Author(s): Şermin TAĞIL Çağan ALEVKAYALI
The aim of this study is to detect clusters and explore spatial patterns in the occurrence of earthquakes in the Egean Region in Turkey using a Geographical Information System (GIS). We used the 1900-2012 seismicity catalog with event magnitudes m ≥ 4 in analysis. In this study, mean center, spatial mean, standart distance and standart deviation ellipse were used to calculate the measure of central temdency. On the other hand, Quadrant and Nearest Neighbor Analysis were used to reveal the pattern of spatial distribution of epicenter. Finally, the spatial auto-correlation of earthquakes were analyzed by using Moran's I and Geary's C. The intensity of earthquakes were mapped by Kernel function mainly using the magnitude of each earthquake. Results showed that these techniques were capable of detecting clusters in the spatial patterns of the occurrence of the earthquakes. Spatial statistics indicated that earthquake epicenters were clustered in the study area. According to Kernel density between the years of 1900-2012 high magnitude earthquakes were concentrated in Kütahya-Usak zone where seismic activities were most active. Between 1900-1939, surroundings of Izmir and Manisa were the concentration areas of high magnitude earthquakes; and between the years of 1940-1977, an area of major concentration was the Kütahya-U?ak zone.However, the concentration was not determined that a particular region between 1978-2012. The results will be obtained from this study is useful in planning for the potential damage of earthquakes in the future.
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