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Testing a scaling law for the earthquake recurrence time distributions

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Abstract

The earthquake recurrence time distribution in a given space-time window is being studied, using earthquake catalogues from different seismic regions (Southern California, Canada, and Central Asia). The quality of the available catalogues, taking into account the completeness of the magnitude, is examined. Based on the analysis of the catalogues, it was determined that the probability densities of the earthquake recurrence times can be described by a universal gamma distribution, in which the time is normalized with the mean rate of occurrence. The results show a deviation from the gamma distribution at the short interevent times, suggesting the existence of clustering. This holds from worldwide to local scales and for quite different tectonic environments.

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  1. Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski”, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

    Elisaveta Marekova

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  1. Elisaveta Marekova
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Marekova, E. Testing a scaling law for the earthquake recurrence time distributions. Acta Geophys. 60, 858–873 (2012). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11600-012-0007-y

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