Changes in earthquake energy class as a factor affecting the parameters of the recurrence relation: The Baikal region

Abstract

The numerical modeling of actually observed events contained in the Baikal earthquake catalog allowed the production of synthetic catalogs. These catalogs reflect real situations that can give rise to heterogeneities in earthquake catalogs acquired by seismological monitoring. For each of the resulting 65 catalogs we calculated the slope γ and seismic activity (so-called in Russian; it is the seismicity rate or the constant term in the frequency-size relation) A10 in the recurrence relation. We also investigated the effects of changes in estimates of earthquake energy class on the parameters of the recurrence relation. It was shown that the slope γ is not very sensitive, but that the seismic activity A10 is sensitive, to changes in earthquake energy class and can be used to test an earthquake catalog for heterogeneity. Formulas were derived to relate the parameters of recurrence relations and the scaling factors of two energy scales, which can yield recurrence parameters for one of the scales, provided we know the ratio of the respective scaling factors and the recurrence parameters based on the other scale.