ANALYSIS OF FRACTAL BEHAVIOUR OF EARTHQUAKES IN THE INDIAN SHBCONTINENT

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze and nd a correlation, if any, between the earthquakes occurring in the Indian subcontinent. For two di erent sets of studies, the earthquakes occurring in the Himalayan and the Andaman-Sumatra region are mainly divided into four and six zones based on their tectonic similarity. The earthquake data of past 49 years (till 31-Dec-2018) was utilised for the purpose of this study. When arranged chronologically, the seismic events produced a one dimensional time array of coarse-grain magnitude in accordance with the speci c zone of their occurrence. The coarse grain magnitudes are then read as 1, 4, and 6 bit fractal addresses for areas divided into 4 zones, and as one-bit fractal addresses for areas divided into 6 zones, using a MATLAB code. The images thus produced are analyzed to nd correlation, if any, between the seismic zones. The images produced by assigning probabilities of occurrence of a seismic event in each zone, calculated using historical data and assuming all events are independent, re ects dissimilarity to the images produced by the actual earthquakes. The results strengthens the idea that all the seismic events are not independent and there must exist a correlation between them. Now, the conclusion is based on the historical data in the given study area, and we can only determine the probability of occurrence of an event with respect to a given seismic activity by comparing the zone wise earthquake mapping and the pattern generated by assigning probabilities to each zone.