UNIVERSAL MULTIFRACTALS IN SEISMICITY

Abstract

Previous studies have examined the spatial, temporal or magnitude distributions of earthquakes. Moreover, others have shown that the spatial distribution of earthquakes is multiscaling. We extend these studies by incorporating the magnitude of the events when examining the scaling properties of the statistics of the earthquakes. We introduce seismic fields as deduced from the maximum ground motion of seismic events (i.e. earthquakes). We then show that these fields are multifractals. Moreover, using a technique called the double trace moment (DTM) analysis, we present here the estimates for the lower bound of the universal exponents of seismic fields: α = 1.1±0.1. We also estimate C1 = 1.35±0.05. It is suggested that while the value of C1 changes from year to year, the estimate of the Lévy index remains relatively constant.