Recent vs. Historical Seismicity Analysis for Banat Seismic Region (western Part of Romania)

The present day seismic activity from a region reflects the active tectonics and can confirm the seismic potential of the seismogenic sources as they are modelled using the historical seismicity. This paper makes a comparative analysis of the last decade seismicity recorded in the Banat Seismic Region (western part of Romania) and the historical seismicity of the region (Mw≥4.0). Four significant earthquake sequences have been recently localized in the region, three of them nearby the city of Timisoara (January 2012 and March 2013) and the fourth within Hateg Basin, South Carpathians (October 2013). These sequences occurred within the epicentral areas of some strong historical earthquakes (Mw≥5.0). The main events had some macroseismic effects on people up to some few kilometers from the epicenters. Our results update the Romanian earthquakes catalogue and bring new information along the local seismic hazard sources models and seismotectonics.