Relative location and source mechanism of inland earthquakes in Northern Egypt

We have relocated 259 inland earthquakes in northern Egypt using the double-difference hypocenter technique. Among this dataset we are able to determine source mechanisms of 200 events using P-wave polarities and amplitude ratios as well. The studied earthquakes have been recorded by the Egyptian National Seismological Network from October 1997 to December 2006 with local magnitude (M_L) varies between 1.5 and 5.0. Three earthquake dislocations have been defined namely: Dahshour, southeast Beni-Suef, and Cairo-Suez district. Earthquake activities tend to occur in clusters along the first dislocation (Dahshour) however, relatively scattered along the second (southeast Beni-Suef) and the third (Cairo-Suez district) dislocations. At Dahshour dislocation three distinct clusters have been distinguished. Source mechanism solutions of Dahshour earthquakes displayed normal faulting with a strike-slip component to strike-slip faulting with a minor normal dip-slip component. Most of earthquake focal mechanism orientations are varying from NE-SW to NW-SE. The fault plane solutions of Beni-Suef earthquakes represented normal faulting with a strike-slip component. If the NNW-SSE striking plane has been chosen to be the actual fault plane, some solutions would indicated normal faulting with a sinistral strike-slip motion and other reflect normal faulting with a dextral strike-slip component. The fault plane solutions of Cairo-Suez district earthquakes are compatible with E-W to ENE-WSW striking normal fault with a dextral strike-slip motion.