Abstract
Earthquakes of M ≥ 5 tend to be locally damaging, specifically when these are the aftershocks of larger earthquakes, as the main shock would have weakened the structures. For the rescue operations and general well-being of the local residents, it is helpful if an estimate is available as to how long M ≥ 5 aftershocks would continue to occur. Earthquakes M ≥ 6.5 tend to be followed by aftershocks of M ≥ 5. In this study, aftershock sequences of seven earthquakes of magnitude M ≥ 6.5 were analyzed. Six among these are in the Himalayan region and the remaining one is in the near vicinity in China. The analysis suggests that the number of M ≥ 5 aftershocks and the duration of their occurrence decrease with the decrease of the mainshock magnitude. For the 2008 Sichuan earthquake of M 7.9 there were 136 M ≥ 5 aftershocks, while for 1975 Kinnaur earthquake of M 6.8 there were only 9. The aftershock duration of the Himalayan region earthquakes obeys the exponential law T=AecM, where the A and c are constants associated with regional fault settings. This relation is helpful in providing an estimate of the time for which M ≥ 5 aftershock activity would continue after the occurrence of a M ≥ 6.5 earthquakes.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Director, NGRI for his permission to publish this work. We acknowledge USGS for the catalog data used in this study. Harsh K. Gupta acknowledges NASI for Platinum Jubilee Fellowship. CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) reference number of the article is NGRI/Lib/2021/Pub-110.
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Gupta, H.K., Rekapalli, R. A Short Note on the Aftershock Duration of Strong to Major Himalayan Earthquakes. J Geol Soc India 98, 611–614 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-2034-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-022-2034-x