An estimate of hypocentre location accuracy in a large network: possible implications for tectonic studies in Italy

Data recorded by the Italian Telemetered Seismic Network (ITSN) of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica (ING) have been widely used in recent years to image slab structures and to find evidence for active processes along the Italian Peninsula. However, the use of seismic data for geostructural purposes may be affected by the well-known trade-off between earthquake location and seismic-velocity parameters. Furthermore, the confidence ellipse predicted by standard procedures may be inadequate for the representation of the probable error of a computed localization. This paper evaluates the probable errors on the hypocentre determinations of the seismic events recorded by the ITSN, using a Monte Carlo method.
We compute synthetic arrival times using a 1-D velocity model appropriate as an average for the Italian area. The hypocentres used are all those recorded by the ITSN during the period January 1992 to March 1994 (1972 events). Station locations are those of the current ITSN configuration. The synthetic arrival times are perturbed with a Gaussian distribution of errors and input to ING's standard hypocentral location procedure, but using crustal velocities differing by 10 per cent from those used to generate them. Each simulation is repeated at least 30 times. Average absolute shifts of hypocentres are assessed in grid cells of linear dimension 33 km covering the whole Italian region.
For regions within the ITSN, shifts are typically 5–10 km in location and up to 20 km in depth. However, for offshore and coastal regions, they are much greater: 50 km or more in both location and depth (far exceeding the equivalent uncertainties quoted by ING bulletins). Possible consequences of this are highlighted by producing a cross-section of subcrustal hypocentres from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where the large uncertainty in depth precludes any confident interpretation of dipping tectonic features.     

Seismicity re-evaluation of the northern Red Sea

The Aqaba subnetwork of five vertical short-period stations of the seismological observatory of King Saud University was installed in late 1986 along the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba, northern Red Sea. During the first six years (1986 August to 1992 July) of the subnetwork operation, 400 microearthquakes were detected. Of these, 93 events were recorded by most of the subnet stations and were located. Their epicentres lie in the northern part of the Red Sea between latitudes 25.5 N and 27.5 N and longitudes 33.5 E and 36 E along the axial depression of the Red Sea where the large intrusions (deeps) are located. Magnitudes of the locatable events ranged from 2.1 to 4.8. Two intensive swarms of about 200 microearthquakes occurred in February and June of 1992. The February swarm is the first intensive sequence observed in the surveying area since the establishment of the KSU network. Frequency-magnitude analysis of the recorded events for the period 1986-1992 yielded 3.543 for a and 0.658 for b . These relatively higher b values (0.658) are a good indication of the crustal heterogeneity under the spreading zone of the northern Red Sea. USGS and KSU data together show 3.41 for a and 0.49 for b . This study, together with historical data, confirms that the area is very seismically active and that the activity is mainly of swarm type, and may be attributed to the subsurface magmatic activity and spreading centres that are usually associated with strike-slip and normal faulting, respectively.     

The onset of Pleistocene glaciation in the Barents Sea: implications for glacial isostatic adjustment

In this paper the effect of a delayed onset of glaciation in the Barents Sea on glacial isostatic adjustment is investigated. The model calculations solve the sea-level equation governing the total mass redistributions associated with the last glaciation cycle on a spherically symmetric, linear, Maxwell viscoelastic earth for two different scenarios for the growth phase of the Barents Sea ice sheet. In the first ice model a linear growing history is used for the Barents Sea ice sheet, which closely relates its development to the build-up of other major Late Pleistocene ice sheets. In the second ice model the accumulation of the Barents Sea ice sheet is restricted to the last 6 ka prior to the last glacial maximum.
The calculations predict relative sea levels, present-day radial velocities, and gravity anomalies for the area formerly covered by the Weichselian ice sheet. The results show that observed relative sea levels in the Barents Sea are appropriate for distinguishing between the different glaciation histories. In particular, present-day observables such as the free-air gravity anomaly over the Barents Sea, and the present-day radial velocities are sensitive to changes in the glaciation history on this scale.
A palaeobathymetry derived from relative sea-level predictions before the last glacial maximum based on the second ice model essentially agrees with a palaeobathymetry derived by Lambeck (1995). The additional emerged areas provide centres for the build-up of an ice sheet and thus support the theory of Hald, Danielsen & Lorentzen (1990) and Mangerud et al. (1992) that the Barents Sea was an essentially marine environment shortly before the last glacial maximum.     

Multifractal analysis of the spatial distribution of earthquakes in southern Italy

We evaluate the complete spectrum of the generalized fractal dimension of the spatial pattern of microearthquakes in Southern Italy, revealing a multifractal distribution structure. Our analysis is focused on the dependence of the multifractal distribution on the size of the selected area and the kind of seismicity in the area. As the size of the window varies, we observe that the capacity, information and correlation dimensions vary significantly, while both d _∞ and d _−infin; remain unchanged within their errors limits. We interpret this result in terms of the observation that our data are mainly clustered around a linear fault (the Sisifo fault). When we restrict the selected windows around the fault, clustering around a line (the fault) is highlighted. The capacity dimension changes from about 1.8 to about 1.4 and the correlation dimension decreases because we observe in detail the clustering of the seismicity along the fault, which approximates the maximum intense clustering of the whole data set. Although our results are strongly influenced by the fact that the data are dominated by the epicentres located on the fault, we can conclude that multifractal analysis can be a very useful tool to discriminate the seismicity linked to a particular fault in a given area.     

Periodicity of magnetic intensities in magnetic anomaly profiles: the Cenozoic of the South Atlantic

Spectral analyses of several published magnetic anomaly profiles from Candé & Kent (1992a) were undertaken prior to analysing, in the same way, raw magnetic anomaly data from similar parts of the South Atlantic. It was found that similar and distinct medium and short wavelengths were present in both the published and raw data. When these are converted into the time domain using the average rate of spreading for each profile, these periodicities appear similar, possibly identical, to those expected from the long-term eccentricity orbital parameters (Fischer, DeBoer & Premoli Silva 1990). While such correlations are not necessarily causative, they suggest that magnetohydro-dynamical processes near the core-mantle boundary may be affected by gravitational changes due to planetary orbital perturbations.     

Yucatán karst features and the size of Chicxulub crater

The buried Chicxulub impact structure is marked by a dramatic ring of sinkholes (called cenotes if containing water), and adjacent less prominent partial rings, which have been shown to coincide with maxima in horizontal gravity gradients and a topographic depression. These observations, along with the discreteness and spacing of the features, suggest a formation mechanism involving faulting in the outer slump zone of the crater, which would thus have a diameter of approximately 180 km.
An opposing view, based primarily on the interpretation of gravity data, is that (he crater is much larger than the cenote ring implies. Given the association of the known cenote ring with faults, we here examine northern Yucatan for similar rings in gravity, surface features and elevation, which we might expect to be associated with outer concentric faults in the case of a larger, possibly multiring, structure.
No such outer rings have been found, although definite patterns are seen in the distribution of karst features outside the crater rim. We explain these patterns as resulting mainly from deformation related to the block fault zone that parallels tbe shelf edge of eastern Yucatan.