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THE JANUARY 15, 2023, KLOSI EARTHQUAKE WITH MS 4.8 AND ITS SEISMOGENIC ZONE
Abstract
On January 15, 2023 (at 21:37 GMT), a moderate Ms4.8 earthquake occurred 4km southwest of the Klosi area and 24km north of Tirana. It was felt over a larger area of northern and central Albania. The earthquake sequence extended along the Nderfushas-Petralb-Gurre e Vogel tectonic fault zone, which is exposed on the ground for a length of about 25 km. The region affected by the January 2023 sequence, along with the seismogenic region of the August 11, 2018, moderate Ms5.2 earthquake, forms a roughly northeast to southwest-trending active seismotectonic zone in northeastern Albania. This tectonic segment is part of the Bulqiza-Burrel-Macukull seismogenic fault zone. For this analysis, local and regional data concerning the epicentral locations, focal mechanisms, and macro-seismic data of the January 2023 earthquake were used. The focal mechanisms of the main shocks indicate that deformation is taken up by NNE to SSW-trending normal faults with strike-slip elements, in agreement with the approximately east to west extension previously identified within the Albanian orogeny. The focal mechanism solution shows that a normal active fault zone is responsible for triggering the January 15, 2023, earthquake. The focal depth analysis reveals that this seismic series was mainly generated in the shallow upper crust under the tectonic conditions of this area. Analysis of this earthquake, along with some other recently moderate earthquakes and seismic activity, sheds light on the seismotectonics of the area and the stress field. The Nderfushas-Petralb-Gurre e Vogel fault zone presents a threat to nearby urban areas.
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References7
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