On certain aftershock and foreshock parameters in the area of Greece

Published information (l2) on the aftershocks and foreshocks of many principal shallow earthquakes occurred in the area of Greece between 1911 and 1973 constitutes a more or less homogeneous and complete sample of data in respect to some properties of these seismic sequences. These data have been used to determine certain parameters of these sequences. The value of the decay parameter p, in the time distribution law of aftershocks, is independent of the magnitude range and varies between 0.7 and 1.9 in this area. The smallest value was found for the aftershock sequence of an earthquake believed to be associated with the Kremasta artificial lake, while the largest value was found for the aftershock sequence of an earthquake occurred in the volcanic part of the Hellenic arc. The probability, N, that the largest aftershock will occur Tl days after the main shock or later is given by a relation of the form N = c — k log Tl. Representative values of the parameter b, in the frequency-magnitude relation, have been found for the foreshocks as well as for the aftershocks of the same main shocks, by a proper grouping of the data. This value is equal to 0.67 for foresliocks and equal to 0.92 for the corresponding aftershocks. The difference in magnitude between the main shock and the largest aftershock is almost independent of the magnitude of the main shock. The relation M0 — = 1.1 holds on an average.