Some characteristics of aftershock sequences of major earthquakes from 1994 to 2002 in the Kivu province, Western Rift Valley of Africa

Abstract

The temporal and spatial distribution of the aftershock sequences of the Ruwenzori (February 5, 1994, Mb (5.8)), Masisi (April 29, 1995, Mb (5.1)) and Kalehe (October 24, 2002, Mb (5.9)) earthquakes have been studied. It has been found that most of the aftershocks of the Ruwenzori earthquake are located on the eastern flank of the main escarpment and those of the Masisi earthquake are confined to the northwest of Lake Kivu margin where earthquake occurrence of swarm-type was normally observed. The Kalehe earthquake occurred in the central part of Lake Kivu and it was the largest earthquake observed in the Lake Kivu basin since 1900. The rate of decrease in aftershock activity with the time has shown that the p-value for Ruwenzori and Masisi earthquake equals 0.6, somehow smaller than that found in other geotectonic zones where p is close to 1. The p-value of the Kalehe earthquake is a normal value equal to 1. From an area delimited by spatial distribution of aftershocks, the linear dimension of the fault was estimated. The fault area determined in this study correlates well with those of previous studies which occurred in the Western Rift Valley of Africa including the Tanganyika and Upemba Rift.