Geothermics and Seismicity in the Pannonian Basin

Summary

The map showing the horizontal variation of temperature at a depth of 1 km in Hungary has been constructed. The energy of earthquakes released in Hungary between 1859 and 1958 presents a good correlation with this map: 95 % of the released earthquake energy falls into the part of the country, where the horizontal temperature change surpasses 0,13 °C/km, while on the other part of the country where the temperature variation is less than o,l3 °C/km, only 5 % of the earthquake energy has been released, all this in the period of 1859 — 1958. Cause of the phenomenon may be that the weak, sporadic crustal earthquakes of Hungary are the consequences of the thermal relaxation of the Pannonian basin owing to the high geothermal anomaly there.