Statistical correlation between b-value and fractal dimension regarding Turkish epicentre distribution

• Main Author: Serkan Öztürk
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Colombia 2012-07-01
• Series: Earth Sciences Research Journal
• Online Access: https://revistas.unal.edu.co/index.php/esrj/article/view/37614

This study was aimed at analysing the relationship between seismic b-value and fractal dimension Dcvalue for Turkish epicentres. The earthquake catalogue consisting of 99,737 instrumentally-registeredTurkish events was analysed for the period between 1970 and 2011; Turkey was divided into 55 tectonic zones for making a detailed comparison. The b-values were calculated by the maximum likelihoodmethod and the Dc-values were obtained with 95% confidence limits by linear regression. The results showed that higher Dc-values were associated with lower b-values and this could have been an indicationof relatively high stress intensity and stronger epicentre clustering in these regions. Orthogonal regression was used to estimate a suitable statistical correlation between two seismotectonic parameters; the Dc = 2.44 - 0.30*b relationship was obtained with a strong negative correlation(r = -0.82) between b-value and Dc-value for Turkish earthquake distribution. This seemed to agree with other regional results obtained for different parts of Turkey and the rest of the world.