On the spatial distribution of postseismic activity in the Khibiny Mountains

Using data on the seismicity of the Khibiny Mountains, it was shown that the distances from seismic events triggered by an earlier seismic event to their triggers obey a power-law distribution with a parameter independent of the magnitude of the trigger event. It was previously shown by Felzer & Brodsky [2006], Richards-Dinger et al. [2010] that the same distribution is appropriate for tectonic seismicity. Additionally, in the present paper, it was shown that in the Khibiny Mountains, the distribution of distances from seismic events to triggering explosions is also power-law. Thus, the power-law character of the spatial distribution of post-seismic activity takes place both for tectonic and mining-induced seismicity. The same type of distribution for postseismic and post blasting activities in the Khibiny Mountains gives a reason to suppose that the spatial distribution is determined by the features of the rock and does not depend on the mechanism of its perturbation (seismic event or explosion). The use of these features and the previously established laws of earthquake productivity verified for mining-induced seismicity, and seismic productivity of explosions, allows evaluating the zone where repeated events are expected with a given probability.