Seismotectonic analysis of the 2014 seismic swarm at the Western Corinth Gulf (Greece)

Author(s):  
Anna Serpetsidaki ◽  
Efthimios Sokos ◽  
Sophie Lambotte ◽  
Pascal Bernard ◽  
Helene Lyon-Caen

<p>The Corinth Rift (Greece) is one of the most seismically active regions in Europe and has been studied extensively during the past decades. It is characterized by normal faulting and extension rates between 6 and 15 mm yr−1 in an approximately N10E° direction. The seismicity of the area is continuously monitored by the stations of the Corinth Rift Laboratory Network (CRL Net). The availability of a dense permanent seismological network allows the extensive analysis of the seismic swarms which occur frequently. In this study, the September 2014 swarm located at the western part of the Corinth Gulf is analyzed. Initially, more than 4000 automatically located events, of a two month period, were relocated using the HYPODD algorithm, incorporating both catalogue and cross-correlation differential traveltimes. Consequently, the initial seismic cloud was separated into several smaller, densely concentrated clusters. Double difference relocation was also applied to 707 manually located events in order to investigate the Vp/Vs ratio variation, due to its sensitivity in pore fluids. The swarm’s parameters such as seismicity distribution and moment tensors were combined with the seismotectonic data of the area. The results indicate an initial activation of the Psathopyrgos normal fault; afterwards the seismicity extended both towards East and West, while most events occurred at the western part of the study area. The seismicity distribution revealed a main activation of the North – dipping faults. The seismicity migration with respect to pore pressure changes due to fluid movements was investigated through diffusivity calculations. The diffusivity value was found to be 4.5m<sup>2</sup>s<sup>-1</sup>, which is consistent with results of previous studies in the area. The results of the investigation of the fault- zone hydraulic behavior provide evidence for the fluid – triggered earthquake swarms and the related rock physical properties.</p>

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 1099
Author(s):  
Ch. Gkarlaouni ◽  
E. Papadimitriou ◽  
S. Lasocki ◽  
G. Lizurek ◽  
V. Karakostas ◽  
...  

Possible systematic variations in earthquake occurrence and fluctuations in seismicity behaviourof two seismically active regions in Greece which share common seismotectonic properties, is the aim of this study. Mygdonia graben in northern Greeceis characterized by arather moderate background seismicity, with small earthquakes between 2008-2012 whereas Corinth Gulf in southern Greeceexhibits a constantly high seismicity rate with several seismic activations during the recent instrumental period or before. The statistical approach of seismicity was accomplished, regardingthe magnitude, the inter-event time and distance for recent seismicity as a tool to quantify complex earthquake occurrence ordense spatial andtemporal clustering. For this reason, complete catalogues were compiled for the time period of the study. Probabilistic tests such as the smoothed bootstrap test for modality and bump–hunt were employed in order to unveil the complexity of the probability density function distribution of the above parameters. On the other handspatial earthquake distribution wasalso investigated under the frameof their fractal properties since the fractal coefficientcan largely express the clustering degree of seismicity. The goal of this stochasticanalysisis the quantification of the differentiationin seismicity propertiesinthese two important seismogenic normal fault populations in the back arc Aegean area. 


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayrullah Karabulut ◽  
Olivier Lengliné ◽  
Jean Schmittbuhl ◽  
Emanuela Matrullo ◽  
Michel Bouchon

<p>A massive template-matching approach is successfully applied in Marmara Sea region along  the North Anatolian Fault, during the 2009-2014 period to enrich the description of the time and space evolution of the seismicity. Detection of events are performed on the continuous data recorded from 2009 to 2014 combining two types of catalogs as templates: a finely constructed catalog for the three first year (2009-2011) (Schmittbuhl et al, 2016) and a raw catalog from KOERI for the last three years (2012-2014).  Magnitudes (Ml) are estimated for all detected events using relative amplitudes of the highly coherent waveforms between new events and template events. The template database provides a nearly threefold increase of the number of small events (more than 15000 earthquakes compare to the 4673 events of the initial catalog). Combined with a double-difference relocation based on cross-correlation differential travel-time data, the database is shown to be a relevant framework for the long term monitoring of specific remanent structures like seismic swarms or repeating earthquakes. The obtained catalog confirms the strong contrast of behaviors along the Main Marmara Fault (MMF): deep creeping to the west (Central Basin), fully locked in the center (Kumburgaz Basin) and dominated by fluid and off-fault activity to the east (Cinarcik Basin).</p>


Author(s):  
V. Melnikova ◽  
N. Gileva ◽  
A. Seredkina ◽  
Ya. Radziminovich

We consider two earthquakes occurred at the south-western flank of the Baikal rift zone (BRZ): Urik, November 1, 2014 (Mwreg=4.6) and Hovsgol, December 5, 2014 (Mwreg=4.9). First of them is localized within the area of the Main Sayan fault, the second one is located at the north of the Hovsgol Lake. Seismic moment tensors (focal mechanisms, scalar seismic moments, moment magnitudes and hypocentral depths) of the study seismic events were calculated based on surface wave amplitude spectra. Earthquake hypocenters were found to be situated in the middle crust (h=14–21 km). Both events occurred under the strike-slip stress-strain field. The strike-slip was combined with a normal fault component in the source of the Urik earthquake and with a thrust fault component in the source of the Hovsgol earthquake. In both cases, shaking intensity in the nearest settlements (=42–124 km) was less than 4–5. Analysis of historical seismicity, seismological data on the Urik and Hovsgol earthquakes and the tectonic position of their sources demonstrates that the considered events are typical for the south-western flank of the BRZ and confirms the existence of the transition zone from rift structures at the central parts of the BRZ to regional compression structures in Northern Mongolia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 1876-1890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine J. Ruhl ◽  
Emily A. Morton ◽  
Jayne M. Bormann ◽  
Rachel Hatch-Ibarra ◽  
Gene Ichinose ◽  
...  

Abstract On 15 May 2020 an Mww 6.5 earthquake occurred beneath the Monte Cristo Range in the Mina Deflection region of western Nevada. Rapid deployment of eight temporary seismic stations enabled detailed analysis of its productive and slowly decaying aftershock sequence (p=0.8), which included ∼18,000 autodetected events in 3.5 months. Double-difference, waveform-based relative relocation of 16,714 earthquakes reveals a complex network of faults, many of which cross the inferred 35-km-long east–northeast-striking, left-lateral mainshock rupture. Seismicity aligns with left-lateral, right-lateral, and normal mechanism moment tensors of 128 of the largest earthquakes. The mainshock occurred near the middle of the aftershock zone at the intersection of two distinct zones of seismicity. In the western section, numerous subparallel, shallow, north-northeast-striking faults form a broad flower-structure-like fault mesh that coalesces at depth into a near-vertical, left-lateral fault. We infer the near-vertical fault to be a region of significant slip in the mainshock and an eastward extension of the left-lateral Candelaria fault. Near the mainshock hypocenter, seismicity occurs on a northeast-striking, west-dipping structure that extends north from the eastern Columbus Salt Marsh normal fault. Together, these two intersecting structures bound the Columbus Salt Marsh tectonic basin. East of this intersection and the mainshock hypocenter, seismicity occurs in a narrow, near-vertical, east-northeast-striking fault zone through to its eastern terminus. At the eastern end, the aftershock zone broadens and extends northwest toward the southern extension of the northwest-striking, right-lateral Petrified Springs fault system. The eastern section hosts significantly fewer aftershocks than the western section, but has more moment release. We infer that shallow aftershocks throughout the system highlight fault-fracture meshes that connect mapped fault systems at depth. Comparing earthquake data with surface ruptures and a simple geodetic fault model sheds light on the complexity of this recent M 6.5 Walker Lane earthquake.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 102
Author(s):  
Paraskevi Nomikou ◽  
Dimitris Evangelidis ◽  
Dimitrios Papanikolaou ◽  
Danai Lampridou ◽  
Dimitris Litsas ◽  
...  

On 30 October 2020, a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.0 occurred north of Samos Island at the Eastern Aegean Sea, whose earthquake mechanism corresponds to an E-W normal fault dipping to the north. During the aftershock period in December 2020, a hydrographic survey off the northern coastal margin of Samos Island was conducted onboard R/V NAFTILOS. The result was a detailed bathymetric map with 15 m grid interval and 50 m isobaths and a morphological slope map. The morphotectonic analysis showed the E-W fault zone running along the coastal zone with 30–50° of slope, forming a half-graben structure. Numerous landslides and canyons trending N-S, transversal to the main direction of the Samos coastline, are observed between 600 and 100 m water depth. The ENE-WSW oriented western Samos coastline forms the SE margin of the neighboring deeper Ikaria Basin. A hummocky relief was detected at the eastern margin of Samos Basin probably representing volcanic rocks. The active tectonics characterized by N-S extension is very different from the Neogene tectonics of Samos Island characterized by NE-SW compression. The mainshock and most of the aftershocks of the October 2020 seismic activity occur on the prolongation of the north dipping E-W fault zone at about 12 km depth.


Author(s):  
P Papadimitriou ◽  
V Kapetanidis ◽  
A Karakonstantis ◽  
I Spingos ◽  
K Pavlou ◽  
...  

Summary The properties of the Mw = 6.7 earthquake that took place on 25 October 2018, 22:54:51 UTC, ∼50 km SW of the Zakynthos Island, Greece, are thoroughly examined. The main rupture occurred on a dextral strike-slip, low-angle, east-dipping fault at a depth of 12 km, as determined by teleseismic waveform modelling. Over 4000 aftershocks were manually analysed for a period of 158 days. The events were initially located with an optimal 1D velocity model and then relocated with the double-difference method to reveal details of their spatial distribution. The latter spreads in an area spanning 80 km NNW-SSE and ∼55 km WSW-ENE. Certain parts of the aftershock zone present strong spatial clustering, mainly to the north, close to Zakynthos Island, and at the southernmost edge of the sequence. Focal mechanisms were determined for 61 significant aftershocks using regional waveform modelling. The results revealed characteristics similar to the mainshock, with few aftershocks exhibiting strike-slip faulting at steeper dip angles, possibly related to splay faults on the accretionary prism. The slip vectors that correspond to the east-dipping planes are compatible with the long-term plate convergence and with the direction of coseismic displacement on the Zakynthos Island. Fault-plane solutions in the broader study area were inverted for the determination of the regional stress-field. The results revealed a nearly horizontal, SW-NE to E-W-trending S1 and a more variable S3 axis, favouring transpressional tectonics. Spatial clusters at the northern and southern ends of the aftershock zone coincide with the SW extension of sub-vertical along-dip faults of the segmented subducting slab. The mainshock occurred in an area where strike-slip tectonics, related to the Cephalonia Transform Fault and the NW Peloponnese region, gradually converts into reverse faulting at the western edge of the Hellenic subduction. Plausible scenarios for the 2018 Zakynthos earthquake sequence include a rupture on the subduction interface, provided the slab is tilted eastwards in that area, or the reactivation of an older east-dipping thrust as a low-angle strike-slip fault that contributes to strain partitioning.


1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-434
Author(s):  
Jeffery S. Barker ◽  
Charles A. Langston

abstract Teleseismic P-wave first motions for the M ≧ 6 earthquakes near Mammoth Lakes, California, are inconsistent with the vertical strike-slip mechanisms determined from local and regional P-wave first motions. Combining these data sets allows three possible mechanisms: a north-striking, east-dipping strike-slip fault; a NE-striking oblique fault; and a NNW-striking normal fault. Inversion of long-period teleseismic P and SH waves for the events of 25 May 1980 (1633 UTC) and 27 May 1980 (1450 UTC) yields moment tensors with large non-double-couple components. The moment tensor for the first event may be decomposed into a major double couple with strike = 18°, dip = 61°, and rake = −15°, and a minor double couple with strike = 303°, dip = 43°, and rake = 224°. A similar decomposition for the last event yields strike = 25°, dip = 65°, rake = −6°, and strike = 312°, dip = 37°, and rake = 232°. Although the inversions were performed on only a few teleseismic body waves, the radiation patterns of the moment tensors are consistent with most of the P-wave first motion polarities at local, regional, and teleseismic distances. The stress axes inferred from the moment tensors are consistent with N65°E extension determined by geodetic measurements by Savage et al. (1981). Seismic moments computed from the moment tensors are 1.87 × 1025 dyne-cm for the 25 May 1980 (1633 UTC) event and 1.03 × 1025 dyne-cm for the 27 May 1980 (1450 UTC) event. The non-double-couple aspect of the moment tensors and the inability to obtain a convergent solution for the 25 May 1980 (1944 UTC) event may indicate that the assumptions of a point source and plane-layered structure implicit in the moment tensor inversion are not entirely valid for the Mammoth Lakes earthquakes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Aranya Sen ◽  
Koushik Sen ◽  
Amitava Chatterjee ◽  
Shubham Choudhary ◽  
Alosree Dey

Abstract The Himalaya is characterized by the presence of both pre-Himalayan Palaeozoic and syn-Himalayan Cenozoic granitic bodies, which can help unravel the pre- to syn-collisional geodynamics of this orogen. In the Bhagirathi Valley of Western Himalaya, such granites and the Tethyan Himalayan Sequence (THS) hosting them are bound to the south by the top-to-the-N extensional Jhala Normal Fault (JNF) and low-grade metapelite of the THS to its north. The THS is intruded by a set of leucocratic dykes concordant to the JNF. Zircon U–Pb laser ablation multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-MC-ICP-MS) geochronology of the THS and one leucocratic dyke reveals that the two rocks have a strikingly similar age distribution, with a common and most prominent age peak at ~1000 Ma. To the north of the THS lies Bhaironghati Granite, a Palaeozoic two-mica granite, which shows a crystallization age of 512.28 ± 1.58 Ma. Our geochemical analysis indicates that it is a product of pre-Himalayan Palaeozoic magmatism owing to extensional tectonics in a back-arc or rift setting following the assembly of Gondwana (500–530 Ma). The Cenozoic Gangotri Leucogranite lies to the north of Bhaironghati Granite, and U–Pb dating of zircon from this leucogranite gives a crystallization age of 21.73 ± 0.11 Ma. Our geochemical studies suggest that the Gangotri Leucogranite is a product of muscovite-dehydration melting of the lower crust owing to flexural bending in relation to steepening of the subducted Indian plate. The leucocratic dykes are highly refracted parts of the Gangotri Leucogranite that migrated and emplaced along extensional fault zones related to the JNF and scavenged zircon from the host THS during crystallization.


Author(s):  
Miftahul Jannah ◽  
Adi Suryadi ◽  
Muchtar Zafir ◽  
Randi Saputra ◽  
Ihsanul Hakim ◽  
...  

On the study area there are three types of structure, those are fault, fold and joint. Types of fault were found  in the study area, reverse fault with the strike/dip is N215oE/75o, normal fault has a fault directions N22oE and N200oE with pitch 35o, and dextral fault with pitch 10o and strike N219oE. Fold and joint structures used to determine the direction of the main stress on the study area. Further, an analysis used stereonet for data folds and joints. So that from the data got three directions of main stress, those are Northeast – Southwest (T1), North – South (T2) and Southeast – Northwest (T3). On the Northeast – Southwest (T1) stress there are four geological structures, anticline fold at ST.3 , syncline folds at ST. 13a, ST. 13b, ST. 13c and ST. 33, chevron fold at ST. 44 and joint at ST. 2. On the North – South (T2) stress there are three geological structures, those are syncline fold at ST. 35, anticline fold at ST. 54 and joints at ST. 41, ST. 46 and ST. 47. On the Southeast – Northwest (T3) stress were also three geological structures, those are chevron fold at ST 42a, overturned fold at ST. 42b, syncline fold at ST. 42c and joints at ST. 5 and ST. 34.


Author(s):  
Lee M. Liberty ◽  
Zachery M. Lifton ◽  
T. Dylan Mikesell

Abstract We report on the tectonic framework, seismicity, and aftershock monitoring efforts related to the 31 March 2020 Mw 6.5 Stanley, Idaho, earthquake. The earthquake sequence has produced both strike-slip and dip-slip motion, with minimal surface displacement or damage. The earthquake occurred at the northern limits of the Sawtooth normal fault. This fault separates the Centennial tectonic belt, a zone of active seismicity within the Basin and Range Province, from the Idaho batholith to the west and Challis volcanic belt to the north and east. We show evidence for a potential kinematic link between the northeast-dipping Sawtooth fault and the southwest-dipping Lost River fault. These opposing faults have recorded four of the five M≥6 Idaho earthquakes from the past 76 yr, including 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak and the 1944 M 6.1 and 1945 M 6.0 Seafoam earthquakes. Geological and geophysical data point to possible fault boundary segments driven by pre-existing geologic structures. We suggest that the limits of both the Sawtooth and Lost River faults extend north beyond their mapped extent, are influenced by the relic trans-Challis fault system, and that seismicity within this region will likely continue for the coming years. Ongoing seismic monitoring efforts will lead to an improved understanding of ground shaking potential and active fault characteristics.


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