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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 9, Issue 13, December 2018, pp. 405-418, Article ID: IJCIET_09_13_040 Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijciet/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=13 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316 © IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

VISUALIZING IRAN-IRAQ EARTHQUAKES

OCCURRED BETWEEN 2016- 2018 USING

GEOSPATIAL TOOLS

Dr. Alauldeen Abdulrahman Hassan*

Assis. Prof, Surveying Engineering Technology, College of Technical Engineering, Middle Technical University, Baghdad, Iraq.

ABSTRACT

This paper analyzes the Iran-Iraq earthquakes occurred between 2016 and 2018

and provides visualizations of the events based on geospatial tools. Information like

earthquakes epicenter locations, magnitudes, depths, and the time when the events have

occurred exactly were collected from trusted online sources. This information was first

cleared and prepared in excel sheets before the actual geospatial analysis. Once the

data have been prepared, a geodatabase that holds the data and the metadata was

created. Geospatial tools provided in ESRI’s ArcGIS software were utilized to analyze

and visualize the data. This paper reports the results and provides insights on some

critical issues in relation to these disastrous events. The results suggest where the

governments and local planners should focus while upgrading existing or preparing

new projects.

Keywords: Earthquake, GIS, Geospatial, Visualization

Cite this Article: Dr. Alauldeen Abdulrahman Hassan, Visualizing Iran-Iraq Earthquakes Occurred Between 2016- 2018 Using Geospatial Tools, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 9(13), 2018, pp. 405–418

http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=9&IType=13

1. INTRODUCTION

Earthquakes are natural tragedies occur in many places worldwide because of a sudden energy generated by rock underground breaks along a fault. If an earthquake occurred, the plates of rock will start moving and will only stop when they get stuck again. The focus of an earthquake is defined as the spot where the rock breaks. Additionally, the epicenter of the earthquake is the place right above the focus (top of the ground).

Earthquakes frequently struck the border region between Iran and Iraq, causing severe infrastructure damage, injure and kill hundreds of people. This region is well known for its typically tectonic setting as an active continental collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates (Argand et al., 2005; Mouthereau et al., 2006; Vergés et al., 2011) (see Fig.1). Several

Dr. Alauldeen Abdulrahman Hassan


studies have been developed to understand this region describing its structural and tectonic characteristics – and relating these features with each other on local and regional scales (Stephenson et al., 2007; Wennberg et al., 2007). These studies have provided the researchers with important information to peruse further studies – including quantitative analysis of the major faults, visualizing earthquake information to reveal spatial patterns of the events and developing predictive models to locate potential events. Therefore, this study aims at developing spatial visualization of the earthquakes occurred between 2016 and 2018 in the border of Iran and Iraq region. This study provides visualized information about the epicenter, magnitude, and depth in relation to the events occurred during that period. In addition, a discussion on the main patterns revealed by our visualization is given.

Figure 1 Map showing the main structural zones and tectonic features border region between Iran and Iraq including the Zagros region (adapted from Hashemi and Baizidi, 2018).

2. MATERIALS AND DATA

The materials and dataset used in this research are open source and available online for free. The base maps are from the OpenStreetMap (Haklay and Weber, 2008) and Google Maps. The boundaries of the Iraqi districts are downloaded from DivaGIS (http://www.diva-gis.org), whereas information about the 2016-2018 earthquakes were obtained from (https://earthquaketrack.com). The collected data have undergone several cleaning and preparing steps to make it ready for analysis and visualization – which are explained in the Methods Section.

Information about a total of 88 earthquake events were found for the border region between Iran and Iraq and for the period of Jan 2016 and Jan 2018. The events are distributed as follows: 49 events occurred in 2018, 38 events occurred in 2017, and only one event occurred in 2016. The maximum magnitude of 7.3 (on 12 November 2017 at 34.905E, 45.956N) while the minimum magnitude was 3.7. Most of the earthquakes were occurred at depth of 10 m with some variations of 6, 6, 11, 12, 15, 16, 19, 22, 35 and 39 meters. See the details in Table 1.

Visualizing Iran-Iraq Earthquakes Occurred Between 2016- 2018 Using Geospatial Tools


Table 1: Information gathered on the recent (2016-2018) earthquakes occurred in the border region of Iran and Iraq.

E N Magnitude Date Time (UTC) Depth (km)

34.371 45.728 4.3 13-Nov-17 04:36 6

34.753 45.534 4.4 12-Nov-17 19:54 8

36.195 44.997 5.1 23-Aug-17 13:42 8

36.195 44.997 5.1 23-Aug-17 13:42 8

34.579 45.542 4.6 13-Nov-17 08:28 8

35.587 45.507 3.7 8-Jun-18 23:42 10

33.892 45.658 4 12-Nov-17 23:37 10

34.557 46.101 4 6-Jun-18 00:07 10

34.239 45.537 4 26-Jul-18 15:51 10

34.8 45.975 4.1 19-Nov-17 02:59 10

34.401 45.898 4.1 19-Nov-17 01:07 10

35.076 45.781 4.1 8-Dec-17 01:55 10

32.846 46.081 4.1 28-Apr-18 01:13 10

32.126 48.377 4.1 20-May-18 11:22 10

34.614 46.311 4.1 16-Jul-18 05:33 10

34.623 46.315 4.1 26-Aug-18 08:25 10

34.625 46.19 4.1 29-Aug-18 18:55 10

34.393 45.798 4.1 9-Sep-18 23:53 10

34.719 45.96 4.1 13-Sep-18 17:05 10

34.572 45.409 4.2 14-Nov-17 00:06 10

34.915 45.53 4.2 22-Nov-17 16:42 10

34.603 45.807 4.2 7-Jan-18 02:01 10

34.646 45.643 4.2 21-Jan-18 05:45 10

34.348 45.751 4.2 2-Apr-18 03:03 10

34.61 46.384 4.2 26-Aug-18 0:53 10

34.721 45.883 4.3 13-Nov-17 05:04 10

34.495 45.705 4.3 14-Nov-17 01:45 10

34.757 45.627 4.3 22-Nov-17 19:47 10

34.351 46.426 4.3 1-Dec-17 19:27 10

34.649 45.503 4.3 5-Jan-18 06:32 10

36.09 44.803 4.3 19-Feb-18 21:31 10

36.09 44.803 4.3 19-Feb-18 21:31 10

33.356 48.454 4.3 11-Jul-18 11:13 10

34.97 46.392 4.3 23-Jul-18 00:59 10

34.701 45.558 4.3 24-Jul-18 19:58 10

34.621 46.318 4.3 25-Jul-18 01:47 10

33.425 47.628 4.3 28-Jul-18 18:00 10

34.492 46.881 4.4 19-Mar-16 05:05 10

34.565 45.764 4.4 21-Dec-17 02:50 10

34.358 45.433 4.4 28-Mar-18 0:27 10

34.625 46.257 4.4 22-Jul-18 16:48 10

34.416 45.849 4.4 1-Sep-18 5:31 10

34.543 46.143 4.4 30-Sep-18 23:49 10

34.496 45.8 4.5 12-Nov-17 21:33 10

34.635 45.742 4.5 20-Nov-17 15:35 10



34.493 45.799 4.5 26-Nov-17 05:47 10

35.997 44.87 4.5 19-Feb-18 19:20 10

35.766 44.616 4.5 16-Apr-18 4:30 10

35.766 44.616 4.5 16-Apr-18 04:30 10

34.861 45.798 4.5 22-May-18 00:31 10

34.861 45.798 4.5 22-May-18 00:31 10

34.617 46.219 4.5 15-Jul-18 07:11 10

34.684 46.664 4.6 10-Jan-18 15:56 10

34.306 45.388 4.6 19-Feb-18 11:02 10

34.333 45.588 4.7 13-Nov-17 15:00 10

34.539 45.842 4.7 13-Nov-17 00:20 10

34.969 45.77 4.7 6-Dec-17 05:53 10

34.766 46.179 4.7 20-Dec-17 20:22 10

34.673 46.132 4.7 26-Jun-18 17:57 10

34.363 45.748 4.8 13-Nov-17 09:19 10

33.917 46.134 4.8 13-Nov-17 10:43 10

34.672 46.092 4.8 29-Aug-18 5:34 10

34.723 46.106 4.8 31-Aug-18 21:05 10

34.441 45.831 4.9 13-Nov-17 04:27 10

33.849 45.764 5.2 11-Jan-18 07:14 10

34.914 45.599 5.3 12-Nov-17 18:29 10

33.809 45.796 5.3 11-Jan-18 07:00 10

34.456 45.764 5.3 1-Apr-18 08:35 10

33.764 45.749 5.5 11-Jan-18 06:59 10

33.764 45.749 5.5 11-Jan-18 06:59 10

34.663 46.277 6 25-Aug-18 22:13 10

34.623 45.798 4.5 12-Nov-17 22:31 10

35.997 44.87 4.5 19-Feb-18 19:20 10

34.914 45.599 5.3 12-Nov-17 18:29 10

34.602 45.632 4.4 15-Nov-17 15:20 11

34.717 45.721 4 19-Dec-17 09:15 12

34.655 45.586 4.4 14-Nov-17 15:16 12

34.592 46.166 5.8 22-Jul-18 10:07 12

34.592 46.166 5.8 22-Jul-18 10:07 12

32.948 45.869 4.2 23-Sep-18 22:17 15

35.064 45.745 5.4 11-Dec-17 14:09 16

34.398 45.801 4.7 13-Nov-17 13:12 19

34.905 45.956 7.3 12-Nov-17 18:18 19

34.905 45.956 7.3 12-Nov-17 18:18 19

34.615 45.707 4.5 12-Nov-17 17:35 22

31.81 48.72 4.4 26-May-18 14:15 35

34.779 45.707 4.6 18-Nov-17 04:12 35

33.203 46.132 4.3 22-May-18 11:36 39

3. METHODS

This section explains the three methodological steps which applied to process the acquired earthquake data, visualize and interpret them. These three steps are data processing and



analysis, visualizing earthquake information, and interpolating earthquake samples. The details are given in the following sections.

3.1. Data Processing and Analysis

As mentioned before, the data of this research all acquired from online sources – this has put challenges in dealing with in-complete and uncertain samples. To ensure data quality, this research first has examined each single sample regarding the spatial information and other attached attributes using other sources of information. For example, the samples collected from the original earthquake data provider were examined in social media and other data providers to ensure data matching and thus data assigned correct otherwise removed from the database.

The second step of data processing and analysis involved data cleaning. In this step, the earthquake samples were examined regarding the information about the events. If missing information found, the raw was completely removed. Other data cleaning steps were data transformation from strings to integers, doubles and vice versa.

The final step was correcting the data format such that it works correctly in the geographic information system software. The format this research chosen is tabular (.csv) file with 88 observations and six features (e.g., latitudes, longitudes, magnitude, date, time, and depth).

3.2. Visualizing Earthquake Information

Spatial data visualization requires special tools like mapping with exact coordinates, transforming from space to another, visualizing attributes in addition to the feature location, and mapping tools that include scaling, colorizing, and many more. While there are many software that can be used to do so, the selection of one depends on specific criteria related to the application in hand. For earthquake information mapping, this research is chosen to use the ESRI’s best software of GIS known as ArcGIS 10.6. The advantages of this software over others include completeness – where one can create, manage, process, interpret, visualize, and report data in one platform easily and effectively. The other advantages that this software offers are a wide range of spatial and vector analytics, mapping and visualization tools.

In this research, information like the epicenter of earthquakes, their magnitudes, and depths at which they have happened are processed and visualized. The visualization was done in terms of mapping and attribute highlighting. With doing so, the produced maps can be used for rapid decision making as it provides fast access to the information. The decision makers and other users can find spatial patterns within the observations more effectively than just examining the tabular data. In addition, the proposed maps enable the decision makers to relate the information to each other and thus potentials to find patterns and causes and effects are higher.

3.3. Interpolating Earthquake Samples

Interpolating discrete samples enables better visualization over larger including unsampled areas. There are many interpolation methods that have been put in the hand of the users. Among the simple methods that rely on statistical hypotheses, inverse weighting distance (IDW) is what this research has utilized. As for other interpolation methods, the IDW method is based on the theory of that samples closer to each other have more correlations and similarities than those further. In IDW method, the correlations and similarities are proportional to the distance between them. This method also has another powerful property – the definition of neighboring radius and the related power to the distance reverse function. However, care should be taken

when applying IDW regarding the value of the power parameter � (Burrough and McDonnell, 1998). In addition, the size of the neighborhood and the number of neighbors is also relevant to the accuracy of the results.



�� =∑ ��. �

��

∑ ��

� �

(1)

Where:

�� Is the estimation value of variable � in point�, �� is the sample value in point �, � is the distance of sample point to estimated point, � is the coefficient that determines weigh based on a distance, � is the total number of predictions for each validation case.

4. RESULTS

This section illustrates the main visualizations produced for the earthquake events occurred in the border region between Iran and Iraq during 2016 and 2018. First, it presents the maps of the space-time distribution of the events. Then, it visualizes the magnitudes and the depths at which the earthquakes were happened. Finally, the3 results of the interpolated earthquake magnitudes and depth are presented and discussed.

4.1. Space-Time Distribution of Earthquakes

Figure 2 shows the space-time distribution map of the earthquakes investigated in this research. The map shows the epicenter of the earthquakes and highlights when (which year) each single event has occurred. This kind of visualization is helpful to the decision makers to rapidly analyze the occurrence of the earthquake events in the region and take actions for emergency services or for future planning.

The map shows that most of the events have occurred in the border between Iran, and two Iraqi provinces namely Diyala and Sulaymaniyah. Few earthquakes have occurred outside these areas including Kirkuk, North Sulaymaniyah, and Wassit. These few earthquakes most have occurred in the last year – 2017 while Sulaymaniyah have witnessed frequent events in 2017 and 2018. The data suggest that the three most risky regions in Iraq are the cities within Sulaymaniyah, Diyala, and Wassit, the former being the riskiest. These cities also vulnerable to the earthquakes that may happen in Iran not only within the cities themselves. This suggests more efforts should be considered to make better plans and managements for the most vulnerable cities where there are poor and unsustainable infrastructures. Plans and management efforts can help the people in those areas to get relief after any earthquake may happen more efficiently and quickly otherwise many people will suffer every year. Although the earthquakes of low magnitudes may not be that impactful – but these plans should take place anyway. The next section explains where the most disastrous earthquakes have occurred and most likely to happen in the future as well.



Figure 2: The distribution of the earthquakes through time (2016, 2017, and 2018) in the border region of Iran and Iraq.

4.2. Visualizing Magnitudes and Depths

The previous section demonstrated where the 2016, 2017, and 2018 earthquakes have occurred. However, visualizing the magnitudes of the event can reveal other sides of the disasters and there impacts to the people and infrastructures within the affected cities. For this purpose, Figure 3 shows the map that presents the magnitudes of the event highlighted by circles where the area of a circle indicates how strong the earthquake was regarding the magnitude scale. In addition, Figure 4 shows the depths at which these earthquakes have happened. These two



parameters are important to analyze the impacts of the events that had on the surrounding places. Decision makers can use such information to extract insights from the data to make plans for the potentials events that may occur in the future. The decision makers can also extrapolate the information present in the current maps to the future and get prepared for them.

The map shows that the most disastrous earthquakes (magnitudes higher than 5) have occurred in Sulaymaniyah and Diyala. While the data suggests that Wassit was or maybe is the safest place among these three areas in Iraq due to earthquake events. This does not mean that city planners and decision makers should not consider plans for the future of Wassit but rather it suggests having proper plans to suit their needs and the people in that city.

On the other hand, the data about the depth of the focus suggest that the earthquakes happened in these areas can be categorized as shallow (up to 70 km below the surface). The depths of the earthquake’s focus ranged from 6 to 39 meters. The strength of shaking from the earthquakes with 6-meter depth is considerably less than those with 39-meter. Figure 4 shows the depths variations of the events in the area. The earthquakes of small depths have concentrated in the border regions between Sulaymaniyah and Diyala. This again suggest efforts should be made to have plans and effective management services for the cities within these provinces. For example, online services that enable rapid assessment of earthquake hazards and access to real data should be placed to the public users. Thus, any user at any time can access to information that may help them with better understanding about their places and their vulnerability to earthquakes. Other actions that should be taken also include early warning systems, guidance in emergency situations through media and online services should be considered.



Figure 3: Map showing the epicenter of the earthquakes highlighting their magnitudes – red dots mean high values and small green dots being the lowest values.



Figure 4: Map showing the epicenter of the earthquakes highlighting their depth at which they have occurred – red dots mean high values and small green dots being the lowest values.



4.3 Interpolated Magnitudes and Depths

Besides presenting the acquired earthquake information – this research aimed at providing approximate inference about the unsampled places. This inference was about the magnitude and depth of the earthquake focus that have occurred in the border region between Iran and Iraq. This goal has been achieved through interpolating the sampled locations using the IDW interpolation method implemented in GIS software. Figure 5 and Figure 6 shows the interpolated maps of the magnitude and depth attributes. The maps are simple approximations of the attributes; however, they present important insights about earthquakes. The results suggest that the North of Iraq is the most vulnerable to earthquake hazards. This is obvious as the interpolated raster classified as high-risk magnitudes higher than 3. While the south and east of Iraq have lower risk level and the magnitudes of the potential earthquakes are less than 3.



Figure.5: Maps showing the interpolated depths (left) and magnitudes (right) of the earthquakes.



Figure.6: Maps highlighting the earthquakes that have large depths (left) and big magnitudes (right).

5. CONCLUSIONS

This research developed a simple yet important visualization of the 2016-2018 earthquakes that have occurred in the border region between Iran and Iraq. The data collected online and processed using geospatial analytics such as interpolation, geoprocessing, and mapping tools in ArcGIS 10.6 software. The focus of this study was on epicenter locations, magnitudes, depths, and the time when the events have occurred. The data contained 88 earthquake events for the period of Jan 2016 and Jan 2018. The events are distributed as follows: 49 events occurred in 2018, 38 events occurred in 2017, and only one event occurred in 2016. The maximum magnitude of 7.3 (on 12 November 2017 at 34.905E, 45.956N) while the minimum magnitude was 3.7. Most of the earthquakes were occurred at depth of 10 m. The results suggested that cities like Sulaymaniyah, Diyala, and Wassit have the high risk among the investigated areas. Thus, this study suggests that future plans and management efforts should be considered in these areas – and the neglect may cause much cost.



REFERENCES

[1] Hashemi, S. N., & Baizidi, C. (2018). 2-D Density and Directional Analysis of Fault Systems in the Zagros Region (Iran) on a Regional Scale. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 1-16.

[2] Agard, P., Omrani, J., Jolivet, L., & Mouthereau, F. (2005). Convergence history across Zagros (Iran): constraints from collisional and earlier deformation. International journal of earth sciences, 94(3), 401-419.

[3] Mouthereau, F., Lacombe, O., & Meyer, B. (2006). The Zagros folded belt (Fars, Iran): constraints from topography and critical wedge modelling. Geophysical Journal International, 165(1), 336-356.

[4] Vergés, J., Saura, E., Casciello, E., Fernandez, M., Villaseñor, A., Jiménez-Munt, I., & García-Castellanos, D. (2011). Crustal-scale cross-sections across the NW Zagros belt: implications for the Arabian margin reconstruction. Geological Magazine, 148(5-6), 739-761.

[5] Stephenson, B. J., Koopman, A., Hillgartner, H., McQuillan, H., Bourne, S., Noad, J. J., & Rawnsley, K. (2007). Structural and stratigraphic controls on fold-related fracturing in the Zagros Mountains, Iran: implications for reservoir development. Special Publication-Geological Society of London, 270, 1.

[6] Wennberg, O. P., Azizzadeh, M., Aqrawi, A. A. M., Blanc, E., Brockbank, P., Lyslo, K. B., ... & Svånå, T. (2007). The Khaviz Anticline: an outcrop analogue to giant fractured Asmari Formation reservoirs in SW Iran. Geological society, London, special publications, 270(1), 23-42.

[7] Haklay, M., & Weber, P. (2008). Openstreetmap: User-generated street maps. Ieee Pervas Comput, 7(4), 12-18.

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