Features of earthquake epicenters and mineral deposits spatial relationship in the Urals

Abstract

Introduction. Recent Ural mountain belt is an N-S Paleozoic orogen rejuvenated in the NeogeneQuaternary period. It separates the East European plate located to the west of it and the West Siberian plate located to the east of it. The Uralian orogeny presumably occurred at the Paleozoic time as a result 36 "Izvestiya vysshikh uchebnykh zavedenii. Gornyi zhurnal". No. 4. 2021 ISSN 0536-1028 of these plates interaction, which affected the geologic structure of the region. In the modern era, low tectonic activity in the bowels of the Urals continues supported by rare tangible earthquakes with a magnitude from 2.0–3.0 to 5.0–5.5, 3.0 – 3.5 on the average, and the intensity in the epicenter from 3.0–4.0 to 5.0–6.0 on MSK-64 scale. Research aim is to analyze the spatial relationship of sensible earthquakes epicenters and mineral deposits in the Urals. Research methodology included estimating the position of Ural earthquakes epicenters and mineral deposits relative to the geologic and tectonic structures of Paleozoic time, recent epoch, and the modern era. Research results. Most earthquake epicenters in the Urals are concentrated within the western part of the Uralian Orogeny to the west of the Main Uralian Fault (MUF), while most mineral deposits, especially ore deposits, are concentrated within the eastern part of the Uralian orogeny to the east of MUF. In the axial zone of MUF, earthquake epicenters are close and sometimes coincide. Consequently, the processes of ore deposits and earthquake foci formation are of a similar nature