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Source parameters of some recent earthquakes in the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt

معاملات المصدر لبعض الزلازل الحديثه بخليج العقبه – مصر

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Abstract

Gulf of Aqaba is recognized as an active seismic zone where many destructive earthquakes have occurred. The estimation of source parameters and coda Q attenuation are the main target of this work. Fifty digital seismic events in eight short-period seismic stations with magnitude 2.5–5.2 are used. Most of these events occurred at hypocentral depths in the range of 7–20 km, indicating that the activity was restricted in the upper crust. Seismic moment, M o, source radius, r, and stress drop, Δσ, are estimated from P- and S-wave spectra using the Brune’s seismic source model. The average seismic moment generated by the whole sequence of events was estimated to be 4.6E + 22 dyne/cm. The earthquakes with higher stress drop occur at 10-km depth. The scaling relation between the seismic moment and the stress drop indicates a tendency of increasing seismic moment with stress drop. The seismic moment increases with increasing the source radius. Coda waves are sensitive to changes in the subsurface due to the wide scattering effects generating these waves. Single scattering model of local earthquakes is used to the coda Q calculation. The coda with lapse times 10, 20, and 30 s at six central frequencies 1.5, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24 Hz are calculated. The Q c values are frequency dependent in the range 1–25 Hz, and are approximated by a least squares fit to the power law [\( {Q_c}(f) = {Q_o}{(f/{f_o})^\eta } \)]. The average of Q c values increases from 53 ± 10 at 1.5 Hz to 700 ± 120 at 24 Hz. The average of Q o values ranges from 13 ± 1 at 1.5 Hz to 39 ± 4 at 24 Hz. The frequency exponent parameter η ranges between 1.3 ± 0.008 and 0.9 ± 0.001.

يعتبر خليج العقيه من المناطق ذات النشاط الزلزالى الكبير حيث تحدث فيه كثير من الزلازل المدمره. ولقد كان الهدف الرئيسى لهذا البحث هو استنتاج معاملات المصدر ومعامل اضمحلال موجات الكودا. استخدم فى هذا البحث 50 زلزال مسجل فى 8 محطات زلازل قصيره المدى بقوه تتراح بين 2.5 -5.2. معظم هذه الزلاول تقع على اعماق تتراوح من 7 الى 30 كم. تم حساب العزم السيزمى وطول الفالق تغيير الاجهاد باستخدام نموذج برون السيزمى لكلا من الطيف الزلزالى للموجات الاوليه والثانويه. تم استنتاج الاتى متوسط العزم السيزمى لكل الزلازل 22+4.6 داين/سم والزلازل ذات الاجهاد العالى تحدث على عمق 10 كم. العلاقه بين العزم السيزمى ومعامل تغيير الاجهاد علاقه طرديه (ازدياد بين العزم السيزمى مع ازدياد معامل تغيير الاجهاد). يزداد العزم السيزمى مع ازدياد طول الفالق. موجات الكودا حساسه للتغيرات التحت سطحيه لتأثير التشتت الذى ينتج من هذه الموجات. استخدم نموذج التشتت الفردى للزلازل المحليه لحساب معامل الإضمحلال لموجات الكودا. حسب معامل الإضمحلال لموجات الكودا للازمنه 10 , 20 و30 ثانيه لست ترددات 1.5; 3; 6; 12; 18 و 24 هرتز. قيم متوسط معامل الكودا عند 30 ثانيه تتراوح بين 53±10 للتردد 1.5 هرتر الى 700±120 للتردد 24 هرتز. وتتراوح من 13±1 عند تردد 1.5 الى 39±4 عند تردد 24 هرتز.

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Acknowledgments

We want to express our deep thanks to Prof. Dr.\ M. M. Dessokey for his valuable discussions, advice and encouragement. We want to thank our colleagues in Helwan Seismological Center, for their help and providing data, necessary for this work. Deep thanks to Mr. Mahmoud Samy for his efforts in providing us the software used in this work.

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  1. National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, Cairo, Egypt

    Mamdouh A. Morsy, Sherif El Hady & Enayat Abd El-Meneam

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  1. Mamdouh A. Morsy
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  2. Sherif El Hady
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  3. Enayat Abd El-Meneam
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Correspondence to Enayat Abd El-Meneam.

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Morsy, M.A., El Hady, S. & El-Meneam, E.A. Source parameters of some recent earthquakes in the Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 5, 943–952 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-010-0206-2

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