HR: 0804h
AN: NS11E-0833    [Abstracts]
TI: Building A Seismotectonic Model For The Tbilisi Region Using Sparse Data
AU: * Godoladze, T
EM: tea@seismo.ge
AF: Seismic Monitoring Center, 77 Nutsubidze str., Tbilisi, 0177, Georgia
AU: Hutchings, L J
EM: Hutchings2@llnl.gov
AF: LLNL, PO Box 808, L-203, Livermore, CA 94551, United States
AU: Javakhishvili, Z
EM: z.javakh@seismo.ge
AF: Seismic Monitoring Center, 77 Nutsubidze str., Tbilisi, 0177, Georgia
AB: Tbilisi (Capital of the republic of Georgia) has largely been spared of large destructive earthquakes. The maximum affect from historical earthquakes in the Tbilisi area has not exceeded macroseismic Intensity 7 (MSC scale). There is very sparse information with which to identify the location of these earthquakes. The active seismogenic structures and the earthquakes near the city have been poorly investigated. On 25 April 2002, Tbilisi was hit by an Mw = 4.6 earthquake. Observed macroseimic intensity was 6-7 (MSC) in Tbilisi. Seven people were killed, 20 people were injured, ten buildings collapsed, and 10,000 buildings were damaged. In this study we utilize recent geologic investigations, regional tectonic interpretations, historical earthquakes, recent seismicity, moment tensor inversion, and finite fault models of the 2002 Tbilisi earthquake to develop a seismo-tectonic model of the Tbilisi area in order to better identify the hazard from future earthquakes. Unfortunately, there were no permanent local recording stations in place at the time of the 2002 sequence. However, a temporary station was installed following the main event and eleven aftershocks were recorded. With only one recording station it is not possible to obtain local focal mechanism solutions or accurate earthquake locations that might indicate fault geometries. Data for a seismo-tectonic study and identification of the earthquake hazard is also very sparse. Therefore, one aspect of this study is to utilize modern techniques to maximize the use of sparse data.
DE: 0468 Natural hazards
DE: 7200 SEISMOLOGY
DE: 7212 Earthquake ground motions and engineering seismology
DE: 7914 Engineering for hazard mitigation
SC: Near-Surface Geophysics [NS]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting