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Geosystemics, Entropy and Criticality of Earthquakes: A Vision of Our Planet and a Key of Access

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Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems: From Nano to Macro Scale

Abstract

Earth is a system of interconnected systems, whose complexity is far from being fully understood by a reductionist approach alone. In this chapter we introduce the concept of geosystemics and the use of the entropy to characterize some aspects of the phenomena under study. We will show how entropy and criticality of the system are central to better understand the most important general features of earthquakes . We will analyze two recent seismic sequences culminated with a main-shock (2009 L’Aquila and 2012 Emilia, both in Italy) to show the potential of this approach and to understand some important characteristics of the seismicity under scrutiny.

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Acknowledgements

Some work was made in the frame of SAGA-4-EPR (Italian Foreign Office funded project) and during a visit of ADS at North Eastern University (China) invited by Professors Liu and Wu. Their hospitality has been appreciated very much. I thank also some of my collaborators (Gianfranco Cianchini and Enkelejda Qamili) for their assistance in making some analyses or graphs, and/or for inspiring some concepts or analyses. I finally thank the organizers of the NATO workshop on New Challenges in Complex System Physics, held on 20–24 May 2013 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. I thank in particular Dr. Davron Matrasulov and his collaborators, for providing the right atmosphere of cooperation and stimulating discussion during the workshop.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy

    Angelo De Santis

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  1. Angelo De Santis
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Correspondence to Angelo De Santis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    Davron Matrasulov

  2. Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    H. Eugene Stanley

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De Santis, A. (2014). Geosystemics, Entropy and Criticality of Earthquakes: A Vision of Our Planet and a Key of Access. In: Matrasulov, D., Stanley, H. (eds) Nonlinear Phenomena in Complex Systems: From Nano to Macro Scale. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8704-8_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8704-8_1

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