Seismotectonic model of Central Europe

Earthquakes belong to natural disasters which are associated with tectonic processes in the interior of the Earth. They are extremely devastating in populated areas; they cause human losses and damage personal estates and the environment. To mitigate the potential effects of earthquakes it is necessary that relief and mitigation structures operate following an earthquake, but it is also essential to stimulate and enhance preparedness and prevention. Prevention includes the development of scenarios of potential earthquakes, hazard mapping, formulation of regulations, etc. Preparedness includes the installation and operation of warning systems, establishing communication networks to operate before, during, and after earthquakes. As nuclear technology belongs to high-risk technologies with regard to human health and the environment and its hazard substantially increases in consequence of earthquakes, in the siting of a nuclear plant engineering solutions are generally available to mitigate the potential vibratory effects through design. For the choice of a suitable engineering solution, reliable data must be processed by reliable techniques. The IAEA safety guide of the safety series No. 50-SG-S1(Rev. 1) specifies the demands on data and on their processing and also on the regional seismotectonic model. With a view of this the regional seismotectonic model of Central Europe was created. The paper presents regional geological characteristics of Central Europe and a chronological model of neotectonic movements in Central Europe with specification of neotectonic regional units and their present movements. Moreover, it contains earthquake characteristics for Central Europe and the specification of seismogenic movements. It was found that the genesis of local regions with occurrence of the strongest earthquakes is connected with several movement trends in the last 5 Ma. Six more or less tectonically separate regional units were revealed. The earthquake epicenters often concentrate along the boundary lines of these neotectonic units. (author) 6 figs., 34 refs