New Possibilities of Geomorphological and Tectonophysical Methods for Analyzing Seismicity as Applied to the Northwestern Caucasus and Voronezh Anteclise

Abstract

The paper shows the possibilities of complex morphometric analysis of the relief and computer modeling of modern geodynamics to identify seismically active areas in two different regions well studied in seismotectonic terms: the Northwestern Caucasus and the Voronezh anteclise. At the quantitative level, the majority of earthquake epicenters are associated with areas of increased values of a number of morphometric characteristics of the relief (depth of vertical dissection, steepness of slopes, density of lineaments and elongation lines, etc.). Computer modeling has been used to identify areas of possible formation of new fractures, within which 80 and 65% of earthquake epicenters of the Northwestern Caucasus and Voronezh anteclise, respectively, are located. The shares of the area of these regions are 55% (for the Northwestern Caucasus) and 36% (for the Voronezh anteclise), which indicates the informative nature of the results obtained. The research is significant, because the methods and approaches used may be in demand when delineating inferred seismically active areas of territories where detailed seismological observations have not been carried out.