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Ground Motion Patterns Of Intermediate-Depth Vrancea Earthquakes: The October 27, 2004 Event

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Book cover Harmonization of Seismic Hazard in Vrancea Zone

Weak and strong intermediate-depth Vrancea earthquakes occur in a small zone beneath the southeastern Carpathian Mountains. Despite their small seismogenic dimension, the seismic moment release is unusually high. During the last century, four major earthquakes occurred in this source zone which is confined to an area of only 20 x 60 km2. The focal depths range from 60 to 170 km, but a few events were found in depths to about 220 km. In this paper we analyze the October 27, 2004 Mw = 5.8 event and the aftershock pattern in the context of the background seismicity. We further present ground motion maps for the mainshock using the recordings of the accelerometer networks installed in Romania and the macroseismic intensities as observed by the Internet community provided by the United States Geological Survey. The combination of these instrument and Internet-based observations enabled the construction of ground motion maps covering the whole territory of Romania and its bordering countries. The geographical pattern of the peak ground acceleration as well as the seismic intensity of the moderate October 2004 earthquake show the well-known northeast-southwest trending of the maximum values as displayed by the big events of 1940, 1977, 1986 and 1990. The growing community of Internet users will provide denser, extensive and even cross-border information on the effects of future strong Vrancea earthquakes than instrument observations alone can do.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysical Institute University of Karlsruhe Hertzstr. 16, Karlsruhe, D 76187, Germany

    K. -P. Bonjer & V. Sokolov

  2. National Institute of Research and Development for Earth Physics (NIEP), 12 Calugareni st., Ilfov, (PO Box: MG-2), Bucharest-Magurele, Romania

    C. Ionescu, M. Radulian, B. Grecu, M. Popa & E. Popescu

Authors
  1. K. -P. Bonjer
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  2. C. Ionescu
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  3. V. Sokolov
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  4. M. Radulian
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology and Seismology, Academy of Sciences of Moldova, str. Academiei 3, Chisinau, MD-2028, Moldova

    Anton Zaicenco

  2. Department of Reinforced Concrete Structures, Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, 266 Pantelimon St., Sector 2, Bucharest, RO-021652, Romania

    Iolanda Craifaleanu

  3. Central Laboratory Seismic Mechanics and Earthquake Engineering, Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS), Acad. G. Bonchev block 3, Sofia, 1113, Bulgaria

    Ivanka Paskaleva

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Bonjer, K.P. et al. (2008). Ground Motion Patterns Of Intermediate-Depth Vrancea Earthquakes: The October 27, 2004 Event. In: Zaicenco, A., Craifaleanu, I., Paskaleva, I. (eds) Harmonization of Seismic Hazard in Vrancea Zone. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9242-8_3

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