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Volume :31 Issue : 1 2004
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Seismological observations in the State of Kuwait
Auther : FIRYAL BOU-RABEE* AND REDA M. ABDEL-FATTAH**
*Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kuwait, P.O. Box: 5969 Safat 13060, Kuwait and **Division of Environment and Urban Development, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research , P.O. Box 24885, 13109 Safat, Kuwait
ABSTRACT
We studied the recent seismicity of Kuwait using the Kuwait Seismic Network (KSN) data and software packages. Two crustal models were tested to select the appropriate one for our analysis. We found that the ratio between P- and S-wave velocities Vp/Vs=1.74 yields the best fit to the available data. The maximum errors of the root mean residual, epicentral horizontal distance, and depth were found to be 0.2 s, 2.0 km and 1.94 km, respectively. The Kuwait seismic zones (clusters of earthquakes) are distinguished: Minagish – Umm Gudair and Raudhatain – Sabriya. According to the distribution of hypo-depths and the magnitudes of the events, we propose that the cause of the seismic activity in Kuwait is likely to be associated with either the regional oil production or tectonic setting close to the Zagros seismic region. The b-value of the frequency-of-occurrence relationship for Kuwait seismicity was estimated to be 0.84; while it was 0.74 and 0.72 for the first and second seismic clusters. Furthermore, we compared body eave, local, and coda magnitudes used in the KSN with those used in the Seismic Studies Center, King Saud University and NEIC to derive the relationships between these equations and to establish the most suitable equations for the Kuwait region.
Keywords: b-value, Kuwait; Magnitude; Seismicity