West Lut Fault System Monitor

We present the up-to-date seismicity associated with the West Lut fault system as a series of space-time sections. The aim is to reveal the hidden orders and to facilitate prompt interpretation. The earthquake data is obtained from the IRSC and the USGS databases every minute. With new earthquakes the figures and maps are updated immediately; otherwise, they are regenerated every hour. The following points should be considered regarding the images.

  1. There are 8 figures showing time-space sections of seismicity for different periods. Earthquakes are projected on the line segments that represent the West Lut fault system.
  2. The yellow line segments, ‘S-N’, on the maps show the section. Earthquakes within a 20 km range are projected in the section.
  3. For each figure X, there are 3 associated illustrations with a corresponding period. Xa shows the seismicity for the whole region, while Xb displays the events in the window around the section. Figure Xc shows the depth distribution of events along the section. Their links are given below each figure.
  4. The thick red line segments that are labeled D, E, F, and G on the maps and also along the right axis of each figure represent seismic gaps. Gaps D, G and especially gap F seem favorable for the next substantial rupture along the West Lut fault.
  5. The unlabeled red line segments show the seismic gaps in the North and East Lut fault system.
  6. The thick magenta line segments along the left axis or within the figures represent the projection of the surface ruptures associated with the earthquakes of 11 June 1981 (Mw 6.7) and 28 July 1981 (Mw 7.1) along the West Lut fault (Berberian and Yeats, 1999).
  7. The earthquake data for the post-2006 period is obtained from the IRSC catalog, while the USGS database is the data source for earlier times.
Elements and details that may become unrecognizable due to dense seismicity or background color of the maps.
Click to open map 1a, map 1b or figure 1c
Click to open map 2a, map 2b or figure 2c
Click to open map 3a, map 3b or figure 3c
Click to open map 4a, map 4b or figure 4c
Click to open map 5a, map 5b or figure 5c
Click to open map 6a, map 6b or figure 6c
Click to open map 7a, map 7b or figure 7c
Click to open map 8a, map 8b or figure 8c

Acknowledgment

The earthquake data for this project is obtained from (i) the “Iranian Seismological Center” (IRSC) of the Institute of Geophysics, University of  Tehran and (ii) the US Geological Survey (USGS). We appreciate these institutions for the release of their products to the public. The figures are produced by using the “Generic Mapping Tool” (GMT) and we thank the developers of the software (Wessel et al., 2013).

References

  • Berberian M, Yeats RS. Patterns of historical earthquake rupture in the Iranian Plateau. Bulletin of the Seismological society of America. 1999;89:120–139.
  • Wessel P, Smith WH, Scharroo R, Luis J, Wobbe F. Generic mapping tools: improved version released. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 2013;94:409–410.