Numerical simulation of the earthquake generation process

A numerical algorithm is proposed for the simulation of the earthquake process during a seismic cycle. The algorithm is based on a heterogeneous discrete model of the fault plane and assumes there are two kinds of seismicity: background crack-like earthquakes and asperity-like events. An active zone of the fault contains an asperity distribution with a characteristic elementary area. The background seismicity randomly develops shear stress-free surfaces which tend to surround the asperities as in a 2D percolation process. The model parameters are taken from observations on the Vrancea (Romania) intermediate depth seismic region. The results emphasize the significant role of the geometry in the mechanism of the seismic failure. The algorithm predicts the nonlinear behavior in the frequency-magnitude distribution, the decrease of theb-slope associated with the asperity-like events, the magnitude range of major earthquakes, and their recurrence times.     

Apparent stress and stress drop for intraplate earthquakes and tectonic stress in the plates

The magnitude of shear stress in the lithosphere is bounded from below by the apparent stress and stress drop during intraplate earthquakes. Apparent stresses and stress drops for a number of mid-plate earthquakes are calculated from the earthquake magnitude, SH wave amplitude spectra, and estimates of the length of the fault zone. Apparent stresses vary between 0.1 and 2 bars, ifm _b is used as a measure of seismic energy, and stress drops lie between 2 and 70 bars. There is no systematic difference in either apparent stress or stress drop between these intraplate events and typical plate boundary earthquakes. These bounds on intraplate shear stresses are consistent with the inference from current models of plate tectonic driving forces that regional stress differences in the plates are typically on the order of 100 bars. The highest stress drops measured for midplate earthquakes under this model represent nearly total release of local tectonic stress.     

Spectral characteristics of natural and artificial seismic events in the Lop Nor test site, China

Seismic discriminants based on the spectral seismogram and spectral magnitude techniques have been tested to discriminate between three events; a nuclear explosion which took place in Lop Nor, China with m _b 6.1 and two earthquakes from the closest area with m _b 5.5 and 5.3, respectively. The spectral seismogram of the three events shows that the frequency content of the nuclear explosion differs from that of the earthquakes where the P wave is richier in high frequency content in the nuclear explosion than the corresponding earthquakes. It is also observed that the energy decays more rapidly for the nuclear explosion than for the earthquakes. Furthermore, the spectral magnitudes reveal significant differences in the spectra between the nuclear explosion and the two earthquakes. The observed differences appear to be quite enough to provide a reliable discriminant. The estimated stress drop from the magnitude spectra indicates a higher stress drop of the nuclear explosion relative to the earthquakes of the same tectonic region.     

2017年九寨沟MS7.0地震序列活动特征分析

中强地震序列的主震发生后,短时间内受台站距震中较远、尾波干扰和波形重叠等因素的影响,往往会遗漏大量的地震,而地震目录的完整性会直接影响到震后趋势判定和余震序列特征分析的科学性和可靠性。本文利用基于GPU加速的模板匹配方法对2017年8月1～12日的连续波形进行扫描计算,检测九寨沟M_S7.0地震前后遗漏的地震事件,选取台网目录中信噪比较高的1033个地震事件作为模板,在主震前7天至震后5天期间识别出4854个检测地震事件,为台网可定位目录的3.3倍,除去对台网单台地震事件的修正外,还检测到1797个遗漏地震事件,将完备震级从1.6级降低到1.4级。基于补充了遗漏地震的完整地震目录,对2017年8月8日九寨沟M_S7.0地震序列活动特征进行分析。结果表明,前震序列在主震前短时间内出现了地震活动的密集增强,b值也显示为低值状态,可能是深部断层发生破裂之前的加速蠕动的结果。随着时间的推移,余震序列的完备震级逐渐下降并趋于稳定,b值存在缓慢升高的趋势,未来较长时期内余震序列仍将处于持续衰减的状态。     

2022年泸定M6.8地震前地震活动参数变化研究

2022年9月5日四川泸定发生M6.8地震,为研究泸定地震孕震区的应力变化,选取b值、小震调制比和丛集率这3个参数,对泸定地震前的区域地震活动状态进行计算研究。结果显示:泸定及周边区域几次强震发生前,区域地震活动均存在持续时间较长的低b值时段,且在低b值状态下震前短期内出现小震高丛集、高调制比的现象;鲜水河断裂带的地震活动状态分析显示,此次泸定地震前该断裂带存在持续时间近10个月的低b值状态,且短期内出现丛集率升高、调制比高值现象。通过对比分析,认为泸定地震是鲜水河断裂带构造运动的结果。综合分析认为,结合应力场背景和构造条件研究地震活动b值、固体潮调制比和丛集率的时空变化有助于理解大地震的孕育演化过程。     

Empirical attenuation relationship for Arias Intensity

Arias Intensity is a ground motion parameter that captures the potential destructiveness of an earthquake as the integral of the square of the acceleration–time history. It correlates well with several commonly used demand measures of structural performance, liquefaction, and seismic slope stability. A new empirical relationship is developed to estimate Arias Intensity as a function of magnitude, distance, fault mechanism, and site category based on 1208 recorded ground motion data from 75 earthquakes in active plate‐margins. Its functional form is derived from the point‐source model, and the coefficients are determined through non‐linear regression analyses using a random‐effects model. The results show that for large magnitude earthquakes (M > 7) Arias Intensity was significantly overestimated by previous relationships while it was underestimated for smaller magnitude events (M ? 6). The average horizontal Arias Intensity is not significantly affected by forward rupture directivity in the near‐fault region. The aleatory variability associated with Arias Intensity is larger than that of most other ground motion parameters such as spectral acceleration. However, it may be useful in assessing the potential seismic performance of stiff engineering systems whose response is dominated by the short‐period characteristics of ground motions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-organized Fractal Seismicity of Reservoir Triggered Earthquakes in the Koyna-Warna Seismic Zone,Western India

— Analysis of the Koyna-Warna earthquake catalog (1968–1996) shows that on an average there is a positive correlation between the b value (decrease) and fractal dimensions (decrease in both D₂^s and D₂^t) of earthquake epicenters 0.5 and 2.5 years prior to 1973 (M5.2) and 1980 (M5.5) events, respectively, except a negative correlation for about five years (1988–1993) prior to the 1993/1994 sequence (M5.4). This positive correlation indicates a weaker clustering, or that the epicenters tend to fill the two-dimensional plane. While the origin of the negative correlation seems to be that during periods of large events (low b value), there is strong clustering around the main shock epicenter (high fractal dimension). Interestingly, during the last year (1995–1996) of the studied period both the b value and correlation dimensions rose significantly, suggesting that stress release occurs through increased levels of low magnitude and increasingly scattered seismicity, suggesting an increased risk of larger magnitude events. Incidentally, during 2000 three earthquakes of magnitude M 5.0, one earthquake of M 4.0, 45 earthquakes of magnitude M 3.0–3.9, and several thousand earthquakes of M < 3 have occurred in the region. Thus it can be inferred that at local scales the relationship yields both positive and negative correlation that appears to be controlled by different modes of failure within the active fault complex.Acknowledgement. The authors are grateful to Dr. B.K. Rastogi of NGRI for providing the catalog of Koyna earthquakes and for useful scientific discussions. The comments of Dr. I. G. Main have improved the quality of paper for which we extend to him our sincere thanks. One of the authors (AOM) thanks the Third World Academy of Science and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India for the Postdoctoral Fellowship award under which this work was carried out.     

Comparison between earthquake magnitudes determined by China seismograph network and US seismograph networks (I): Body wave magnitude

Introduction Gutenberg (1945a, b) introduced body wave magnitude based on P, PP and S waves (with a period of 0.5~12.0 s) of teleseismic events. Body wave magnitude includes mb determined with short-period seismograph and mB determined with middle- and long-period seismographs. Some-times it is written as m, which is referred to as unified earthquake magnitude. mb represents earth-quake magnitude measured with body wave amplitude around 1 s, while mB represents earthquake magnitude measured …     

Application of the stress evolutionary model along the Xiaojiang fault zone in Yunnan Province,Southeast China

The Xiaojiang fault zone constitutes part of the major Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang left lateral structure that bounds the rhombic-shaped block of Yunnan-Sichuan to the east. Long strike slip fault zones that have repeatedly accommodated intense seismic activity, constitute a basic feature of southeast China. Known historical earthquakes to have struck the study area are the 1713 Xundian of M6.8, 1725 Wanshou mountain of M6.8, the 1733 Dongchuan of M7.8, and the strongest one, the 1833 Songming of M8.0. Although instrumental record did not report events of this magnitude class, the 18th century clustering as well as the 19th century large event prompted the investigation of stress transfer along this fault zone. Coulomb stress changes were calculated assuming that earthquakes can be modeled as static dislocations in an elastic half-space, and taking into account both the coseismic slip in strong (M ≥ 6.8) earthquakes and the slow tectonic stress buildup along the major fault segments. Geological and geodetic data are used to infer the geometry of these faults and long term slip rates on them, as well as for the fault segments that slipped. Evidence is presented that the strong historical events as well as the ones of smaller magnitude that occurred during the instrumental era, are located in areas where the static stress was enhanced. By extending the calculations up to present, possible sites for future strong events are identified.     

基于微震监测的页岩气开采区b值特征研究

四川盆地南部的长宁页岩气开发区附近地震频发,近年来已发生近10次ML＞4.0的中型地震和万余次ML1.0～3.0的小微地震,灾害风险持续增高.由于国家地震台网的固定台站较为分散,难以捕捉到1级以下微震事件的精确信息,通过近场微震监测数据来分析页岩气开发区的地震风险演化趋势,已经成为势在必行的科学问题.本文基于专门布设的...     

“交通灯”系统及其在诱发地震监测中的应用

随着页岩气开采、地热能源开采、CO2封存和水库蓄水等工业活动的开展,由此产生的诱发地震危害问题日益严重。为了对诱发地震进行有效监测和管控,地震学家设计了"交通灯"系统,当地震活动达到一定阈值时,相关人员可根据系统警报及时采取应对措施,减轻地震灾害。本文调研了近年来多个国家的"交通灯"系统研究和应用进展,介绍了其发展历史、设置原理及应用案例。"交通灯"系统的发展和完善应综合考虑震级、震动强度、b值和断层分布,以及建筑结构、城镇距离、人口密度、公众反应等社会因素。同时,在诱发地震频发区域,应建设密集的专用监测台网,提高微震检测和定位能力,并引入模板匹配和人工智能等新的自动处理方法,及时产出高完备性、高精度的微震目录,对微震的时空演化进行有效监测,形成时效性较强的"交通灯"系统。     

The 2008 West Bohemia earthquake swarm in the light of the WEBNET network

A swarm of earthquakes of magnitudes up to M _L = 3.8 stroke the region of West Bohemia/Vogtland (border area between Czechia and Germany) in October 2008. It occurred in the Novy Kostel focal zone, where also all recent earthquake swarms (1985/1986, 1997, and 2000) took place, and was striking by a fast sequence of macroseismically observed earthquakes. We present the basic characteristics of this swarm based on the observations of a local network WEBNET (West Bohemia seismic network), which has been operated in the epicentral area, on the Czech territory. The swarm was recorded by 13 to 23 permanent and mobile WEBNET stations surrounding the swarm epicenters. In addition, a part of the swarm was also recorded by strong-motion accelerometers, which represent the first true accelerograms of the swarm earthquakes in the region. The peak ground acceleration reached 0.65 m/s². A comparison with previous earthquake swarms indicates that the total seismic moments released during the 1985/1986 and 2008 swarms are similar, of about 4E16 Nm, and that they represent the two largest swarms that occurred in the West Bohemia/ Vogtland region since the M _L = 5.0 swarm of 1908. Characteristic features of the 2008 swarm are its short duration (4 weeks) and rapidity and, consequently, the fastest seismic moment release compared to previous swarms. Up to 25,000 events in the magnitude range of 0.5 < M _L < 3.8 were detected using an automatic picker. A total of nine swarm phases can be distinguished in the swarm, five of them exceeding the magnitude level of 2.5. The magnitude–frequency distribution of the complete 2008 swarm activity shows a b value close to 1. The swarm hypocenters fall precisely on the same fault portion of the Novy Kostel focal zone that was activated by the 2000 swarm (M _L ≤ 3.2) in a depth interval from 6 to 11 km and also by the 1985/1986 swarm (M _L ≤ 4.6). The steeply dipping fault planes of the 2000 and 2008 swarms seem to be identical considering the location error of about 100 m. Furthermore, focal mechanisms of the 2008 swarm are identical with those of the 2000 swarm, both matching an average strike of 170° and dip of 80° of the activated fault segment. An overall upward migration of activity is observed with first events at the bottom and last events at the top of the of the activated fault patch. Similarities in the activated fault area and in the seismic moments released during the three largest recent swarms enable to estimate the seismic potential of the focal zone. If the whole segment of the fault plane was activated simultaneously, it would represent an earthquake of M _L ~5. This is in good agreement with the estimates of the maximum magnitudes of earthquakes that occurred in the West Bohemia/Vogtland region in the past.     

陕西地区小微震震源机制研究

小微震事件的震源机制是区域应力场及诸多地球动力学研究的基础资料。陕西地区为多个地震带的交汇区,近些年积累了丰富的小微震波形资料。运用新近发展的适用于求解小微震震源机制的广义极性振幅技术(GPAT),结合陕西2015地壳速度模型,求解陕西测震台网2011年4月至2015年12月间记录的121次ML1.5~3.5事件的震源机制。反演结果表明:(1)以上事件的震源机制大部分为走滑及正断类型,其比例占64.5%;逆断型机制占22.3%。(2)反演震源机制得到的震源深度与定位深度具有良好的一致性;矩震级与近震震级间存在差别,且这种差别随事件的变小而增大。(3)对比渭河断陷带相关研究成果,验证了该区域震源机制以正断型为主,具有拉张应力状态。     

Body-wave wave-form modelling and source parameters for the indochina border earthquakes

Wave-form modelling of body waves has been done to study the seismic source parameters of three earthquakes which occurred on October 21, 1964 (M _b =5.9), September 26, 1966 (M _b =5.8) and March 14, 1967 (M _b =5.8). These events occurred in the Indochina border region where a low-angle thrust fault accommodates motion between the underthrusting Indian plate and overlying Himalaya. The focal depths of all these earthquakes are between 12–37 km. The total range in dip for the three events is 5°–20°. TheT axes are NE-SW directed whereas the strikes of the northward dipping nodal planes are generally parallel to the local structural trend. The total source durations have been found to vary between 5–6 seconds. The average values of seismic moment, fault radius and dislocation are 1.0–11.0×10²⁵ dyne-cm, 7.7–8.4km and 9.4–47.4 cm, respectively whereas stress drop, apparent stress and strain energy are found to be 16–76 bars, 8.2–37.9 bars and 0.1–1.7×10²¹ ergs, respectively. These earthquakes possibly resulted due to the tension caused by the bending of the lithospheric plate into a region of former subduction which is now a zone of thrusting and crustal shortening.     

2014年金寨ML3.9震群序列遗漏地震检测及发震构造分析

针对2014年8月-2015年1月安徽金寨发生的ML3.9震群,利用匹配滤波技术补充台网目录遗漏的地震事件,再利用波形互相关震相检测技术标定P波和S波到时,进一步采用双差定位方法对震群进行重定位,结合震源机制解等分析此次震群活动可能的发震构造.计算结果显示,通过互相关扫描检测到1376个地震台网常规分析遗漏的地震,数量...     

The empirical relationships between M s, m b and M L for China and vicinity

Data from 753 earthquakes are used to determine a relationship between surface-wave magnitude (M _s) and bodywave magnitude (m _b), and from 541 earthquakes to determine a relationship between surface-wave magnitude (M _s) and local magnitude (M _L) for China and vicinity: M _s=0.9883 m _b-0.0420, M _s=0.9919 M _L-0.1773. The relationship of M _s versus m _b is obtained for 292 events occurred in the Chinese mainland in the time period from 1964 to 1996, 291 events occurred in Taiwan in the time period from 1964 to 1995 and 170 events occurred in the surrounding area. Standard deviation of the fitting is 0.445. Relationship of M _s versus M _L is obtained for 36 events occurred in the Chinese mainland, 293 events occurred in Taiwan, China and 212 events occurred in the surrounding area. The total amount is 541 events. Standard deviation of the fitting is 0.4673. The uncertainties of the converted M _s in different magnitude intervals can be estimated using complementary cumulative distribution function (CCDF). In the relationship of M _s versus m _b, taking ±0.25 as a range of uncertainties, in magnitude interval m _b 4.0–4.9, the probabilities for the converted M _s taken value less than (M _s-0.25) and more than (M _s+0.25) are 17% and 27% respectively. Similarly, we have probabilities for m _b 5.0–5.9 are 34% and 20% and that for m _b 6.0–6.9 are 11% and 47%. In the relationship of M _s versus M _L, if the range of uncertainties is still taken as ±0.25, the corresponding probabilities for magnitude interval M _L 4.0–4.9 are 22% and 38%, for M _L 5.0–5.9 are 20% and 15% and for magnitude interval M _L 6.0–6.9, are 15% and 29%, respectively. The relationships developed in this paper can be used for the conversion of one magnitude scale into another magnitude scales conveniently. The estimation of uncertainties described in this paper is more accurate and more objective than the usual estimation expressed by deviation. The estimations described in this paper indicate various dispersions in different magnitude intervals of original data. The estimations of uncertainties described by probabilities can be well connected with the total estimations of uncertainties in seismic hazard assessment.     

A slow earthquake

Anomalous earthquakes such as creep events, tsunami earthquakes and silent earthquakes have been reported in the recent literature. In this paper we discuss an anomalous “slow earthquake” that occurred on June 6, 1960 in southern Chile. Although the surface-wave magnitude of this event is only 6.9, it excited anomalously large long-period multiple surface waves with a seismic moment of 5.6 · 10²⁷ dyn cm. The Benioff long-period seismogram of this earthquake recorded at Pasadena shows an extremely long, about 1.5–2 h coda of Rayleigh waves, with a period of 10–25 s. The coda length for other events with a comparable magnitude which occurred in the same region is about 10 min. This observation suggests that the long coda length is due to a long source rupture process which lasted at least 1 h. Although at least 15 distinct events can be identified in the coda, no short-period body waves were recorded corresponding to these, except for the first one. These results suggest that a relatively small (M_s ? 6.9) earthquake triggered a series of slow events; the duration of the whole sequence being longer than 1 h. This event probably occurred on a transform fault on the extension of the Chile Rise and provides important information regarding the nature of the transform fault.     

Earthquake probabilities and magnitude distribution ( M ≥6.7) along the Haiyuan fault, northwestern China

In recent years, some researchers have studied the paleoearthquake along the Haiyuan fault and revealed a lot of paleoearthquake events. All available information allows more reliable analysis of earthquake recurrence interval and earthquake rupture patterns along the Haiyuan fault. Based on this paleoseismological information, the recurrence probability and magnitude distribution for M≥6.7 earthquakes in future 100 years along the Haiyuan fault can be obtained through weighted computation by using Poisson and Brownian passage time models and considering different rupture patterns. The result shows that the recurrence probability of M _S≥6.7 earthquakes is about 0.035 in future 100 years along the Haiyuan fault. Foundation item: Joint Seismological Science Foundation of China (103034) and Major Research “Research on Assessment of Seismic Safety” from China Earthquake Administration during the tenth Five-year Plan.     

Relative seismic moment tensor determination for Vrancea intermediate depth earthquakes

The method of relative seismic moment tensor determination proposed byStrelitz (1980) is extended a) from an interactive time domain analysis to an automated frequency domain procedure, and b) from an analysis of subevents of complex deep-focus earthquakes to the study of individual source mechanism of small events recorded at few stations.The method was applied to the recovery of seismic moment tensor components of 95 intermediate depth earthquakes withM _L=2.6–4.9 from the Vrancea region, Romania. The main feature of the obtained fault plane solutions is the horizontality ofP axes and the nonhorizontal orienaation ofT axes (inverse faulting). Those events with high fracture energy per unit area of the fault can be grouped unambiguously into three depth intervals: 102–106 km, 124–135 km and 141–152 km. Moreover, their fault plane solutions are similar to ones of all strong and most moderate events from this region and the last two damaging earthquakes (November 10, 1940 withM _W=7.8 and March 4 1977 withM _W=7.5) occurred within the third and first depth interval, respectively. This suggests a possible correlation at these depths between fresh fracture of rocks and the occurrence of strong earthquakes.     

Large earthquake doublets and fault plane heterogeneity in the northern Solomon Islands subduction zone

In the Solomon Islands and New Britain subduction zones, the largest earthquakes commonly occur as pairs with small separation in time, space and magnitude. This doublet behavior has been attributed to a pattern of fault plane heterogeneity consisting of closely spaced asperities such that the failure of one asperity triggers slip in adjacent asperities. We analyzed body waves of the January 31, 1974,M _w =7.3, February 1, 1974,M _w =7.4, July 20, 1975 (1437)M _w =7.6 and July 20, 1975 (1945),M _w =7.3 doublet events using an iterative, multiple station inversion technique to determine the spatio-temporal distribution of seismic moment release associated with these events. Although the 1974 doublet has smaller body wave moments than the 1975 events, their source histories are more complicated, lasting over 40 seconds and consisting of several subevents located near the epicentral regions. The second 1975 event is well modeled by a simple point source initiating at a depth of 15 km and rupturing an approximate 20 km region about the epicenter. The source history of the first 1975 event reveals a westerly propagating rupture, extending about 50 km from its hypocenter at a depth of 25 km. The asperities of the 1975 events are of comparable size and do not overlap one another, consistent with the asperity triggering hypothesis. The relatively large source areas and small seismic moments of the 1974 doublet events indicate failure of weaker portions of the fault plane in their epicentral regions. Variations in the roughness of the bathymetry of the subducting plate, accompanying subduction of the Woodlark Rise, may be responsible for changes in the mechanical properties of the plate interface.To understand how variations in fault plane coupling and strength affect the interplate seismicity pattern, we relocated 85 underthrusting earthquakes in the northern Solomon Islands Are since 1964. Relatively few smaller magnitude underthrusting events overlap the Solomon Islands doublet asperity regions, where fault coupling and strength are inferred to be the greatest. However, these asperity regions have been the sites of several previous earthquakes withM _s 7.0. The source regions of the 1974 doublet events, which we infer to be mechanically weak, contain many smaller magnitude events but have not generated any otherM _s 7.0 earthquakes in the historic past. The central portion of the northern Solomon Islands Arc between the two largest doublet events in 1971 (studied in detail bySchwartz et al., 1989a) and 1975 contains the greatest number of smaller magnitude underthrusting earthquakes. The location of this small region sandwiched between two strongly coupled portions of the plate interface suggest that it may be the site of the next large northern Solomon Islands earthquake. However, this region has experienced no known earthquakes withM _s 7.0 and may represent a relatively aseismic portion of the subduction zone.