EMPIRICAL RELATIONS AMONG THE PARAMETERS ASSOCIATED WITH EARTHQUAKE RUPTURE MECHANISMS FOR IRANIAN EARTHQUAKES

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to derive the new and more reliable empirical relationships among different seismic parameters associated with the earthquake rupture mechanisms for Iranian earthquakes. For this purpose, we firstly converted the surface wave magnitudes into moment magnitudes in order to prepare a uniform earthquake dataset. Thereafter, we estimated the empirical relationships between moment magnitude and surface rupture length, moment magnitude and maximum displacement, and surface rupture length and maximum displacement. These linear empirical equations were obtained by orthogonal regression and the goodness of fits were discussed in terms of the correlation coefficients. The results obtained by the orthogonal regression in this paper are compared with the results obtained by the least square method in the literature. The present study confirms that representations of statistical correlations among different earthquake faulting parameters can be given more clear and straightforward by the orthogonal regression as compared to the least square method. In addition, such kind of relationships may provide some significant insights for the calculation of the maximum surface rupture length, maximum surface displacement, and associated maximum credible earthquakes for different seismotectonic regions of Iran as well as the estimation of earthquake magnitudes in paleoseismological studies.