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The 17 July 2013 Hammam Melouane earthquake: observations and analysis of geological and seismological data

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Abstract

On July 17th, 2013, a moderate-sized earthquake of Mw 4.9 hits the locality of Hammam Melouane, North-Central Algeria. The event was followed by an intense aftershock activity that lasted about two years. For a better constraint of the main shock and the causative fault, we present and discuss new geological and accelerometric data, in addition to an updated macroseismic study. A maximum macroseismic intensity of VII (EMS-98) was attributed to this event. The right-lateral strike-slip fault zone outcropping north of Hammam Melouane locality is the only structure that shows characteristics coherent with the seismological results. This fault system consists of several main branches about 1 km distant from each other, with a ~ N120° overall trending. The fault zone structure is clearly materialized by a Riedel shear structures imprinted on Miocene post-thrust tectonic formations and cross cutting all the previous structures. Moreover, reading the P-wave polarity at two additional broadband seismic stations, allowed better constraining the strike of the focal mechanism nodal planes. The GRY strong-motion station, west of the epicenter, which has not been triggered by the mainshock first arrival, means that possibly this station is located close to the ~ E‒W nodal plane.

Resumen

El 17 de julio de 2013, un terremoto de tamaño moderado de Mw 4,9 sacudió la localidad de Hammam Melouane, en el centro-norte de Argelia. El evento fue seguido por una intensa actividad de réplicas que duró unos dos años. Para una mejor delimitación del evento principal y de la falla causante, presentamos y discutimos nuevos datos geológicos y acelerométricos, además de un estudio macrosísmico actualizado. Se atribuyó a este evento una intensidad macrosísmica máxima de VII (EMS-98). La zona de falla de deslizamiento lateral derecha que aflora al norte de la localidad de Hammam Melouane es la única estructura que muestra características coherentes con los resultados sismológicos. Este sistema de fallas consta de varias ramas principales separadas entre sí por una distancia de aproximadamente 1 km, con una tendencia general de ~N120°. La estructura de la zona de falla está claramente materializada por una estructura de cizalla tipo Riedel reconocible en las formaciones tectónicas del Mioceno posteriores al fallamiento y que corta todas las estructuras anteriores. Además, la lectura de la polaridad de las ondas P en dos estaciones sísmicas de banda ancha adicionales, permitió restringir mejor el rumbo de los planos nodales del mecanismo focal. La estación de movimiento fuerte GRY, al oeste del epicentro, que no ha sido activada por la primera llegada de la sacudida principal, significa que posiblemente esta estación está situada cerca del plano nodal ~E–O.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all people who participated in the installation and maintenance of the CGS Strong-Motions network and those who are involved in its management and data quality control. We also address our gratitude to two colleagues whose comments have substantially improved the original version of the paper. Our thanks go also to the technical building control (CTC)-Algiers for the technical documents provided. This is the South-Mitidja Fault Research Project supported by the Centre National de Recherche Appliquée en Génie Parasismique (CGS), Algiers, Algeria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géodynamique, Géologie de l’Ingénieur et Planétologie, (FSTGAT), Université des sciences et de la Technologie Houari Boumediene (USTHB), Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria

    Dalila Ait Benamar & Djelloul Belhai

  2. CGS, Centre National de Recherche Appliquée en Génie Parasismique, Rue Kaddour Rahim, Hussein Dey, 16040, Algiers, Algeria

    Dalila Ait Benamar, Hakim Moulouel, Mohamed Yacine Tebbouche, Mehdi Boukri, Abdelghani Aghiles Meziani, Sahra Aourari, Massinissa Braham & Djamel Machane

  3. CRAAG, Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique, BP. 63, Bouzaréah, Algiers, Algeria

    Fethi Semmane & Assia Harbi

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  1. Dalila Ait Benamar
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  2. Hakim Moulouel
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Ait Benamar, D., Moulouel, H., Belhai, D. et al. The 17 July 2013 Hammam Melouane earthquake: observations and analysis of geological and seismological data. J Iber Geol 48, 163–180 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41513-022-00187-2

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