STRUCTURE OF THE EPICENTER FIELD OF EARTHQUAKES IN THE BAIKAL REGION

Abstract

Methods of the fractal theory were applied to study the structure of epicenter fields of representative earthquakes (energy class K P ≥ 8 ) recorded from 1964 to 2002 in the Baikal region, including three subregions and six sectors. We show that the shock epicenter field in the Baikal region, subregions 2 and 3, and sectors 2, 3, and 5 is self-similar and similar, while the fractal estimates of the structure of the shock epicenter field in sectors 1 and 6 located at the flanks of the Baikal Rift Zone (BRZ) differ strongly. A tendency to a decrease in the cell dimension D0 from southwest to northeast testifies to the transformation of quasi-areal distribution of epicenters of earthquakes to a quasi-linear structure. The chart of contour lines of D0 characterizes the shock epicenter field in the BRZ as a structure formed predominantly in the regime of dynamic chaos.