The Egion June 15, 1995 (6.2M L ) earthquake,western Greece

On June 15, 1995 at 00:15 GMT a devastating earthquake (6.2M _L ) occurred in the western end of the Gulf of Corinth. This was followed 15 min later by the largest aftershock (5.4M _L ). The main event was located by the University of Patras Seismological Network (PATNET) at the northern side of the Gulf of Corinth graben. The second event (5.4M _L ) was located also by PATNET near the city of Egion, on a fault parallel to the Eliki major fault that defines the south bound of the Gulf of Corinth graben. A seismogenic volume that spans the villages of Akrata (SE) and Rodini (NW) and extends to Eratini (NE) was defined by the aftershock sequence, which includes 858 aftershocks of magnitude greater than 2M _L that occurred the first seventeen days. The distribution of hypocentres in cross section does not immediately suggest a planar distribution but rather defines a volume about 15 km (depth) by 35 km (NW-SE) and by 20 km (NE-SW).     

The Patras earthquake (14 July 1993): relative roles of source, path and site effects

A damaging earthquake occurred on 14 July 1993 in Patras, Western Greece. The mainshock (local magnitude 5.1) was followed on the same day by two aftershocks of magnitudes 4.4 ML and 3.6 ML, respectively. The strong motion record of the mainshock is studied, based on the teleseismically determined seismic moment and focal mechanism. The Discrete Wavenumber (DW) and Empirical Green's Function (EGF) methods are used. The main conclusion is that the 1993 Patras mainshock had a complex S-wave group mainly due to structural (path and site) effect. However, some effects of the rupture stopping on the peak ground acceleration (0.2 g in the so-called S3 phase) cannot be ruled out. Two values of the source radius are suggested: R = 1.9 and 3.0 km. The strong motion record better agrees with R = 1.9 km. If the latter is true, the stress drop was of the order of 20 MPa, i.e., higher than often reported for comparable events in Western Greece. Regardless of the true source radius, the ratio of stress drops between the mainshock and aftershocks was about 1–2. The aftershock waveforms indicate significant lateral heterogeneities around Patras. Therefore, the ground-motion predictions of strong events in the area will remain highly non-unique until weak events from an immediate neighbourhood of the particular fault are recorded.     

3-D P-wave Velocity Structure in Western Greece Determined from Tomography Using Earthquake Data Recorded at the University of Patras Seismic Network (PATNET)

—The 3-D P-wave velocity structure of the upper crust in the region of western Greece is investigated by inversion of about 1500 residuals of P-wave arrival times from local earthquake data recorded in the year 1996 by the newly established University of Patras Seismic Network (PATNET). The resulting velocity structure shows strong horizontal variations due to the complicated structure and the variation of crustal thickness. Relatively low-velocity contours are observed in the area defined by Cephallonia—Zakynthos Islands and northwestern Peloponnesos. This is in addition to some well localized peaks of relatively higher values of P-wave velocity may be related to the zone of Triassic evaporites in the region and correspond to diapirism that breaks through to the uppermost layer. Finally, a low P-velocity ‘deeping’ zone extending from Zakynthos to the Gulf of Patras is correlated with Bouguer anomaly map and onshore and offshore borehole drillings which indicate that thick sediments overly the evaporites which exist there at depth greater than 2 km.     

Temporal variation of body wave attenuation as related to two earthquake doublets in W. Greece

In this research four earthquakes, which are considered to compose two earthquake doublets, recorded prior to and after a magnitudeM _s =5.0 and a magnitudeM _s =4.8 event in W. Greece are used to derive temporal variations ofP-wave attenuation in the region.Spectral ratios at four stations are computed and the results indicated a variation (increase) ofQ of the order of 15–20%. To confirm that this variation is not an artifact due to changes of the source parameters, a smaller event which occurred at the same hypocentre was used as a Green function and the deconvolution proved that the earthquakes of one of the doublet possessed the same source parameters.The outcome of this research verifies the possible role of the migration of fluids in the crust in the focal region and their effect on the attenuation of seismic waves.     

The Winter 1991–1992 Earthquake Sequence at Cephalonia Island, Western Greece

—Properties of the earthquake sequence of the 23 January, 1992 (5.8 M _S ?) earthquake in Cephalonia Island, Western Greece, are investigated. The parameter b in the frequency-magnitude relation is found equal to 1.084 while the decay parameter p of the time distribution of the aftershock sequence is found equal to 0.991. The principal parameters method is applied to the aftershock sequence and the average strikes of N156°E (±20°) and N61°E (±10°) were obtained denoting also very small dips. The major strike which resulted from the aftershock epicentre distribution was NW–SE, similar to Miocene-Neogene basins on Cephalonia Island.     

Towards earthquake early warning for the Rion-Antirion bridge,Greece

Patras is the third largest city in Greece and an ideal candidate for earthquake early warning (EEW) applications due to its high seismic hazard, its existing research infrastructure and the presence of critical structures such as the Rion-Antirion bridge. Patras is located a few hundred kilometres from the Hellenic Arc, where very strong and potentially damaging earthquakes occur. This distance is large enough to allow a few tens of seconds of warning time prior to significant shaking, provided earthquakes are timely detected by a dense seismic network. Within the framework of the EC-funded project REAKT, the Virtual Seismologist (VS) EEW software was installed at Patras Seismological Laboratory. Its initial performance evaluation is presented here. In general VS provides magnitudes similar to the official, manually revised ones. Given the current station density and network telemetry, the average time that VS needs to deliver the first magnitude estimate is rather large, of the order of tens of seconds and not yet satisfactory for routine operational use of EEW. Even so, the system is able to provide up to 10 s of warning time prior to S-wave arrivals for events occurring on the Hellenic Arc. Our results indicate that the seismic networks in Greece need enhancements for regional EEW, either by adding stations or by upgrading the hardware to reduce delays. The application of an EEW system in the area is promising and, once operational, capable of mitigating earthquake risk.