The 1998 Bovec-Krn Mountain (Slovenia) Earthquake Sequence

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 28; no. 9; pp. 1839 - 1842
• Main Authors: Bajc, J., Aoudia, A., Saraò, A., Suhadolc, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2001; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Earthquakes, seismology; Exact sciences and technology; Internal geophysics; Southern Europe; Slovenia; inverse problem; main shocks; Europe; topography; earthquakes; right-lateral faults; rupture; strike-slip faults; propagation; fault displacements; fault planes; aftershocks; magnitude; strong motion; hypocenter
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2000GL011973

We study the 1998 Bovec‐Krn mountain (Slovenia) earthquake sequence by combining hypocenters relocation, strong motion inversion, digital elevation modelling and field geology. The main shock (Ms=5.7), a 12 km right lateral strike‐slip event on the Dinaric fault system, occurred on a sub‐vertical fault plane. The rupture, confined between 3 and 9 km depth, with no evidence of surface faulting, propagated bilaterally within two structural barriers. The northwestern barrier is at the junction between Dinaric and Alpine structures where there is a sharp change in the geometry of faulting. The southeastern barrier is within the Dinaric system and its surface expression corresponds to the Tolminka‐spring perched basin, a 1 km restraining step‐over. At this site, the Bovec‐Krn earthquake‐fault overlaps with a 30 km strike‐slip fault segment that is free of aftershocks and could be undergoing an increase of stress. This fault system represents the northern branch of the Idrija right‐lateral fault.