Unit:
Department of Geology and GeoenvirommentLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Efstathiou Angeliki
Dissertation committee:
Ανδρέας Τζάνης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος, ΕΚΠΑ
Νικόλαος Βούλγαρης, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος, ΕΚΠΑ
Φίλιππος Βαλλιανάτος, Καθηγητής, Τμ. Φυσ.Πόρων και Περ/ντος, ΤΕΙ Κρήτης
Ελευθερία Παπαδημητρίου, Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας, ΑΠΘ
Παναγιώτης Παπαδημητρίου, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Γεωλογίας και Γεωπεριβάλλοντος, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεώργιος Δρακάτος, Διευθυντής Ερευνών, Γεωδυναμικό Ινστιτούτο, ΕΑΑ
Γεράσιμος Παπαδόπουλος, Διευθυντής Ερευνών, Γεωδυναμικό Ινστιτούτο, ΕΑΑ
Original Title:
Appraisal of the self-organization and evolutionary dynamics of seismicity based on (non-extensive) statistical physics and complexity science methods
Translated title:
Appraisal of the self-organization and evolutionary dynamics of seismicity based on (non-extensive) statistical physics and complexity science methods
Summary:
A fundamental challenge in many scientific fields is to define norms and laws of higher-order in relation to the existing knowledge about phenomena of lower-order. It has been long suggested that the active tectonic grain comprises a self-organized complex system, therefore its expression (seismicity) should be manifested in the temporal and spatial statistics of energy release rates, and exhibit memory due to long-range interactions in a fractal-like space-time. Such attributes can be properly understood in terms of Non-Extensive Statistical Physics (NESP) In addition to energy release rates expressed by the magnitude M, measures of the temporal and spatial interactions are the time (Δt) and hypocentral distance (Δd) between consecutive events. Recent work indicated that if the distributions of M, Δt and Δd are independent so that the joint probability p(M, Δt, Δd) factorizes into the probabilities of M, Δt and Δd, i.e. p(MUΔtUΔd) = p(M) p(Δt) p(Δd), then the frequency of earthquake occurrence is multiply related, not only to magnitude as the celebrated Gutenberg – Richter law predicts, but also to interevent time and distance by means of well-defined power-laws consistent with NESP. The present work applies these concepts to investigate the dynamics of seismogenetic systems along the NE – N boundary of the Pacific and North American plates and the seismogenic zones of Greece – Western Turkey. The analysis is conducted to full and declustered (reduced) catalogues where the aftreshocks are removed by the stochasting declustering method of Zhuang et al., 2002.The statistical behaviour of seismicity suggests that crustal seismogenetic systems along the Pacific–North American plate boundaries in California, the seismogenic zones of Greece – Western Turkey, Alaska and the Aleutian Arc are invariably sub-extensive; they exhibit prominent operative long-range interaction and long-term memory, therefore they are self-organized and possibly critical. The degree of sub-extensivity is neither uniform, nor stationary but varies dynamically between systems and may also vary with time, or in cycles. The only sub-crustal system studied herein (Aleutian Subduction) appears to be Poissonian. The results are consistent with simulations of small-world fault networks in which free boundary conditions at the edges, (i.e. at the surface) allow for self-organization and criticality to develop, and fixed boundary conditions within, (i.e. at depth), do not. The results indicate that NESP is an excellent natural descriptor of earthquake statistics and appears to apply to the seismicity observed in different seismogenetic environments. The NESP formalism, although far from having answered questions and debates on the statistical physics of earthquakes, appears to be an effective and insightful tool in the investigation of seismicity and its associated complexity.
Main subject category:
Science
Keywords:
Tsallis entropy, complexity, non-extensivity, statistical seismology, statistical physics
Number of references:
434
