Fault Plane Solutions for the Recent Earthquakes in the Central Region of South Korea

Abstract

We analyzed fault plane solutions of the recent twenty-two earthquakes which occurred from 2004 to 2006 in the central part of the Korean Peninsula by using P- and S-wave polarities along with SH/P amplitude ratios. The fault plane solution shows that strike-slip fault is dominant here, especially for the events with local magnitude equal to or greater than 3.0. However, some events with local magnitude less than 3.0 show normal fault or strike-slip fault with normal components. In the case of strike-slip fault, its orientation is almost in the direction of NNE-SSW to NE-SW almost parallel to the general trend of faults, while the compressional axis of the stress field trends ENE to E-W. The result is almost consistent with the stress field in and around the Korean peninsula, as reported previously. We cannot give any appropriate explanations to the normal faulting events along the western offshore and inland areas whether it is related to the local stress changes or tectonically unidentified extensional structures. Thus, an extension of investigations is desirable to clarify the cause of such phenomena.