Seismicity and earthquake hazard at the proposed site for a nuclear power plant in the El Dabaa area, north-western desert, Egypt

Data related to earthquakes which occurred within a 320 km radius around El Dabaa in the period from 2800 B. C. to 1980 A. D. have been collected and evaluated. They are used to study seismicity and earthquake hazard at the proposed site of the first nuclear power plant in Egypt. Epicentre distribution pattern suggests four seismic active trends, mostly in good agreement with the distribution of major tectonic features. The frequency of occurrence of shallow earthquakes in the last 29 years indicates that the largest event expected to occur in the region should have magnitude between 6 and 6.2 and should recur thrice every one hundred years. The vertical and horizontal acceleration at the site was estimated as 0.17 g and 0.25 g, respectively. 60 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs. (author)