Mantle earthquakes in the Crimea-Black Sea-Caucasus regions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24028/gzh.v43i5.244138Keywords:
hypocenters, earthquakes, travel-time curves, seismic wavesAbstract
The question of the existence of foci of deep earthquakes in the region of the Crimea-Black Sea-Caucasus is extremely important from the point of view of the geodynamics of the region. Previously it was thought that only crustal earthquakes could occur in this region. Recently, results have been obtained that show that earthquakes with depths of at least 300 km occur in this region.
The article discusses the question of how plausible these results are and why they were not obtained earlier. Seven specific examples of the ambiguous determination of the depth of earthquake hypocenters in the Crimea-Black Sea-Caucasus region are considered. These examples clearly show that determining the coordinates of earthquake hypocenters using algorithms based on the Geiger method does not allow one to uniquely determine the depth of the hypocenters. The article gives an idea of the authors about the origin of mantle earthquakes in the Caucasian and Crimean-Black Sea regions. For the Caucasus region, mantle earthquakes are associated with two reasons: submersion of the lithospheric layer; in the asthenospheric layer, represented in the seismotomographic sections by a low-velocity anomaly, the nature of earthquake foci is associated with fluids formed during phase transition reactions. In the Crimean-Black Sea region, earthquake foci are located in the lithosphere layer, and the sliding of the lithosphere along the less viscous underlying layer of the upper mantle causes tectonic movements in the lithosphere accompanied by earthquakes. In addition, to determine the coordinates of the hypocenters of the Crimean and Caucasian earthquakes during routine processing, hodographs were used for depths not exceeding 35 km for the Crimea and 50 km for the Caucasus and 150 for the North Caucasus. This circumstance is the main reason why deep earthquakes could not be detected.
References
Adamia, S., Zakariadze, G., Chkhotua, T., Sadrad¬ze, N., Tsereteli, N., Chabukiani, A., & Gventsadze, A. (2011a). Geology of the Caucasus: a review. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 20, 489—544. https://dx.doi.org/ 10.3906/yer-1005-11.
Adamia, S., Alania, V., Chabukiani, A., Kutelia, Z., & Sadradze, N. (2011b). Great Caucasus (Cavcasioni): a long-lived north-Tethyan Back-arc basin. Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 20, 611—628. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.3906/yer-1005-12.
Aptikaeva, O. I., Kopnichev, Yu. F., & Shevchenko, V. I. (1994). The structure of the crust and upper mantle and tectogenesis of the territory of the Garm test site (Tajikistan). Physics of the Earth, (7-8), 53—64 (in Russian).
Blanco, M. J., & Spakman, W. (1993). The P-wave velocity structure of the mantle below the Iberian Peninsula: evidence for subducted lithosphere below southern Spain. Tectonophysics, 221(1), 13—34. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/0040-1951(93)90025-F.
Burmin, V. Y. (1992). A new approach to the determination of the parameters of hypocenters of nearby earthquakes. Volcanology and seismology, 3, 73—82 (in Russian).
Burmin, V. Y. (1986). Optimal placement of seismic stations for registration of near earthquakes. Izvestiya. Physicsof the Solid Earth, 22(5), 366—371 (in Russian).
Burmin, V. Yu., Shemeleva, I. B., Fleifel, L. D., Ave¬ti¬syan, A. M., & Kazaryan, K. S. (2019). Spati¬al distribution of crustal earthquakes in the Cau¬¬casus. Seismic Instruments, 55(1), 84—91 (in Russian).
Burmin, V. Yu., & Shumlianska, L. A. (2015). Modern seismicity of the Crimea. Questions of engineering seismology, 42(2), 5—16 (in Russian).
Burmin, V. Y., & Shumlyanskay, L. A. (2018a). On the Problem of Deep Earthquakes in Crimea—Black Sea Region. Seismic Instruments, 54(3), 362—371 (in Russian).
Burmin, V. Yu., & Shumlianska, L. A. (2018b). Spatial distribution of earthquake hypocenters in the Crimea — Black Sea region. Journal of Seismology, 22(2), 391—405. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-017-9712-y.
Gabsatarova, I. P. (2010). Deep earthquakes in the Tersko-Sunzha zone. Materials of the fifth international seismological school: «Modern methods of processing and interpretation of seismological data» (pp. 59—64). Vladikavkaz 4—8 October 2010. Obninsk: Publishing house GS RAS (in Russian).
Geiger, L. (1910). Herbsetimmung bei Erdbeben aus den Ankunfzeiten. Nachrichten der K. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 4, 331—349.
Geiger, L. (1912). Probability method for the determination of earthquake epicenters from the arrival time only. Bull. St. Louis Univ. 8, 60—71.
Gobarenko, V. S., Murovskaya, A. V., Yegorova, T. P., & Sheremet, E. E. (2016). Modern collision processes on the northern edge of the Black Sea. Geotectonics, (4), 68—87. https://doi.org/10.7868/S0016853X16040020 (in Russian).
Godzikovskaya, A. A. (1988). Mantle earthquakes of the Caucasus in the region of the Tersko-Sunzhensky trough. Physics of the Earth, (7), 102—106 (in Russian).
Godzikovskaya, A. A., & Reisner, G. I. (1989). Endogenous position of deep earthquakes in the Caucasus. Geotectonics, (3), 15—25 (in Russian).
Gonchar, V. V. (2003). Deformation of the crust of the transition zone Mountain Crimea — Black Sea depression: substantiation of the collision-extrusive setting. Geology and Exploration, (2), 18—25 (in Russian).
Gorbatikov, A. V., Rogozhin, E. A., Stepanova, M. Yu., Kharazova, Yu. V., Andreeva, N. V., Pe-rederin, F. V., Zaalishvili, V. B., Melkov, D. A., Dzeranov, V. V., Dzeboev, B. A., & Ga¬baraev, A. F. (2015) Peculiarities of deep struc¬ture and modern tectonics of the Greater Caucasus in the Ossetian sector according to a complex of geophysical data. Physics of the Earth, (1), 28—39 (in Russian).
Khain, V. (1975). Structure and main stages in the tectono-magmatic development of the Caucasus: an attempt at geodynamic interpretation. American Journal of Science, 275-A, 131—156.
Kondorskaya, N. V., & Aranovich, Z. I. (1981). Instruction on the procedure for the production and processing of observations at seismic stations of the ESSN USSR. Moscow: Nauka, 272 p. (in Russian).
Koronovsky, N. V. (1997). Main events in the tectonic evolution of the Caucasian segment of the Mediterranean fold belt. Moscow University Bulletin. Ser. geological, (4), 5—12 (in Russian).
Koulakov, I. (2009). LOTOS code for local earthquake tomographic inversion. Benchmarks for testing tomographic algorithms. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 99(1), 194—214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/ 0120080013.
Koulakov, I., Zabelina, I., Amanatashvili, I., & Meskhia, V. (2012). Nature of orogenesis and volcanism in the Caucasus region based on results of regional tomography. Solid Earth, 3(2), 327—337. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.5194/se-3-327-2012.
Kulchitsky, V. E., Safonova, G. P., & Svidlova, V. A. (1986). Hodographs of seismic waves of the CrimeanBlack Sea earthquakes. In Seismological Bulletin of the Western Territorial Zone of the ESSO USSR (Crimea-Carpathians) for 1983 (pp. 94—103). Kiev: Naukova Dumka (in Russian).
Lebedeva, Т. М. (1958). Earthquakes in the Caucasus with foci under the earth’s crust. Proceedings of the Geological Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, (17), 139—159 (in Russian).
Lukk, A. A., & Shevchenko, V. I. (2019) Seismicity, tectonics and GPS geodynamics of the Caucasus. Izvestiya. Physicsof the Solid Earth, (4), 99—123. https://doi.org/10.31857/S0002¬33372019499¬123.
McClusky, S., Balassanian, S., Barka, A., Demir, C., Ergintav, S., Georgiev, I., Gurkan, O., Hamburger, M., Hurst, K., Kahle, H., Kastens, K., Kekelidze, G., King, R., Kotzev, V., Lenk, O., Mahmoud, S., Mishin, S, Nadaria, M., Ouzounis, A., Paradissis, D., Peter, Y., Prilepin, M., Reilinger, R., Sanli, I., Seeger, H., Tealeb, A., Toksoz, M. N., & Veis, G. (2000). Global positioning system constraints on plate kinematics and dynamics in the eastern Mediterranean and Caucasus. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 105(B3), 5695—5719. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JB900351.
Miller, A. D., Foulger, G., Julian, B. R. (1998). Non-Double-Couple Earthquakes 2. Observations. Reviews of Geophysics, 36(4), 551—568. https://doi.org/10.1029/98RG00717.
Milanovsky, E. E. (1991). Geology of the USSR. Part 3. Moscow: Moscow State University Publishing House, 352 p. (in Russian).
Pustovitenko, B. G., Lushchik, A. V., Boborykina, O. V., Kulchitsky, V. E., Mozhzherina, A. V., Nasonkin, V. A., Pankov, F. N., Porechnova, E. I., Pustovitenko, A. A., Tikhonenkov, E. P., Shvyrlo, N. I. (2014). Monitoring of seismic processes in the Crimean-Black Sea region. Sevastopol: NPC «ECOSI Hydrophysics», 264 p. (in Russian).
Reilinger, R., McClusky, S., Vernant, Ph., Lawrence, Sh., Ergintav, S., Cakmak, R., Ozener, H., Kadirov, F., Guliev, I., Stepanyan, R., Nadariya, M., Hahubia, G., Mahmoud, S. K., ArRajehi, A., Paradissis, D., Al-Aydrus, A., Prilepin, M., Guseva, T., Evren, E., Dmitrotsa, A., Filikov, S. V., Gomez, F., Al-Ghazzi, R., & Karam, G. (2006). GPS constraints on continental deformation in the Africa—Arabia—Eurasia continental collision zone and implications for the dynamics of plate interactions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 111(B5), B05411. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/ 2005JB004051.
Rodkin, M. V., Nikitin, A. N., & Vasin, R. N. (2009). Seismotectonic effects of solid-phase transformations in geomaterials. Moscow: GEOS, 198 p. (in Russian).
Shevchenko, V. I., Lukk, A. A., & Guseva, T. V. (2017). Autonomous and plate tectonic geodynamics of some mobile belts and structures. Moscow: GEOS, 612 p. (in Russian).
Sollogub, V. B. (1986). Lithosphere of Ukraine. Kiev: Naukova Dumka, 184 p. (in Russian).
Trifonov, V. G., Ivanova, T. P., Bachmanov, D. M. (2012). Evolution of the Central part of the Alpine-Himalayan belt in the Late Cainozoic. Geology and geophysics, 53(3), 289—304 (in Russian).
Zabelina, I., Koulakov, I., Amanatashvili, I., Sami El Khrepy, & Nassir Al-Arif (2016). Seismic structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath Caucasus based on regional earthquake tomography. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 119, 87—99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jseaes.2016.01.010.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
