43 - Statistical Features of Seismicity

Seismicity studies are mostly statistical, because they deal with earthquake generation in groups. This chapter provides an overview of the studies related to statistical features of seismicity. The level of seismicity and its statistical properties may be affected by environmental conditions, such as stress, temperature, pore fluid pressure, mechanical and rheological properties of rocks, and large-scale tectonic regimes. The chapter also explores the physical mechanisms that cause the observed regularities in seismicity. To obtain reliable results from statistical analysis, a sufficient amount of high-quality data is also necessary. In most statistical studies, earthquakes are represented by point events in a five-dimensional space-time-size continuum. The five coordinates include longitude and latitude of epicenter, focal depth, origin time, and magnitude. Other quantities, which characterize an earthquake include fault-plane parameters, stress drop, fault rupture length, and rupture velocity. The results of a statistical analysis must be tested for significance. Every method for a significance test is based on certain assumptions.

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