High-grade earthquakes of tectonic origin: causes and forecast: The case of the Chechen Republic

Abstract

The article is devoted to earthquakes and seismicity, brief information about the formation and development of seismology is given. There are three stages in the formation of seismology as a science: descriptive: covering the second half of the 19th century; the development of seismology in the system of geological sciences; and the stage of development of seismology in the system of physical and mathematical sciences. Distinctive features of earthquakes from other natural disasters are given, their classification according to various criteria – according to the depth of the focus, according to the mechanism of manifestation, and so on. The connection of earthquakes with the fault-block structure of the territory is noted. The purpose of this work is to present general information about earthquakes, their types, seismicity criteria, and in assessing the current state of the problem of earthquake prediction. The main methods are comparative analysis and generalization of theoretical data and practical manifestations of earthquakes in different regions, etc. When studying the seismicity of the region, earthquake catalogs, stock materials and published scientific papers were used. On the example of the study of earthquakes in different regions, it was noted that their seismicity is mainly associated with the structural and tectonic features of the territory. Based on the study of earthquakes that occurred in different regions in the 20th century, their unpredictability and the impossibility of predicting their centers, time and strength are stated. At the same time, in the future, the forecast of earthquakes is not excluded with constant monitoring in order to identify anomalous phenomena, organize, collect, systematize, analyze and process seismic data, including earthquake precursors.