Spatio-temporal analysis of the February 2017 Surigao earthquake and nearby events
Abstract
We study the space and time properties of fresh earthquake records obtained within a 125-km radius from the epicentre of the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit the coast of Surigao del Norte in the southern Philippines on 10 February 2017. The spatio-temporal properties of the Surigao 2017 record is compared with those obtained from long-period Philippine catalogs and the immediate aftershocks of the 7.1-magnitude Bohol 2013 earthquake. Temporal and spatial intervent statistics of the Surigao earthquake for the whole month of February 2017 exhibit disparities from historical seismic records taken from two Philippine catalogs differing in completeness levels and time periods, while manifesting prominent similarities to the Bohol 2013 aftershock sequence. The statistics of the Surigao and Bohol earthquake records reveal significant spatio-temporal correlations. Our results complement previous works on historical and fresh earthquake records of the Philippines, and may contribute towards increasing our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of earthquake generation in this geographical region.