South Australian earthquakes, 1980–92

The seismicity of South Australia over the period 1980–92 is presented as a follow‐up to earlier studies. The South Australian seismic network has undergone a significant expansion in the last decade, and with it an increase in the number and precision of located earthquakes. The distribution of recent seismic activity is similar to the historical pattern of earthquakes and the previous instrumental seismicity maps, all of which show the three main areas as being the Flinders‐Mt Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, and the southeast. The one notable exception in the recent study is the presence of earthquake activity in the Musgrave Block, a previously aseismic region. Intensity characteristics are reported for earthquakes that were sufficiently widely felt. Fault plane solutions for three Flinders Ranges earthquakes (previously unpublished) are also presented; the focal mechanisms are consistent with predominant northeast‐southwest compression. The seismic moment method was used to estimate the seismic risk for the major population centres in terms of probability of exceedance of seismic intensity within a given period. These estimates are based on the recurrence parameters and intensity attenuation function for the region. The results place Adelaide close to the AS2121 ‐ 1979 Earthquake Code Zone I/Zone 2 boundary.

Key words:

• earthquakes
• seismic intensity
• seismic risk
• South Australia