Seismicity Rate and Radiated Energy of Earthquakes in Parts of the African Plate

Effect of Radiated Energy on Earthquakes

Abstract

The occurrence of earthquakes and radiated energy in parts of the African plate were evaluated. The data for this study were extracted from the International Seismological Centre (ISC) earthquake catalogue. The data were analysed using seismicity rate, radiated energy model and Gutenberg - Richter's relationship. The findings of the study revealed that seismicity rate in all the regions of Africa under study varies arbitrarily with time. The total seismicity rate was higher in north Africa, followed by south Africa, east Africa and the least in west Africa. The b-values were determined to to be 0.49 in north Africa, 0.47 in south Africa, 0.69 in east Africa and 1.58 in west Africa. This indicates that a large b-value in a region shows that small earthquakes occur frequently and a small b-value shows that small earthquakes are not so frequent and that large earthquakes are more likely to happen...................................................The energy per unit area per year follows this increasing trend in the order: north Africa - south Africa - east Africa - west Africa. This indicates that the radiated energy is highest in west Africa and lowest in north Africa. The implication of this study is that the regions of study are under stress especially north Africa and the lithospheric plate is gradually becoming unstable.