Journal of the Earth and Space Physics

Journal of the Earth and Space Physics

Short period fluctuations of seismicity around Tehran inferred from "a" and "b" values

Author
Instructor, Earth Physics Department, Institute of Geophysics, University of Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Earthquake size distribution follows a power law whose slope is known as the b-value and its constant is named as the a-value. The b-value fluctuations have been theoretically studied in laboratories and practically investigated in several seismotectonics zones e.g. volcanic areas, continental rifts and mines which also present different stress regimes. The b-value can explain the relative density of large and small events which has found many applications in seismic hazard studies, spatio-temporal prediction and earthquake physics. On the other hand the a-value is concerned with regional seismicity level, so studying these parameters can be of great help in an area just like Tehran where there is a high concentration of people and social-economical activities. To begin this study we extracted the events from the Tehran Digital Seismic Network database. Processing followed by removing time-dependent quakes under the examination of the Poissionian assumption and later by computing the magnitude of completeness using the goodness of fit method. Then a-value and b-value changes were mapped in time and space. The b-value temporal changes are not significant during the period of data which may be under the control of local effects but reduction by depth exists. Both values show a change of around 51.5E. Meanwhile the b-value map shows a reduction toward regions with high density of thrust and strike-slip faults.
Keywords