Introduction
Definition of Basic Concepts
The focal mechanismillustrates the geometry of faulting during an earthquake. For a fault-related earthquake, the focal mechanism describes the orientation of the causative fault (its strike and dip angle) and the direction of the slip on its plane (rake angle). The pattern of the radiated seismic waves depends on the fault geometry, thus the focal mechanism is determined from seismograms recorded at various distances and azimuths from the seismic source. The simplest method relies on the first-motion polarity of body waves, and the more sophisticated methods are based on waveform modeling of body and surface waves. Fault-plane solutions are described by two mutually orthogonal planes in space, one of which is the fault plane and the other is the auxiliary plane, to which the slip vector is normal. There is an ambiguity in identifying the fault plane on which the slip...
References
Basili R, Kastelic V, Demircioglu MB, Garcia Moreno D, Nemser ES, Petricca P, Sboras SP, Besana-Ostman GM, Cabral J, Camelbeeck T, Caputo R, Danciu L, Domac H, Fonseca J, García-Mayordomo J, Giardini D, Glavatovic B, Gulen L, Ince Y, Pavlides S, Sesetyan K, Tarabusi G, Tiberti MM, Utkucu M, Valensise G, Vanneste K, Vilanova S, Wössner J (2013) The European database of seismogenic faults (EDSF) compiled in the framework of the project SHARE. http://diss.rm.ingv.it/share-edsf/. doi:10.6092/INGV.IT-SHARE-EDSF
Benetatos C, Kiratzi A, Papazachos C, Karakaisis G (2004) Focal mechanisms of shallow and intermediate depth earthquakes along the Hellenic arc. J Geophys Res 37(253–296):2004
Chatzipetros A, Kiratzi A, Sboras S, Pavlides S (2013) Active faulting in the north-eastern Aegean Sea Islands. Tectonophysics 597:106–122. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2012.11.026
Copley A, Boait F, Hollingsworth J, Jackson J, McKenzie D (2009) Subparallel thrust and normal faulting in Albania and the roles of gravitational potential energy and rheology contrasts in mountain belts. J Geophys Res 114, B05407. doi:10.1029/2008JB005931
Dreger DS (2003) TDMT_INV: time domain seismic moment tensor INVersion. Int Handb Earthq Eng Seismol 81B:1627
Ekström G, Nettles M, Dziewonski AM (2012) The global CMT project 2004–2010: centroid-moment tensors for 13,017 earthquakes. Phys Earth Planet Inter 200–201:1–9. doi:10.1016/j.pepi.2012.04.002
Goldsworthy M, Jackson J, Haines J (2002) The continuity of active fault systems in Greece. Geophys J Int 148(3):596–618. doi:10.1046/j.1365-246X.2002.01609.x
Hatzfeld D, Martin C (1992) Intermediate depth seismicity in the Aegean defined by teleseismic data. Earth Planet Sci Lett 113:267–275
Hatzfeld D, Pedotti G, Hatzidimitriou P, Makropoulos K (1990) The strain pattern in the western Hellenic arc deduced from a microearthquake survey. Geophys J Int 101:181–202
Jackson J (2001) Living with earthquakes: know your faults. J Earthq Eng 5:5–123
Jolivet L, Labrousse L, Agard P, Lacombe O, Bailly V, Lecomte E, Mouthereau F, Mehl C (2010) Rifting and shallow-dipping detachments, clues from the Corinth Rift and the Aegean. Tectonophysics 483:287–304
Jolivet L, Faccenna C, Huet B, Labrousse L, Le Pourhiet L, Lacombe O, Lecomte E, Burov E, Denèle Y, Brun J-P, Philippon M, Paul A, Salaün G, Karabulut H, Piromallo C, Monié P, Gueydan F, Okay A, Oberhänsli R, Pourteau A, Augier R, Gadenne L, Driussi O (2013) Aegean tectonics: strain localisation, slab tearing and trench retreat. Tectonophysics 597–598:1–33
Kiratzi A (2002) Stress tensor inversions along the westernmost north and central Aegean Sea. Geophys J Int 106:433–490
Kiratzi A, Louvari E (2003) Focal mechanisms of shallow earthquakes in the Aegean Sea and the surrounding lands determined by waveform modelling: a new database. J Geophys Res 36:251–274
Kiratzi A, Sokos E, Ganas A, Tselentis A, Benetatos C, Roumelioti Z, Serpetsidaki A, Andriopoulos G, Galanis O, Petrou P (2008) The April 2007 earthquake swarm near Lake Trichonis and implications for active tectonics in western Greece. Tectonophysics 452:51–65
Kokkalas S, Kamberis E, Xypolias P, Sotiropoulos S, Koukouvelas I (2013) Coexistence of thin- and thick-skinned tectonics in Zakynthos area (western Greece): insights from seismic sections and regional seismicity. Tectonophysics 597–598:73–84
Le Pichon X, Angelier J (1979) The Hellenic arc and trench system: a key to the neotectonic evolution of the eastern Mediterranean area. Tectonophys 60(1–2):1–42. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(79)90131-8
Louvari E, Kiratzi A and Papazachos B (1999) The Cephalonia Transform Fault and its continuation to western Lefkada Island. Tectonophysics 308:223–236
Lyon-Caen H, Armijo R, Drakopoulos J, Baskoutas J, Delibasis N, Gaulon R, Kouskouna V, Latoussakis J, Makropoulos N, Papadimitriou P, Papanastasiou D, Pedotti G (1988) The 1986 Kalamata (South Peloponnesus) earthquake: detailed study of a normal fault, evidences for east–west extension in the Hellenic arc. J Geophys Res 93:14967–15000
McClusky S, Balassanian S, Barka A, Demir C, Georgiev I, Hamburg M, Hurst K, Kahle H, Kastens K, Kekelidze G, King R, Kotzev V, Lenk O, Mahmoud S, Mishin A, Nadariya M, Ouzounis A, Paradissis D, Peter Y, Prilepin M, Reilinger R, Sanli I, Seeger H, Tealeb A, Toksoz MN, Veis G (2000) Global positioning system constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus. J Geophys Res 105:5695–5720
McKenzie D (1978) Active tectonics of the Alpine-Himalayan belt: the Aegean Sea and surrounding regions. Geophys J Roy Astron Soc 55:217–254
Müller M, Geiger A, Kahle H-G, Veis G, Billiris H, Paradissis D, Felekis S (2013) Velocity and deformation fields in the North Aegean domain, Greece, and implications for fault kinematics, derived from GPS data 1993–2009. Tectonophysics 597–598:34–49
Papazachos BC, Comninakis PE (1971) Geophysical and tectonic features of the Aegean arc. J Geophys Res 76:8517–8533
Papazachos BC, Papadimitriou EE, Kiratzi AA, Papazachos CB, Louvari E (1998) Fault plane solutions in the Aegean Sea and the surrounding area and their tectonic implication. Boll Geof Teor App 39:199–218
Papazachos BC, Karakostas VG, Papazachos CB, Scordilis EM (2000) The geometry of the Wadati-Benioff zone and lithospheric kinematics in the Hellenic arc. Tectonophysics 319:275–300
Pearce FD, Rondenay S, Sachpazi M, Charalampakis M, Royden LH (2012) Seismic investigation of the transition from continental to oceanic subduction along the western Hellenic subduction zone. J Geophys Res 117, B07306. doi:10.1029/2011JB009023
Ring U, Glodny J, Will T, Thomson S (2010) The Hellenic subduction system: high-pressure metamorphism, exhumation, normal faulting, and large-scale extension. Annu Rev Earth Planet Sci 38:45–76. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.050708.170910
Royden LH, Papanikolaou DJ (2011) Slab segmentation and late Cenozoic disruption of the Hellenic arc. Geochem Geophys Geosyst 12:Q03010. doi:10.1029/2010GC003280
Shaw B (2012) Active ectonics of the Hellenic subduction zone. Springer theses, vol 1. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-20804-1_1. © Springer, Berlin
Sipkin SA (1994) Rapid determination of global moment-tensor solutions. Geophys Res Lett 21:1667–1670
Sokos E, Zahradnik J (2008) ISOLA a Fortran code and a Matlab GUI to perform multiple-point source inversion of seismic data. Computers & Geosciences 34:967–977. doi: 10.1016/j.cageo.2007.07.005
Taymaz T, Jackson J, McKenzie D (1991) Active tectonics of the north and central Aegean Sea. Geophys J Int 106(2):433–490. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.1991.tb03906.x
Tranos MD, Lacombe O (2014) Late Cenozoic faulting in SW Bulgaria: fault geometry, kinematics and driving stress regimes. Implications for late orogenic processes in the Hellenic hinterland. J Geodyn 74:32–55
Tselentis G-A, Sokos E, Martakis N, Serpetsidaki A (2006) Seismicity and seismotectonics in Epirus, western Greece: results from a microearthquake survey. Bull Seismol Soc Am 96(5):1706–1717. doi:10.1785/0120020086
Udias A, Buforn E, de Gauna R (1989) Catalogue of focal mechanisms of European earthquakes. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, p 274, ISBN 84-600-721903
Vassilakis E, Royden L, Papanikolaou D (2011) Kinematic links between subduction along the Hellenic trench and extension in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece: a multidisciplinary analysis. Earth Planet Sci Lett 303:108–120
Wessel P, Smith WHF (1998) New improved version of the generic mapping tools released. Eos Trans AGU 79:579
Zoback ML (1992) First- and second-order patterns of stress in the lithosphere: the world stress map project. J Geophys Res 97:11703–11728
Zwick P, McCaffrey R, Abers G (1994) MT5 Program, IASPEI Software Library, 4
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this entry
Cite this entry
Kiratzi, A.A. (2014). Mechanisms of Earthquakes in Aegean. In: Beer, M., Kougioumtzoglou, I., Patelli, E., Au, IK. (eds) Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_299-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_299-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36197-5
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering