Faults and Earthquakes - Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design - page 211

For the African, European, Asian and Australian continents, the seismic areas
are presented in Figure 9.31.
African seismic zone (AF). The Northern areas (AF-a) are affected by crustal
interplate earthquakes, due to the subduction of the African plate under the
Mediterranean microplate. Divergent crustal earthquakes along the Red Sea and
the African Rift (AF-b) dominate the Eastern African areas. The Western African
zones are almost immune from earthquakes.
European seismic zones (EU). Europe has one of the most complex seismic
zonifications. The first zone (EU-a), the Mediterranean one, including South of
Spain and Italy, is dominated in the Southern part by crustal subduction interplate
earthquakes (where the African plate subducts the Mediterranean microplate), with
the exception of the South of Sicily and Crete, where some intraslab earthquakes
can occur. The northern zone is located along the Pyrenees and Alps, where the
Central Mediterranean and Adria microplates subduct the Eurasian plate giving rise
to crustal collision interplate earthquakes. Another very important zone is the
Vrancea one, characterized by intraslab earthquakes, where the Blacke Sea
microplate subducts the Pannonian microplate. The most active seismic zone in the
Balkans is Greece, with many intraplate earthquakes due a very active network of
faults. The Anatolia zone is characterized by the presence of strike-slip earthquakes
along the North Anatolian fault and collision earthquakes in the South part of
Anatolia. The Central Europe (EU-b) presents many intraplate earthquakes
especially along rifts in a very diffuse seismic zone. Finally, the Northern Europe
(EU-c) has the same intraplate earthquakes, due to the influence of the Middle
Atlantic ridge, creating diffuse seismic areas. The Eastern seismic part of Europe is
dominated by the Ural zone (EU-d), where a collision between Europe and Siberia
produced a chain of mountains.
Asian seismic zones (AS) The Arabian and Caucasian zones (AS-a) are
dominated by collision earthquakes, produced by the contact between the Arabian
and the Eurasian Plates . The North of India and the Tibet zones (AS-b) are
characterized by the presence of crustal collision interplate earthquakes, due to the
contact between the Indian and the Asian plates along the Himalayan Mountains.
The peninsular India (AS-c) is affected by intraplate earthquakes. Another very
important seismic zone is the Chinese plateau (AS-d), where intraplate earthquakes
are dominating events. This diffuse zone is the result of the collision of some
ancient blocks. A very large seismic zone is situated in the South Asia, where the
majority of earthquakes are due to the subduction of the Indian plate under the
Pacific plate (AS-e). The last zone, but a very important and complex one, is the
Japanese area (AS-f), where all type of earthquakes can occur: crustal interplate,
intraplate and intraslab earthquakes act in different zones of this area, being
function of the existing fault type, due to the simultaneous subduction of many
tectonic plates under the Eurasian Plate.
Australian seismic zone (AU) is characterized by intraplate earthquakes only,
being situated far from the tectonic plate boundaries, inside of the Indo-Australian
Plate.