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A comprehensive earthquake catalogue for the Iranian Plateau (400 B.C. to December 31, 2018)

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Abstract

We provide a comprehensive earthquake catalogue for Iran that is suitable for detailed seismological analysis and seismic hazard assessment. Based on the work by (Mousavi-Bafrouei et al. Ann Geophys 57:S0653, 2014) and new sources of data, we extend the uniform Iranian earthquake catalogue to include events from fourth century B.C. to December 31, 2018. Conversion relationships between moment magnitude (Mw) and body wave, surface wave, Nuttli and local magnitudes are presented and used to estimate Mw based on a priority system. The updated earthquake catalogue includes 25,937 earthquakes with Mw between 2.6 and 8.1. Catalogue declustering, using the method of conjugate windows, results in 1772 clusters with 17,123 events with Mw between 2.9 and 8.1. We also evaluate magnitude of completeness and seismicity parameters including the Gutenberg-Richter b-value, mean annual seismic activity rate and maximum expected magnitude in five seismotectonic units. Overall, the Zagros unit has the highest b-value among all units, whereas the Makran unit shows the lowest b-value indicating possibility of the largest range of magnitudes in the region.

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Acknowledgements

We thank JOSE editor in chief, Dr. Mariano Garcia-Fernandez, and Dr. Klaus Lehmann and another anonymous reviewer for his or her constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Ardakan University, P.O. Box 184, Ardakan, Iran

    Seyed Hasan Mousavi-Bafrouei

  2. Mahan Geophysical Consulting Inc., 304-1399 Stanley Ave, Victoria, British Columbia, V8S 3S5, Canada

    Alireza Babaie Mahani

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  1. Seyed Hasan Mousavi-Bafrouei
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Correspondence to Alireza Babaie Mahani.

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Mousavi-Bafrouei, S.H., Mahani, A.B. A comprehensive earthquake catalogue for the Iranian Plateau (400 B.C. to December 31, 2018). J Seismol 24, 709–724 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-020-09923-6

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