Seismo- and neotectonics in Finnmark, Kola and the southern Barents Sea .2. Seismological analysis and seismotectonics

A detailed review and analysis of seismological data acquired since 1979 from Finnmark, Kola and the southern Barents Sea has provided a much improved delineation of the earthquake activity in that region. In the Barents Sea the seismicity is confined only to the western areas, while the Finnmark-Kola coastal areas show some seismicity only north and east of Murmansk, in the Rybachi-Cape Tereberski region. Further inland there are several clear seismicity lineations that to some extent can be correlated with postglacial faults, including the NE-SW striking Stuoragurra Fault in Finnmark. The spatial correlation between seismicity and mapped faults is interpreted in general as a reflection of broad zones of weakness that respond to the present-day stress field. A detailed analysis of the earthquakes in this area has also shown a dynamic consistency in that they reveal a reverse faulting pattern that is consistent with a detailed geological study that includes a core drilling. The dominant horizontal stress direction in this region is NNW-SSE, consistent with the ''ridge push'' effect.