Neotectonics and seismic dislocations in the epicentral area of the Racha earthquake

Abstract

The catastrophic earthquake of April 29, 1991 in northern Georgia was located within an area of active, highly differentiated neotectectonic movements; they had created mosaic of blocks of different height during the Pliocene-Quaternary which are principal elements of the present-day mountain topography. The main shock and subsequent aftershocks resulted in numerous surficial disturbances of seismic-gravitational and partly seismic-vibrational origin, such as rock falls and debris falls, landslides and rock slides, stony avalanches, snow-mudflows, fissures due to gravitation, vibration and pressure release, stones ejections etc. The seismic dislocations are concentrated within areas of most dense network of recent faults and most contrast movements on them.