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The 14 April 2012 Koyna Earthquake of Mw 4.8: insights into active tectonics of the Koyna region

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Abstract

The 14 April 2012 earthquake of Mw 4.8 is the best monitored event in the Koyna region, a globally significant site of reservoir triggered seismicity in western India. Hence, investigation of this event assumes great importance, also considering its epicentral location close to that of the 1967 Koyna earthquake of M 6.3, the world’s largest reservoir triggered earthquake. Inversion of P-wave amplitude data along with the first motion polarities at 30 digital seismic stations provides a well-constrained strike-slip type focal mechanism solution, similar to that of the 1967 earthquake. The mechanism is further confirmed by moment tensor inversion of 3-component waveform data recorded at the three nearest broadband stations. The depth distribution of the aftershocks clearly delineates a NNE-SSW trending fault plane dipping about 78° to the WNW and coinciding with the trend of the Donachiwada fault, as well as the left-lateral fault plane of the focal mechanism solution obtained. The precise location, focal mechanism and the seismicity distribution from our dense network indicate that the activity in the Koyna region is mainly controlled by the NNE-SSW trending Donachiwada (D) fault zone rather than the Koyna River Fault Zone (KRFZ) on the west as suggested previously.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Prof. Mrinal K. Sen, Director, CSIR-NGRI for his kind support and encouragement. Immense support from colleagues at our Seismological Observatory is acknowledged. The Koyna Hydroelectric Project authorities, Government of Maharashtra, have always been supportive in our studies. The study was carried out under a project funded by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI), Uppal Road, Hyderabad, 500007, India

    D. Shashidhar, N. Purnachandra Rao, D. Srinagesh, H. V. S. Satyanarayana, G. Suresh & A. Satish

  2. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), New Delhi, 110029, India

    Harsh Gupta

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  1. D. Shashidhar
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  2. N. Purnachandra Rao
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  3. D. Srinagesh
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  4. Harsh Gupta
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  5. H. V. S. Satyanarayana
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  6. G. Suresh
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  7. A. Satish
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Correspondence to D. Shashidhar.

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Shashidhar, D., Rao, N.P., Srinagesh, D. et al. The 14 April 2012 Koyna Earthquake of Mw 4.8: insights into active tectonics of the Koyna region. J Seismol 17, 1345–1353 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-013-9396-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-013-9396-x

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