The 14 August 2003 Lefkada (Ionian Sea) Earthquake
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5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology Thessaloniki, Greece, 14-20 April 2004 The 14 August 2003 Lefkada (Ionian sea) earthquake Pavlides S.B.1, Papadopoulos G.A.2, Ganas A.2, Papathanassiou G.1, Karastathis V.2, Keramydas D.1 & Fokaefs A.2 1Department of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece, [email protected] 2Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens, 11810 Athens, Greece Keywords: Lefkada earthquake, macroseismic effects, active tectonics, landslide, soil lique- faction A strong earthquake (Mw=6.2, Ms=6.4) occurred offshore NW of Lefkada Island (Ionian sea) on August 14, 2003 (05:14:53.9 GMT). The shock was felt over the Ionian islands, west and central Greece and also in the region from Peloponnese to Albania. No important foreshock activity was noted before the 2003 earthquake. On the contrary, intense aftershock activity was recorded by the NOAGI national seismograph system. Up to 22 September 2003 more than 270 aftershocks of ML ≥ 2.9 (or Ms ≥ 3.4) were recorded. The strongest of them (ML = 5.2) occurred on 14.08.03 at 16:18:03.9 GMT a few hours after the mainshock. The parame- ter b=1.10 of the G-R relationship and the aftershock decay exponent, k=1.24 , of the Omori law were found to have typical values for Greek earthquakes. Because of the main shock and its strong aftershocks many houses have been destroyed (about 120 out of 3000), almost the half of the buildings of the island were severely or light damaged. Only one building in the center of the town was collapsed. The maximum intensity has been evaluated as Io=VII+ to VIII in the town of Lefkas. For many other villages on the island the intensities ranged from V to VII. All intensities were assessed in both the 12-point EMS (European Macroseismic Scale) and MM scales. Fortunately, there were no deaths. Ex- tensive ground failures (rock falls, liquefaction, cracks) were observed, especially along the northwest part of the island forming a compound failure zone, reveal intensity peculiarities in association to neotectonics and morphotectonics of the area. The basement of the Lefkada island consists of: 1) carbonate sequence of the Ionian zone, 2) Limestone of Paxos zone restricted in the SW peninsula of the island, 3) few outcrops of Ionian flysch and Miocene marls – sandstones in the northern part of the island. Pleistocene and especially Holocene coastal deposits are extended in the northern edge of Lefkada, where the homonymous capital town is founded, in Vasiliki valley and Ligia-Nydri coast. The inherited tectonic structures are thrusts of the Ionian limestone on the Miocene marls from NE towards SW and a system of Neotectonic faults. Since kinematic indicators contained on the fault surfaces define the kinematic history of faults, quantitative analyses of striation data have shown a stress pattern of strike-slip or transtensional type (fig.1). The N-S and NE-SW trending neotectonic main faults are normal structures with significant right-lateral component (oblique slip), while some minor faults NW-SE trending show left-lateral character. Typical o o o o normal dip-slip faults are oriented ENE-WSW. That is, σ1 = 90 /80 axis, σ2 = 250 /10 and σ3 o o = 341 /3 trending NNW-SSE. T is compatible to σ3 and P to σ2 axes. Fault plane solutions determined teleseismically indicated the next nodal planes: NP1 (strike/dip/slip): 1040 / 820 / 60 (USGS), 170 / 600 / -1750 (Harvard); NP2 (strike/dip/slip): 130 / 840 / 1720 (USGS), 2850 / 860 / -300 (Harvard). The NNE-SSW elongation of the aftershock area implies that the nodal plane 2 of the USGS solution and the nodal plane 1 of the Harvard solution represent the fault plane. Then, it results that the motion in the seismic fault was a typical right lateral strike-slip with a small dip-slip component. For the Lefkada island the focal mechanisms of the 2003 event and the focal mechanism of Ref: T5-34 5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology Thessaloniki, Greece, 14-20 April 2004 small earthquakes in association with the sea floor topography and the neotectonic pattern on land, support the existence of a right lateral strike-slip fault which strikes NNE-SSW (5-15o). According to seismological data it is a 40km long structure. This fault can be considered as the northern Lefkada fault segment, the northern edge of the Cephalonia transform fault. Tak- ing into account the western Lefkada linear coastal morphology and strike, it can be divided into two shorter segments separated by Sesoula Islet, the southern and northern ones di- rected NNE-SSW and NE-SW, respectively. Taking into account the fault Length – Magnitude empirical relationships the surface fault length capable to produce co-seismic ruptures (topog- raphic expression) corresponding to magnitude M 6.2 to 6.5 earthquakes is of 8 to 18 km. That is about one half of the Lefkada fault zone, which has been activated during the last earthquake, the northern segment. A working hypothesis is that the two Lefkada segments behave independently. Figure 1. Stereographic projection (equal area, lower hemisphere) of representative striated neotectonic faults of northwestern-central Lefkada (as curves with arrows) and the strain-stress principal axes σ1 σ2 σ3, which are compatible to P, T and N axes aris- ing from the focal mechanism of the main shock. The Ionian islands have suffered from many destructive earthquakes. There is reliable detailed information for 24 events at least, since 1612 for Lefkada. Our evaluation of past earthquakes is based on the original manuscripts or second hand historical writings, (Newspapers “Aeon”, “Filomathon”, “Eho”; Archive of Lefkada for the seimicity of the island, File no 5; Barbiani D.& Barbiani G. 1864; Stamatelos 1870; Eginitis 1915; Maravelakis 1948; Galanopoulos 1955; Rondoyannis P. 1995; Papazachos & Papazachou, 1989/1997). A first conclusion arising from the list of historical events is that earthquakes appear in couples (twin or cluster events) with time period of occurrence ranging between 2 months and 5 years e.g. 1612-1613 (16 months); 1625-1630 (5years); 1722-1723 (10 months); 1767-1769 (2 year); 1783-1783 (2 months, possi- ble aftershock); 1867-1869 (2 years); 1914-1915 (2 months); 1948-1948 (2 months). The island suffered extensive ground failures and macroseismic effects, either to its northern part mainly, like the present event and the 1625,1630,1704, 1914 shocks, or also to its southern. The 2003 earthquake can be considered as the result of the rejuvenation of the northern Lefkada fault segment. The most characteristic co-seismic effects were typical ground failures like rock falls, soil liq- uefaction, ground cracks and particularly landslides. Rock falls and scree sliding were wide- spread on the whole island and especially on the western and central area. The most typical landslides were observed on the road net across the natural or artificial slopes, that is toppling and sliding, cm to 2m in length. Boulders up to 3-4m in diameter were observed along the 6km road of Tsoukalades - Pefkoulia - Agios Nikitas (epicentral area) accompanied by gravel, small rock and soil slides (row material). The falls follow a 10 to 40m high slope (200-300m morphological slope) in NNE-SSW fault zone, characterized by typical deep-slip normal and oblique faults, which are responsible for the high-angle dipping coast and deep-sea bathym- etry. Similar but less widespread phenomena were appeared in Kalamitsi, Dragano, Komilio, Ref: T5-34 5th International Symposium on Eastern Mediterranean Geology Thessaloniki, Greece, 14-20 April 2004 Figure 2. Ground failures observed after the 14th of August strong earthquake:,2,3,5 Rock falls in Pefkoulia and 7 in Agios Nikitas. 4, sand crater 1.5m long in Pefkoulia. 1, dock cracks and sand-silt flow in Lefkas town.6, craks -lateral spreading in Lygia. 9. landslide in Agios Petros village. 8,10 liquefaction in Nydri and Vassiliki. Agios Petros, Porto Katsiki. In most cases rock falls are directly associated to pre-existing tectonic discontinuities and steep slope within the thick or thin bedded limestone. Ground cracks (excessive displacements 10 to 100cm), deformation and damage to quay walls and backfills observed mainly in Lefkas town quay, Lygia, Nidri and Vassiliki (western part of the island mainly), were associated with compaction of the foundation soil, liquefaction and/or settlement. Liquefactions were: a) Lateral spreading with sand and silt flow, while some of them have shown water ejected during the event according to eye-witnesses, and b) "sand volcanoes" (or sand boils), with small craters (diameters of few centimetres) in Vasiliki (southern edge of the Island) or larger (up to 2 meters diameters) as in Peukoulia-Agios Nikitas, Myloi and Kathisma beach (waterfront sites). They were important phenomena for some docks, pave- ments and seawalls damages, especially in the Lefkas town, e.g. 5 to 12cm horizontal shift was observed. Soil amplification effects in Lefkas, Lygia and Nydri coastal zones were re- sponsible for extensive damage, because of the soft lacustrine and recent alluvial soils. The recorded peak ground acceleration was 0.42g (ITSAK). This high acceleration was observed on a site with alluvial soft sediments, alternating clay-silt-sand layers, which overlie relatively estiffr marls. Sandy silts arew of media to high plasticity (CH-CL).Water table is in 1 to 2m depth. From the liquefaction sites were taken representing samples, whose gradation having the possibility of liquefaction. Specifically the percent finer than 0.002 mm is 5.11% in the sample from Lefkas town, 10.40% for the sample from Basiliki and 4.98% from the Lefkas port sample. Also the liquid limit LL of these three samples is 25, 25.2 and 24.5 respectively.