Vrancea intermediate-depth focal mechanism catalog: a useful instrument for local and regional stress field estimation

Abstract

The Vrancea seismic zone, located in the bend region of the South-Eastern Carpathians, is a unique area with both crustal and intermediate-depth seismic activity and is known as one of the most active seismic area in Europe. Moderate crustal seismicity is recorded all over the Carpathian region, but the far more intense activity occurs in a small subcrustal seismogenic volume beneath the SE‐bend of the Carpathian arc with about 20 × 50 km lateral and 110 km vertical extent (70–180 km depth). A unique slab geometry, likely preserved until the present, causes stress localization due to the slab bending and subsequent stress release resulting in large mantle earthquakes in the region. The main focus of this study is to determine the focal mechanisms for events with a magnitude larger than 2.7, between 2005 and 2020 and evaluate the current stress field along the Vrancea subcrustal region, from the derived fault plane solutions. The main style of faulting for Vrancea subcrustal events presents a predominant reverse one, with two main earthquakes categories: the first one with the nodal planes, oriented NE–SW parallel with the Carpathian Arc and the second one with the nodal planes, oriented NW–SE perpendicular on the Carpathian Arc. The results of stress inversion indicate a dominant thrust faulting style, with an average stress regime index of 2.87. The stress pattern shows similar partitioning with vertical extension in the slab and no preferred orientation in the overlying crust, showing a transition regime from the extensional regime in the Moesian Platform to the compressional regime in the Vrancea subcrustal zone.