Fractal geometry of faults in relation to the 12 October 1992 Cairo earthquake

The aim of this study is to demonstrate how the 12 October 1992 Cairo earthquake relates to the spatial geometry of the northern Egyptian fault systems. A box-counting algorithm was used, in a focused down approach (from regional to local scales) to analyze the fractal dimensions of the existing faults. The results indicate that these faults display fractal geometries that are self-similar over two to three orders of magnitude. It is shown that the northwest-southeast (Northern Red Sea) trending fault system has the lowest fractal dimension value. Coincidentally, this fault trend is the one that the fault plane solution shows to be active.