Articles | Volume 24, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-179-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/npg-24-179-2017
Research article
 | 
27 Apr 2017
Research article |  | 27 Apr 2017

Sandpile-based model for capturing magnitude distributions and spatiotemporal clustering and separation in regional earthquakes

Rene C. Batac, Antonino A. Paguirigan Jr., Anjali B. Tarun, and Anthony G. Longjas

Abstract. We propose a cellular automata model for earthquake occurrences patterned after the sandpile model of self-organized criticality (SOC). By incorporating a single parameter describing the probability to target the most susceptible site, the model successfully reproduces the statistical signatures of seismicity. The energy distributions closely follow power-law probability density functions (PDFs) with a scaling exponent of around −1. 6, consistent with the expectations of the Gutenberg–Richter (GR) law, for a wide range of the targeted triggering probability values. Additionally, for targeted triggering probabilities within the range 0.004–0.007, we observe spatiotemporal distributions that show bimodal behavior, which is not observed previously for the original sandpile. For this critical range of values for the probability, model statistics show remarkable comparison with long-period empirical data from earthquakes from different seismogenic regions. The proposed model has key advantages, the foremost of which is the fact that it simultaneously captures the energy, space, and time statistics of earthquakes by just introducing a single parameter, while introducing minimal parameters in the simple rules of the sandpile. We believe that the critical targeting probability parameterizes the memory that is inherently present in earthquake-generating regions.

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Short summary
The sandpile-based model is the paradigm model of self-organized criticality (SOC), a mechanism believed to be responsible for the occurrence of scale-free (power-law) distributions in nature. One particular SOC system that is rife with power-law distributions is that of earthquakes, the most widely known of which is the Gutenberg–Richter (GR) law of earthquake energies. Here, we modify the sandpile to be of use in capturing the energy, space, and time statistics of earthquakes simultaneously.