The 2001 Skyros, Northern Aegean, Greece, earthquake sequence: off - fault aftershocks, tectonic implications, and seismicity triggering

The Mw = 6.4 July 26, 2001 Skyros (North Aegean, Greece) earthquake struck the submarine western end of Northern Aegean Sea causing damage in the nearby Skyros Island. It occurred on a left‐lateral NW‐SE trending strike slip fault, oriented transverse to the dominant dextral strike‐slip faults that are present in the area, appearing to mark the boundary between them and the E‐W trending normal faults of the Greek mainland. Foreshock activity started 5 days before the mainshock, and intense aftershock activity followed on the main rupture plane and off fault. The seismogenic structure consists of three clusters with different orientation, independent from the known normal and dextral strike‐slip faults. Theoretical static stress changes from the main shock suggests off‐fault aftershock triggering, providing a tool for assessing the seismic hazard ensuing from strong aftershocks far from the main rupture.