Uncertainties in probability of occurrence of strong earthquakes for fault sources in the Central Apennines, Italy

摘要

Using the characteristic earthquake model, we calculate the probability of occurrence of earthquakes Mw > 5.5 for individual fault sources in the Central Apennines for the 30-year period (2007–2037). We show the effect of timedependent and time-independent occurrence (Brownian passage time (BPT) and Poisson) models together with uncertain slip rates and uncertain maximum magnitudes and, hence, uncertain recurrence times. In order to reduce the large prior geological slip rate uncertainty distribution for most faults, we obtain a posterior slip rate uncertainty distribution using a likelihood function obtained from regional historical seismicity. We assess the uncertainty of maximum magnitude by assuming that the uncertainty in fault width and length are described by a normal distribution with standard deviation equal to ±20% of the mean values.