Seismic Wave Attenuation in the Greater Cairo Region, Egypt

In the present study, a digital waveform dataset of 216 local earthquakes recorded by the Egyptian National Seismic Network (ENSN) was used to estimate the attenuation of seismic wave energy in the greater Cairo region. The quality factor and the frequency dependence for Coda waves and S-waves were estimated and clarified. The Coda waves (Q _c) and S-waves (Q _d) quality factor were estimated by applying the single scattering model and Coda Normalization method, respectively, to bandpass-filtered seismograms of frequency bands centering at 1.5, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24?Hz. Lapse time dependence was also studied for the area, with the Coda waves analyzed through four lapse time windows (10, 20, 30 and 40?s). The average quality factor as function of frequency is found to be Q _c?=?35?±?9f ^0.9±0.02 and Q _d?=?10?±?2f ^0.9±0.02 for Coda and S-waves, respectively. This behavior is usually correlated with the degree of tectonic complexity and the presence of heterogeneities at several scales. The variation of Q _c with frequency and lapse time shows that the lithosphere becomes more homogeneous with depth. In fact, by using the Coda Normalization method we obtained low Q _d values as expected for a heterogeneous and active zone. The intrinsic quality factor (Q _i ^?1 ) was separated from the scattering quality factor (Q _s ^?1 ) by applying the Multiple Lapse Time Domain Window Analysis (MLTWA) method under the assumption of multiple isotropic scattering with uniform distribution of scatters. The obtained results suggest that the contribution of the intrinsic attenuation (Q _i ^?1 ) prevails on the scattering attenuation (Q _s ^?1 ) at frequencies higher than 3?Hz.     

Seismological and GPS constraints on Sinai sub-plate motion along the Suez rift

This work presents new seismological and Global Positioning System (GPS) results aimed at understanding the nature and rate of strain associated with the opening of the Suez rift that separates the Sinai sub-plate from the African plate. The Sinai sub-plate has played a significant role in the tectonic evolution of the northern Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean region. Most small, moderate and large earthquakes occur within belts associated with the geologically documented borders of this sub-plate including the Dead Sea fault (DSF) system in the east, the Cyprian arc (CA) in the north, and the Suez rift (SR) to the southwest. The DSF and CA are well defined; however, the SR is only partially defined. Earthquake foci distribution supports the idea that the SR is seismically active, and this earthquake activity cannot be ignored throughout the kinematics evaluation of northern Red Sea region. The earthquake activity is relatively higher in the southern part of the SR and gradually decreases northward. The high seismicity is mainly attributed to the presence of the Sinai triple junction. Earthquake focal mechanisms in the SR are dominated by oblique normal faulting with left-lateral strike-slip components on NW trending fault planes consistent with regional kinematics. The extensional semi-principal stress axes derived from fault plane solutions are oriented NNE-SSW in good agreement with the current stress field obtained from borehole breakouts along the SR as well as results from GPS surveying. Recent survey-mode GPS observations provide evidence for coherent northerly motion of the Sinai sub-plate that varies between 2 and 5 mm/yr. Moreover, strain analysis indicates that the southern SR is dominated by extension while its northern segment is characterized by constriction, inconsistent with earthquake focal mechanisms and regional tectonic models. The overall northward motion of the Sinai sub-plate indicates that slab-pull rather than ridge-push is the dominant force controlling regional kinematics. Based on the low rate of extension and lack of oceanic crust, the SR can be considered an incipient plate boundary between the Sinai sub-plate and the Nubian plate.     

Probabilistic earthquake hazard analysis for Cairo,Egypt

Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the sixteenth largest metropolitan area in the world. It was founded in the tenth century (969 ad) and is 1046 years old. It has long been a center of the region’s political and cultural life. Therefore, the earthquake risk assessment for Cairo has a great importance. The present work aims to analysis the earthquake hazard of Cairo as a key input’s element for the risk assessment. The regional seismotectonics setting shows that Cairo could be affected by both far- and near-field seismic sources. The seismic hazard of Cairo has been estimated using the probabilistic seismic hazard approach. The logic tree frame work was used during the calculations. Epistemic uncertainties were considered into account by using alternative seismotectonics models and alternative ground motion prediction equations. Seismic hazard values have been estimated within a grid of 0.1°?×?0.1 ° spacing for all of Cairo’s districts at different spectral periods and four return periods (224, 615, 1230, and 4745 years). Moreover, the uniform hazard spectra have been calculated at the same return periods. The pattern of the contour maps show that the highest values of the peak ground acceleration is concentrated in the eastern zone’s districts (e.g., El Nozha) and the lowest values at the northern and western zone’s districts (e.g., El Sharabiya and El Khalifa).     

Normal faulting mechanisms in the Western Desert of Egypt

Egypt is recognized as a moderate seismicity region where earthquakes are distributed within several active regions. Owing to sparse distribution of both seismicity and seismic stations, mostly moderate-size Egyptian earthquakes were recorded by regional stations. One of such cases is the moderate-size earthquakes of moment magnitudes greater than 4.0 which struck the Western Desert of Egypt in 1998 and 1999. These events are the first instrumentally recorded earthquakes occurring in the area. In the present study, the source mechanism for these earthquakes was estimated using the waveform data recorded from one of the very broadband MedNet seismograph stations and polarities from the national short-period seismographs. An iterative technique was applied to find the best-fit double-couple mechanism by a grid search over strike, dip and rake. Regional synthetic seismograms were calculated by using f–k integration in the frequency range of 0.03–0.1 Hz. A crustal structure fitted to surface wave dispersion curves was used to compute Green’s function. Focal depths were determined through the grid search method for a range of source depths. Our results show a normal faulting mechanism with minor strike-slip component. The NNW trend has been chosen as a preferred rupture plane in consistence with surface and subsurface faults and microearthquake seismicity in the epicenteral area as well.     

Source process of the southeast Beni-Suef, northern Egypt earthquake Using Empirical Green's Function Technique

The rupture process of a moderateearthquake (ML4.9) occurred southeastBeni-Suef, northern Egypt was analyzed. Thecharacterization of the rupture process andsource properties were extracted fromstudying the relative moment rate function(RMRF). RMRFs were retrieved bydeconvolution of small aftershock recordsusing an inversion procedure for onlyP-wave part of the records.Although, this event is a moderateearthquake, its RMRFs exhibitedcomplexity and directivity of the rupturebehavior. The deconvolution pulses reflectthree subevents or more. The detailedanalysis of the distinct subevents revealedgross temporal and spatial characteristicsof the rupture propagation. The azimuthalvariation in the time delay of thesubevents with respect to the initiationrupture indicates that the subevents arelocated at 0.85 ± 0.17 and3.5 ± 0.07 km in directions of320^° ± 45^° and330^° ± 15^° with rupturevelocities 3.4 ± 0.45 and4.0 ± 0.7 km/sec, respectively. Thismeans that the rupture is predominatelypropagated toward the North. Estimation ofthe rupture direction was combined withP-wave focal mechanism to identify thefault plane for the initial rupture ofmainshock.Source parameters were calculated for eachdistinct subevent, including seismicmoments 8.53E14 to 6.80E15 Nm, fault radii713 to 1800 m and stress drops 0.725 to2.932 MPa. The large estimated stress dropfor the main subevent reflects failureasperity.     

P-wave spectra of the Füzesgyarmat, eastern Hungary earthquake sequence

On 29–30 September 1996, an earthquake sequence occurred in the Füzesgyarmat region in eastern Hungary. The main shock had a magnitude of M_L = 3.2 and was felt with a maximum intensity 4 MSK. It was preceded by a foreshock with a magnitude of M_L = 2.8 and was followed, within six hours, by five aftershocks with magnitudes 2.1M_L 3.1. The dynamic source parameters of the Füzesgyarmat earthquake sequence have been derived from P-wave spectra of the Hungarian seismograph stations. The average of the obtained values at different stations shows that the main shock occurred on a fault length of 610 m, with relative displacement of 1.13 cm, stress drop of 7 bar and seismic moment of 3.96*10₂₁ dyne.cm. The main shock was small to yield data for a full mechanism solution and no reliable single fault plane solution could be obtained due to the low signal to noise ratio at the recording stations. The parameters of the foreshock are fault length of 560m, seismic moment of 2.09*10₂₁ dyne.cm, stress drop of 5.53 bar and relative displacement of 0.73 cm. The five aftershocks show source parameters similar to the foreshock stress drops (5.26 5.76 bar), fault lengths (415 L 600 m), seismic moments (8.36*10²⁰ M_o 2.31*10₂₁ dyne.cm) and relative displacements (0.52 0.91 cm).