Moment tensor catalogue of earthquakes in West Bohemia from 2008 to 2018

Abstract

We present a unique catalogue of full moment tensors (MTs) of earthquakes with ML between 0.5 and 4.4 that occurred in West Bohemia, Czech Republic, in the period from 2008 to 2018 (Vavryčuk et al., 2022a, b). The MTs were calculated from vertical components of P-wave amplitudes. The MT inversion was based on principal component analysis applied to optimally filtered velocity records of local seismic stations deployed in the West Bohemia area. The minimum number of inverted stations is 15, and the rms between theoretical and observed amplitudes is lower than 0.5. The catalogue is exceptional in several aspects: (1) it represents an extraordinary, extensive dataset of more than 5100 MTs; (2) it covers a long period of seismicity in the studied area, during which several prominent earthquake swarms took place; (3) the locations and retrieved MTs of earthquakes are of a high accuracy. Additionally, we provide three-component records at the West Bohemia (WEBNET) seismic stations, the velocity model in the region, and the technical specification of the stations. The dataset is ideal for being utilized by a large community of researchers for various seismological purposes, e.g. for studies of (1) the migration of foci and the spatiotemporal evolution of seismicity, (2) redistribution of stress during periods of intense seismicity, (3) the interaction of faults, (4) the Coulomb stress along the faults and local stress anomalies connected to fault irregularities, (5) diffusivity of fluids along the activated faults, or (6) the time-dependent seismic risk due to the migration of seismicity in the region. In addition, the dataset is optimum for developing and testing new inversions for MTs and for tectonic stress. Since most of the earthquakes are non-shear, the dataset can contribute to studies of non-double-couple components of MTs and their relation to shear–tensile fracturing and/or seismic anisotropy in the focal zone.