Abstract
In the last 300 years the window of time for two consecutive large and destructive intermediate-depth earthquakes in Vrancea (Romania) was between 36 and 102 years. An explanation for the larger window of time might be a release of stress produced by a slow-slip-event (SSE). In a vertical sinking slab slightly attached from the Earth’s crust both large earthquakes and SSE are expected to generate a downward movement in the vertical displacements of GPS data. The building-up of stress in the asperity preventing a steady aseismic sinking was expected to be transmitted upwards to faults in the crust and recorded based on a magnetotelluric phase splitting effect. A large stress build-up has been suggested around a fault in the years 2012–2013, but no large earthquake was recorded. We supposed a large SSE in the year 2013–2014 with a duration of 13 months released the accumulated stress. GPS stations in the epicentral region of Vrancea seismic active region supported our suggestion by showing a downward displacement of vertical data obtained for the year 2014. However, the vertical displacements are small and other possible causes than SSE need to be taken into account.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 806 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Romanian Journal of Physics |
Volume | 67 |
Issue number | 3-4 |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-careOtherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.
Keywords
- biolocation
- geodynamics
- seismic
- slow slip event
- stress