A Non-Extensive Statistical Physics View of the Temporal Properties of the Recent Aftershock Sequences of Strong Earthquakes in Greece

Greece is one of Europe's most seismically active areas. Seismic activity in Greece has been characterized by a series of strong earthquakes with magnitudes up to M-w = 7.0 over the last five years. In this article we focus on these strong events, namely the M(w)6.0 Arkalochori (27 September 2021), the M(w)6.3 Elassona (3 March 2021), the M(w)7.0 Samos (30 October 2020), the M(w)5.1 Parnitha (19 July 2019), the M(w)6.6 Zakynthos (25 October 2018), the M(w)6.5 Kos (20 July 2017) and the M(w)6.1 Mytilene (12 June 2017) earthquakes. Based on the probability distributions of interevent times between the successive aftershock events, we investigate the temporal evolution of their aftershock sequences. We use a statistical mechanics model developed in the framework of Non-Extensive Statistical Physics (NESP) to approach the observed distributions. NESP provides a strictly necessary generalization of Boltzmann-Gibbs statistical mechanics for complex systems with memory effects, (multi)fractal geometries, and long-range interactions. We show how the NESP applicable to the temporal evolution of recent aftershock sequences in Greece, as well as the existence of a crossover behavior from power-law (q not equal 1) to exponential (q = 1) scaling for longer interevent times. The observed behavior is further discussed in terms of superstatistics. In this way a stochastic mechanism with memory effects that can produce the observed scaling behavior is demonstrated. To conclude, seismic activity in Greece presents a series of significant earthquakes over the last five years. We focus on strong earthquakes, and we study the temporal evolution of aftershock sequences of them using a statistical mechanics model. The non-extensive parameter q related with the interevent times distribution varies between 1.62 and 1.71, which suggests a system with about one degree of freedom.

Automated summary

Greece has experienced a series of strong earthquakes in the past five years, including the 6.0 Arkalochori earthquake on September 27, 2021, and the 6.3 Elassona earthquake on March 3, 2021. We study the temporal evolution of aftershock sequences using a statistical mechanics model and find a crossover behavior from power-law to exponential scaling for the interevent times distribution.