A New Robust Algorithm for Fault-Plane Parameters Identification: The 2009 L’Aquila (Central Italy) Seismic Sequence Case
Source abstract
Abstract
The study of the hypocenter distribution of seismic events related to fault structures is a crucial topic since it is linked to the geological features and to the dynamics of an investigated area. The hypocenter spatial distribution of earthquakes is used in a novel algorithmic method to clusterize earthquakes to accurately identify the strike and the dip parameters of seismogenic faults. Our algorithm works as a fast and efficient explorer in a five-dimensional space (x, y, z, τ, ϕ). It randomly selects several seismic events (pivots) and counts in all angular directions, for each pivot, how many hypocenters can be included in a prefixed volume (two dimensions larger than the third). The result is a volume that contains the maximum number of earthquakes occurring within a minimum distance from a flat area corresponding to the searched fault. With this volume is associated a hypocenter occurrence density angular diagram and a likelihood function. The likelihood function is useful to individuate the best value of the fault thickness and to test the hypothesis of fault flatness. Our algorithm was tested on simulated data and then successfully applied to the real case of the 2009 Mw6.1 L’Aquila (Central Italy) seismic sequence.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: earthquake and tectonic studies · High-pressure geophysics and materials · Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Sezione di Napoli Osservatorio Vesuviano, Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Napoli, Italy
Dipartimento di Economia, Management e Istituzioni, Università Degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Via Cintia 26, 80126 Napoli, Italy
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Osservatorio Nazionale Terremoti, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Roma, Italy
Dipartimento di Scienze Della Terra e Geoambientali, Università Degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70121 Bari, Italy
Funding
2021–2023 INGV-funded project Ricerca Libera “ALFAPARC” · 2020–2024 INGV-funded project “LOVE-CF”
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