Palaeoseismicity of the Oquirrh fault, Utah from shallow seismic tomography

The magnitude and frequency of normal-fault palaeoearthquakes are usually determined by trenching studies that ascertain the size and number of colluvial wedges along the fault. Such information can be invaluable in predicting the seismic hazard and potential for a future earthquake in that region. Digging trenches across normal faults, however, is environmentally intrusive, expensive and limited in the penetration depth. To overcome these problems we propose the use of 3-D seismic tomography as a means to identify the shapes and sizes of colluvial wedges along normal faults. As an example,2-D and 3-D seismic surveys were conducted across the Oquirrh fault, Utah with the purpose of imaging the normal-fault structure to a depth of about 10  m. Results show that the 3-D tomogram clearly delineates the fault zone and a colluvial wedge, both of which correlate extremely well with the geological cross-section interpreted from an adjacent trench. The thickness of the colluvial wedge image is used in conjunction with a seismic section to compute an estimate of a 6.8 moment magnitude earthquake for the most recent event on this fault, which is in close agreement with the 7.0 estimate based on a nearby trenching study. These tomographic results demonstrate, for the first time, that seismic imaging methods can be used in some cases to estimate unambiguously the shapes of colluvial wedges and the sizes of prehistoric earthquakes. Thus, seismic tomography has the possibility of providing cheaper, deeper and wider, but less resolved, images of fault systems than the intrusive excavation of trenches across faults.     

数字高程模型在活动断层位置及地表变形变位特征提取研究中的应用

活动断层的位置分布及其地表变形变位特征的准确识别是研究和评价活动断层的基础,国内外学者利用数字高程模型(DEM)对断层提取进行了大量研究。本文基于DEM的活动断层位置的提取方法进行综述,总结了DEM提取断层位置的地貌形态特征分析、图像处理以及综合处理提取方法,突出介绍了高分辨率DEM在详细的断层位置分布提取中的优势,DEM在断层地表变形变位及其特征参数提取研究中的最新应用进展。随着高分辨率DEM的快速发展,DEM及其空间分析技术已成为一种常见的地学研究方法,将其与野外调查、遥感、测年等技术结合进行综合分析,能够促进对活动断层的深入研究,并成为断层定量化研究强有力的技术手段。     

A major seismogenic fault in a 'silent area': the Castrovillari fault (southern Apennines, Italy)

Large historical earthquakes in Italy define a prominent gap in the Pollino region of the southern Apennines. Geomorphic and palaeoseismological investigations in this region show that the Castrovillari fault (CF) is a major seismogenic source that could potentially fill the southern part of this gap. The surface expression of the CF is a complex, 10–13 km long set of prominent scarps. Trenches across one scarp indicate that at least four surface-faulting earthquakes have occurred along the CF since Late Pleistocene time, each producing at least 1 m of vertical displacement. The length of the fault and the slip per event suggest M =6.5-7.0 for the palaeoearthquakes. Preliminary radiocarbon dating coupled with historical considerations imply that the most recent of these earthquakes occurred between 380 BC and 1200 AD, and probably soon after 760 AD; no evidence for this event has been found in the historical record. We estimate a minimum recurrence interval of 1170 years and a vertical slip rate of 0.2-0.5 mm yr^-1 for the CF, which indicates that the seismic behaviour of this fault is comparable to other major seismogenic faults of the central-southern Apennines. The lack of mention or the mislocation of the most recent event in the historical seismic memory of the Pollino region clearly shows that even in Italy, which has one of the longest historical records of seismicity, a seismic hazard assessment based solely on the historical record may not be completely reliable, and shows that geological investigations are critical for filling possible information gaps.     

Mechanics of normal fault networks subject to slip-weakening friction

We seek to understand how the stress interactions and the slip-weakening process combine within a non-coplanar, normal fault network to allow a slip instability to develop, and shape the final slip distribution on the system. In a first part, we perform a non-linear spectral analysis to investigate the conditions of stability and the process of slip initiation in an antiplane non-coplanar fault system subject to a slip-dependent friction law. That numerical model allows determining the zones that are able to slip within a fault network, as well as the location of the stress singularities. The resulting slip profiles on the faults show only a few different shapes, some of them with long, linear sections. This leads to formulate a general classification of slip profiles that can be used to infer the degree of fault interaction within any non-coplanar system. In a second part of work, we use our modelling to try reproducing the cumulative slip profiles measured on three real normal interacting faults forming a large-scale en echelon system. For that, we assume that cumulative slip profiles can be compared to the first static modal solution of our conceptual model. We succeed reproducing the profiles quite well using a variable weakening along the faults. Overall, the weakening rate decreases in the direction of propagation of the fault system. Yet, modelling the slip along the propagating, isolated termination segment of the system requires an unlikely distribution of weakening. This suggests that factors not considered in our analysis may contribute to slip profile shaping on isolated, propagating faults.     

A study on neogene volcanic landforms of the middle Tanlu fault belt

Neogene volcanic group (also called Linchang volcanic group) in Shandong is mainly distributed in the fault basins of Linqu and Changle area, the west block of the Middle belt of Tanlu fault belt. Its formation is related to the huge strike-slip activities of Tanlu fault belt and the shrinkage of Bohai Sea basin[1]. It is the famous protected area of Shanwang paleontologic fossil in the world, and also the famous mining area of sappire and diatomite in the country. It is of important impli…