmatic fluids until their critical pressure and volumes accumulated cause rock micro-fractures perceived as single earthquake bursts. During a swarm period, the focal depths of these sequential events become shallower while their magnitudes grow. We assume that coalescence of the induced micro-fractures forms temporary permeability zones in the final swarm phase and the accumulated fluids release into the overburden via the adjacent fault systems. The fluid release usually occurs after the shallowest events with the strongest magnitudes M_L > 3. The seasonal summer declines of hydrostatic pressure in the Cheb Basin aquifer system seem to facilitate and trigger the fluid escape as happened for the 2000, 2008, and 2011 earthquake swarms. The temporary fluid release, known as the valve-fault action, influences the surface aquifer systems in various manners. In particular, we found three quantities, the strain, mantle-derived ³He content in CO₂ surface sources and ground water levels, which display a 3–5 months decline before and then a similar restoration after each peak earthquake during the swarm activities. The revealed structure features are particularly important since the main Nový Kostel earthquake swarm area is proposed as a site for the ICDP project, ‘Eger Rift Drilling’.     

Self-organization of earthquake swarms

The temporal clustering of swarm activity differs significantly from characteristics of aftershock sequences accompanying mainshocks. This is often assumed to be caused by crustal structure complexities and fluid migration. However, the underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood, especially, the processes and conditions which lead to the apparent differences between the swarm patterns and typical mainshock–aftershock sequences. In previous works, we have shown that the most conspicuous characteristics of tectonic earthquakes can be reproduced by stick-slip block models incorporating visco-elastic interactions. Now, the same model is shown to reproduce an almost periodical occurrence of earthquake swarms in the case of an enlarged postseismic response. The simulated swarms respect not only the Gutenberg-Richter law for the event sizes, they also reproduce several observations regarding their spatio-temporal patterns. In particular, the comparison with the January 1997 and the year 2000 swarm in Vogtland/NW-Bohemia shows a good agreement in the interevent-time distributions and the spatio-temporal spreading of the swarm activity. The simulated seismicity patterns result from self-organization within the swarm due to local stress transfers and viscous coupling. Consequently, the agreement with the Vogtland swarm activity do not allow any decision about the preparatory process of the swarms; in particular, the question whether the swarms are initially triggered by fluid intrusion or tectonic motion cannot be answered. However, the model investigations suggest that the process of self-organization is very important for understanding the activity patterns of earthquake swarms.     

Variations in discharge and temperature of mineral springs at the Františkovy Lázně spa,Czech Republic,during a nearby earthquake swarm in 1985/1986

The western part of the Bohemian Massif (West-Bohemia/Vogtland region at the Czech-German border) is characterized by relatively frequent intraplate earthquake swarms and by other manifestations of present-day geodynamic activity. During the strong earthquake swarm at the turn of the years 1985 and 1986, significant changes in mineral spring parameters were observed at the spa of Františkovy Lázně. In this study, we present all available data on the mineral springs parameters, and we discuss them in terms of relations to seismic activity. Some changes in discharge were very distinct, amounting up to 40%, and had a co-seismic character. The changes in temperature were less noticeable, but preceded the beginning of the swarm by several months. Some hydrological changes persisted for nearly two years after the earthquake swarm. The character of the observed changes seems to support the hypothesis on an injection of mantle fluids, in particular of CO₂, as the main triggering mechanism of the earthquake swarm and the main cause of discharge anomalies.     

Magnitudes and time distribution of the swarm earthquakes August–November 2000 in NW Bohemia

During the earthquake swarm in the north-western part of the Czech Republic which happened between August and November 2000 more than 10 500 single events have been recorded at the station Wernitzgruen (WERN), located in the Vogtland (Germany) at about 13 km hypocentral distance. Most of the events were weak and followed each other so closely in time that they could not be identified at more distant stations in Middle Europe. A procedure to determine magnitudes of very small events from recordings in short distances is realized and discussed. The development over time of the seismic activity shows the typical pattern of previous earthquake swarms in this region consisting of multiple swarm episodes. For the first time, however, it is analysed using the time intervals between successive events. However, no new and reproducible patterns were found which could be useful for prognostics of future swarm activities.     

Space-time distribution of earthquake swarms in the principal focal zone of the NW Bohemia/Vogtland seismoactive region: period 1985–2001

The NW Bohemia/Vogtland region situated at the western part of the Bohemian Massif is characteristic in a frequent reoccurrence of earthquake and micro-earthquake swarms. We present a comprehensive, integrated pattern of the space and time distribution of seismic energy release in the principal NK (Nový Kostel) focal zone for the period 1991–2001 and for the intensive 1985/1986 swarm. More than 3000 earthquakes, recorded by the WEBNET, the KRASLICE net and by temporary stations VAC, TIS and OLV operating during the 1985/1986 swarm, were located or re-located using the master event technique. Swarm-like sequences were identified and discriminated from solitary events by detecting local minima of the inter-event time using a standard short-time/long-time average (STA/LTA) detection algorithm. Most of the seismic energy in the NK zone was released during the two intensive 1985/1986 and 2000 swarms and in the course of the weaker January 1997 swarm. Further 27 swarm-like sequences (micro-swarms) and many solitary micro-earthquakes (background activity) were identified in the NK zone for the period 1991–2001 by the inter-event time analysis. Relative location revealed a pronounced planar character of the NK focal zone. Most of the events, including those of the intensive 1985/1986 and 2000 swarms, were located at the main focal plane (MFP) striking 169° N and dipping 80° westward at depths between 6 and 11 km. A singularity was the January 1997 swarm together with a micro-swarm that were both located across the MFP. The position and geometry of the MFP match quite well the Nový Kostel-Počátky-Zwota tectonic line. The space distribution patterns of larger events and of micro-swarms at the MFP differ: larger events predominantly grouped in planar clusters while the micro-swarms lined up along two parallel seismogenic lines. The temporal behaviour was examined from two aspects: (a) migration and (b) recurrence of the seismic activity. It was found that (a) the seismic activity in the time span 1991–2001 migrated in an area of about 12×4 km and (b) several segments of the MFP were liable to reactivation. The activity before, during and after the 2000 swarm took place in different parts of the MFP.     

Seismohydrological effects related to the NW Bohemia earthquake swarms of 2000 and 2008: Similarities and distinctions

For more than 20 years, seismohydrological investigations have been undertaken at the mineral aquifer system of Bad Brambach (Vogtland, Germany). Two strong swarm earthquake series in 2000–2001 and 2008–2009 at the Nový Kostel epicentre (Czech Republic, 10 km E of BB) have enabled for the first time a comparison of seismological and groundwater hydraulic features in a semi-quantitative way. In spite of their similar spatial distribution in 2001 and 2008, the earthquake foci of each swarm migrated differently through time, horizontally as well as in depth. The seismic energy of the 2008–2009 events was released predominantly within 1 month, in contrast to 2000–2001 when it occurred over 3 months. The main distinctive features of each are seen in the hydraulic pressure anomalies which accompanied the earthquake swarms: number, shape, and progression (duration) of the anomalies. The comprehensive hydraulic data, with high temporal resolution, suggest that fluid triggering dominated not only the earthquake initiating phases. In particular, the long-lasting seismicity of the 2008–2009 swarm can be attributed to a continued triggering of weak earthquakes by over-pressured deep fluids. Here, the remaining static strain was obviously not sufficient to generate strong earthquakes as at the beginning of the earthquake swarm periods. Furthermore, the enduring high fluid pressure in 2009 could also indicate a continuation of the long-term gas flow increase observed at several gas outlets in the Vogtland/NW Bohemia region between 1998 and 2008. However, it is not possible at present to derive a systematic relationship between anomaly occurrence and seismic activity, as generally proposed in the context of earthquake prediction discussion.     

Stress Analyses in the Epicentral Area of Nový Kostel (Western Bohemia)

The focal mechanisms of events from three micro-earthquake swarms (swarm in the years 1985/86, swarm of December 1994, and swarm of January 1997) in the epicentral area of Nový Kostel (West Bohemia region) were used as input data for stress analyses. The simple graphical method of Angelier and Mechler (1977) and inversion by the program BRUTE3 (Hardcastle and Hills, 1993) were applied to the data collections. The results of the stress analyses for the 1985/86 swarm and for the swarm of December 1994 are similar. For the January 1997 swarm, the results of the analyses differ from those for older swarms. The axis of maximum extension is oriented in the NE-SW direction and is subhorizontal, the axis of maximum compression is oriented in the NW-SE direction and perspicuously dips towards SE. These results are similar to older results of stress analyses carried out for the 1985/86 swarm (Antonini, 1988; Sonnleitner,1993). They are also consistent with most of other published results of stress analyses conducted at different sites in the western part of the Bohemian Massif. The orientation of the principal stresses confirms the sinistral strike-slip movement along the Nový Kostel-Poátky-Zwota line (the trend is about 355°) defined by the epicentres of the micro-earthquakes. The eastern tectonic limit of the Cheb Basin (and other respective parallel faults ) could be characterised by normal rather than strike-slip faulting.     

The August–December 2000 earthquake swarm in NW Bohemia: the first results based on automatic processing of seismograms

Main features of the August–December 2000 earthquake swarm which occurred in the major focal area of the North-West Bohemia / Vogtland swarm region are presented. Seismograms from four stations of WEBNET were automatically processed to get arrival times, first motion amplitudes and hypocentre coordinates of a representative set of events. Altogether 7017 microearthquakes in the magnitude range of M_L=0–3.3 were identified. It is shown the decay of activity of individual swarm phases followed the modified Omori law, which points to a partial similarity with aftershock sequences of tectonic earthquakes. The space-time distribution of a subset of 2913 events with low location residuals shows a strong space clustering of the earthquake hypocentres and their pronounced migration between individual swarm phases. Most of the activity took place along an elliptical, nearly vertically dipping, 6 km long N-S oriented fault plane in depths ranging from 10.5 to 6.5 km. The P and T axes were estimated by FOCMEC for the 782 strong events and three groups of earthquakes with similar faulting type were distinguished. In contrast to the normal and strike-slip faulting events that created the prevailing portion of the swarm and were distributed uniformly within the focal area, the reverse events were clustered in time and space.     

Seismicity in the Vogtland/Western Bohemia Earthquake Region Between 1962 and 1998

The Vogtland/Western Bohemia region is part of the Saxothuringian Earthquake Province. It is an isolated area of active intraplate seismicity. Observations of the seismicity between 1962 and 1998 are summarized. More than 17000 earthquakes have been detected microseismically with M _L reaching from about –1.5 to 4.6. In the considered time interval, the catalogue of Vogtland events can be regarded as complete for magnitudes larger than 1.8. The region is well known for the occurrence of earthquakes clustered contemporarily in time and space. In this study, altogether 82 clusters are defined. Among them, clusters with swarm properties are distinguished from clusters with main shock accompanied by fore- and aftershocks, and from single events. 48 swarms are detected.The magnitude-frequency distribution of the maximum magnitudes of the clusters is studied. In the magnitude range 1.8  M _L  3.1, a bimodal character of the magnitude-frequency distribution is detected for both swarms and nonswarm-like events. The slope is greater for larger magnitudes than in the small-magnitude range. A gap in the magnitude-frequency distribution of clusters is observed for maximum magnitudes between 3.1 and 4.3. Furthermore, clusters themselves are characterized by the b-values of their magnitude-frequency distributions. Swarms show b-values greater than 0.7. Epicenters of swarms are confined to a few subregions. Epicenters of nonswarm-like events are distributed over a larger region than epicenters of swarms but hypocenters of swarms and nonswarm-like clusters may be located close to each other.The envelope of the distribution of magnitudes as a function of time is investigated. In the considered time interval, a statistically significant recurrence of strong events of about 72 months is discovered by a frequency analysis. Comparing the seismicity between 1897 and 1908 with the seismicity between 1962 and 1998 temporal variations in the recurrence become obvious. The Nový Kostel zone is discussed in more detail. The average hypocenters of swarms are located on a SW-dipping fault segment that intersects the Eger Rift in NNW-SSE direction.Discussing properties of the seismicity in the Vogtland/Western Bohemia region it is concluded that the increased seismicity may be explained by the presence of fluids on deep reaching faults. The occurrence of swarms, their variability as well as the small distances between hypocenters of swarms and nonswarm-like events point to strong lateral and possibly temporal changes of the properties of the fault system.     

Role of crustal fluids in triggering the West Bohemia/Vogtland earthquake swarms: Just what we know (a review)

We summarise the results of seismological studies related to triggering mechanisms, driving forces and source processes of the West Bohemia/Vogtland earthquake swarms with the aim to disclose the role of crustal fluids in the preparation, triggering and governing of the swarms. We present basic characteristics distinguishing earthquake swarms from tectonic mainshock-aftershock sequences and introduce existing earthquakes swarm models. From the statistical characteristics and time-space distribution of the foci we infer that self-organization is a peculiarity of West Bohemia/Vogtland swarms. We discuss possible causes of the foci migration in these swarms from the viewpoint of co-seismic and/or post-seismic stress changes and diffusion of the pressurized fluids, and we summarize hitherto published models of triggering the 2000-swarm. Attention is paid to the source mechanisms, particularly to their non-shear components. We consider possible causes of different source mechanisms of the 1997-and 2000-swarms and infer that pure shear processes controlled solely by the regional tectonic stress prevail in them, and that additional tensile forces may appear only at unfavourably oriented faults. On data from the fluid injection experiment at the HDR site Soultz (Alsace), we also show that earthquakes triggered by fluids can represent purely shear processes. Thus we conclude that increased pore pressure of crustal fluids in the region plays a key role in bringing the faults from the subcritical to critical state. The swarm activities are mainly driven by stress changes due to co-seismic and post-seismic slips, which considerably depend on the frictional conditions at the fault; crustal fluids keep the fault in a critical state. An open question still remains the cause of the repeatedly observed almost simultaneous occurrence of seismic activity in different focal zones in a wider area of West Bohemia/Vogtland. The analysis of the space-time relations of seismicity in the area between 1991 and 2007 revealed that during a significant part of this time span the seismicity was switching among distant focal zones. This indicates a common triggering force which might be the effect of an increase of crustal-fluid pore-pressure affecting a wider epicentral region.     

Focal Mechanisms and Stress Field in The Region Vogtland/Western Bohemia

We calculated focal mechanisms for 30 of the strongest events (1.5 M _L 3.3) in distinct subregions of Vogtland/Western Bohemia between 1990 and 1998. Our investigations are concerned with events of the swarms near Bad Elster (1991), Haingrün (1991), Nový Kostel (1994 and 1997) and Zwickau (1998), two events from a group of earthquakes near Klingenthal (1997) and eight single events. Seismograms were provided by the digital station networks of the Geophysical Observatory of the University of Munich, the Technical University of Freiberg, the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague, the Masaryk University in Brno and some nearby stations of the German Regional Seismic Network (GRSN). To calculate focal mechanisms two inversion methods were applied. The inferred focal mechanisms do not show a simple, uniform pattern of seismic dislocation. All possible dislocation types – strike-slip, normal and thrust faulting - are represented. The prevailing mechanisms are normal and strike-slip faulting. Considerable differences in the fault plane solutions are noted for the individual subregions as well as in some cases among the individual events of a single swarm. For the Nový Kostel area we succeeded to resolve a change in the orientations of the nodal planes for the two successive swarms of December 1994 and January 1997. Besides this we also observe a change in the mechanisms, namely from strike-slip and normal faulting (December 1994) to strike-slip and thrust faulting (January 1997). Based on the inferred focal mechanisms the stress field was estimated. It turned out, that the dominating stress field in the region Vogtland/Western Bohemia does not substantially differ from the known stress field of West and Central Europe, being characterized by a SE-NW direction of the maximum compressive horizontal stress. We conclude that the seismicity in the Vogtland/Western Bohemia region is not predominantly caused by an independent local stress field, but rather controlled by the dominating stress regime in Central Europe.     

The earthquake swarm 2000 in the region Vogtland/NW-Bohemia—earthquake recording at German stations and temporal distribution of events

The last strong earthquake swarm in the region Vogtland/NW-Bohemia occurred between August and November 2000 with about 10000 micro-earthquakes at magnitudes up to 3.7. On the territory of Germany the seismic activity was monitored both by means of permanent and mobile stations. Mobile stations were installed by the Seismological Central Observatory at Erlangen (SZGRF) in co-operation with the “Geo-Forschungs-Zentrum”-(GFZ)-Potsdam and the University of Potsdam. The objects of this paper are: (1) the presentation of seismic stations on the German side of the earthquake region during the swarm 2000, (2) the comparison of the frequency–time and magnitude–time distribution of the recent swarm 2000 with previous swarms in the 20th century.     

Improving automatic location procedure by waveform similarity analysis: An application in the South Western Alps (Italy)

The accuracy of automatic procedures for locating earthquakes is influenced by several factors such as errors in picking seismic phases, network geometry, modeling errors and velocity model uncertainties. The main purpose of this work is to improve the performances of the automatic procedure employed for the “quasi-real-time” location of seismic events in North Western Italy by developing a procedure based on a waveform similarity analysis and by using only one seismic station.To detect “earthquake families” a cross-correlation technique was applied to a data set of seismic waveforms recorded in the period 1985-2002, in a small test area (1600 km²) located in the South Western Alps (Italy). Normalized cross-correlation matrices were calculated using about 2700 seismic events, selected on the basis of the signal to noise ratio, manually picked and located by using the Hypoellipse code. The waveform similarity analysis, based on the bridging technique, allowed grouping about 65% of the selected events into 80 earthquake families (multiplets) located inside the area considered. For each earthquake family a master event is selected, manually re-picked and re-located by using Hypoellipse code. Having chosen a reference station (STV) on the basis of the completeness of the available data set, an automatic procedure has been developed with the aim of cross-correlating new seismic recordings (automatically picked) to the waveforms of the events belonging to the detected families. If the new event is proved to belong to a family (on the basis of the cross-correlation values), its hypocenter co-ordinates are defined by the location of the master event of the associated family. The performance of the proposed procedure is tested and demonstrated using a data set of 104 selected earthquakes recorded in the period January 2003-June 2004 and located in the test area. The automatic procedure is able to locate, associating events with the multiplets detected by the waveform similarity analysis, about 50% of the test events, almost independently of the accuracy of the automatic phase picker and without the biasing of the network geometry and of the velocity model uncertainties.     

辽宁地区震群序列特征及其性质判定方法的研究

本文在以往研究震群性质及其预测方法的基础上，从统计的角度出发，结合“八五”和“九五”地震预报攻关成果中有关震群序列参数的分析方法，对1974年以来，在辽宁及其邻近地区发生的23个震群作了详细研究。根据这些震群时序分布的表象特征，将其分为四种类型：Ⅰ增强型；Ⅱ衰减型；Ⅲ增减型；Ⅳ双丛（峰）型。又根据这些震群参数及有关特征量的统计特征，经认真分析，给出了识别震群性质的标志和定量指标（其中有些是对老指标的修正），进而总结出了较适合辽宁地区的震群性质综合判定方法。同时，与以往判定震群性质的方法还作了比较研究，结果表明，本文方法较以往方法判定结果的质量、信度和科学性等方面都有所提高，因此，可作为辽宁地区中强震短临预报的参考依据。     

Simultaneous determination of the source mechanism and the seismic wave energy

Summary It is necessary to know the source mechanism for the determination of the seismic energy of seismic waves from the seismogram recorded at one station. For sparse data (selected events of the 1985/86 Western-Bohemia earthquake swarm) the source mechanisms cannot be determined fromP-wave first motions. Therefore, a new method of determining the source mechanism simultaneously with the energy calculated from observations at two stations has been developed. The method is described and tested. Advantages, disadvantages and the stability of the method are discussed.