Thessaly lies on the Aegean (micro-)plate, undergoing internal crustal deformation due to the plate relative motion against the adjacent Anatolian and Nubian plates. As a result, the whole Thessalian Basin was supposed to be under an extensional tectonic regime of N-S direction. However, the recent earthquake sequence of March 2021 which occurred close to the northwestern margin of the basin revealed NE-SW direction of extension. Based on 7-year GPS measurements recorded by stations installed within and around the basin we assessed four deformational parameters for Thessaly aiming at the understanding of the deformation processes that control the region. These parameters are i) the Maximum Horizontal Extension (MAHE), ii) the Total Velocity (TV), iii) the Maximum Shear Strain (MSS), and iv) the Area Strain (AS). The results show that during the monitoring period, Thessaly moved toward the S-SW with a simultaneous clockwise rotation and underwent dispersed deformation mostly associated with dilatation. Focusing on the epicentral area of the 2021 sequence, strain during the 7-year period was rather low in all three strain parameters, implying a mature stage of elastic strain accumulation before the fault rupture., Ilias Lazos, Sotirios Sboras, Konstantinos Chousianitis, Stylianos Bitharis, Evaggelos Mouzakiotis, Vassilios Karastathis, Christos Pikridas, Aristeidis Fotiou and Dimitris Galanakis., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We present first results of the study of possible relations between the seismic activity and crustal fluids (groundwater an d carbon dioxide) in the area of the Hronov-Poříčí Fault Zone (HPFZ), situated on the NE margin of the Bohemian Massif. Local seismic monitoring and observations of groundwater levels in deep wells and concentrations of carbon-dioxide in the mineral spring at Třtice was started in 2005. Since then, more than 30 local seismic events were observed in the area of the HPFZ. The two strongest earthquakes with macroseismic effects were recorded on August 10, 2005 (M = 2.4) and October 25, 2005 (M = 3.3). Most of the epicentres were situated along the central part of the HPFZ. Only some weak events from February and March 2006 were concentrated along the SE termination of the HPFZ. Results of the hydrological monitoring show that water level fluctuations are affected mainly by the precipitation, snow-melt, air pressure changes, and tidal deformations of the Earth’s crust. The effects of seismo-tectonic activity were detected only in one out of five water wells, where we observed several step-like water level anomalies with amplitudes of 4 to 15 cm. Two of them preceded the August 10, 2005 and October 25, 2005 earthquakes. Three other anomalies seemed to originate independently of the seismic activity. We therefore suppose that they were induced by aseismic movements along the HPFZ. Contrary to the water level fluctuations, CO2 concentrations in the mineral spring seem to be dependent on water temperature; no evident seismic-induced changes have been observed yet., Vladimír Stejskal, Lumír Skalský and Ladislav Kašpárek., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In this article we solve the non-standard situation that arose after publishing our paper "Crustal deformations in the epicentral area of the West Bohemia 2008 earthquake swarm in central Europe" (Schenk et al., 2012). Horálek and Fischer wrote a statement regarding our publication, sent it to specialists interested in research in the West Bohemia swarm area, and questioned the reliability of the seismic data used in our work. Since the statement regarding the reliability of our work was not directly sent to us we are using this journal to return to professional discussion regarding our results. In this paper we review scientific arguments made in their statement and provide review of various studies on West Bohemia tectonics and related seismicity., Vladimír Schenk and Zdeňka Schenková., and Obsahuje bibliografii