Research on temporal and spatial distribution, evolutionary character and mechanism of crustal deformation field before and after the Tangshan earthquake

According to the data of precise relevelling and deformation measurement across faults, the temporal and spatial evolution process of crustal deformation field in the source and peripheral regions of the Tangshan earthquake (1976, M S=7.8), from 22 years before the earthquake to 9 years after, is described with the method of crustal deforma tion pattern dynamics. The crustal unstable zones first occur in the exterior, and then surround the focal region by contracting from the exterior to the interior, when the focal region appears to be unstable but does not lose stability. After the transient stable state, the second unstable process from the exterior to interior appears, which results in the instability of focal region. "Deformation gap", "earthquake gap" and "locked fault zone" occur before instability, and their spatial distributions overlap, but their occurrence times have little differences. The earthquake occurs after the impending pre slide of the faults in the focal region. The studied results of the evolution process of crustal deformation field are identical with each other and with that of numeric simulation of crustal stress field, which supports the evolution model of seismogenic system with a strong body as its core.