EGU23-13405
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13405
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The Berkovići (BA) 22 April 2022 earthquake sequence – seismological and seismotectonic analysis

Iva Dasović1, Davorka Herak2, Marijan Herak1, Helena Latečki1, Marin Sečanj1, Bruno Tomljenović3, Snježana Cvijić-Amulić4, Marija Mustać Brčić5, Tena Belinić Topić1, and Josip Stipčević1
Iva Dasović et al.
  • 1Andrija Mohorovičić Geophysical Institute, Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 2Andrija Mohorovičić Geophysical Institute, Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia – retired
  • 3Faculty of Mining, Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
  • 4Seismology Department, Republic Hydrometeorological Institute, Banja Luka, Republic of Srpska
  • 5Seismological Survey, Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

A strong earthquake, ML = 6.0 (MW = 5.7), occurred on 22 April 2022 at 21:07 UTC with an epicentre near Berkovići in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with focal depth of about 20 km. The earthquake was felt throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia (especially Dalmatia), but also in Slovenia, Italy (especially the western coast of the Adriatic), Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia. The maximum intensity of the earthquake was rated as VII–VIII EMS in Berkovići and Ljubinje. A young woman in Stolac lost her life from a rock slide caused by the earthquake. In the wider epicentral area the earthquake caused a number of large or small rock falls, many chimneys were damaged, tiles fell from the roofs, plaster fell off, and there were also large cracks in the walls.

By 31 October 2022, the DuFAULT project researchers located 6220 aftershocks (39 with ML≥ 3.0), with as many as 900 located in the first 12 h of the series. The strongest aftershock, ML = 4.9, occurred on 24 April 2022 at 4:27 UTC with focus at a depth of about 25 km and the epicentre also close to Berkovići. The vast majority of earthquakes have their foci relatively deep for this area, at depths between 15 and 28 km. Most of the epicentres form a compact group slightly elongated parallel to the NW-SE Dinaric strike, however two smaller groups northwest and southeast of the main group stand out with extension perpendicular to the Dinaric strike with somewhat shallower foci. The analysis of the focal mechanism and the hypocentral spatial distribution suggest that the mainshock resulted from the NE-SW directed compression and occurred on a reverse fault, on a moderately NE-dipping plane. Interestingly though, this series is also characterized by earthquakes released by a tension along the NE-SW striking and approximately 45° dipping normal faults, documented in the smaller north-western group.

We will present spatio-temporal analysis of seismicity, resulting focal plane solutions and seismotectonic interpretation.

How to cite: Dasović, I., Herak, D., Herak, M., Latečki, H., Sečanj, M., Tomljenović, B., Cvijić-Amulić, S., Mustać Brčić, M., Belinić Topić, T., and Stipčević, J.: The Berkovići (BA) 22 April 2022 earthquake sequence – seismological and seismotectonic analysis, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-13405, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-13405, 2023.