Template matching applied to the seismicity of the Albstadt Shear Zone, SW Germany

Abstract

<p>The Swabian Alb near the town of Albstadt, SW Germany, is one of the seismically most active regions in Central Europe. Since the beginning of the twentieth century continuous seismic activity is observed. At least three earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 5 occurred, causing major damages on the buildings in the closer vicinity. Despite of the size of these earthquakes no rupture structures are visible on the Earth’s surface. Earthquake locations are concentrated along a N-S striking zone, the so-called Albstadt Shear Zone (ASZ), at focal depths of about 1 km to 18 km. The central part of this seismogenic zone has an extension of approximately 20 km to 30 km and is characterized by dominantly sinistral strike-slip focal mechanisms. <br><br>The State Earthquake Service of Baden-Württemberg (LED) operates a dense seismic network of 6 high-gain and 9 strong-motion stations in the area of the ASZ. In 2015 and in 2018, 9 temporary high-gain stations were deployed nearby the center structure of ASZ within the framework of AlpArray Project and StressTransfer Network. This densified seismic network gives a unique opportunity to detect and locate the seismically active structures of the ASZ in more detail.</p><p>Therefore, a template matching algorithm is applied for microseismic earthquake detections. Results are compared with the existing earthquake catalog of the LED and statistics of the outcome are presented.</p>