Statistics of Characteristic Earthquakes

Yan Y. Kagan

Published February 1993, SCEC Contribution #5

Statistical methods are used to test the characteristic earthquake hypothesis. Several distributions of earthquake size (seismic moment-frequency relations) are described. Based on the results of other researchers as well as my own tests, evidence of the characteristic earthquake hypothesis can be explained either by statistical bias or statistical artifact. Since other distributions of earthquake size provide a simpler explanation for available information, the hypothesis cannot be regarded as proven.

Citation
Kagan, Y. Y. (1993). Statistics of Characteristic Earthquakes. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 83(1), 7-24.