Multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis of Pannonian earthquake magnitude series

The multifractality of the series of magnitudes of the earthquakes occurred in Pannonia region from 2002 to 2012 has been investigated. The shallow (depth less than 40 km) and deep (depth larger than 70 km) seismic catalogues were analysed by using the multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis. The shallow and deep catalogues are characterized by different multifractal properties: (i) the magnitudes of the shallow events are weakly persistent, while those of the deep ones are almost uncorrelated; (ii) the deep catalogue is more multifractal than the shallow one; (iii) the magnitudes of the deep catalogue are characterized by a right-skewed multifractal spectrum, while that of the shallow magnitude is rather symmetric; (iv) a direct relationship between the b-value of the Gutenberg Richter law and the multifractality of the magnitudes is suggested. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.