Earthquake location in the Sicily channel

Abstract

The Sicily Channel, which is a shallow platform located between Sicily and Tunisia, is characterized by shallow, low magnitude earthquakes due to faulting and rifting in the region. To gain a better understanding of the procedures involved in seismology, methods from earthquake location and magnitude calculation were applied. Using the principles of multi station and single station location, ten earthquakes were relocated in order to compare different velocity models together with single station location. The magnitudes of these chosen earthquakes were then calculated using the local magnitude equation for California. The study concluded that most earthquakes occur within the Pantelleria-Linosa-Mala rift zone with low magnitude earthquakes not exceeding magnitude 4.6. The most accurate velocity model used is the model based on central Italy. Comparisons with LESSLA resulted that locations by LESSLA were the least accurate. However, single stations identify events locally within a short range of time providing an estimated location. The magnitude was subsequently found using the amplitude of the waves and the distance from the station. Although the magnitude equation used differs from the equation usually applied for the central Mediterranean, the magnitude values differed slightly with minor error.