# Integrated Earthquake Catalog III: Gakkel Ridge, Knipovich Ridge, and Svalbard Archipelago
It should be noted that, until the 1970s, numerous researchers believed that the most seismically active zone in the Svalbard region was the area of the Mohn and Knipovich ridges. The territory of the archipelago itself was considered to be seismically quiet. However, on 18 January 1976, an earthquake with \(M\) = 5.7 occurred on the eastern coast of West Spitsbergen in the Storfjorden, which caused a revision of these views. On 21 February 2008, the strongest earthquake for the archipelago, with \(M\)w = 6.1, was recorded in the same area [18; 19]. Over the past few decades, the seismic network of the Svalbard Archipelago has continuously expanded and developed. Today, it consists of stationary stations equipped with digital seismometers and serves as a backbone network for cryoseismological research in the region. The seismic stations of NORSAR, GSN, GEOFON, and IGF PAS operate on the territory of the archipelago. In 2010, two seismic stations were installed in Barentsburg by the Kola Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with NORSAR [17; 18]. The Knipovich Ridge stretches for 550 km along the continental margin of the Svalbard Archipelago from 73 deg45 deg to 78 deg35 deg N. It is a section of mid-ocean ridges with an ultra-slow spreading rate of 15-17 mm/year. Like the Gakkel Ridge, it is not disrupted by transform faults [20; 21]. Within the rift valley, magmatic and magmatic segments can be distinguished. Magmatic segments are represented by volcanic ridges oriented perpendicularly to the direction of extension. Amagmatic segments are expressed as deep depressions on the rift valley floor located parallel to its axis [9]. Earthquakes with magnitudes of \(MW^{\rm{BCGEM}}\) = 6.54 and \(MW^{\rm{GCMT}}\) = 6.1 that occurred on 1 June 1915 and 9 September 1992, respectively, were the strongest events in the area of the Knipovich Ridge [15; 16]. The epicenters of three earthquakes with magnitudes of \(MW^{\rm{GCMT}}\) = 5.4, which occurred on 3 February 2000, 21 June 2009, and 22 June 2009, were also confined to the Knipovich Ridge [16]. At the same time, the strongest earthquake in the considered region was an event with a magnitude of \(MW^{\rm{GCMT}}\) = 6.7, which occurred on 20.07.1992 in the Molloy transform fault. Also, the epicenters of four earthquakes with a magnitude of \(MW^{\rm{GCMT}}\) \(\geq\) 6.0 were confined to the Molloy transform fault and Spitsbergen fracture zones area [16]. Until recently, earthquakes on the Gakkel and Knipovich ridges were only recorded at teleseismic distances with thresholds ranging from \(M\)\(\geq\) 4.5 to \(M\)\(\geq\) 3.5 for different segments. Information on weak seismicity is valuable for studying tectonic and volcanic processes occurring in rift zones. In this regard, it should be noted that the installation of stationary seismic stations of the Arkhangelsk seismic network on the Arctic archipelagos of Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya in 2012 allowed for the registering of low-magnitude events within the Gakkel Ridge at closer distances [22; 23]. It should be also noted that stations located in Svalbard (BERGEN, NORSAR, and KOLA) and Greenland (DNK) contribute to the registration of low-magnitude events within the Knipovich Ridge. The earthquake catalog of the Gakkel and Knipovich ridges is a fundamental basis for studying seismicity, regional segmentation, and seismotectonics of the poorly studied boundary between the Eurasian and North American plates. It should be noted that, in [24], the earthquake catalog was created, covering the area north of 72\({}^{\circ}\) N for the period 1955-1999. Using regional bathymetry and potential fields, a seismicity model was obtained and a segmentation of the interplate boundary was proposed. The present paper aims to create a unified integrated earthquake catalog of the Gakkel and Knipovich ridges, as well as the Svalbard Archipelago, merging all available data from Russian and international agencies.