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Localisés à distance des grandes limites de plaques lithosphériques, les domaines intraplaques présentent de faibles vitesses de déformation géologique, se traduisant par des niveaux de sismicité faibles à modérés, avec des temps de retour longs entre deux séismes significatifs. Dans ces régions, les processus de surface sont plus rapides que les processus tectoniques et tendent à effacer les éventuelles traces de rupture laissées en surface par des séismes majeurs du passé. L’estimation de l’activité des failles dans de tels contextes nécessite la mise en œuvre d’une approche pluridisciplinaire combinant géophysique, géologie et paléosismologie. Nous présentons ici l’approche développée par EDF, dans le cadre de ses études d’aléa sismique, pour améliorer la connaissance des failles en France métropolitaine, en se focalisant sur l’utilisation de la sismique réflexion (imagerie) à différentes échelles. Les lignes sismiques de Haute Résolution (HR ; i.e. sismique profonde de type pétrolière) permettent d’estimer la localisation et la géométrie des failles en profondeur, ainsi que leur histoire cinématique. La sismique ultra haute résolution en ondes S (UHRS) donne quant à elle une information sur la localisation des failles en très proche surface et permet de localiser d’éventuelles tranchées paléosismologiques visant à analyser l’activité des failles.

Earthquake hazard analyses rely on seismogenic source models. These are designed in various fashions, such as point sources or area sources, but the most effective is the three-dimensional representation of geological faults. We here refer to such models as fault sources. This study presents the European Fault-Source Model 2020 (EFSM20), which was one of the primary input datasets of the recently released European Seismic Hazard Model 2020. The EFSM20 compilation was entirely based on reusable data from existing active fault regional compilations that were first blended and harmonized and then augmented by a set of derived parameters. These additional parameters were devised to enable users to formulate earthquake rate forecasts based on a seismic-moment balancing approach. EFSM20 considers two main categories of seismogenic faults: crustal faults and subduction systems, which include the subduction interface and intraslab faults. The compiled dataset covers an area from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Caucasus and from northern Africa to Iceland. It includes 1248 crustal faults spanning a total length of ∼95100 km and four subduction systems, namely the Gibraltar, Calabrian, Hellenic, and Cyprus arcs, for a total length of ∼2120 km. The model focuses on an area encompassing a buffer of 300 km around all European countries (except for Overseas Countries and Territories) and a maximum of 300 km depth for the subducting slabs. All the parameters required to develop a seismic source model for earthquake hazard analysis were determined for crustal faults and subduction systems. A statistical distribution of relevant seismotectonic parameters, such as faulting mechanisms, slip rates, moment rates, and prospective maximum magnitudes, is presented and discussed to address unsettled points in view of future updates and improvements. The dataset, identified by the DOI https://doi.org/10.13127/efsm20 (Basili et al., 2022), is distributed as machine-readable files using open standards (Open Geospatial Consortium). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainland France is part of a plate interior with a strong structural heritage, undergoing a low rate of deformation, where destructive earthquakes can nevertheless occur. In this paper, we emphasize that the knowledge of active faults is still largely fragmentary, and that significant efforts are needed to generate robust data, in particular on the numerous faults, that still lack any study. This is the aim of the “Failles ACTives France” (FACT) axis launched in the framework of the Transverse Seismicity Action (ATS) of the Resif-Epos consortium. We present some recent investigations carried out along suspected active faults in mountainous areas, their forelands and remote lowlands, which implement new approaches and new tools, and allow characterizing their Quaternary activity.

Earthquake hazard analyses rely on the availability of seismogenic source models. These are designed in different fashions, such as point sources or area sources, but the most effective is the three-dimensional representation of geological faults. We here refer to such models as fault sources. This study presents the European Fault-Source Model 2020 (EFSM20), which formed the basis for one of the primary input datasets of the recently released European Seismic Hazard Model 2020. The EFSM20 compilation was entirely based on reusable data from existing active fault regional compilations that were first blended and harmonized and then augmented by a set of derived parameters. These additional parameters were devised to enable users to formulate earthquake rate forecasts based on a seismic-moment balancing approach. EFSM20 considers two main categories of seismogenic faults: crustal faults and subduction systems. The compiled dataset covers an area from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Caucasus and from northern Africa to Iceland. It includes 1,248 crustal faults spanning a total length of ~95,100 km and four subduction systems, namely the Gibraltar, Calabrian, Hellenic, and Cyprus Arcs. The model focuses on an area encompassing a buffer of 300 km around all European countries (except for Overseas Countries and Territories, OTCs) and a maximum of 300 km depth for the subducting slabs. All the parameters required to develop a seismic source model for earthquake hazard analysis were determined for crustal faults and subduction systems. A statistical distribution of relevant seismotectonic parameters, such as faulting mechanisms, slip rates, moment rates, and prospective maximum magnitudes, is presented and discussed to address unsettled points in view of future updates and improvements. The dataset, identified by the DOI https://doi.org/10.13127/efsm20, is distributed as machine-readable files using open standards (Open Geospatial Consortium). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classical Backus–Gilbert method seeks localized Earth-structure averages at the shortest length scales possible, given a data set, data errors, and a threshold for acceptable model errors. The resolving length at a point is the width of the local averaging kernel, and the optimal averaging kernel is the narrowest one such that the model error is below a specified level. This approach is well suited for seismic tomography, which maps 3-D Earth structure using large sets of seismic measurements. The continual measurement-error decreases and data-redundancy increases have reduced the impact of random errors on tomographic models. Systematic errors, however, are resistant to data redundancy and their effect on the model is difficult to predict. Here, we develop a method for finding the optimal resolving length at every point, implementing it for surface-wave tomography. As in the Backus–Gilbert method, every solution at a point results from an entire-system inversion, and the model error is reduced by increasing the model-parameter averaging. The key advantage of our method stems from its direct, empirical evaluation of the posterior model error at a point. We first measure inter-station phase velocities at simultaneously recording station pairs and compute phase-velocity maps at densely, logarithmically spaced periods. Numerous versions of the maps with varying smoothness are then computed, ranging from very rough to very smooth. Phase-velocity curves extracted from the maps at every point can be inverted for shear-velocity (V S) profiles. As we show, errors in these phase-velocity curves increase nearly monotonically with the map roughness. We evaluate the error by isolating the roughness of the phase-velocity curve that cannot be explained by any Earth structure and determine the optimal resolving length at a point such that the error of the local phase-velocity curve is below a threshold. A 3-D V S model is then computed by the inversion of the composite phase-velocity maps with an optimal resolution at every point. The estimated optimal resolution shows smooth lateral variations, confirming the robustness of the procedure. Importantly, the optimal resolving length does not scale with the density of the data coverage: some of the best-sampled locations display relatively low lateral resolution, probably due to systematic errors in the data. We apply the method to image the lithosphere and underlying mantle beneath Ireland and Britain. Our very large data set was created using new data from Ireland Array, the Irish National Seismic Network, the UK Seismograph Network and other deployments. A total of 11 238 inter-station dispersion curves, spanning a very broad total period range (4–500 s), yield unprecedented data coverage of the area and provide fine regional resolution from the crust to the deep asthenosphere. The lateral resolution of the 3-D model is computed explicitly and varies from 39 km in central Ireland to over 800 km at the edges of the area, where the data coverage declines. Our tomography reveals pronounced, previously unknown variations in the lithospheric thickness beneath Ireland and Britain, with implications for their Caledonian assembly and for the mechanisms of the British Tertiary Igneous Province magmatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vast majority of local seismic events detected in Ireland by the Irish National Seismic Network (INSN) each year are explosions. In addition, several small (ML < 2) earthquakes are detected around Ireland and its near offshore regions. To avoid contamination of earthquake catalogs by man-made seismic events such as quarry and mining blasts, a robust discriminant or set of discriminants is necessary. To date, discrimination of events recorded at the INSN has been done using time and location. The most common technique for discrimination between seismic signals involves comparing the relative amplitude of the P and S phases of the signal. Another technique, the spectral ratio, involves comparing the ratio of the low-frequency to high-frequency regions of the signal amplitude spectrum, usually applied to S-waves. Successful discrimination at local distances has been achieved with both of these techniques in various regions worldwide. We investigate the performance of these discriminants on 1500 local seismic events recorded during the time period 2010-2017, taking advantage of the unprecedented seismic network coverage of Ireland during this period. Our study shows significant overlap at local distances between earthquakes and explosions using the P/S amplitude ratio discriminant, whereas a much higher level of discrimination is achieved by applying the spectral ratio discriminant to S-waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]