Author(s)

Michele Caputo, Giovanni Sebastiani

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In this paper, we study two earthquakes: the April 6th 2009 earthquake of L’Aquila in the region of Abruzzo (Italy) and the 1997 Colfiorito earthquake in the regions of Umbria and Marche (Italy). The data sets of these two earthquakes were analysed in both time and space domains. For time domain we used statistical methods and models both parametric and non-parametric. Concerning the space domain, we used Mathematical Morphology filters. The time domain analysis provides evidence of a possible correlation between seismic activities and the tides of the crust of the Earth. The results obtained show evidence that the daily number of earthquakes of the sequences proceeding and following the April 6th 2009 earthquake of L’Aquila and that of the sequence following the 1997 Colfiorito earthquake have a periodic component of occurrence with period of about 7 days. It seems that the maxima of this component occur at a position of the Moon with respect to the Earth and the Sun corresponding to approximately 3 days before the four main Moon phases. The space domain analysis indicates that the foreshock activity in both earthquakes is clustered and concentrated. Furthermore, in each of the two earthquakes the clusters are located at about 3 kilometers from the epicentre of the main shock.

Earthquakes, Earth Tides; Periodic Modeling; Spectral Analysis; MathematicalMorphology; Foreshocks; Aftershocks

Caputo, M. and Sebastiani, G. (2011) Time and space analysis of two earthquakes in the Appennines (Italy). Natural Science, 3, 768-774. doi: 10.4236/ns.2011.39101.