Since the mid-1990s, the local seismic network of the University of Cologne has produced digital seismograms. The data all underwent a daily routine processing. For this study, we re-processed data of almost a quarter century of seismicity in the Northern Rhine Area (NRA), including the Lower Rhine Embayment (LRE) and the Eifel Mountain region (EMR). This effort included refined discrimination between tectonic earthquakes, mine-induced events, and quarry blasts. While routine processing comprised the determination of local magnitude M_L, in the course of this study, source spectra-based estimates for moment magnitude M_W for 1332 earthquakes were calculated. The resulting relation between M_L and M_W agrees well with the theory of an M_L ∝ 1.5 M_W dependency at magnitudes below 3. By applying Gutenberg-Richter relation, the b-value for M_L was less (0.82) than M_W (1.03). Fault plane solutions for 66 earthquakes confirm the previously published N118° E direction of maximum horizontal stress in the NRA. Comparison of the seismicity with recently published Global Positioning System–based deformation data of the crust shows that the largest seismic activity during the observation period in the LRE occurred in the region with the highest dilatation rates. The stress directions agree well with the trend of major faults, and declining seismicity from south to north correlates with decreasing strain rates. In the EMR, earthquakes concentrate at the fringes of the area with corresponding the largest uplift.

自1990年代中期以来，科隆大学的当地地震台网已经产生了数字地震图。数据全部经过日常处理。对于本研究，我们重新处理了北莱茵地区（NRA）近25年的地震活动数据，包括下莱茵河谷（LRE）和埃菲尔山区（EMR）。这项工作包括对构造地震，地雷引发的事件和采石场爆炸之间的精细区分。虽然常规处理包括确定局部震级M _L，但在本研究过程中，还是计算了基于源谱的1332地震矩震级M _W的估计值。M _L和M之间的结果关系_W¯¯与理论符合得很好 中号_大号 α1.5 中号_W¯¯依赖性在低于3.量值通过应用古滕贝格一里克特关系，所述b为-值中号_大号较少（0.82）比中号_W¯¯（1.03）。用于66次地震的断层平面解决方案确认了NRA中先前公布的最大水平应力的N118°E方向。将地震活动性与最近发布的基于全球定位系统的地壳变形数据进行的比较表明，LRE观测期内最大的地震活动发生在扩张率最高的区域。应力方向与主要断层的趋势非常吻合，南北向地震活动性下降与应变率降低相关。在EMR中，地震集中在该区域的边缘，对应的隆起最大。