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Earthquake swarms in the Kamchatka subduction zone and estimation of possible tsunami generation locations

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Abstract

An analysis of the space-time locations of earthquake swarms in the Kamchatka subduction zone showed that the source zones of these earthquake swarms, as well as of the epicenters of most tsunami-generating earthquakes, are confined to the seamounts in the barrier ridge between Kamchatka and the deep-sea trench. The “dot clouds” of hypocenters of practically all earthquake swarms dip toward the trench on seismic sections that are oriented across the subduction zone trend; this fits the auxiliary focal solution of tsunami-generating earthquakes as was first noticed by L.M. Balakina and is in agreement with the model experiment carried out by L.I. Lobkovskii et al. We discuss a likely scenario for the generation of reverse-thrust blocks whose movements are accompanied by earthquake swarms and by tsunami-generating earthquakes. We estimate the locations of the most probable tsunami generation.

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Correspondence to G. P. Avdeiko.

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Original Russian Text © G.P. Avdeiko, A.A. Palueva, 2012, published in Vulkanologiya i Seismologiya, 2012, No. 4, pp. 65–78.

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Avdeiko, G.P., Palueva, A.A. Earthquake swarms in the Kamchatka subduction zone and estimation of possible tsunami generation locations. J. Volcanolog. Seismol. 6, 268–280 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0742046312030025

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