Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Earthquake source characterization, moment tensor solutions, and stress field of small-moderate earthquakes occurred in the northern Red Sea Triple Junction

  • Article
  • Published:
Geosciences Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We estimated moment tensor and centroid depth of eight small/moderate local earthquakes occurred between 2011 and 2013 in the northern Red Sea Triple Junction using a moment tensor inversion of near-source waveform data recorded by very broadband stations of the Egyptian National Seismic Network (ENSN). We also estimated the focal mechanism using the P-wave polarity data set and then compared it with the moment tensor inversion results. The moment tensor solutions are consistent with the focal mechanism obtained from the P-wave polarity data. We also estimated the stress field in the study area using the Multiple Inverse Method (MIM). Our results indicate that the axis of the minimum principal stress is a nearly horizontal NE-SW direction, while the axis of the maximum principal stress is nearly vertical. The direction of the minimum principal stress is consistent with the opening direction of the northern Red Sea zone, where the southern part of Gulf of Suez is currently under an extensional stress field with a NE-SW trending horizontal extension. These results are compatible with the kinematics of the Red Sea-Gulf of Suez rift.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abd el-aal, A.K., 2008, Simulating time-histories and pseudo-spectral accelerations from the 1992 Cairo Earthquake at the proposed El- Fayoum new city site, Egypt. Acta Geophysica, 56, 1025–1042.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abd el-aal, A.K., 2010a, Modeling of seismic hazard at the northeastern part of greater Cairo metropolitan area, Egypt. Journal of Geophysics and Engineering, 7, 75–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abd el-aal, A.K., 2010b, Ground motion prediction from nearest seismogenic zones in and around Greater Cairo Area, Egypt. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 10, 1495–1511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abd el-aal, A.K., 2013, Very broadband seismic background noise analysis of permanent good vaulted seismic stations. Journal of Seismology, 17, 223–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abd el-aal, A.K. and Soliman M.S., 2013, New seismic noise models obtained using very broadband stations. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 170, 1849–1857.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abou Elenean, K.M., 1997, A study of the seismotectonics of Egypt and relation to the Mediterranean and Red Seas tectonics. Ph.D. Thesis, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 150 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahern, T.K., Buland, R., and Halbert, S., 1994, SEED format version 2.3 reference manual. IRIS, Washington, DC, 219 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abdel-Fattah, A.K., Badawy, A., and Kim, K., 2007, Normal faulting mechanisms in the Western Desert of Egypt. Journal of Seismology, 11, 27–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Zoubi, A., Shulman, H., and Ben-Avraham, Z., 2002, Seismic reflection profiles across the southern Dead Sea basin. Tectonophysics, 346, 61–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambraseys, N.N., 2001, Far-field effects of Eastern Mediterranean earthquakes in Lower Egypt. Journal of Seismology, 5, 263–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambraseys, N.N., Melville, C.P., and Adams, R.D., 1994, The seismicity of Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 181 p.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Angelier, J., 1979, Determination of the mean principal directions of stresses for a given fault population. Tectonophysics, 5, 17–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angelier, J., 1984, Tectonic analysis of fault slip data sets. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 5835–5848.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Angelier, J., 1985, Extension and rifting: the Zeit region, Gulf of Suez. Journal of Structural Geology, 7, 605–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ben-Avraham, Z., 1985, Structural framework of the Gulf of Aqaba, Northern Red Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research, 90, 703–726.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boatwright, J., 1978, Detailed spectral analysis of two small New York state earthquakes. Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 69, 49–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boatwright, J., 1980, A spectral theory for circular seismic sources: simple estimates of source dimension, dynamic stress drop and radiated energy. Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 70, 1–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bosworth, W. and McClay, K., 2001, Structural and stratigraphic evolution of the Gulf of Suez rift, Egypt: a synthesis. In: Ziegler, P.A., Cavazza, W., Robertson, A.H.F., and Crasquin-Soleau, S. (eds.), Peri-Tethys Memoir 6: Peri-Tethys rift/wrench basins and passive margins. Mémoires du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 186, p. 567–606.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brune, J.N., 1970, Tectonic stress and the spectra of seismic shear waves from earthquakes. Journal of Geophysical Research, 75, 4997–5009.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chu, D. and Gordon, R.G., 1998, Current plate motions across the Red Sea. Geophysical Journal International, 135, 313–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochron, J.R., 2005, The northern Red Sea: nucleation of an oceanic spreading center within a continental rift. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 6, 1–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delvaux, D. and Barth, A., 2010, African stress pattern from formal inversion of focal mechanism data. Tectonophysics, 482, 105–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreger, D.S., 2000, Time domain moment tensor inverse program. Berkley Automatic Seismic Moment Tensor Code 1.0, Berkeley, 18 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Dziewonski, A.M., Chou, T-A., and Woodhouse, J., 1981, Determination of earthquake source parameters from waveform data for studies of global and regional seismicity. Journal of Geophysical Research, 86, 2825–2852.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Hadidy, S., 1993, Source process of the 1992 Cairo, Egypt earthquake using far field seismogram. Report for the course of seismology 1992–1993, IISEE, Japan, 25 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • El Hadidy, S., 1995, Crustal structure and its related causative tectonics in Northern Egypt using geophysical data. Ph.D. Thesis, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 150 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairhead, J.D. and Girdler, R.W., 1970, The seismicity of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Afar Tiangle. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 267, 49–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fukao, Y. and Kikuchi, M., 1987, Source retrieval for mantel earthquakes by iterative deconvolution of long-period P-wave. Tectonophysics, 144, 249–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gephart, J.W. and Forsyth, D.W., 1984, An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: Application to the San Fernando earthquake sequence. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 9305–9320.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, F., 1970, Excitation of the normal modes of the Earth by earthquakes and explosions. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 22, 223–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanks, T.C. and Kanamori, H., 1979, A moment-magnitude scale. Journal of Geophysical Research, 84, 2348–2350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanks, T.C. and Wyss, M., 1972, The use of body-wave spectra in the determination of seismic-source parameters. Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 62, 561–589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hussein, H.M., Abou Elenean, K.M., Marzouk, I.A., Korrat, I.M., Abu El-Nader, I.F., Ghazala, H., and ElGabry, M.N., 2013, Present-day tectonic stress regime in Egypt and surrounding area based on inversion of earthquake focal mechanisms. Journal of African Earth Sciences, 81, 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Japanese Expert Team, 1993, Report of Japan Disaster Relief Team on the earthquake in Arab Republic of Egypt of October 12, 1992, 150 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarriage, J., D’Estevou, P., Burrollet, P., Montenat, C., Part P., Richert, J., and Thiriet, J., 1990, The multistage tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Suez-Northern Red sea continental rift from field observations. Tectonics, 9, 441–465.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joffe, S. and Garfunkel, Z., 1987, Plate kinematics of the circum Red Sea–a revaluation. Tectonophysics, 141, 5–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jost, M.L. and Herrmann, R.B., 1989, A student’s guide to and review of moment tensors. Seismological Research Letter, 60, 37–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kebeasy, R., 1990, Seismicity. In: Said, R. (ed.), The Geology of Egypt. A.A. Balkerma, Rotterdam, p. 51–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kikuchi, M. and Kanamori, H., 1991, Inversion of complex body wave-III, Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 81, 2335–2350.

  • Lyberis, N., 1988, Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Tectonophysics, 153, 209–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makris, J. and Henke, C.H., 1992, Pull-apar evolution of the Red Sea. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 15, 127–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Makris, J., Stoefen, B., Vees, R., Allam, A., Maamoun, M., and Shehata, W., 1979, Deep seismic sounding in Egypt. Unpublished technical report, Part I, Institute of Geophysics, University of Hamburg, 20 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moores, E.M. and Twiss, R.J., 1995, Tectonics. W.H. Freeman and Co., New York, 415 p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vasseur, G., Etchecopar, A., and Philip, H., 1983, Stress state inferred from multiple focal mechanisms. Annales Geophysicae, 1, 291–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yagi, Y. and Nishimura, N., 2011, Moment tensor inversion of near source seismograms. Bulletin of the International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, 45, 133–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yagi, Y. and Fukahata, Y., 2012, Introduction of uncertainty of Green’s function into waveform inversion for seismic source processes. Geophysical Journal International, 186, 711–720.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yagi, Y., Nishimura, N., and Kasahara, A., 2012, Source process of the May 2008 Wenchuan China, earthquake determined by waveform inversion of teleseismic body waves with a data covariance matrix. Earth, Planets and Space, 64, 13–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yamaji, A., 2000, The multiple inverse method: A new technique to separate stresses from heterogeneous fault-slip data. Journal of Structural Geology, 22, 441–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National research institute of astronomy and geophysics, EL Marsad Street 1, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt

    Abdel-aziz Khairy Abdel-aal

  2. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Yuji Yagi

Authors
  1. Abdel-aziz Khairy Abdel-aal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yuji Yagi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abdel-aziz Khairy Abdel-aal.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abdel-aal, Aa.K., Yagi, Y. Earthquake source characterization, moment tensor solutions, and stress field of small-moderate earthquakes occurred in the northern Red Sea Triple Junction. Geosci J 21, 235–251 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-016-0025-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12303-016-0025-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation