http://www.maikonline.com/maik/showArticle.do?pii=S1069351305100010
Izvestiya, Physics of the Solid Earth
- Vol. 41, No. 10, October 2005, pp. 775-797
Seismogenic Zones of the Trans-Caspian Region: Characteristics of Sources of the
Largest Earthquakes. I. The Ashkhabad Earthquake of 1948
L. M. Balakina and A. G. Moskvina
Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, Bol'shaya Gruzinskaya ul. 10, Moscow, 123995
Russia
Received December 27, 2004
The fault-plane solution of the Ashkhabad earthquake, well known in the seismogeological
literature, is revised with invoking of additional data on displacements of P and S waves. A
new interpretation of the geological origin of the Ashkhabad earthquake source is proposed on
the basis of the revised fault-plane solution, taking into account aftershock manifestations and
macroseismic data. The source, about 60 km long, was produced by a steep WNW-striking
normal fault with a right-lateral component rather than by a subhorizontal thrust, as was
indicated in the majority of seismogeological publications. The normal–strike-slip fault in the
Ashkhabad earthquake source is apparently confined to a deep regional fault near the
southern border of the Kopet Dagh foredeep and is caused by the tectonic process of the
present development of the foredeep. The average velocity of tectonic movements on this
fault is estimated at Vtect ~ 0.2 cm/yr. This value suggests the recurrence of M ~ 7.2
earthquakes in the Ashkhabad source with a period T ~ 900–1000 yr, which does not
contradict the information about destructive earthquakes of the historical past.
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