The MWÂ =Â 6.3 2003 Lefkada earthquake (Greece) and induced stress transfer changes

A large earthquake of magnitude MW = 6.3 occurred on 14 August 2003 NW of the Lefkada Island, which is situated at the Ionian Sea (western Greece). The source parameters of this event are determined using body-wave modeling. The focal depth was found equal to 9 km, the constrained focal mechanism revealed dextral strike-slip motion (φ = 15°, Δ = 80° and λ = 170°), the duration of the source time function was 8 s and the seismic moment 2.9 × 1025 dyn cm. The earthquake occurred close to the northern end of the Kefallinia transform fault, where the 1994 moderate event and its aftershock sequence were also located. The epicentral distribution of the 2003 aftershock sequence revealed the existence of two clusters. The first one is located close to the epicentral area of the mainshock, while the second southern, close to the northwestern coast of the Kefallinia Island. A gap of seismicity is observed between the two clusters. The length of the activated zone is approximately 60 km. The analysis of data revealed that the northern cluster is directly related to the mainshock, while the southern one was triggered by stress transfer caused by the main event.