Abstract
This chapter concerns the study of the temporal evolution of seismicity in a particular region, through a time repeated fractal analysis of the spatial distribution of the seismic events. The technique is applied to the NE—Italy Friuli seismic region, where a local seismic network has been active since 1977 (OGS 1977–1981, 1982–1990). Fractal dimensions have been calculated at fixed time intervals of thirty days. The spectrum of the time series thus obtained reveals that in this region the seismicity is characterized by a sort of periodicity, with periods that vary from one year to about four years, superimposed onto a longer period term.
The comparison of these results with the geodetic measurements in the same region suggests a ‘periodic’ variation of the stress field as the cause of both phenomena, and confirms the usefulness of this kind of fractal analysis in the study of the seismic process.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson H, Jackson J (1987) Active tectonics of the Adriatic region. Geophys J R astron Soc 91: 937–983.
Bakun WH, Mc Evilly TV (1984) Recurrence Models and Parkfield, California, Earthquakes. J Geophys Res 89: 3051–3058.
Barbano M S, Kind R, Zonno G (1984) Focal parameters of some Friuli earthquakes (1976 – 1979) using complete theoretical seismograms. J Geophys 58: 175–182.
Carulli GB, Nicolich R, Rebez A, Slejko D (1990) Seismotectonics of the Northwest external Dinarides. Tectonophysics 179: 11–25.
De Rubeis V, Dimitriu P, Papadimitriou E, Tosi P (1993) Recurrent patterns in the spatial behaviour of italian seismicity revealed by the fractal approach. Geophys Res lett 20: 1911–1914.
Ebblin C, Michelini A (1986) A principalparameteranalysis of aftershock sequences applied to the 1977 Friuli, Italy, sequence. Ann Geoph 4: 473–480.
Eneva M, Pavlis G (1991) Spatial Distribution of Aftershocks and Background Seismicity in Central California. PAGEOPH 137: 35–61
Finetti I, Russi M, Slejko D (1979) The Friuli earthquake (1976–1977). Tectonophysics 53: 261–272.
Grassberger P (1983) On the fractal dimension of the Henon attractor. Phys Lett 97A: 224–230
Hirata T, Satoh T, Ito K (1987) Fractal structure of spatial distribution of rnicrofracturing in rock. Geophys. J R astron Soc 90: 369–374.
Lindholm C, Havskov DJ, Seilevoll MA (1991) Periodicity in seismicity.examination of four catalogs. Tectonophysics 191: 155–164.
Mandelbrot BB (1977) Fractals: form, chance and dimensions. Freeman, San Francisco, pp 364.
Mao WJ, Ebblin C, Zadro M (1989) Evidence for variations of mechanical properties in the Friuli area. Tectonophysics 170: 231–242.
Mao W J, Santero P, Zadro M (1990) Long - and middle-term behaviour of the tilt and strain variations in the decade following the 1976 earthquake in NE-Italy. PAGEOPH 132: 653–677.
Meredith PG, Main IG, Jones C, (1990) Temporal variations in seismicity during quasi-static and dynamic rock failure. Tectonophysics 175: 249–268.
Mogi K (1985) Earthquake prediction. Ac Press, Tokio.
Nishenko SP, Bulland R (1987) Recurrence distribution for earthquakes forecasting. Bull Seism Soc Am 77: 1382–1399.
O.G.S. 1977–1981. Bollettino della rete sismologica del Friuli Venezia-Giulia O.G.S., Trieste.
O.G.S. 1982–1990. Bollettino della rete sismometrica dell’Italia Nord-Orientale, O.G.S., Trieste.
Ouchi T, Uekawa T (1986) Statistical analysis on the spatial distribution of earthquakes-variation of the spatial distribution of earthquakes before and after large earthquakes. Phys Earth Planet Int 44: 211–225.
Rikitake T (1976) Earthquake prediction. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
Rossi G (1990) Fractal dimension time variations in the Friuli (north-eastern Italy) seismic area. Boll Geof Teor Appl 127/128: 175–184.
Rossi G, Ebblin C (1990) Space (3-D) and space-time (4-D) analysis of aftershock sequences:the Friuli (NE-Italy) case. Boll Geof Teor Appl 125: 37–49.
Roth Ph, Pavoni N, Deichmann N (1992) Seismotectonics of the eastern Swiss Alps and evidence for precipitation-induced variations of seismic activity. Tectonophysics 207: 183–197.
Sadovski MA, Golubeva TV, Pisarenko VF, Snirman MG (1984) Characteristic dimensions of the rock and gerarchical properties of seismicity (on Russian). Fizika Zemli 2: 3–15.
Scholtz CH (1990) The mechanics of earthquakes and faulting. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge.
von Seggern DH (1982) Investigation of seismic precursors before major earthquakes and of the state of stress on fault planes. U.M.I. Dissertation Information, The Pennsylvania State University. Ph.D thesis.
Westaway R (1990) Present-day kinematics of the plate boundary zone between Africa and Europe, from the Azores to the Aegean. Earth Planet Sc Lett 96: 393–406.
Xanthakis J (1982) Possible periodicities of the annually released global seismic energy (M > 7.9) during 1898–1971. Tectonophysics 81: T7-T14.
Zadro M (1992) Tilt and strain variations in Friuli, NE-Italy after the 1976 earthquake. in: Boschi E & Dragoni M (eds) Earthquake prediction, Il Cigno Galileo Galilei, Roma, 295–315.
Zadro M, Rossi G (1991) Long-term strain variations in Friuli (NE-Italy) seismic area. Proc Intern Conf of earthquake prediction, state of the art, Strasbourg, pp 430–441.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rossi, G. (1994). Fractal Analysis as a Tool to Detect Seismic Cycle Phases. In: Kruhl, J.H. (eds) Fractals and Dynamic Systems in Geoscience. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07304-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07304-9_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-07306-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-07304-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive