dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaComplex networks of earthquakes and aftershocks
| Authors | Marco Baiesi, Maya Paczuski |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0408018 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408018 |
| DOI | 10.5194/npg-12-1-2005 |
| Journal | Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (2005) 12: 1 - 11 |
Abstract
We invoke a metric to quantify the correlation between any two earthquakes. This provides a simple and straightforward alternative to using space-time windows to detect aftershock sequences and obviates the need to distinguish main shocks from aftershocks. Directed networks of earthquakes are constructed by placing a link, directed from the past to the future, between pairs of events that are strongly correlated. Each link has a weight giving the relative strength of correlation such that the sum over the incoming links to any node equals unity for aftershocks, or zero if the event had no correlated predecessors. A correlation threshold is set to drastically reduce the size of the data set without losing significant information. Events can be aftershocks of many previous events, and also generate many aftershocks. The probability distribution for the number of incoming and outgoing links are both scale free, and the networks are highly clustered. The Omori law holds for aftershock rates up to a decorrelation time that scales with the magnitude, $m$, of the initiating shock as $t_{\rm cutoff} \sim 10^{\beta m}$ with $\beta \simeq 3/4$. Another scaling law relates distances between earthquakes and their aftershocks to the magnitude of the initiating shock. Our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis of finite aftershock zones. We also find evidence that seismicity is dominantly triggered by small earthquakes. Our approach, using concepts from the modern theory of complex networks, together with a metric to estimate correlations, opens up new avenues of research, as well as new tools to understand seismicity.
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"abstract": "We invoke a metric to quantify the correlation between any two earthquakes.\nThis provides a simple and straightforward alternative to using space-time\nwindows to detect aftershock sequences and obviates the need to distinguish\nmain shocks from aftershocks. Directed networks of earthquakes are constructed\nby placing a link, directed from the past to the future, between pairs of\nevents that are strongly correlated. Each link has a weight giving the relative\nstrength of correlation such that the sum over the incoming links to any node\nequals unity for aftershocks, or zero if the event had no correlated\npredecessors. A correlation threshold is set to drastically reduce the size of\nthe data set without losing significant information. Events can be aftershocks\nof many previous events, and also generate many aftershocks. The probability\ndistribution for the number of incoming and outgoing links are both scale free,\nand the networks are highly clustered. The Omori law holds for aftershock rates\nup to a decorrelation time that scales with the magnitude, $m$, of the\ninitiating shock as $t_{\\rm cutoff} \\sim 10^{\\beta m}$ with $\\beta \\simeq 3/4$.\nAnother scaling law relates distances between earthquakes and their aftershocks\nto the magnitude of the initiating shock. Our results are inconsistent with the\nhypothesis of finite aftershock zones. We also find evidence that seismicity is\ndominantly triggered by small earthquakes. Our approach, using concepts from\nthe modern theory of complex networks, together with a metric to estimate\ncorrelations, opens up new avenues of research, as well as new tools to\nunderstand seismicity.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0408018",
"authors": [
"Marco Baiesi",
"Maya Paczuski"
],
"categories": [
"physics.geo-ph",
"cond-mat.stat-mech"
],
"doi": "10.5194/npg-12-1-2005",
"journal_ref": "Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (2005) 12: 1 - 11",
"title": "Complex networks of earthquakes and aftershocks",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0408018"
},
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