Abstract
The Rhodope Mountain (South Bulgaria-Northeast Greece) is the largest mountain system in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It occupies a median position within the peninsula and thus is close enough to the main tectonic processes in this part of the Eastern Mediterranean (transcontinental collision between the African continental macro plate and Eurasian continental macro plate). This is an important prerequisite for the development of endogenous geodynamic processes with risky nature (earthquakes).The paper presents the results of the study of fractal geometry of the seismic clusters in the Rhodope Mountain. A combined seismic catalog (USGS and IRIS), composed of 640 seismic events (all values) occurring within the mountain massif for the 1965-2016 statistical period, was used in the analysis. Based on the methodology adopted for the calculation of surface fractals, the areas of the individual earthquake clusters were measured and their fractal geometry has been checked. The obtained results confirm the self-organizing nature of the seismic processes operating in the Rhodope region.
Highlights
IntroductionThe contemporary seismic processes in the Rhodope Mountain region is a result from the Plate tectonics processes in connection to the transcontinental collision between the continental lands of Gondwana (African continental macro plate) and Neo Europe (southern margin of the Eurasian continental macro plate) (Tzankov, Iliev, [1])
The Rhodope Mountain occupies a median position within the Balkan Peninsula and its close enough to the main tectonic processes in the Aegean region within Eastern Mediterranean
The present study examines the seismic clusters in the Rhodope Mountain as surface objects and applies the abovementioned methodology to them
Summary
The contemporary seismic processes in the Rhodope Mountain region is a result from the Plate tectonics processes in connection to the transcontinental collision between the continental lands of Gondwana (African continental macro plate) and Neo Europe (southern margin of the Eurasian continental macro plate) (Tzankov, Iliev, [1]). The Rhodope Mountain builds up its northern front. This determines the moderate seismic hazard in the region. The seismic hazard for the lands of the Rhodope Mountain has average values. For the period 1965-2016, the share of micro earthquakes (M≤3) in the studied region amounted to 73.5% (Figure 1). Earthquakes with M≥4 are only 1.5% of the total, with the strongest seismic event having a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale. The average magnitude for the study period is 2.5 on the Richter scale
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