COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF RECENT GRAVITY AND CRUSTAL DEFORMATION IN NORTHWESTERN GUANGXI |
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| Authors: | WEN Xiang ZHOU Bin SHI Shui-ping QIN Jian LI Jia-ning HE Yan YAN Chun-heng LUO Yuan-peng |
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| Affiliation: | Earthquake Agency of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530022, China |
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| Abstract: | Northwest Guangxi is located in the Youjiang fold belt and the Hunan-Guangxi fold belt of secondary structure unit of South China fold system. The South China fold was miogeosyncline in the early Paleozoic, the Caledonian fold returned and transformed into the standard platform, and the Indosinian movement ended the Marine sedimentary history, which laid the basic structural framework of this area. Since the neotectonic period, large areas have been uplifted intermittently in the region and Quaternary denudation and planation planes and some faulted basins have been developed. Affected by the strong uplift of Yunnan-Guizhou plateau, the topography of the region subsides from northwest to southeast, with strong terrain cutting and deep valley incision. Paleozoic carbonate rocks and Mesozoic clastic rocks are mainly exposed on the earth's surface, and its geomorphology is dominated by corrosion and erosion landforms. The dating results show that most of the structures in northwest Guangxi are middle Pleistocene active faults, and the movement mode is mainly stick-slip. According to the seismogeological research results of the eastern part of the Chinese mainland, the active faults of the middle Pleistocene have the structural conditions for generating earthquakes of about magnitude 6. In the northwest Guangxi, the crustal dynamic environment and geological structure are closely related to Sichuan and Yunnan regions. Under the situation that magnitude 6 earthquakes occurred successively in Sichuan and Yunnan region and magnitude 7 earthquakes are poised to happen, the risk of moderately strong earthquakes in the northwest Guangxi region cannot be ignored. Based on the analysis of deep structure and geophysical field characteristics, it is concluded that the Tian'e-Nandan-Huanjiang area in the northwestern Guangxi is not only the area with strong variation of the Moho surface isobath, but also the ML3.0 seismic gap since September 2015, and the abnormal low b value area along the main fault. Regions with these deep structural features often have the conditions for moderately strong earthquakes. The paper systematically analyzes the spatial and temporal distribution features and mechanism of regional gravitational field and horizontal crust movement and further studies and discusses the changes of regional gravitational field, crustal horizontal deformation and interaction between geologic structure and seismic activity based on 2014-2018 mobile gravity measurements and 2015-2017 GPS observation data in the northwestern Guangxi. The results show that:1)On July 15, 2017, a MS4.0 earthquake in Nandan happened near the center of four quadrants of changes of gravity difference, and the center of abnormal area is located at the intersection of the Mulun-Donglang-Luolou Fault, the Hechi-Nandan Fault and the Hechi-Yizhou Fault. The dynamic graph of differential scale gravitational field reflects the gravity changes at the epicenter before and after the Nandan earthquake, which is a process of system evolution of "local gravity anomaly to abnormal four-quadrant distribution features → to earthquake occurring at the turning point of gravity gradient zone and the zero line to backward recovery variation after earthquake". Meanwhile, according to the interpretation of focal mechanism of the Nandan earthquake, seismogram and analysis of seismic survey results, the paper thinks that the four-quadrant distribution of positive and negative gravity, which is consistent with the effect of strike-slip type seismogenic fault before Nandan earthquake, demonstrates the existence of dextral strike-slip faulting; 2)The pattern of spatial distribution of gravitational field change in northwestern Guangxi is closely related to active fault. The isoline of cumulative gravity generally distributes along Nandan-Hechi Fault and Hechi-Yizhou Fault. The gravity on both sides of the fault zone is different greatly, and gradient zone has influences on a broad area; the spatial distribution of deformation field is generally featured by horizontal nonuniformity. Tian'e-Nandan-Huanjiang area is located at the high gradient zone of gravity changes and the horizontal deformation surface compressional transition zone, as well as near the intersection of Hechi-Yizhou Fault, Hechi-Nandan Fault and Du'an-Mashan Fault; 3)The geometric shape of gravitational field in northwestern Guangxi corresponds to the spatial distribution of horizontal crustal movement, which proves the exchange and dynamic action of material and energy in the region that cause the change and structural deformation of fault materials and the corresponding gravity change on earth's surface. The recent analysis of abnormal crustal deformation in northwestern Guangxi shows that Tian'e-Nandan-Huanjiang is a gradient zone of abnormal gravity change and also a horizontal deformation surface compressional transition zone. It locates at the section of significant change of Moho isobaths, the seismicity gap formed by ML3.0 earthquakes and the abnormal low b-value zone. According to comprehensive analysis, the region has the risk of moderately strong earthquake. |
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| Keywords: | northwestern Guangxi gravity change GPS tectonic activity seismic risk |
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