Updating the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Values of Northern Algeria with the 21 May 2003 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis> 6.8 Algiers Earthquake Included

The occurrence of the Algiers earthquake (M 6.8) of May 21, 2003, has motivated the necessity to reassess the probabilistic seismic hazard of northern Algeria. The fact that this destructive earthquake took place in an area where there was no evidence of previous significant earthquakes, neither instrumental nor historical, strongly encourages us to review the seismic hazard map of this region. Recently, the probabilistic seismic hazard of northern Algeria was computed using the spatially smoothed seismicity methodology. The catalog used in the previous computation was updated for this review, and not only includes information until June 2003, but also considers a recent re-evaluation of several historical earthquakes. In this paper, the same methodology and seismicity models are utilized in an effort to compare this methodology against an improved and updated seismic catalog. The largest mean peak ground acceleration (PGA) values are obtained in northernmost Algeria, specifically in the central area of the Tell Atlas. These values are of the order of 0.48 g for a return period of 475 years. In the City of Algiers, the capital of Algeria, and approximately 50 km from the reported epicenter of this latest destructive earthquake, a new mean PGA value of 0.23 g is obtained for the same return period. This value is 0.07 g greater than that obtained in the previous computation. In general, we receive greater seismic hazard results in the surrounding area of Algiers, especially to the southwest. The main reason is not this recent earthquake by itself, but the significant increase in the m_max magnitude in the seismic source where the city and the epicenter are included.     

Seismicity and Seismic Hazard in Alexandria (Egypt) and its Surroundings

— Alexandria City has suffered great damage due to earthquakes from near and distant sources, both in historical and recent times. Sometimes the source of such damages is not well known. Seismogenic zones such as the Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba-Dead Sea Hellenic Arc, Suez-Cairo-Alexandria, Eastern-Mediterranean-Cairo-Faiyoum and the Egyptian costal area are located in the vicinity of this city. The Egyptian coastal zone has the lowest seismicity, and therefore, its tectonic setting is not well known. The 1998 Egyptian costal zone earthquake is a moderate complex source. It is composed of two subevents separated by 4 sec. The first subevent initiated at a depth of 28 km and caused a rupture of strike (347°), dip (29°) and slip (125°). The second subevent occurred at a shallower depth (24 km) and has a relatively different focal parameter (strike 334°, dip 60° and slip 60°). The available focal mechanisms strongly support the manifestation of a complex stress regime from the Hellenic Arc into the Alexandria offshore area. In the present study a numerical modeling technique is applied to estimate quantitative seismic hazard in Alexandria. In terms of seismic hazard, both local and remote earthquakes have a tremendous affect on this city. A local earthquake with magnitude M_s = 6.7 at the offshore area gives peak ground acceleration up to 300 cm/sec². The total duration of shaking expected from such an earthquake is about three seconds. The Fourier amplitude spectra of the ground acceleration reveals that the maximum energy is carried by the low frequency (1–3 Hz), part of the seismic waves. The largest response spectra at Alexandria city is within this frequency band. The computed ground accelerations due to strong earthquakes in the Hellenic Arc, Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba are very small (less than 10 cm/sec²) although with long duration (up to 3 minutes).     

Ground-Motion Hazard Values for Northern Algeria

This study examines distinctive features of ground motion parameters in northern Algeria. An initial computation of seismic hazard in terms of horizontal peak ground acceleration (PGA) and spectral acceleration (SA) at different periods, damped at 5%, is carried out for three different types of soils (rock, stiff soils and soft soils) for return periods of 100 and 475 years. In addition, uniform hazard spectra (UHS) are computed for these two return periods at several locations in the region. Then, the UHS computed for different soil types are proposed as a starting point to define elastic design spectra for building-code purposes. We have used the well-known Newmark-Hall approach. As proposed in the most recent International Building Codes, the SA (0.2 s) value is used to establish the spectral region for lower periods (region controlled by acceleration), whereas the SA (1.0 s) value is used to establish the spectral region for intermediate periods (region controlled by velocity). We also obtained important relations, dependent on site condition, between SA (0.2 s), SA (1.0 s) or SA_max values, and the PGA, for both return periods of 100 and 475 years. Other relationships between PGA or SA_max values have also been derived for return periods of 100 and 475 years, in this case independent of site condition.     

晋冀蒙交界地区地震危险性评估及地震活动性分析

本文利用晋冀蒙交界地区1500年以来记录较完整的M_S5.0及以上历史地震烈度资料和2000年以来的地震活动资料，分别进行地震灾害危险性和地震活动性分析。首先，利用ArcGIS将历史地震烈度资料数字化，没有等震线记录的地震用烈度衰减关系计算烈度圈半径。将研究区划分成0.1°×0.1°的网格，将烈度资料分配到与之相交的每个网格，并用烈度-频度关系计算每个网格的烈度a、b值。基于地震发生遵从泊松分布的假定，估算未来50年内晋冀蒙交界区遭受某一地震烈度的超越概率。同时，计算50年超越概率10%对应的地震烈度，计算结果表明张家口蔚县、阳原和山西广灵县周边地区的地震危险性较高。最后，采用中小地震能量密度值计算方法，对2000年以来的现今地震活动进行定量分析，与历史地震烈度资料分析结果进行对比，发现中小地震活动圈定的危险区与历史地震烈度资料评估计算的概率高值区相对应，因此，这两种方法可为晋冀蒙交界地区的地震活动性和危险性评价提供参考。     

Site-specific Seismic Hazard Estimation in the Main Seismogenic Zones of North Algeria

—?The procedure developed by Kijko and Sellevoll (1989, 1992) and Kijko and Graham (1998, 1999) is used to estimate seismic hazard parameters in north Algeria. The area-specific seismic hazard parameters that were calculated consist of the b value of the Gutenberg–Richter frequency–magnitude relation, the activity rate λ(M) for events above the magnitude M, and the maximum regional magnitude M _max. These parameters were calculated for each of the six seismogenic zones of north Algeria. The site-specific seismic hazard was calculated in terms of the maximum possible PGA at hypothetical engineering structures (HES), situated in each of the six seismogenic zones with coordinates corresponding with those of the six most industrial and populated cities in Algeria.     

川东南长宁地区地震活动及b值演化特征

利用全国统一目录和流动台站目录,研究了四川盆地东南部长宁地区的地震活动特征和b值的空间分布特征.研究结果显示,长宁地区的地震活动在时间上呈现明显的分段特征,地震活动在2015年后明显增强;在空间上,长宁地区的地震活动主要集中在以28.3°N为界限的南、北2个地区,对于这2个区域的b值演化,计算结果显示出不同的分段特征....     

The Study on Seismicity and Relocation of the July 3,2015 Pishan MS6.5 Earthquake

The July 3, 2015 Pishan M_S6.5 earthquake occurred in the intersection area of the Tarim block and West Kunlun block where the moderate-strong earthquakes have become active in recent years. This paper has studied the seismicity parameters of the earthquake sequences such as the b-value in the Pishan region and its vicinity. In addition, we also relocated the aftershocks of the Pishan M_S6.5 earthquake using the seismic phase report by the double-difference method. The temporal and spatial variation characteristics of the Pishan earthquake sequence in the rupture zone are analyzed. The study is of great significance in the seismic hazard assessment in this region.     

基于阿里亚斯烈度估值的概率性地震危险性分析——以四川丹棱县及其周缘为例

以编制《中国地震动参数区划图》时所构建的地震潜在震源区模型和地震活动性模型为基本输入,在四川省丹棱县及其周缘地区开展基于阿里亚斯烈度的概率地震危险性分析,计算50年超越概率10%的阿里亚斯烈度(Arias Intensity,Ia)。结果表明:丹棱县及其周缘绝大部分地区的Ia值都在0.11m/s以上,部分地区在0.32m/s甚至0.54m/s以上,具有较高的地震诱发滑坡风险,应当加强人员密集区的地震诱发滑坡危险性评估。根据不同Ia预测方程计算得到的Ia分布有较大差异,因此在计算Ia时应考虑多个Ia预测方程,对最终结果进行加权平均,以减小Ia结果的不确定性。同时还发现Ia值与1.0s的谱加速度具有很好的相关性,这也印证了Ia和1.0s谱加速度与砂土液化的相关性。     

A Probabilistic Assessment of Earthquake Hazard Parameters in NW Himalaya and the Adjoining Regions

The maximum likelihood estimation method is applied to study the geographical distribution of earthquake hazard parameters and seismicity in 28 seismogenic source zones of NW Himalaya and the adjoining regions. For this purpose, we have prepared a reliable, homogeneous and complete earthquake catalogue during the period 1500–2010. The technique used here allows the data to contain either historical or instrumental era or even a combination of the both. In this study, the earthquake hazard parameters, which include maximum regional magnitude (M _max), mean seismic activity rate (λ), the parameter b (or β?=?b/log e) of Gutenberg–Richter (G–R) frequency-magnitude relationship, the return periods of earthquakes with a certain threshold magnitude along with their probabilities of occurrences have been calculated using only instrumental earthquake data during the period 1900–2010. The uncertainties in magnitude have been also taken into consideration during the calculation of hazard parameters. The earthquake hazard in the whole NW Himalaya region has been calculated in 28 seismogenic source zones delineated on the basis of seismicity level, tectonics and focal mechanism. The annual probability of exceedance of earthquake (activity rate) of certain magnitude is also calculated for all seismogenic source zones. The obtained earthquake hazard parameters were geographically distributed in all 28 seismogenic source zones to analyze the spatial variation of localized seismicity parameters. It is observed that seismic hazard level is high in Quetta-Kirthar-Sulaiman region in Pakistan, Hindukush-Pamir Himalaya region and Uttarkashi-Chamoli region in Himalayan Frontal Thrust belt. The source zones that are expected to have maximum regional magnitude (M _max) of more than 8.0 are Quetta, southern Pamir, Caucasus and Kashmir-Himanchal Pradesh which have experienced such magnitude of earthquakes in the past. It is observed that seismic hazard level varies spatially from one zone to another which suggests that the examined regions have high crustal heterogeneity and seismotectonic complexity.     

Seismicity anomalies before the great earth—quake of Ms=8.1 in the Kunlun Pass and its significance to earthquake prediction

A great earthquake of M _S=8.1 took place in the west of Kunlun Pass on November 14, 2001. The epicenter is located at 36.2°N and 90.9°E. The analysis shows that some main precursory seismic patterns appear before the great earthquake, e.g., seismic gap, seismic band, increased activity, seismicity quiet and swarm activity. The evolution of the seismic patterns before the earthquake of M _S=8.1 exhibits a course very similar to that found for earthquake cases with M _S≥7. The difference is that anomalous seismicity before the earthquake of M _S=8.1 involves in the larger area coverage and higher seismic magnitude. This provides an evidence for recognizing precursor and forecasting of very large earthquake. Finally, we review the rough prediction of the great earthquake and discuss some problems related to the prediction of great earthquakes.     

Seismic Hazard Assessment of the East Thuringian Region/Germany – Case Study

East Thuringia/Germany, especially the region Gera-Ronneburg, is part of the large Kyffhäuser-Jachymov-Fault-Zone and displays moderate seismicity. However, its seismic hazard is significantly higher than that of the surrounding area including the Vogtland/Northern Bohemian region. The earthquake catalogue of Germany contains for this region besides the well-investigated Central German Earthquake (March 1872, I ₀ =VII-VIII) entries of up to I ₀ =VIII (14th century). Epicentral intensities and coordinates of these historical earthquakes are considered as uncertain. In seismic hazard analysis historical events which are uncertain are often neglected. But, especially in regions of moderate seismicity and infrequent larger earthquakes, the time window considered should be extended as far as possible. Apart from the necessity to study the historical sources of the strongest 14th century earthquakes, we investigate the influence of these events on the seismic hazard, taking into account the uncertainties of their size and location. Generally, the investigations clearly reveal the importance of defining source regions on the one hand and the significance of the local relevant attenuation function on the other hand. A further important point in seismic hazard assessment is the strong influence of the geological site conditions on seismic hazard (amplification or damping phenomena). For both points the well-known Central German Earthquake (1872) supplies important information.     

Seismogenic potential and earthquake hazard assessment in the Tell Atlas of Algeria

Seismotectonic zonation studies in the Tell Atlas of Algeria, a branch of the Africa-Eurasia plate boundary, provide a valuable input for deterministic seismic hazard calculations. We delineate a number of seismogenic zones from causal relationships established between geological structures and earthquakes and compile a working seismic catalogue mainly from readily available sources. To this catalogue, for a most rational and best-justified hazard analysis, we add estimates of earthquake size translated from active faulting characteristics. We assess the regional seismic hazard using a deterministic procedure based on the computation of complete synthetic seismograms (up to 1 Hz) by the modal summation technique. As a result, we generate seismic hazard maps of maximum velocity, maximum displacement, and design ground acceleration that blend information from geology, historical seismicity and observational seismology, leading to better estimates of the earthquake hazard throughout northern Algeria. Our analysis and the resulting maps illustrate how different the estimate of seismic hazard is based primarily on combined geologic and seismological data with respect to the one for which only information from earthquake catalogues has been used.     

Accounting for site effect in probabilistic assessment of seismic hazard for Romania and Bucharest: a case of deep seismicity in Vrancea zone

The paper presents recent achievements in evaluations of site-dependent seismic hazard in Romania and the capital city of Bucharest caused by the Vrancea focal zone (SE-Carpathians). The zone is characterized by a high rate of occurrence of large earthquakes in a narrow focal volume at depths 60–170 km. The database that was used for the hazard evaluation includes parameters of seismicity, ground-motion source scaling and attenuation models (Fourier amplitude spectra), and site-dependent spectral amplification functions. Ground-motion characteristics were evaluated on the basis of several hundred records from more than 120 small magnitude (M 3.5–5) earthquakes occurred in 1996–2001 and a few tens of acceleration records obtained during four large (M 7.4, 7.2, 6.9 and 6.3) earthquakes. The data provide a basis for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment in terms of peak ground acceleration, peak spectral acceleration and MSK intensity using Fourier amplitude spectra for various exceedance probabilities or average return periods. It has been shown that the influence of geological factors plays very important role in distribution of earthquake ground-motion parameters along the territory of Romania.     

云南11组MS≥6.5强震前h''值异常研究

利用极限时间法对云南省1970年以来Ms≥6．5 11组强地震进行h′值计算,结果显示：11组强震前出现h′值异常,表现为不同程度的大幅(平均减幅达28％)突然减小现象,即地震活动出现异常平静的现象,可成为地震预报意见的关键指标;强震前出现8次地震活动增强一平静一主震的发震模式,占73％,出现3次增强一平静一增强(短期内)一主震的发震模式,占23％;h′值量板图对强震前的地震活动平静和地震活动增强现象展现得较为清晰;通过对11组强震进行预测,预测时间约为5个月。     

Ground‐motion attenuation relationship for the Sumatran megathrust earthquakes

A representative attenuation relationship is one of the key components required in seismic hazard assessment of a region of interest. Attenuation relationships for peak ground acceleration, peak ground velocity and response spectral accelerations for Sumatran megathrust earthquakes, covering M_w up to 9.0, are derived based on synthetic seismograms obtained from a finite‐fault kinematic model. The relationships derived are for very hard rock site condition and for a long‐distance range between 200 and 1500 km. They are then validated with recorded data from giant earthquakes on the Sumatran megathrust occurring since year 2000. A close examination of the recorded data also shows that spectral shapes predicted by most of the existing attenuation relationships and that specified in the IBC code are not particularly suitable for sites where potential seismic hazard is dominated by large‐magnitude, distant, earthquakes. Ground motions at a remote site are typically signified by the dominance of long‐period components with periods longer than 1 s, whereas the predominant periods from most of the existing attenuation relationships and the IBC code are shorter than 0.6 s. The shifting of response spectrum towards longer period range for distant earthquakes should be carefully taken into account in the formulation of future seismic codes for Southeast Asia, where many metropolises are located far from active seismic sources. The attenuation relationship derived in the present study can properly reproduce the spectral shape from distant subduction earthquakes, and could hopefully give insights into the formulation of future seismic codes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relation between the characteristics of strong earthquake activities in Chinese mainland and the Wenchuan earthquake

This paper studies the relations between the great Wenchuan earthquake and the active-quiet periodic characteristics of strong earthquakes, the rhythmic feature of great earthquakes, and the grouped spatial distribution of M_S8.0 earthquakes in Chinese mainland. We also studied the relation between the Wenchuan earthquake and the stepwise migration characteristics of M_S?≥7.0 earthquakes on the North-South seismic belt, the features of the energy releasing acceleration in the active crustal blocks related to the Wenchuan earthquake and the relation between the Wenchuan earthquake and the so called second-arc fault zone. The results can be summarized as follows: ① the occurrence of the Wenchuan earthquake was consistent with the activequiet periodic characteristics of strong earthquakes; ② its occurrence is consistent with the features of grouped occurrence of M_S8.0 earthquakes and follows the 25 years rhythm (each circulation experiences the same time) of great earthquakes; ③ the Wenchuan M_S8.0 earthquake follows the well known stepwise migration feature of strong earthquakes on the North-South seismic belt; ④ the location where the Wenchuan M_S8.0 earthquake took place has an obvious consistency with the temporal and spatial characteristic of grouped activity of M_S≥?7.0 strong earthquakes on the second-arc fault zone; ⑤ the second-arc fault zone is not only the lower boundary for earthquakes with more than 30 km focal depth, but also looks like a lower boundary for deep substance movement; and ⑥ there are obvious seismic accelerations nearby the Qaidam and Qiangtang active crustal blocks (the northern and southern neighbors of the Bayan Har active block, respectively), which agrees with the GPS observation data.     

Earthquake Hazard Parameters Estimated in Crete Island and the Adjacent Area

—?Earthquake hazard parameters are estimated by the application of the maximum likelihood method. The technique is based on a procedure which utilizes data of different quality, e.g., those in which the uncertainty in the assessment of the magnitudes is great and those in which the magnitudes are computed with great precision. In other words the data were extracted from both historical (incomplete) and recorded (complete) files. The historical part of the catalogue contains only the strongest events, whereas the complete part can be divided into several sub-catalogues; each one assumed to be complete above a specified magnitude threshold. Uncertainty in the determination of magnitudes has also been taken into account. The method allows us to estimate the earthquake hazard parameters which are the maximum regional magnitude, M _max, the activity rate, λ, of the seismic events and the well known value β (b=β?log?e), which is the slope of the magnitude-frequency relationship. All these parameters are of physical significance. The mean return periods, RP, of earthquakes with a certain lower magnitude M?≥?m are also determined. The method is applied in the Island of Crete and the adjacent area, where catastrophic earthquakes are known from the historical era. The earthquake hazard of the whole area is divided in a cellular manner which allow the analysis of the localized hazard parameters and the representation of their regional variation. The seismic hazard analysis, which is expressed by: (a) The annual probability of exceedance of a specified value of magnitude and (b) the return periods (in years) that are expected for given magnitudes, for shallow events is finally performed for shallow events. This hazard analysis is useful for both theoretical and practical reasons and provides a tool for earthquake resistant design in both areas of low and high seismicity.     

Spatial sensitivity of seismic hazard results to different background seismic activity and temporal earthquake occurrence models

Spatial sensitivity of seismic hazard results to different models with respect to background seismic activity and earthquake occurrence in time is investigated. For the contribution of background seismic activity to seismic hazard, background area source with uniform seismicity and spatially smoothed seismicity models are taken into consideration. For the contribution of faults, through characteristic earthquakes, both the memoryless Poisson and the time dependent renewal models are utilized. A case study, involving the assessment of seismic hazard for the Bursa province in Turkey, is conducted in order to examine quantitatively the influence of these models on seismic hazard results. The spatial variation of the difference in Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) values obtained from these different models is presented in the form of difference maps for return periods of 475 and 2475 years. Best estimate seismic hazard maps for PGA and Spectral Accelerations (SA) at 0.2 and 1.0 s are obtained by using the logic tree method.     

新疆喀什原场地地震动频谱特性研究

2020年1月19日和2020年2月21日在新疆喀什地区先后发生M_S6.4和M_S5.1地震,针对新疆强震动台网收集到的128条强震动记录进行统计分析,研究2次地震记录的幅值及反应谱特性,并与两个现行规范设计反应谱进行对比,结果表明：(1)震级相同时,震中距越小加速度反应谱越大,且加速度反应谱衰减速度越慢;震中距相同时,震级越大加速度反应谱越大,且加速度反应谱衰减速度越慢;(2)震级越大加速度谱值、速度谱值、位移谱值越大;(3)M_S6.4、M_S5.1地震波加速度反应谱及其平均值曲线相近,与我国现行规范加速度反应谱相比差别很大。建议在新疆喀什地区采用基于当地强震记录的加速度反应谱进行结构抗震设计。     

Bayesian probabilities of earthquake occurrences in Greece and surrounding areas

The Bayesian extreme-value distribution of earthquake occurrences has been adopted to estimate the seismic hazard in some seismogenic zones in Greece and surrounding regions. Seismic moment, slip rate, earthquake recurrence rate and magnitude were considered as basic parameters for computing the prior estimates of the seismicity. These estimates are then updated in terms of Bayes' theorem and historical estimates of seismicity associated with each zone.High probabilities for earthquakes withM6.0 have been obtained for the northwestern part of Greece as well as for the southwestern part of the Hellenic arc.