IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/phsmap/v392y2013i3p485-496.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Strength statistics and the distribution of earthquake interevent times

Author

Listed:
  • Hristopulos, Dionissios T.
  • Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki

Abstract

The Weibull distribution is often used to model the earthquake interevent times distribution (ITD). We propose a link between the earthquake ITD on single faults with the Earth’s crustal shear strength distribution by means of a phenomenological stick–slip model. For single faults or fault systems with homogeneous strength statistics and power-law stress accumulation we obtain the Weibull ITD. We prove that the moduli of the interevent times and crustal shear strength are linearly related, while the time scale is an algebraic function of the scale of crustal shear strength. We also show that logarithmic stress accumulation leads to the log-Weibull ITD. We investigate deviations of the ITD tails from the Weibull model due to sampling bias, magnitude cutoff thresholds, and non-homogeneous strength parameters. Assuming the Gutenberg–Richter law and independence of the Weibull modulus on the magnitude threshold, we deduce that the interevent time scale drops exponentially with the magnitude threshold. We demonstrate that a microearthquake sequence from the island of Crete and a seismic sequence from Southern California conform reasonably well to the Weibull model.

Suggested Citation

  • Hristopulos, Dionissios T. & Mouslopoulou, Vasiliki, 2013. "Strength statistics and the distribution of earthquake interevent times," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(3), pages 485-496.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:392:y:2013:i:3:p:485-496
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2012.09.011
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S037843711200845X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only. Journal offers the option of making the article available online on Science direct for a fee of $3,000
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.physa.2012.09.011?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hasumi, Tomohiro & Akimoto, Takuma & Aizawa, Yoji, 2009. "The Weibull–log Weibull distribution for interoccurrence times of earthquakes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(4), pages 491-498.
    2. Eliazar, Iddo & Klafter, Joseph, 2006. "Growth-collapse and decay-surge evolutions, and geometric Langevin equations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 367(C), pages 106-128.
    3. Hasumi, Tomohiro & Akimoto, Takuma & Aizawa, Yoji, 2009. "The Weibull–log Weibull transition of the interoccurrence time statistics in the two-dimensional Burridge–Knopoff Earthquake model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(4), pages 483-490.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. Wang, 2016. "Reviews of seismicity around Taiwan: Weibull distribution," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1651-1668, February.
    2. Huillet, Thierry E., 2011. "On a Markov chain model for population growth subject to rare catastrophic events," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(23), pages 4073-4086.
    3. Sumair, Muhammad & Aized, Tauseef & Aslam Bhutta, Muhammad Mahmood & Siddiqui, Farrukh Arsalan & Tehreem, Layba & Chaudhry, Abduallah, 2022. "Method of Four Moments Mixture-A new approach for parametric estimation of Weibull Probability Distribution for wind potential estimation applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 291-304.
    4. Hasumi, Tomohiro & Akimoto, Takuma & Aizawa, Yoji, 2009. "The Weibull–log Weibull transition of the interoccurrence time statistics in the two-dimensional Burridge–Knopoff Earthquake model," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(4), pages 483-490.
    5. Ahmed Zohair Djeddi & Ahmed Hafaifa & Abdellah Kouzou & Salam Abudura, 2017. "Exploration of reliability algorithms using modified Weibull distribution: application on gas turbine," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 8(2), pages 1885-1894, November.
    6. J. P. Wang, 2016. "Reviews of seismicity around Taiwan: Weibull distribution," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 80(3), pages 1651-1668, February.
    7. Hasumi, Tomohiro & Akimoto, Takuma & Aizawa, Yoji, 2009. "The Weibull–log Weibull distribution for interoccurrence times of earthquakes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 388(4), pages 491-498.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:392:y:2013:i:3:p:485-496. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/physica-a-statistical-mechpplications/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.