HIGH-ACCURACY ANALYSIS OF SOIL HYDROGEN ANOMALY IN FAULT ZONE

Hydrogen is recognized as one of the most useful gases to detect fault activities. Based on long-term high-accuracy soil hydrogen observation data in fault zones, the paper evaluates the reliability of data according to the distribution of measurements. Through the evaluation of earthquake-reflecting ability of hydrogen concentration, we consider that there is a certain corresponding relationship between hydrogen concentration and seismic activity and we present the judging index for this anomaly. Hydrogen concentration characteristics with the earthquakes within the range of 350km around the station were analyzed, especially the two earthquakes, which occurred on October 24, 2010 and March 8, 2011 in Taikang, Henan Province, with magnitude M_S4.6 and M_S4.1 respectively. The observation station is located at Xiaxian in Shanxi Province, 300km away from the epicenter. In a week before the two earthquakes, high-accuracy soil hydrogen concentration measurements showed similar anomaly variation, which was increasing abruptly, then decreasing, and after the earthquakes it returned to background level. Overall, the changing scope was more than 20 times of the background value. We concluded that the anomaly was affected by tectonic setting of the earthquakes. The similar hydrogen distribution pattern recorded at the same station is attributed to the same tectonic position and focal mechanism solution. The hydrogen could be an effective tool for short-term and imminent earthquake prediction, which provides reference for short-term and imminent earthquake prediction in areas with high earthquake risk.