Abstract
We perform a comparative statistical analysis between the acoustic-emission time series from the ancient Greek Athena temple in Syracuse and the sequence of nearby earthquakes. We find an apparent association between acoustic-emission bursts and the earthquake occurrence. The waiting-time distributions for acoustic-emission and earthquake time series are described by a unique scaling law indicating self-similarity over a wide range of magnitude scales. This evidence suggests a correlation between the aging process of the temple and the local seismic activity.
- Received 14 June 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.108503
© 2011 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Cathedral’s invisible earthquake damage
Published 10 March 2011
Properties of vibrations in a pillar in a -year-old Sicilian cathedral correlate with those of very small, nearby earthquakes, suggesting new ways of monitoring the gradual damage that such quakes can inflict on old buildings.
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