Evidence for variations of mechanical properties in the Friuli seismic area

Abstract

Tidal strains of the earth were extracted from three horizontal strainmeter records (1979–1986) in the Friuli seismic area by the “filter method”. The areal strain factor, ignoring the tidal loading effects, shows that its time variation is significant: their amplitudes in 1986 are about 50% of those in 1979. The modifications of mechanical properties, estimated in terms of the local shear and bulk modulus variations, were obtained considering the envelope of the tidal strain signals. The seismic wave velocity determined by the simultaneous inversion of the arrival time data of the local seismometric network displayed comparable changes. A major change both in the seismic velocities and the elastic parameters started in March 1982, which was about 11 months before an earthquake of magnitude 4.1, the largest event from 1979 to 1986, which occurred within the seismic network on Feb. 10, 1983.