New data on mantle seismicity of the Caspian region and their geological interpretation |
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| Authors: | S A Kovachev V G Kaz’min I P Kuzin L I Lobkovsky |
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| Institution: | (1) Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimovskii pr. 36, Moscow, 117997, Russia |
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| Abstract: | The results of detailed seismological observations with bottom recording systems carried out in 2004 and 2006 near the Dagestan coast of the Middle Caspian are considered. The records of more than 550 micro- and weak earthquakes with ML = 0.1–4.7 (MLH = ?0.7 to 4.3) were obtained during 165 days of recording; a fifth of these earthquakes occurred in the upper mantle at a depth of 50–200 km. Over the entire period of instrumental recording since the 1930s, only 10 mantle earthquakes with MLH = 3.5?6.3 have been recorded by on-land systems. The highest density of earthquake epicenters with source depths down to 50 km is established on the Middle Caspian coast between Derbent and Izberbash and in the adjacent water area. The mantle earthquakes with hypocenters at a depth of 60–80 km cluster beneath the western wall of the Derbent Basin, whereas deeper hypocenters are located beneath both the wall of this basin and the Middle Caspian coast. The sporadic mantle earthquakes recorded in 2004 (about 30 shocks), determined by a network of systems with a small aperture, depicted a zone plunging beneath the Greater Caucasus with indications of a peculiar “subduction” of the Scythian Plate beneath the Caucasus. Subsequent observations based on a more extensive network were carried out in 2006. They substantially changed the pattern of mantle earthquake hypocenters. According to this evidence, the sources of mantle earthquakes make up a dispersed cloud extended in the vertical direction beneath the Middle Caspian coast and water area, which may be regarded as a relic of tectonic activity of a bygone tectonic epoch. A comprehensive tectonic interpretation of the detected seismological phenomenon is given. |
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