Statistics of epicenters in the Olami–Feder–Christensen model in two and three dimensions

Recently, Abe and Suzuki pointed out that epicenters of earthquakes could be connected in order to generate a graph, with properties of a scale-free network. We have shown that the Olami–Feder–Christensen (OFC) model for the dynamics of earthquakes, defined both in square and cubic lattices, is able to reproduce this new behavior. The distribution of distances between successive earthquakes is also presented. Our results indicate the robustness of the OFC model to describe earthquake dynamics. Surprisingly, we found that only the non-conservative version of the OFC model generates a network with scale-free properties. The conservative version, instead, behaves like a random graph. The distribution of distances in 3-D and the distribution of connectivities in a 2-D lattice confirm the differences observed between the conservative and non-conservative regime.