Tectonophysical zoning of active faults according to the level of Coulomb stresses for Altai–Western Sayan region has been performed. The source of stress data is the mechanisms of earthquake foci and a modified algorithm for the method of cataclastic analysis of discontinuous displacements, implemented in the new computer program STRESSseism v.3.0. Based on the results of stress reconstruction, the kinematic types of regional faults and the angles of their immersion in the upper crust (5–15 km) have been clarified. Five zones have been identified with fault systems having a high level of Coulomb stresses with the length of dangerous fault sections exceeding 50–70 km. The obtained result is considered as a deterministic long-term forecast of the preparation zones for strong earthquakes with magnitudes M ≥ 6.5–7.0 and, possibly, with higher magnitudes.
Yu. L. Rebetsky (Wed,) studied this question.