Location and source mechanism of the Karlsruhe earthquake of 24 September 2014

On 24 September 2014, a M L 2.3 earthquake occurred southwest of the urban area of Karlsruhe, Germany, which was felt by a few people (maximum intensity I 0 = III). It was the first seismic event in this highly populated area since an I 0 = VII earthquake in 1948. Data of 35 permanent and temporary seismometers were analysed to localise the event and to determine the focal mechanism to compare it to previous seismicity. Restricting the data to P- and S-phases from 18 nearby stations and optimising the local earth model result in an epicentre in the southwest of the city at 48.986°N/8.302°E and in a hypocentral depth of 10 km. To calculate the focal mechanism, 22 P- and 5 S H -polarities were determined that constrain a stable left lateral strike-slip focal mechanism with a minor thrusting component and nodal planes striking NE-SW and NW-SE. The epicentre lies in the vicinity of the I 0 = VII earthquake of 1948. Both events are part of the graben-parallel flower structure beneath the Upper Rhine Graben, parallel to the active Rastatt source zone, which runs 5 km further east and included the epicentre of the 1933 Rastatt I 0 = VII earthquake. The focal mechanisms of the 2014 and 1948 earthquakes show NE-SW striking nodal planes that dip to the southeast. However, for the 1948 event, a normal faulting mechanism was determined earlier. Taking the uncertainty of the epicentre and focal mechanism in 1948 and its fault dimensions into account, both events might have happened on the same fault plane.