Abstract
A seismological evaluation of the Red Sea margin is presented in this contribution based on the concept of seismotectonic regionalization. The geology and the tectonic structure are critically reviewed to define regions of homogeneous seismicity in the study area, and available seismicity data are implemented to estimate the seismic parameters of the region. The results of the study are applied to evaluate the seismic hazard of an offshore platform site.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Sayari, S. S. and Zötl, J. G.: 1978, Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia, Springer-Verlag, Wien, New York.
Albert, R. N. H.: 1987, Earthquake activity in the Cairo-Suez District compared with the fault pattern from satellite photographs considering Egyptian large scale construction plans, Bull. IISEE 22, 27–40.
American Petroleum Institute (API): 1987, Recommended practice for planning, designing and constructing fixed offshore platforms, API RP2A, 17th edn., Dallas, Texas.
Bayer, H. J., Hotzl, H., Jado, A. R., Roscher, B., and Voggenreiter, W.: 1988, Sedimentary and structural evolution of the northwest Arabian Red Sea margin, Tectonophysics 153, 137–151.
Ben-Menahem, A., 1984: Earthquake catalogue for the Middle East (92 BC–1980 AD), Boll. Geofis. Teor. Appl. 21(84), 245–310.
Campbell, K. W.: 1981, Near-source attenuation of peak horizontal acceleration, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 71(6), 2039–2070.
Cochran, J. R.: 1983, A model for development of Red Sea, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull. 67(1), 41–69.
Coleman, R. G.: 1974, Geologic background of the Red Sea, in The Geology of Continental Margins, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp. 743–751.
Colletta, B., Le Quellec, P., Letouzey, J., and Moretti I.: 1988, Longitudinal evolution of the Suez Rift structure (Egypt), Tectonophysics 153, 221–233.
Cornell, C. A.: 1968, Engineering seismic risk analysis, Bull Seismol. Soc. Amer. 58(5), 1583–1606.
Dagget, P. H., Morgan, P., Boulos, F. K., Hennin, S. F., El-Sherif, A. A., El-Sayed, A. A., Basta, N. Z., and Melek, Y. S.: 1986, Seismicity and active tectonics of the Egyptian Red Sea margin and the northern Red Sea, Tectonophysics 125, 313–324.
El-Isa, Z. H., Merghelani, H. M., and Bazzari, M. A.: 1984, The Gulf of Aqaba earthquake swarm of 1983 January–April, Geophys. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 78(3), 711–722.
El-Isa, Z. H. and Al Shanti, A.: 1989, Seismicity and tectonics of the Red Sea and western Arabia, Geophys. J. 97, 449–457.
Gutenberg, B. and Richter, C. F.: 1954, Seismicity of the Earth and Associated Phenomena, Princeton Univ. Press.
Hasofer, A. M. and Esteva, L.: 1985, Empirical Bayes estimation of seismicity parameters, Structural Safety 2, 199–205.
International Seismological Centre (ISC): 1989, Historical hypocentre file, Computer file, ISC, Newbury, United Kingdom.
Karnik, V.: 1969, Seismicity of the European Area, Part 1, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Karnik, V.: 1971, Seismicity of the European Area, Part 2, D. Reidel, Dordrecht.
Lyberis, N.: 1988, Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba, Tectonophysics 153, 209–220.
Mechie, J. and El-Isa, Z. H.: 1988, Upper lithospheric deformation in the Jordan-Dead Sea transform regime, Tectonophysics 153, 153–159.
Montenat, C., D'Estevou, P. O., Purser, B., Burollet, P. F., Jarrige, J. J., Orsag-Sperber, F., Philobbos, E., Plaziat, J. C., Prat, P., Richert, J. P., Roussel, N., and Thiriet, J. P.: 1988, Tectonic and sedimentary Evolution of the Gulf of Suez and the northwestern Red Sea, Tectonophysics 153, 161–177.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): 1989, The entire earthquake data base, Computer file, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado.
Poirier, J. P. and Taher, M. A.: 1980, Historical seismicity in the Near and Middle East, North Africa, and Spain from Arabic documents (VIIth–XVIIIth Century), Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 70(6), 2185–2201.
Schürmann, H. M. E.: 1971, Gulf of Suez and northern Red Sea Area, in UNESCO., Tectonics of Africa, Earth Sciences, 6, pp. 417–427.
Stepp, T. S.: 1972, Analysis of completeness of the earthquake sample in the Puget Sound area and its effect on statistical estimates of earthquake hazard, Proc. Int. Conf. Microzonation for Safer Construction Research and Application, Vol. 2, pp. 897–909.
Thenhaus, P. C., Algermissen, S. T., Perkins, D. M., Hanson, S. L., and Diment, W. H.: 1989, Probabilistic estimates of the seismic ground-motion hazard in western Saudi Aribia, U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. No. 1868.
Weichert, D. H.: 1980, Estimation of the earthquake recurrence parameters for unequal observation periods for different magnitude, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 70, 1337–1346.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pedone, R., Lombardo, P. & Diamantidis, D. Seismotectonic regionalization of the Red Sea area and its application to seismic risk analysis. Nat Hazards 5, 233–247 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125229
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00125229