The search for empirical formulae for the aftershocks descriptions of a strong earthquake

TL;DR

This paper explores empirical formulae for describing aftershock sequences following strong earthquakes, building on Omori's law and its variants, and investigates the inverse problem related to earthquake source cooling.

Contribution

It introduces new empirical formulae for aftershock descriptions and addresses the inverse problem of earthquake source deactivation.

Findings

Proposes modified empirical models for aftershock decay

Analyzes the inverse problem of earthquake source cooling

Provides insights into aftershock sequence dynamics

Abstract

The paper is based on the report read by the author on October 24, 2018 at the meeting of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Earth Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The report was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the outstanding Japanese seismologist Fusakichi Omori. As is known, Omori established the first empirical law of the earthquakes physics, bearing his name. The Omori law states that the frequency of aftershocks on average decreases hyperbolically over the time. Three versions of Omori law are described briefly. The recent version allows to poses the inverse problem of the earthquake source, that cools down after the main shock. Keywords: earthquake source, aftershocks equation, deactivation coefficient, inverse problem