Source parameters and stress release of seismic sequences occurred in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia

Abstract

The source parameters of the major events of a swarm and of two seismic sequences, occurred in the Friuli area (Northeastern Italy) and in Western Slovenia, were estimated. The Claut swarm (C96) occurred since the end of January to June 1996, with a MD 4.3 major shock and it appears composed of three sub-sequences. The two sequences are the Kobarid sequence (K98) started on April 12, 1998 with a MD 5.6 mainshock and the M.te Sernio (S02) sequence caused by the February 14, 2002 earthquake (MD = 4.9). Acceleration and velocity data recorded by the local seismic network of the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimenale (OGS) and corrected for attenuation, were employed to estimate seismic moments and radiated energies. Source dimensions were inferred from the computed corner frequencies and the stress release was estimated from the Brune stress drop, the apparent stress and the RMS stress drop. On the whole, seismic moments range from 1.7×1012 to 1.1×1017 Nm, and radiated energies are in the range 106–1013 J. Brune stress drops are scattered and do not show any evidence of a self-similarity breakdown for sources down to 130m radius. The radiated seismic energy scales as a function of seismic moment, with a slope of the scaling relation that decreases for increasing seismic moments. The mechanism of stress release was analyzed by computing the ε parameter of Zuniga [Zuniga, R., 1993. Frictional overshoot and partial stress drop. Which one? Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 83, 939–944]. The K98 and S02 sequences are characterized by a wide range of the ε parameter with stress drop mechanism varying from partial locking to overshoot cases. The ε values of the C96 swarm are more homogeneous and close to the Orowan’s condition. The radiated seismic energy and the ratio of stress drop between mainshock and aftershocks appear different among the analyzed cases.We therefore investigated the relationship between the stress parameters of the main shock and the energy radiated by the aftershock sequences. For this purpose, we also estimated the source parameters of two other sequences occurred in the area, with mainshocks of MD 4.1 and 5.1, respectively. We found a positive correlation between the Brune stress drop of the mainshock and the ratio between the radiated energy of the mainshock and the summation of the energies radiated by the aftershocks.