SEISMICITY of the NORTHERN CAUCASUS in 2016–2017

Abstract

Seismic monitoring in the region was produced by a seismic network of 58 stations in 2016 and 60 stations in 2017. All stations were digitally equipped. The seismic network provided representative registration of earthquakes with KR≥7.0 in most of the region, in the central (including the Greater Sochi region) and eastern parts of the region – with KR≥6.0, and in some local zones with KR≥5.5. In general, 5594 earthquakes have been recorded in the region and its environs. 66 earthquakes were felt in the Caucasus settlements, 24 of them occurred in the North Caucasus region. The maximum shaking intensity, Imax=6 by the MSK-64 scale, was noted at the March 6, 2017 earthquake with KR=10.9 occurred in the territory of the Chechen Republic. August 7, 2016 earthquake in the Azov Sea, not far from Mariupol, was felt up to I=5. The strongest and most perceptible earthquakes were registered in Dagestan (in the tectonic regions of the Greater Caucasus and the Dagestan wedge). In accordance with the seismicity level scale "SOUS-09", seismicity of the North Caucasus in 2016–2017 is set as a "background average" for the observation period from 1962 to 2017.