Seismic analysis of the Shamkir reservoir area through insights into the dynamics of the earthquake characteristics
Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Azerbaijan 119, H.Javid Ave., Baku, AZ1143
Summary
This paper is dedicated to analyze the Shamkir reservoir area applying different tools using earthquake catalogs as a source to build up a long-term seismicity rate. The study area surrounds the western part of the Middle Kur depression and the north-eastern part of the Lesser Caucasus. The area covering 4300 km2, is squeezed under seismic impact of mountainous zones such as the Greater Caucasus slope from the north and the northeastern part of the Lesser Caucasus from the south. The analysis was done estimating b-value, describing the relative distribution size of earthquake. Two catalogs of earthquakes were used to proceed the research: until 2015 with historical period (Nº1) and instrumental period between 1966-2018 (Nº2). b-value was estimated for each catalog defining Mc – magnitude of completeness, Mmax – maximum magnitude and bins – magnitude steps on the Gutenberg-Richter linear relationship. For the catalogs Nº1 and Nº2, b-value was found 0.64 and 0.52, respectively. Furthermore, this study investigates the intensity distribution on the characteristic of earthquake faults computed by means of empirical relationship between maximum magnitude the source (faults) can generate and the length of the source (faults). The intensity that could be used to describe earthquake shaking in the northern part of the site of interest was observed as VII (MSK-64) and in the southern part as VIII.
Keywords: the Shamkir water reservoir, the Middle Kur depression, b-value, Gutenberg-Richter law, intensity, ground motion, seismotectonic model
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