G.P. Avdeiko, A.A. Palueva

The authors have accomplished a historic analysis of seismic events and energy which have occurred in the Kamchatka subduction zone since 1737. The strongest earthquakes with a high seismic energy were registered in the Avachinsky segment. They occurred in the flat part of the Pacific-Okhotsk interaction zone, in the bend of the Pacific plate, and in the Benioff zone. The majority of strong earthquakes and main relaxation of seismic energy in the six northern segments located between peninsulas of Shipunsky and Kamchatsky Cape were registered in the flat zones of the Pacific-Okhotsk interaction. All of them are confined to thrust blocks which look like elevated parts of the sea floor. Being the seismic gaps the thrust blocks in the North Shipunsky and Central Kronotsky segments pose a great threat. Main relaxation of seismic energy in three southern (South Kamchatsky, Khodutkinsky, and South Avachinsky) segments occurs in the bend of the Pacific plate. This is a place of a developed steady-state subduction regime.

Keywords: seismic tectonics, seismic gazard, historic analysis, banding, subduction, Kamchatka.