Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand the behavior of earthquakes with a specific magnitude (M) in the Sumatra territory based on their duration of time and the distance between two earthquakes that happen consecutively. We explore 1,641 data sets of duration and distances with a specific magnitude that were generated from 458 earthquakes with M ≥ 5.0 during 2009-2017. This study revealed that the occurrence of the later (second) earthquake at any location (referred to in this paper as a recurring earthquake) with a bigger or equal magnitude as the previous one depends on duration especially for magnitude under 5.8. The comparison analyses showed that the recurring earthquake events tended to have similar average distances. However, the length of time between two earthquakes is different for lower magnitudes (under 6.0), whereas between an earthquake and a recurring earthquake with a magnitude above 6.0, the length of time tends to be similar.
Highlights
Indonesia, a country located in between two continents, Asia and Australia, is squeezed by four large tectonic plates of the Earth: Indies, Australia, Eurasian, and Pacific plates
During 9 years (2009 - 2017), there were 46,335 earthquakes that occurred in Indonesia with a magnitude of between 1.5 and 7.8 and with a depth of hypocenters of between 1 to 750 meters. 7,970 (17.20%) of those earthquakes happened in the Sumatra territory between the latitudes of -9.66 to 5.57, and longitudes of 94.08 to 105.54
The earthquake behavior in the Sumatra territory was assessed based on the duration and distance between an earthquake and the earthquake event which had a magnitude greater than or equal to the previous one
Summary
A country located in between two continents, Asia and Australia, is squeezed by four large tectonic plates of the Earth: Indies, Australia, Eurasian, and Pacific plates. The Indies-Australian plate moves to the north, pounding the Eurasian plate, moving at a speed of 50-70 mm/year [1]. The pounding zones between these two plates are along the sea trench of Sumatra, Java, Bali, and Lombok islands. The movement of collisions and the shifting of these large plates respond mechanically. These plate movements have caused many earthquakes to occur in the Indonesia archipelago, one of them in the fault of the Sumatra territory. According to NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center, at least 235 tsunamis have occurred in the last four centuries and Indonesia is one of the countries that is most exposed to earthquakes in the world [2]
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