[en] We consider a transversely isotropic medium with vertical axis of symmetry (VTI). Rayleigh wave displacement components in a homogeneous VTI medium contain exp(±kr_jz), where z is the vertical coordinate, k is the wave number, and j = 1, 2; r_j may be considered as depth-decay factor. In a VTI medium, r_j can be a real or imaginary as in an isotropic medium, or it can be a complex depending on the elastic parameters of the VTI medium; if complex, r₁ and r₂ are complex conjugates. In a homogeneous VTI half space, Rayleigh wave displacement is significantly modified with a phase shift when r_j changes from real to complex with variation of VTI parameters; at the transition, the displacement becomes zero when r₁ = r₂. In a liquid layer over a VTI half space, Rayleigh waves are dispersive. Here, also Rayleigh wave displacement significantly modified with a phase shift when r_j changes from real to complex with a decrease of period. At very low period, phase velocity of Rayleigh waves becomes less than P-wave velocity in the liquid layer giving rise to Scholte waves (interface waves). The amplitudes of Scholte waves with a VTI half space are found to be significantly larger than those with an isotropic half space.

[en] The source mechanism of the M_L 4.0 25 April 2016 Lacq earthquake (Aquitaine Basin, South-West France) is analyzed from the available public data and discussed with respect to the geometry of the nearby Lacq gas field. It is one of the biggest earthquakes in the area in the past few decades of gas extraction and the biggest after the end of gas exploitation in 2013. The routinely obtained location shows its hypocenter position inside the gas reservoir. We first analyze its focal mechanism through regional broad-band seismograms recorded in a radius of about 50 km epicentral distances and obtain EW running normal faulting above the reservoir. While the solution is stable using regional data only, we observe a large discrepancy between the recorded data on nearby station URDF and the forward modeling up to 1 Hz. We then look for the best epicenter position through performing wave propagation simulations and constraining the potential source area by the peak ground velocity (PGV). The resulting epicentral position is a few to several km away to the north or south direction with respect to station URDF such that the simulated particle motions are consistent with the observation. The initial motion of the seismograms shows that the epicenter position in the north from URDF is preferable, indicating the north-east of the Lacq reservoir. This study is an application of full waveform simulations and characterization of near-field ground motion in terms of an engineering factor such as PGV. The finally obtained solution gives a moment magnitude of M_w 3.9 and the best focal depth of 4 km, which corresponds to the crust above the reservoir rather than its interior. This position is consistent with the tendency of Coulomb stress change due to a compaction at 5 km depth in the crust. Therefore, this earthquake can be interpreted as a relaxation of the shallow crust due to a deeper gas reservoir compaction so that the occurrence of similar events cannot be excluded in the near future. It would be necessary to continue monitoring such local induced seismicity in order to better understand the reservoir/overburden behavior and better assess the local seismic hazard even after the end of gas exploitation.

[en] This paper aims at implementing and introducing the use of conditional mean spectrum (CMS) and conditional spectrum (CS) as the main input parameters in the practice of seismic safety evaluation (SSE) in China, instead of the currently used uniform hazard spectrum (UHS). For this purpose, a procedure for M-R-epsilon seismic hazard deaggregation in China was first developed. For illustration purposes, two different typical sites in China, with one to two dominant seismic zones, were considered as examples to carry out seismic hazard deaggregation and illustrate the construction of CMS/CS. Two types of correlation coefficients were used to generate CMS and the results were compared over a vibration period range of interest. Ground motion records were selected from the NSMONS (2007–2015) and PEER NGA-West2 databases to correspond to the target CMS and CS. Hazard consistency of the spectral accelerations of the selected ground motion records was evaluated and validated by computing the annual exceedance probability rate of the response spectra and comparing the results to the hazard curve corresponding to each site of concern at different periods. The tools developed in this work and their illustrative application to specific case studies in China are a first step towards the adoption of CMS and CS into the practice of seismic safety evaluation in this country.

[en] The Dominican Republic has a high level of seismic activity, and a new seismic network has been installed to improve the detection of earthquakes. The network has been operated by Instituto Politécnico Loyola since 2012. It uses six new stations of its own, as well as 17 other stations publically available. In this study, we investigate in particular the south-west of the country where no seismic stations have been operating before. We find an area, SE of the Enriquillo Plantain Garden fault (responsible for the 2010 Haiti M7.0 earthquake), with a high seismic activity (M = 2–4) compared to the surrounding area. This shallow seismicity (except two events around 40 km depth) is not seen in any global catalogs, and it does not seem to be associated with any known faults. However, the region has been under rapid recent uplift since margins between hills and valleys are filled with massive alluvial fans. We made 24 new fault plane solutions using P-polarities and S/P amplitude ratios. The solutions show mainly reverse mechanisms and the P-axis directions are mainly NNE oriented, which is in agreement with a published strain direction from GPS measurements. We conclude that the main cause of the seismicity in our study area is the push of the Beata Ridge against Enriquillo basin and the rest of the Gonave microplate, reflected in the mainly reverse focal mechanisms.

[en] The Aki-Utsu method of Gutenberg-Richter (G-R) b value estimation is often misapplied so that estimations not using the G-R histogram are often meaningless because they are not based on adequate samples. We propose a method to estimate the likelihood Pr(bǀb_m, N, M₁, M₂) that an observed b_m estimate, based on a sample of N magnitudes within an [M₁ −  ≤ ΔM/2, M₂ + ΔM/2) range, where ΔM = 0.1 is the usual rounding applied to magnitudes, is due to a “true” source b value, b, and use these likelihoods to estimate source b ranges corresponding to various confidence levels. As an example of application of the method, we estimate the b values before and after the occurrence of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake in the Mexican subduction zone, and find a difference of 0.82 between them with 100% confidence that the b values are different.

[en] This paper investigates damping modification factors in eastern Canada based on historical and simulated records compatible with seismic hazard in this region. Damping modification factors are characterized as a function of magnitude, distance, site condition, and damping ratio. Damping modification factors corresponding to historical and simulated ground motions on rock sites are shown to exhibit the same trends for all damping levels. In addition to period dependency of damping modification factors, we demonstrate their sensitivity to magnitude variations at longer periods. The effect of distance is shown to be less pronounced. It is also observed that soil conditions affect damping modification factors at short as well as longer periods. Period-dependent equations are proposed for practical assessment of damping modification factors corresponding to damping ratios between 1 and 40%, considering different magnitude–distance combinations and soil conditions representative of seismic hazard in eastern Canada.

[en] The aim of the present work is to furnish a detailed picture of the space-time-magnitude statistical properties of the instrumental seismic catalogue of Azerbaijan and surrounding regions from 2003 to 2016. Although Azerbaijan is one of the most seismically active areas in the world, an exhaustive description of the statistical properties of the time, space, and magnitude distribution of its seismicity is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this work is to fill this scientific gap.

[en] One of the crucial components in seismic hazard analysis is the estimation of the maximum earthquake magnitude and associated uncertainty. In the present study, the uncertainty related to the maximum expected magnitude μ is determined in terms of confidence intervals for an imposed level of confidence. Previous work by Salamat et al. (Pure Appl Geophys 174:763-777, 2017) shows the divergence of the confidence interval of the maximum possible magnitude m_max for high levels of confidence in six seismotectonic zones of Iran. In this work, the maximum expected earthquake magnitude μ is calculated in a predefined finite time interval and imposed level of confidence. For this, we use a conceptual model based on a doubly truncated Gutenberg-Richter law for magnitudes with constant b-value and calculate the posterior distribution of μ for the time interval T_f in future. We assume a stationary Poisson process in time and a Gutenberg-Richter relation for magnitudes. The upper bound of the magnitude confidence interval is calculated for different time intervals of 30, 50, and 100 years and imposed levels of confidence α = 0.5, 0.1, 0.05, and 0.01. The posterior distribution of waiting times T_f to the next earthquake with a given magnitude equal to 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5 are calculated in each zone. In order to find the influence of declustering, we use the original and declustered version of the catalog. The earthquake catalog of the territory of Iran and surroundings are subdivided into six seismotectonic zones Alborz, Azerbaijan, Central Iran, Zagros, Kopet Dagh, and Makran. We assume the maximum possible magnitude m_max = 8.5 and calculate the upper bound of the confidence interval of μ in each zone. The results indicate that for short time intervals equal to 30 and 50 years and imposed levels of confidence 1 − α = 0.95 and 0.90, the probability distribution of μ is around μ = 7.16 − 8.23 in all seismic zones.

No abstract available

[en] Koyna-Warna region in western India is a globally recognized site of reservoir-triggered seismicity near the Koyna and Warna reservoirs. The region has been reported with several M > 5 earthquakes in the last five decades including M6.3 Koyna earthquake which is considered as the largest triggered earthquake worldwide. In the present study, a detailed statistical analysis has been done for long period earthquake catalogues during 1968–2004 of MERI and 2005–2012 of CSIR-NGRI to find out the spatio-temporal influence of the Koyna and Warna reservoirs impoundment on the seismicity of the region. Depending upon the earthquake clusters, we divided the region into three different zones and performed power spectrum and singular spectrum analysis (SSA) on them. For the time period 1983–1995, the earthquake zone near the Warna reservoir; for 1996–2004, the earthquake zone near the Koyna reservoir; and for 2005–2012, the earthquake zone near the Warna reservoir found to be influenced by the annual water level variations in the reservoirs that confirm the continuous role of both the reservoirs in the seismicity of the Koyna-Warna region.