Preliminary analysis on the source properties and seismogenic structure of the 2017 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>s</Subscript>7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake

At GMT time 13:19, August 8, 2017, an M_s7.0 earthquake struck the Jiuzhaigou region in Sichuan Province, China, causing severe damages and casualties. To investigate the source properties, seismogenic structures, and seismic hazards, we systematically analyzed the tectonic environment, crustal velocity structure in the source region, source parameters and rupture process, Coulomb failure stress changes, and 3-D features of the rupture plane of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. Our results indicate the following: (1) The Jiuzhaigou earthquake occurred on an unmarked fault belonging to the transition zone of the east Kunlun fault system and is located northwest of the Huya fault. (2) Both the mainshock and aftershock rupture zones are located in a region where crustal seismic velocity changes dramatically. Southeast to the source region, shear wave velocity at the middle to lower crust is significantly low, but it rapidly increases northeastward and lies close to the background velocity across the rupture fault. (3) The aftershock zone is narrow and distributes along the northwest-southeast trend, and most aftershocks occur within a depth range of 5–20 km. (4) The focal mechanism of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake indicates a left-lateral strike-slip fault, with strike, dip, and rake angles of 152°, 74° and 8°, respectively. The hypocenter depth measures 20 km, whereas the centroid depth is about 6 km. The co-seismic rupture mainly concentrates at depths of 3–13 km, with a moment magnitude (M_w) of 6.5. (5) The co-seismic rupture also strengthens the Coulomb failure stress at the two ends of the rupture fault and the east segment of the Tazang fault. Aftershocks relocation results together with geological surveys indicate that the causative fault is a near vertical fault with notable spatial variations: dip angle varies within 66°–89° from northwest to southeast and the average dip angle measures ~84°. The results of this work are of fundamental importance for further studies on the source characteristics, tectonic environment, and seismic hazard evaluation of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake.     

Coseismic Coulomb failure stress changes caused by the 2017 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis>7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake,and its relationship with the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

On August 8, 2017, a M7.0 earthquake occurred in Jiuzhaigou County, Sichuan Province, China, resulting in significant casualties and property damage. Therefore, it is critical to identify the areas of potential aftershocks before reconstruction and re-settling people to avoid future disasters. Based on the elastic dislocation theory and a multi-layered lithospheric model, we calculate the Coulomb failure stress changes caused by the Wenchuan and Jiuzhaigou earthquakes, discuss the relationship between the M_w7.9 Wenchuan and M7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquakes, and analyze the influence of the aftershock distribution and stress changes on the major faults in this region caused by the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. The co- and post-seismic stress changes caused by the Wenchuan earthquake significantly increased the stress accumulation at the hypocenter of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. Therefore, the occurrence of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake was probably stimulated by the Wenchuan earthquake. The aftershock distribution is well explained by the co-seismic stress changes of the Jiuzhaigou earthquake. The stress accumulation and corresponding seismic hazard on the Maqu-Heye segment of the East Kunlun fault and the northern extremity of the Huya fault has been further increased by the Jiuzhaigou earthquake.     

Rupture behavior and deformation localization of the Kunlunshan earthquake (<Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">w</Emphasis></Subscript>7.8) and their tectonic implications

Earthquake surface rupture is the result of transformation from crustal elastic strain accumulation to permanent tectonic deformation. The surface rupture zone produced by the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (M _w 7.8) on the Kusaihu segment of the Kunlun fault extends over 426 km. It consists of three relatively independent surface rupture sections: the western strike-slip section, the middle transtensional section and the eastern strike-slip section. Hence this implies that the Kunlunshan earthquake is composed of three earthquake rupturing events, i.e. the M _w =6.8, M _w =6.2 and M _w ⩽=7.8 events, respectively. The M _w =7.8 earthquake, along the eastern section, is the main shock of the Kunlunshan earthquake, further decomposed into four rupturing subevents. Field measurements indicate that the width of a single surface break on different sections ranges from several meters to 15 m, with a maximum value of less than 30 m. The width of the surface rupture zone that consists of en echelon breaks depends on its geometric structures, especially the stepover width of the secondary surface rupture zones in en echelon, displaying a basic feature of deformation localization. Consistency between the Quaternary geologic slip rate, the GPS-monitored strain rate and the localization of the surface ruptures of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake may indicate that the tectonic deformation between the Bayan Har block and Qilian-Qaidam block in the northern Tibetan Plateau is characterized by strike-slip faulting along the limited width of the Kunlun fault, while the blocks themselves on both sides of the Kunlun fault are characterized by block motion. The localization of earthquake surface rupture zone is of great significance to determine the width of the fault-surface-rupture hazard zone, along which direct destruction will be caused by co-seismic surface rupturing along a strike-slip fault, that should be considered before the major engineering project, residental buildings and life line construction. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40474037) and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB418401)     

东昆仑断裂滑动速率变化及其对2017年九寨沟地震的应力加载

为了解东昆仑断裂活动对2017年8月8日九寨沟M_S7.0地震的影响,本文选取1999—2007年、2013—2017年GPS速度场作为约束,基于块体-位错模型反演计算东昆仑断裂两个时间段的块体运动速率、断裂滑动速率和滑动亏损率,并进一步研究青藏高原东缘最大剪应变率场和九寨沟震区的震间库仑应力累积速率.结果显示,东昆仑断裂中西段左旋走滑速率较高,东段走滑速率较低,自西向东逐步递减,存在明显的梯度.在两个时间段,阿坝块体刚性运动的方向顺时针偏转0.2°,运动速率由12.22mm·a^-1增大到15.96mm·a^-1;东昆仑断裂左旋走滑速率升高,其中西段较为明显(升高约1.2±0.3mm·a^-1);东昆仑断裂东段闭锁深度和闭锁程度增加;2013—2017年,东昆仑断裂滑动引起的九寨沟震区库仑应力累积速率是1999—2007年的3倍,最大剪应变率也明显升高.因此本文认为:2008年汶川地震和2013年芦山地震后,龙门山断裂部分解锁,阿坝地块活动性增强,东昆仑断裂滑动速率增大,导致九寨沟震区库仑应力加载速率增加,加速了九寨沟地震的孕育过程.     

Moment tensor inversion and source rupture process of the September 27, 2003 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript>=7.9 earthquake occurred in the border area of China,Russia and Mongolia

We conducted moment tensor inversion and studied source rupture process for M _S=7.9 earthquake occurred in the border area of China, Russia and Mongolia on September 27 2003, by using digital teleseismic P-wave seismograms recorded by long-period seismograph stations of the global seismic network. Considering the aftershock distribution and the tectonic settings around the epicentral area, we propose that the M _S=7.9 earthquake occurred on a fault plane with the strike of 127°, the dip of 79° and the rake of 171°. The rupture process inversion result of M _S=7.9 earthquake shows that the total rupture duration is about 37 s, the scalar moment tensor is M ₀=0.97×10²⁰ N·m. Rupture mainly occurred on the shallow area with 110 km long and 30 km wide, the location in which the rupture initiated is not where the main rupture took place, and the area with slip greater than 0.5 m basically lies within 35 km deep middle-crust under the earth surface. The maximum static slip is 3.6 m. There are two distinct areas with slip larger than 2.0 m. We noticed that when the rupture propagated towards northwest and closed to the area around the M _S=7.3 hypocenter, the slip decreased rapidly, which may indicate that the rupture process was stopped by barriers. The consistence of spatial distribution of slip on the fault plane with the distribution of aftershocks also supports that the rupture is a heterogeneous process owing to the presence of barriers.     

基于GNSS与InSAR约束的九寨沟MS7.0地震滑动模型及其库仑应力研究

2017年8月8日的九寨沟M_S7.0地震发生在岷江断裂、塔藏断裂及虎牙断裂交汇地区,地处青藏高原东北部的川甘交界地区,位于巴颜喀拉地块的东缘,地质构造复杂,对于九寨沟地震震中位置和发震断层的确定,存在不同意见.本文利用GNSS及升降轨InSAR观测,在获取九寨沟地震同震形变场的基础上,基于均匀弹性半无限位错模型,联合反演了发震断层的滑动分布模型,并计算了同震库仑应力变化.InSAR同震形变场显示,视线向最大沉降量和抬升量分别为0.21 m和0.16 m,形变场长轴为NW向,形变主要集中在断层西侧.距震中40 km和65 km的九寨和松潘两县,水平向的GNSS同震位移分别达14.31 mm和8.22 mm.联合GNSS和InSAR同震形变场反演得到的滑动分布主要集中在沿走向5~33 km,倾向2~20 km的范围内,平均滑动量为0.18 m,最大滑动量为0.91 m.发震断层长40 km,宽30 km,走向155°,倾角81°,滑动角-9.56°.同震位移场及滑移分布模型表明此次地震为一次左旋走滑为主的地震事件,地震破裂并未完全到达地表,与虎牙断裂北段的几何产状和运动学性质更为接近,结合精定位余震的分布,我们确定虎牙断裂北段为此次地震的发震断层,震中位于北纬33.25°,东经103.82°,震源深度10.86 km,矩震量为7.754×10¹⁸ Nm,相应的矩震级为M_W6.5,与美国地调局和哈佛大学给出的震源机制解基本一致.同震库仑应力导致了虎牙断裂北段延长线的东北和西南两端应力增强,其中塔藏断裂的罗叉段和马磨段未来强震的危险性值得关注.     

近震全波形反演2017年九寨沟M7.0地震序列震源机制解

搜集了四川地震台网的波形资料,采用全波形反演2017年8月8日九寨沟M7.0地震序列震源机制解.反演结果显示,九寨沟主震矩震级为M_W6.36,震源深度为22 km,节面I走向为150°,倾角为80°,滑动角为-20°;节面Ⅱ走向为244°,倾角为70°,滑动角为-169°.余震主要分布在14~22 km深度范围内,震源机制以走滑型为主,其中正断型地震2个,逆冲型地震2个,走滑型地震24个,混合型地震8个.断层面优势方向为SSE向,与塔藏断裂和虎牙断裂走向基本一致,但与塔藏断裂最南段存在明显差异.倾角变化集中在60°~80°,滑动角主要分布在0°附近,表明九寨沟地震序列主要受SSE走向、近似直立的左旋走滑断层控制.P轴优势方位为SEE向,仰角主要分布在30°以内,与区域应力场基本一致.震源区的机制类型和应力状态均存在空间分段差异.本文推测此次九寨沟M7.0地震序列可能发生在虎牙断裂向北延伸的隐伏断裂上,但不排除地震引起了塔藏断裂南段和虎牙断裂以北隐伏断裂同时破裂的可能.     

Frequency-dependent rupture process,stress change,and seismogenic mechanism of the 25 April 2015 Nepal Gorkha <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.8 earthquake

On 25 April 2015, an M _w 7.8 earthquake occurred on the Main Himalaya Thrust fault with a dip angle of ~ 7° about 77 km northwest of Kathmandu, Nepal. This Nepal Gorkha event is the largest one on the Himalayan thrust belt since 1950. Here we use the compressive sensing method in the frequency domain to track the seismic radiation and rupture process of this event using teleseismic P waves recorded by array stations in North America. We also compute the distribution of static shear stress changes on the fault plane from a coseismic slip model. Our results indicate a dominant east-southeastward unilateral rupture process from the epicenter with an average rupture speed of ~3 km s^?1. Coseismic radiation of this earthquake shows clear frequency-dependent features. The lower frequency (0.05–0.3 Hz) radiation mainly originates from large coseismic slip regions with negative coseismic shear stress changes. In comparison, higher frequency (0.3–0.6 Hz) radiation appears to be from the down-dip part around the margin of large slip areas, which has been loaded and presents positive coseismic shear stress changes. We propose an asperity model to interpret this Nepal earthquake sequence and compare the frequency-dependent coseismic radiation with that in subduction zones. Such frequency-dependent radiation indicates the depth-varying frictional properties on the plate interface of the Nepal section in the main Himalaya thrust system, similar to previous findings in oceanic subduction zones. Our findings provide further evidence of the spatial correlation between changes of static stress status on the fault plane and the observed frequency-dependent coseismic radiation during large earthquakes. Our results show that the frequency-dependent coseismic radiation is not only found for megathrust earthquakes in the oceanic subduction environment, but also holds true for thrust events in the continental collision zone.     

Fault slip and identification of the second fault plane in the Varzeghan earthquake doublet

An intraplate earthquake doublet, with 11-min delay between the events, devastated the city of Varzeghan in northwestern Iran on August 11, 2012. The first Mw 6.5 strike-slip earthquake, which occurred after more than 200 years of low seismicity, was followed by an Mw 6.4 oblique thrust event at an epicentral separation of about 6 km. While the first event can be associated with a distinct surface rupture, the absence of a surface fault trace and no clear aftershock signature makes it challenging to identify the fault plane of the second event. We use teleseismic body wave inversion to deduce the slip distribution in the first event. Using both P and SH waves stabilize the inversion and we further constrain the result with the surface rupture extent and the aftershock distribution. The obtained slip pattern shows two distinct slip patches with dissimilar slip directions where aftershocks avoid high-slip areas. Using the estimated slip for the first event, we calculate the induced Coulomb stress change on the nodal planes of the second event and find a preference for higher Coulomb stress on the N-S nodal plane. Assuming a simple slip model for the second event, we estimate the combined Coulomb stress changes from the two events on the focal planes of the largest aftershocks. We find that 90% of the aftershocks show increased Coulomb stress on one of their nodal planes when the N-S plane of the second event is assumed to be the correct fault plane.     

A new technique for moment tensor inversion with applications to the 2008 Wenchuan <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript>8.0 earthquake sequence

A M_S8.0 earthquake occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, China, on May 12, 2008, and subsequently, numerous aftershocks followed. We obtained the moment tensor solutions and source time functions (STFs) for the Wenchuan earthquake and its seven larger aftershocks (M_S5.0～6.0) by a new technique of moment tensor inversion using the broadband and long-period seismic waveform data from the Global Seismic Network (GSN). Firstly, the theoretical background and technical flow of the new technique was briefly introduced, and an aftershock of the Wenchuan earthquake sequence was employed to illustrate the real procedure for inverting the moment tensor; secondly, the moment tensor solutions and STFs of the eight events, including the main shock, were presented, and finally, the interpretation of the results was made. The agreement of our results with the GCMT results indicates the new approach is efficient and feasible. By using this approach, not only the moment tensor solution can be obtained but also the STF can be retrieved; the inverted STFs indicate that the source rupture process may be complicated even for the moderate earthquakes. The inverted focal mechanisms of the Wenchuan earthquake sequence show that the most of the aftershocks occurred in the main faults of the Longmenshan fault zone with predominantly thrustingwith minor right-lateral strike-slip component, but some of them may have occurred in the subfaults with strike-slip faulting in the vicinity of the main faults.     

九寨沟M_s7.0地震的InSAR观测及发震构造分析

2017年8月8日四川省九寨沟县发生M_s7.0地震.本文基于Sentinel-1 SAR影像,利用InSAR技术获取了此次地震的同震形变场,反演获得同震滑动分布,计算了同震位错对余震分布和周边断层的静态库仑应力变化,并对发震构造进行了分析讨论.结果表明:①InSAR同震形变场显示,九寨沟地震造成地表形变最大量级约为20 cm(雷达视线方向),同震形变存在非对称性分布特征.②同震位错以左旋走滑为主,主要发生在4~16 km深度,最大滑动量约为77 cm,位于9 km深处.反演得到的矩震级为Mw6.46.同震错动未破裂到地表.③大部分余震发生在库仑应力增加区.此次地震增加了震中周边地区一些断裂的库仑应力,如东昆仑断裂带东段、龙日坝断裂、虎牙断裂等.④东昆仑断裂东段的未来地震危险性值得关注.⑤九寨沟地震的发震断层为树正断裂,可能是虎牙断裂的北西延伸隐伏部分,此次地震是巴颜喀拉块体南东向运动受到华南块体的强烈阻挡过程中发生的一次典型构造事件.     

Preliminary report of the September 5, 2022 MS 6.8 Luding earthquake,Sichuan, China

The 2022 M_S 6.8 Luding earthquake is the strongest earthquake in Sichuan Province, Western China, since the 2017 M_S 7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake. It occurred on the Moxi fault in the southeastern segment of the Xianshuihe fault, a tectonically active and mountainous region with severe secondary earthquake disasters. To better understand the seismogenic mechanism and provide scientific support for future hazard mitigation, we summarize the preliminary results of the Luding earthquake, including seismotectonic background, seismicity and mainshock source characteristics and aftershock properties, and direct and secondary damage associated with the mainshock. The peak ground displacements in the NS and EW directions observed by the nearest GNSS station SCCM are ～35 mm and ～55 mm, respectively, resulting in the maximum coseismic dislocation of 20 mm along the NWW direction, which is consistent with the sinistral slip on the Xianshuihe fault. Back-projection of teleseismic P waves suggest that the mainshock rupture propagated toward south-southeast. The seismic intensity of the mainshock estimated from the back-projection results indicates a Mercalli scale of VIII or above near the ruptured area, consistent with the results from instrumental measurements and field surveys. Numerous aftershocks were reported, with the largest being M_S 4.5. Aftershock locations (up to September 18, 2022) exhibit 3 clusters spanning an area of 100 km long and 30 km wide. The magnitude and rate of aftershocks decreased as expected, and the depths became shallower with time. The mainshock and two aftershocks show left-lateral strike-slip focal mechanisms. For the aftershock sequence, the b-value from the Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude relationship, h-value, and p-value for Omori’s law for aftershock decay are 0.81, 1.4, and 1.21, respectively, indicating that this is a typical mainshock-aftershock sequence. The low b-value implies high background stress in the hypocenter region. Analysis from remote sensing satellite images and UAV data shows that the distribution of earthquake-triggered landslides was consistent with the aftershock area. Numerous small-size landslides with limited volumes were revealed, which damaged or buried the roads and severely hindered the rescue process.     

2017年8月8日四川九寨沟7.0级地震InSAR同震形变场及断层滑动分布反演

基于InSAR技术,利用欧空局升降轨Sentinel-1A/IW宽幅数据,获取了2017年8月8日四川九寨沟7.0级地震InSAR同震形变场,并以升降轨InSAR观测结果为约束,反演了断层滑动分布,基于三种不同接收断层计算了同震库仑应力变化.结果表明,同震形变场发生在塔藏断裂、岷江断裂和虎牙断裂交汇的三角地带,升降轨干涉位移均显示本次地震的形变场影响范围约为50 km×50 km,形变场长轴方向为NW向,升降轨观测的形变量相反,反映断层运动性质以走滑运动为主,升降轨数据观测得到的最大LOS （Line of Sight,视线向）形变量分别为~22 cm和~14 cm.非对称形变场反映出断层两侧的运动差异.反演结果显示,最大滑动量约为1 m,平均滑动角为-9°,矩震级为M_W6.5,地震破裂主要集中在地下1~15 km深度范围内,但整体而言本次地震破裂较为充分,基本将该区域1973年及1976年4次 > M_W6.0地震的破裂空区完全破裂.考虑到塔藏断裂和虎牙断裂的运动性质,可初步判定发震断层为虎牙断裂北侧延伸分支.基于三种不同接收断层模型的同震库仑应力变化计算结果反映出该区域以应力释放为主,进一步触发较大走滑型余震的可能性不大.     

Source process of the 14 November 2001 western Kunlun Mountain <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript>=8.1 earthquake

Based on digital teleseismic P-wave seismograms recorded by 28 long-period seismograph stations of the global seismic network, source process of the November 14, 2001 western Kunlun Mountain M _S=8.1 (M _W=7.8) earthquake is estimated by a new inversion method. The result shows that the earthquake is a very complex rupture event. The source rupture initiated at the hypocenter (35.95°N, 90.54°E, focal depth 10 km, by USGS NEIC), and propagated to the west at first. Then, in several minutes to a hundred minutes and over a large spatial range, several rupture growth points emerged in succession at the eastern end and in the central part of the finite fault. And then the source rupture propagated from these rupture growth points successively and, finally, stopped in the area within 50 km to the east of the centroid position (35.80°N, 92.91°E, focal depth 15 km, by Harvard CMT). The entire rupture lasted for 142 s, and the source process could be roughly separated into three stages: The first stage started at the 0 s and ended at the 52 s, lasting for 52 s and releasing approximately 24.4% of the total moment; The second stage started at the 55 s and ended at the 113 s, lasting for 58 s and releasing approximately 56.5% of the total moment; The third stage started at the 122 s and ended at the 142 s, lasting for 20 s and releasing approximately 19.1% of the total moment. The length of the ruptured fault plane is about 490 km. The maximum width of the ruptured fault plane is about 45 km. The rupture mainly occurred within 30 km in depth under the surface of the Earth. The average static slip in the underground rocky crust is about 1.2 m with the maximum static slip 3.6 m. The average static stress drop is about 5 MPa with the maximum static stress drop 18 MPa. The maximum static slip and the maximum stress drop occurred in an area within 50 km to the east of the centroid position.     

四川汶川8.0级地震震源过程

2008年5月12日在青藏高原与四川盆地交界的龙门山山脉发生了M_s8.0级强烈地震,引发山体滑坡等地质灾害,造成了巨大的人员伤亡和经济损失.本文利用远场体波波形记录结合近场同震位移数据,根据地质资料和地震形成的地表破裂轨迹,构造了一个双“铲状”有限地震断层模型,利用反演技术重建地震的破裂过程.结果显示汶川大地震主要是沿龙门山构造带的映秀-北川断裂和灌县-江油断裂发生的逆冲兼右旋走滑破裂事件.断层面上的滑动分布显示两个高滑动区先后发生在地震破坏最为严重的映秀和北川地区,最大滑动量高达1200～1250 cm,且破裂过程也显示一定的复杂性.地震破裂的平均走滑量略大于平均倾滑量,与多种观测资料获得的震前龙门山断裂带构造变形相一致,推断是由于长期区域应力场作用和龙门山地区特殊的物质组成和结构孕育了这次千年尺度的强烈地震.     

2017年九寨沟地震所受历史地震黏弹性库仑应力作用及其后续对周边断层地震危险性的影响

首先对2017年九寨沟M_S7.0地震周边断裂活动和历史地震特征进行了阐述;然后利用黏弹性地壳模型,计算了1933年叠溪地震、1976年松潘震群和2008年汶川地震对2017年九寨沟地震的同震和震后库仑应力作用.该结果显示1933年叠溪地震对九寨沟地震具有延缓作用,而1976年松潘震群和2008年汶川地震对九寨沟地震的黏弹性库仑应力作用为正;随着下地壳和上地幔黏弹性物质的持续作用,前述几次地震总的黏弹性库仑应力在九寨沟地震破裂中心点处负的库仑应力逐渐减弱,而在破裂北段这些库仑应力逐渐转为正值,并促进了九寨沟地震的发生.本文也计算了九寨沟地震后对周边断层的库仑影响,并将此影响值转换为对断层能量积累的影响时间上,结果显示塔藏断裂带西段和中段在内的多条断裂带受到黏弹性库仑应力影响时间值超过10年.将库仑应力影响时间值加入到部分已知离逝时间的断层段上,也得到了这些断层段的未来30年特征地震发生概率.最终结果认为玛沁断裂带、玛曲断裂带、哈南—稻畦子断裂中段和西段等断层段的强震危险性需要重点关注.     

3D <Emphasis Type="Italic">v</Emphasis><Subscript>P</Subscript> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">v</Emphasis><Subscript>S</Subscript> models of southeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau from joint inversion of body-wave arrival times and surface-wave dispersion data

A new 3D velocity model of the crust and upper mantle in the southeastern (SE) margin of the Tibetan plateau was obtained by joint inversion of body- and surface-wave data. For the body-wave data, we used 7190 events recorded by 102 stations in the SE margin of the Tibetan plateau. The surface-wave data consist of Rayleigh wave phase velocity dispersion curves obtained from ambient noise cross-correlation analysis recorded by a dense array in the SE margin of the Tibetan plateau. The joint inversion clearly improves the v _S model because it is constrained by both data types. The results show that at around 10 km depth there are two low-velocity anomalies embedded within three high-velocity bodies along the Longmenshan fault system. These high-velocity bodies correspond well with the Precambrian massifs, and the two located to the northeast of 2013 M _S 7.0 Lushan earthquake are associated with high fault slip areas during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The aftershock gap between 2013 Lushan earthquake and 2008 Wenchuan earthquake is associated with low-velocity anomalies, which also acts as a barrier zone for ruptures of two earthquakes. Generally large earthquakes (M ≥ 5) in the region occurring from 2008 to 2015 are located around the high-velocity zones, indicating that they may act as asperities for these large earthquakes. Joint inversion results also clearly show that there exist low-velocity or weak zones in the mid-lower crust, which are not evenly distributed beneath the SE margin of Tibetan plateau.     

Rupture process of the Lorca (southeast Spain) 11 May 2011 (M w = 5.1) earthquake

On 11 May 2011, a M _w ?=?5.1 earthquake shook the town of Lorca (SE Spain) causing a disproportionately large damage for its magnitude. In order to contribute to knowledge of the behavior of the active faults present in the region and define the parameters which control their motion, we made a detailed study of the rupture process of this earthquake from inversion of body waves at regional and teleseismic distances. Ground motion displacements obtained in this way are in agreement with near-field strong motion data and GPS observations recorded in Lorca. We have obtained a partly bilateral rupture propagating to WSW (238°, 54°, 59°) with 27 cm of maximum slip and shallow focus (4 km). The fault plane orientation corresponds to that of the Cejo de los Enamorados Fault located NE of the Lorca town and parallel to the Alhama de Murcia Fault. The distribution of slip on the fault plane can explain the lack of any observed surface rupture as we found that the rupture started at 4-km depth along a plane dipping at 54°, with motion propagating upward to stop at 1.5 km below the surface. The strong motion and GPS data recorded near the epicenter are in agreement with the maximum slip on the fault. Directivity effects and the extreme shallowness of the rupture could explain the considerable damage that the earthquake caused in the town of Lorca.     

Coseismic deformation of the 2021 MW7.4 Maduo earthquake from joint inversion of InSAR,GPS, and teleseismic data

The M_W7.4 Maduo earthquake occurred on 22 May 2021 at 02:04 CST with a large-expansion surface rupture. This earthquake was located in the Bayan Har block at the eastern Tibetan Plateau, where eight earthquakes of M_S >7.0 have occurred in the past 25 years. Here, we combined interferometric synthetic aperture radar, GPS, and teleseismic data to study the coseismic slip distribution, fault geometry, and dynamic source rupture process of the Maduo earthquake. We found that the overall coseismic deformation field of the Maduo earthquake is distributed in the NWW-SEE direction along 285°. There was slight bending at the western end and two branches at the eastern end. The maximum slip is located near the eastern bending area on the northern branch of the fault system. The rupture nucleated on the Jiangcuo fault and propagated approximately 160 km along-strike in both the NWW and SEE directions. The characteristic source rupture process of the Maduo earthquake is similar to that of the 2010 M_W6.8 Yushu earthquake, indicating that similar earthquakes with large-expansion surface ruptures and small shallow slip deficits can occur on both the internal fault and boundary fault of the Bayan Har block.     

Structural features and seismotectonic implications of coseismic surface ruptures produced by the 2016 <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>w</Subscript> 7.1 Kumamoto earthquake

Field investigations and analyses of satellite images and aerial photographs reveal that the 2016 M _w 7.1 (Mj 7.3) Kumamoto earthquake produced a ～40-km surface rupture zone striking NE-SW on central Kyushu Island, Japan. Coseismic surface ruptures were characterized by shear faults, extensional cracks, and mole tracks, which mostly occurred along the pre-existing NE-SW-striking Hinagu–Futagawa fault zone in the southwest and central segments, and newly identified faults in the northeast segment. This study shows that (i) the Hinagu–Futagawa fault zone triggered the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake and controlled the spatial distribution of coseismic surface ruptures; (ii) the southwest and central segments were dominated by right-lateral strike-slip movement with a maximum in-site measured displacement of up to 2.5 m, accompanied by a minor vertical component. In contrast, the northeast segment was dominated by normal faulting with a maximum vertical offset of up to 1.75 m with a minor horizontal component that formed graben structures inside Aso caldera; (iii) coseismic rupturing initiated at the jog area between the Hinagu and Futagawa faults, then propagated northeastward into Aso caldera, where it terminated. The 2016 M _w 7.1 Kumamoto earthquake therefore offers a rare opportunity to study the relationships between coseismic rupture processes and pre-existing active faults, as well as the seismotectonics of Aso volcano.