H. Amiranlou; M. Pourkermani; R. Dabiri; M. Qoreshi; S. Bouzari
Abstract
The occurrence of historical and instrumental earthquakes near the North Tabriz Fault in NW Iran is an evidence for seismic activity of this fault, which recorded historical earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 7. In this study, existing experimental relations, historical seismicity, and the fault ...
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The occurrence of historical and instrumental earthquakes near the North Tabriz Fault in NW Iran is an evidence for seismic activity of this fault, which recorded historical earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 7. In this study, existing experimental relations, historical seismicity, and the fault geometry were used to define a Mw 7.7 earthquake scenario. The stochastic finite fault modeling based on a dynamic corner frequency shows a good agreement between maximum estimated acceleration and common attenuation patterns. The derived shake map illustrates that the stongest ground motion is observed in the NW, N and NE of the tabriz city along a zone parallel to the fault. In addition, the maximum acceleration derived from simulation is almost equal to that computed from attenuation patterns.
M Naghavi; H Rahimi; A Moradi
Abstract
The energy of a seismic wave decays while passing through a “real” medium such as the earth which is not completely elastic. Scattering and attenuation of high-frequency seismic waves are substantial parameters to quantify and to physically characterize the earth medium and from which useful ...
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The energy of a seismic wave decays while passing through a “real” medium such as the earth which is not completely elastic. Scattering and attenuation of high-frequency seismic waves are substantial parameters to quantify and to physically characterize the earth medium and from which useful information on medium properties can be inferred. The coda waves in seismograms are one of the most prominent observations supporting the existence random heterogeneities in the earth. Determination of source parameters must take into account the proper attenuation characteristic of the wave path. Moreover, it is essential for seismic risk studies and seismic hazard assessment, and consequently for seismic risk mitigation and engineering seismology. Many researchers used coda waves from small earthquakes to determine local attenuation properties of the crust.
The S-coda has a common amplitude decay curve for lapse time greater than the twice the S-wave travel time. The shape of this decay curve is quantified by using a parameter knows coda attenuation Qc-1. The time domain coda decay method of a single back scattering model is employed to estimate frequency dependence of the quality factor of coda waves modeled using, where is the coda quality factor at frequency of 1 Hz and is the frequency parameter.
The purpose of this study is to determine the coda quality factors from recorded events at 17 stations in the NW of Iranian plateau, using the single backscattering method (Aki and Chouet 1975). Scattering models have been developed in order to infer physical properties of the lithosphere from observations of seismic codas.
In this study, the coda quality factors of seismic waves have been estimated by using local earthquakes with recorded in NW of Iranian plateau. This region includes major faults such North Tabriz Fault and two volcanoes (Sahand and Sabalan) and many thermal units.
The data used in this study consists more than 13000 earthquakes and 26724 high-quality waveform recorded by Iranian National Seismic Network (INSN) and Iranian Seismological Center (IRSC) stations to estimate lateral variations of coda wave quality factor. By using these data set, Qc and its frequency dependency were estimated, in NW of Iranian plateau.
We also investigated lateral and depth variation of Qc in this region. The average frequency relations for NW of Iranian plateau and around North Tabriz Fault (NTF) are , and, respectively. These values show this region is very active region tectonically and seismically. To investigate the attenuation variation with depth, Qc value was calculated for 18 lapse-times (5, 10, 15, 90s) for two data sets comprising epicentral distance range R < 100 km (data set 1) and 100 < R < 200 km (data set 2). As the quality factor is related to the heat flow, as the mechanisms show, it decrease with increasing temperature, because active region greater absorption than stable region. We should note that in this study the results, are taken as mean values of each propagation-path. It is observed that generally with increasing coda wave lapse-time, Q0 (quality factor at 1 Hz) and n (frequency dependence factor) values show increasing and decreasing trend, respectively.
Determinations of and n in the attenuation relationships for different tectonic regions, have been the focus of many studies. Both these parameters appear to represent the level of tectonic activity of a seismic region. According to the results, we observed well correlation between reported lithosphere thickness and trends of and n in longer lapse-times (larger depths). The lateral variation of correlates well with the large scale tectonic units of the studied area. According to the results obtained in this study NTF, Sahand volcano and its surrounding regions are characterized by relatively low and a high gradient of can be observed in the region. Furthermore NW Iran is a region of significant geothermal activity and anomalously high crustal temperatures. These geothermal activities result in smaller values for quality factor and higher attenuation of seismic waves. Such of the and n variations can be attributed to variability in the depth and severity of the crustal velocity gradient.
F Mesbahi; M Mohajjel; M Moazzen; L Namaki
Abstract
In the east of Tabriz city, south of Eskandar village, Upper Cretaceous rock units are exposed. The structures in these rock units include meso-scale folds inclined towards NNE, and a thrust system which has transported Upper Cretaceous units in three thrust sheets towards NW. This thrust system has ...
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In the east of Tabriz city, south of Eskandar village, Upper Cretaceous rock units are exposed. The structures in these rock units include meso-scale folds inclined towards NNE, and a thrust system which has transported Upper Cretaceous units in three thrust sheets towards NW. This thrust system has cut the NNE-verging folds in Upper Cretaceous units. These deformed rock units are unconformably overlain by the Miocene beds. The vergence of folds in the Miocene units is toward SSW. There are SW-verging thrust faults and right-lateral strike-slip faults parallel to the North Tabriz fault in the study area. We conclude that the N-verging structures in Upper Cretaceous rock units has been formed in the time interval between Upper Cretaceous and Miocene and were cut by the North Tabriz fault. The structural characteristics of the Upper Cretaceous rocks as the remnants of the Upper Cretaceous oceanic crust in the Neotethyan marginal basin indicate that the probable subduction direction of this basin was towards south.
A. Fathian Baneh; S. Solaymani Azad; H. Nazari; M. Ghorashi; M. Talebian
Abstract
Tabriz city, the most highly population city of NW Iran, is located close to the North Tabriz Fault (NTF). This 150 km right-lateral strike-slip fault consists of two major fault segments arranged in right-stepping pattern. A pull-apart basin has been formed within the overlap zone of these fault segments ...
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Tabriz city, the most highly population city of NW Iran, is located close to the North Tabriz Fault (NTF). This 150 km right-lateral strike-slip fault consists of two major fault segments arranged in right-stepping pattern. A pull-apart basin has been formed within the overlap zone of these fault segments due to the recent right-lateral motion. The basin margins mark by fault branches and fault splays, which connect these two major segments of NTF. High level historical earthquakes occurrence shows seismic activity of NTF. Among which, NTF is responsible of at least two destructive earthquakes occurred in 1721 A.D. (Ms 7.3) and 1780 A.D. (Ms 7.4). This fault has not experienced any strong seismic events since 1780 A.D. Within past decades, it has been tried to recognize large number of old earthquakes utilizing paleoseismological investigation. Previous paleoseismological studies have been focused on the NW and SE segments of the fault. In the present study, to complete the data sets necessary to assess the seismic hazard related to Tabriz city, we focus on overlap zone of the two main fault segments. Using aerial photos, satellite images and field investigations, a potential site has been recognized within the zone (6 km NW of Tabriz City) to perform paleoseismological studies. Trench opened perpendicular to fault scarp strike and focused paleoseismological investigations in that, show evidences of at least two macroseismic events.
H. Hamzehloo; E. Farzanegan; H. Mirzaei
Abstract
The December 20, 2007 earthquake has occurred three months after the September 16, 2007 earthquake near the Tabriz city in East Azarbaijan province. We have used SH- waves accelerographs data and Brune model to estimate the causative fault plane parameters. The strike, dip and rake have been ...
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The December 20, 2007 earthquake has occurred three months after the September 16, 2007 earthquake near the Tabriz city in East Azarbaijan province. We have used SH- waves accelerographs data and Brune model to estimate the causative fault plane parameters. The strike, dip and rake have been estimated as 310o, 85o and 170o, respectively. The focal mechanism shows right- lateral strike slip, which is consistent with the North Tabriz Fault. This is the first focal mechanis for the North Tabriz fault based on the strong ground motion data.
A. S. Moradi; M. Tatar; D. Hatzfeld; A. Paul
Abstract
The North Tabriz Fault (NTF) is an active fault which poses a high seismic hazard to the areas of NW Iran, especially the city of Tabriz with a population of 1.6 million. In order to determine the geometry and the kinematics of this fault system, a local dense seismological network including forthy 3-component ...
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The North Tabriz Fault (NTF) is an active fault which poses a high seismic hazard to the areas of NW Iran, especially the city of Tabriz with a population of 1.6 million. In order to determine the geometry and the kinematics of this fault system, a local dense seismological network including forthy 3-component stations was installed around the central segment of Tabriz Fault which crosses the northern part of the city of Tabriz. This network operated for 3 months. Using microearthquakes recorded by our temporary network in addition of more than 6 years of local events recorded by 8 permanent stations of Tabriz telemetry network, the 1-D crustal velocity of the region was determined. Our results indicates that the upper crust consists of a ~6 km thick sedimentary layer (VP = 5.23 km s-1) overlying a ~18 km thick upper crystalline crust (VP = 5.85 km s-1). We estimate a velocity of 6.54 km s-1 for the lower crystalline crust, but the limited focal depths of our local events did not allow determining the thickness of this layer. The well-located earthquakes indicate the seismic activity along the Tabriz fault. Precise examination of the focal depths on different cross sections indicates that the western and central segment of this fault system dip northeast ward while the eastern part shows almost southwest dipping plane. Calculated focal mechanism all indicate the right-lateral strike-slip motion of the Tabriz Fault. The most reliable fault plane solutions are consistent with cross sections showing evidence of extension in Eastern part comparing to compression observed in Western segment. Our focal mechanisms and geodetic studies using GPS measurements indicate that the North Tabriz Fault helps to northeast motion of trapped crust in this area.
