Stress distribution and seismicity patterns of the 2011 seismic swarm in the Messinia basin, (South-Western Peloponnesus), Greece

G. Chouliaras; G. Drakatos; Kyriaki Pavlou; Konstantinos Makropoulos;

Open Access English

doi: 10.5194/nhess-13-45-2013

Published: 27 Sep 2018

- Summary
- References
  (42)

Abstract

Abstract. In this investigation we examine the local stress field and the seismicity patterns associated with the 2011–2012 seismicity swarm in the Messinia basin, south-western Peloponnesus, Greece, using the seismological data of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA). During this swarm more than 2000 events were recorded in a 12 month period by the Hellenic Unified Seismological Network (HUSN) and also by the additional local installation of four portable broadband seismographic stations by NOA. The results indicate a Gaussian distribution of swarm activity and the development of a seismicity cluster in a pre-existing seismic gap within the Messinia basin. Centroid Moment Tensor solutions demonstrate a normal fault trending northwest–southeast and dipping to the southwest primarily due to an extensional stress field. During this seismicity swarm an epicentre migration of the three largest shocks is observed, from one end of the rupture zone in the north-western part of the cluster, towards the other edge of the rupture in the south-eastern part of the cluster. This migration is found to follow the Coulomb failure criterion that predicts the advancement and retardation of the stress field and the patterns of increases and decreases of the seismicity rate (b-value) of the frequency–magnitude relation.

Subjects by Vocabulary

Microsoft Academic Graph classification: Swarm behaviour Induced seismicity Normal fault Stress distribution Structural basin Stress field Seismic gap Seismology Epicenter Geology

Library of Congress Subject Headings: lcsh:Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering lcsh:TD1-1066 lcsh:Geography. Anthropology. Recreation lcsh:G lcsh:Environmental sciences lcsh:GE1-350 lcsh:Geology lcsh:QE1-996.5

Subjects

General Earth and Planetary Sciences

Related Organizations

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Greece
National Observatory of Athens
Greece

42 references, page 1 of 5

Benetatos, C., Kiratzi, A., Kementzetzidou, K., Roumelioti, Z., Karakaisis, G., Scordilis, E., Latoussakis, J. and Drakatos, G.: The Psachna (Evia Island) earthquake swarm of June 2003, Bull. Geol. Soc. Greece (XXXVI), 1379-1388, 2004. [OpenAIRE]

Chouliaras, G.: Investigating the earthquake catalog of the National Observatory of Athens, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 905- 912, doi:10.5194/nhess-9-905-2009, 2009. [OpenAIRE]

Chouliaras, G., Drakatos, G., Makropoulos, K., and Melis, N. S.: Recent seismicity detection increase in the Santorini volcanic island complex, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 12, 859-866, doi:10.5194/nhess-12-859-2012, 2012. [OpenAIRE]

Contadakis, M. E. and Asteriadis, G.: Recent results of the research for preseismic phenomena on the underground water and temperature in Pieria, northern Greece, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 1, 165-170, doi:10.5194/nhess-1-165-2001, 2001. [OpenAIRE]

Evison, F. F. and Rhoades, D. A.: The precursory earthquake swarm in Greece, Ann. Geofis., 43, 991-1009, 2000.

Freed, A. M.: Earthquake triggering by static, dynamic, and post seismic stress transfer, Annu. Rev. Earth Planet Sci., 33, 335- 367, 2005.

Fytikas, M., Kolios, N., and Vougioukalakis, G.: Post-Minoan Volcanic Activity of the Santorini Volcano: Volcanic hazard and risk, forecasting possibilities, in: Thera and the Aegean World III, Vol. 2, The Thera Foundation, London, 183-198, 1990.

Ganas, A., Chousianitis, K., Batsi, E., Kolligri, M., Chouliaras, G., and Makropoulos, K.: The January 2010 Efpalion earthquakes (Gulf of Corinth, Central Greece): earthquake interactions and blind normal faulting, J. Seismol., doi:10.1007/s10950- 012-9331-6, online first, 2012.

Gutenberg, B. and Richter, C. F.: Frequency of earthquakes in California, B. Seismol. Soc. Am., 34, 185-188, 1944. [OpenAIRE]

Hainzl, S. and Fischer, T.: Indications for a successively triggered rupture growth underlying the 2000 earthquake swarm in Vogtland/NW-Bohemia, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 2338, doi:10.1029/2002JB001865, 2002. [OpenAIRE]

See an issue? Give us feedback