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A Non-Extensive Statistical Physics View in the Spatiotemporal Properties of the 2003 (Mw6.2) Lefkada, Ionian Island Greece, Aftershock Sequence

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Abstract

Investigation of the spatiotemporal properties of the 2003 Lefkada seismic sequence is performed through non-extensive statistical physics. Information on highly accurate aftershock source parameters became feasible from the recordings of a portable digital seismological network that was installed and operated in the study area, during the evolution of the seismic sequence. Thus, the spatiotemporal distribution of aftershocks onto the main and neighboring fault segments was investigated in detail, enabling the recognition of four distinctive seismicity clusters separated by less active patches. The aftershock spatiotemporal properties are studied here, using the ideas of non-extensive statistical physics (NESP). The cumulative distribution functions of the inter-event times and the inter-event distances are presented using the data set in each seismicity cluster, and the analysis results in values for the statistical thermodynamic q T and q D parameters for each cluster, where q T varies from 1.16 to 1.47 and q D from 0.42 to 0.77 for the inter-event times and distances distributions, respectively. These values confirm the complexity and non-additivity of the spatiotemporal evolution of seismicity, and the applicability of the NESP approach in investigating aftershocks sequence. The temporal pattern is discussed using the closely connected to NESP approach of superstatistics, which is based on a superposition of ordinary local equilibrium statistical mechanics. The result indicates that the temporal evolution of the Lefkada aftershock sequence in clusters A, B and C is governed by very low number of degrees of freedom, while D is a less organized seismicity structure with a much higher number of degrees of freedom.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the THALES Program of the Ministry of Education of Greece and the European Union in the framework of the project entitled “Integrated understanding of Seismicity, using innovative Methodologies of Fracture mechanics along with Earthquake and non extensive statistical physics—Application to the geodynamic system of the Hellenic Arc. SEISMO FEAR HELLARC”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Geophysics and Seismology, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, 73133, Chania, Crete, Greece

    F. Vallianatos

  2. Geophysics Department, University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece

    V. Karakostas & E. Papadimitriou

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  1. F. Vallianatos
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  2. V. Karakostas
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  3. E. Papadimitriou
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Correspondence to F. Vallianatos.

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Vallianatos, F., Karakostas, V. & Papadimitriou, E. A Non-Extensive Statistical Physics View in the Spatiotemporal Properties of the 2003 (Mw6.2) Lefkada, Ionian Island Greece, Aftershock Sequence. Pure Appl. Geophys. 171, 1343–1354 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-013-0706-6

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