Scaling Analysis of Time Distribution between Successive Earthquakes in Aftershock Sequences

Abstract

A b s t r a c tThe earthquake inter-event time distribution is studied, using catalogs for different recent aftershock sequences. For aftershock sequences following the Modified Omori's Formula (MOF) it seems clear that the inter-event distribution is a power law. The parameters of this law are defined and they prove to be higher than the calculated value (2 -1/p). Based on the analysis of the catalogs, it is determined that the probability densities of the inter-event time distribution collapse into a single master curve when the data is rescaled with instantaneous intensity, R(t; M th ), defined by MOF. The curve is approximated by a gamma distribution. The collapse of the data provides a clear view of aftershock-occurrence self-similarity.

Statistical properties of inter-event times in seismic time series transformed by occurrence rate: An analysis from the viewpoint of hierarchy in the temporal nature of seismicity

“…Such an approach overestimates the number of short inter-event times in rescaling inter-event time distributions because the short intervals in major aftershock sequences are not transformed by the Omori -Utsu law. Also, the scaling universality for aftershock sequences by the Omori -Utsu rate 26) has not been considered much since Corral pointed it out.…”