Investigating the signatures of long-range persistence in seismic sequences along Circum-Pacific subduction zones

TL;DR

This study analyzes long-range persistence in seismic sequences along Circum-Pacific subduction zones using R/S analysis, revealing long-term memory effects and fractal relationships that suggest self-affine fractal dynamics in seismic activity.

Contribution

It introduces the application of R/S analysis to seismic data along subduction zones and uncovers a fractal relationship between Hurst exponent and Gutenberg-Richter law parameters.

Findings

Hurst exponent values greater than 0.5 indicate long-term memory.

A fractal relationship between H and the b_s(q)-index was identified.

Seismic dynamics exhibit self-affine fractal characteristics.

Abstract

In the present paper, we analyze the signatures of long-range persistence in seismic sequences along Circum-Pacific subduction zones, from Chile to Kermadec, extracted from the National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) catalog. This region, known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, is the world's most active fault line, containing about 90$\%$ of the world's earthquakes. We used the classical rescaled range ($R/S$) analysis to estimate the long-term persistence signals derived from a scaling parameter called the Hurst exponent, $H$. We measured the referred exponent and obtained values of $H>0.5$, indicating that a long-term memory effect exists. We found a possible fractal relationship between $H$ and the $b_{s}(q)$-index, which emerges from the non-extensive Gutenberg-Richter law as a function of the asperity. Therefore, $H$ can be associated with a mechanism that controls the level of seismic activity. Finally, we concluded that the dynamics associated with fragment-asperity interactions can be classified as a self-affine fractal phenomenon.