Research on anisotropic parameters by syn-thetic seismogram

Introduction The anisotropy of the Earth crust medium is a common phenomenon(Crampin,1984).More and more observation materials and study results have proved that on most of the Earth′s upper crust is spread fluid-filled cracks and microcracks,which are aligned according to the contempo-rary stress-field.Such distributions of aligned cracks show effectively anisotropy to seismic wave and the phenomenon is called extensive-dilatancy anisotropy(EDA)(Crampin et al,1984).At the same time,it is …     

Seismic anisotropy of the crust in Yunnan, China： Polarizations of fast shear-waves

Introduction Anisotropy of the crust is a common phenomenon(Crampin,1984).Shear-wave splitting can be used to study the earthquake anisotropic characteristic in crust,to analyze crustal stress field condition,and to describe the static and the dynamic state of the related anisotropic parameters(GAO et al,1999).Shear-wave splitting is quite sensitive to anisotropy.The domestic scholars applied shear-wave splitting to studying the crustal anisotropy(YAO et al,1992;GAO and FENG,1990).The st…     

A staggered-grid high-order finite-difference modeling for elastic wave field in arbitrary tilt anisotropic media

Introduction The real Earth usually presents anisotropy. Therefore, it is of theoretical and practical sig- nificance for many fields as oil and gas, seismic exploration and production, earthquake prediction, detection of deep structure and so on to study on seismic wave theory, numerical simulation method and its applications in the anisotropic media (Crampin, 1981, 1984; Crampin et al, 1986; Hudson et al, 1996; Liu et al, 1997; Thomsen, 1986, 1995; TENG et al, 1992; HE and ZHANG, 1996)…     

Variation of shearwave splitting in earthquake clusters with very similar waveforms

IntroductionAfter the confirming of anisotropy theory and the shear wave splitting, Crampin suggested that the accumulation and release of stress before and after a large earthquake could be observed by investigating the behavior of shear-wave (Crampin, et al, 1984; Crampin, 1987). Since that time, seismologists tried to find evidence to prove the hypothesis. Peacock, et al (1988) and Crampin, et al (1990) declared that they find a variation of time delay before and after the North Palm Spr…     

Crustal anisotropy of Taihang Mountain Range using azimuthal variation of receiver functions

We discussed the possibility of studying crust anisotropy by analyzing azimuthal variation of the receiver functions and presented a technique for computing the transmission response of a flat-layered medium with arbitrarily ori-ented hexagonally symmetric anisotropy using the reflectivity algorithm. Using this method we investigated the crust anisotropy of Taihang Mountain Range (TMR). Our result shows that there is significant anisotropy with a slow symmetry axis in the upper crust and a fast symmetry axis in the lower crust. The anisotropy magnitude of about 8%~15% is found in the upper crust and a smaller magnitude of about 3%~5% in the lower crust. Orienta-tion of the symmetry axes and the depth of anisotropy appearance as deduced from the seismic records of four individual seismic stations are different from each other. The crust anisotropy beneath the four stations may be associated with the local crustal fabrics in a small area.     

Group velocity distribution of Rayleigh waves and crustal and upper mantle velocity structure of the Chinese mainland and its vicinity

Introduction A lot of results have been achieved on the study of crust and upper mantle structure in Chinese mainland by the surface wave dispersion. The seismometer can be classified into three types based on the development from the analog to digital instrument. FENG, et al (1981) measured the dispersion curves of group and phase velocity along 28 paths, with 19 earthquakes recorded by 15 base analog seismic stations, subdivided the Chinese mainland into 5 blocks and obtained the average c…     

Anisotropy of the apparent resistivity variation rate near the epicentral region for strong earthquakes

IntroductionThe geo-electrical anisotropy before earthquake is of special significance for the prediction of earthquake location and for the research on crustal stress status near the epicentral region. The anisotropy has been studied from various aspects (CHEN, et al, 1983; QIAN, et al, 1985, 1996; LU, et al, 1990a; MAO, et al, 1995; RUAN, et al, 1999). But the anisotropic phenomena presented by geo-electrical data are not practically satisfactory and not clear as compared with the res…     

Study on S wave splitting in Dayao earthquake sequence with M=6.2 and M=6.1 in Yunnan in 2003

Introduction In seismology, medium isotropy and anisotropy is defined by the direction of seismic wave propagation. If the seismic wave velocity does not vary with the direction, the medium is isotropy, whereas it is anisotropy. Recently, the study of anisotropy in crack medium becomes a focus forseismologists. Crampin (1978) made a deeply research on crustal anisotropy and put forward a theory of extensive dilatancy anisotropy (EDA) that there are a lot of cracks parallel to the hori- zonta…     

Inversion of receiver function by wavelet transformation

Introduction Receiver function has been extensively applied in studying S wave velocity of crust and up-per mantle for about 20 years (Owens, et al, 1987; LIU, et al, 1996), which is a time series ob-tained by the deconvolution of vertical component from horizontal component for teleseismic P waveform. Receiver function represents the teleseismic P plane wave response of crust and upper mantle beneath seismic station, from which the source and propagation effects are removed. Receiver funct…     

Research on the 3—D Seismic Structures in Qinghai—Xizang Plateau

Based on the recording data from the analogue and broadband digital seismic stations in and around Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet)Platean,the three dimensiomal 3-D) seismic velocity stroctures in Qinghai-Xizang Plateau were obtained by using the regional body wave tomography and surface wave tomography.The results from these two tomography methods have similar characteristics for P-and S-wave velocity structures in crust and upper mantle.They show that there are remarkahle low velocity zones in the upper crust of L hasa block in the southern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and the lower crust and upper mantle of Qiangtang block in the northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.These phenomena may be related to the different steps of collision process in southern and northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.     

Quantitative analysis on tectonic deformation of active rupture zones

Introduction The Global Position System (GPS) may provide information about the crust movement of high precision in a large area, which significantly improve the capability of monitoring crustal movement over the area. In the last decade, studies on the global plate movement, the large scale block motions, the high-resolution crust movement of related monitored regions and tectonic de-formation fields have become the hotspot of spatial geodesy (ZHU et al, 2003; Wang et al, 2001; HUANG et…     

Inversion of gravity and topography data for the crust thickness of China and its adjacent region

Introduction Since the middle of the century, gravitational isostasy has been a fundamental hypothesis for inverting the gravity data to find the crust thickness. Geophysicists have done a lot of researches on using gravity data to investigate the depth of Moho discontinuity. Since 1980, the International Lithosphere Program emphasized the importance of investigating the Moho depth variation. Thereafter a lot of results have been published in the world (Braitenberg et al, 2000; Kaban et al,…     

Petrological Model for the Structure of Continental Crust in the Eastern Hebei Province

The precambrian metamorphic complex in the eastern Hebei Province may be considered as an exposed part of the transect of the continental crust.Based on the estimated depth of the metamorphic complex deduced from metamorphic facies and subfacies,geothermomctry and geobarometry in combination with geophysical data,previous and our measurements of wave velocities of rocks under high pressure,a petrological model for the crustal structure in eastern Hebei Province is suggested(Fig.3).The lower crust consists of granulite facies,with the intermediate amphiboie granulite subfacies and the mafic pyroxene granulite subfacies respectively in the upper and lower parts,and with the leuslike serpentinized peridotite and charnockite interbedded in the bottom.The middle crust consists mainly of the intermediate-acidic high temperature amphibolite facies gneiss and schist,with the low temperature amphibolite facies gneiss and schist on the top.The tonalite and granodiorite intrusions with high-temperature intertotial     

Anisotropy of the upper mantle in Chinese mainland and its vicinity

IntroductionAnisotropy is a universal phenomenon in the upper mantle. The mechanisms, which cause elastic anisotropy of in-situ rocks, include lattice preferred orientation of the minerals composing the rocks and preferred orientation of magma chambers. Lattice preferred orientation (LPO) of olivine is widely believed to be the dominant cause of the upper mantle anisotropy. The observational results of the upper mantle anisotropy can be explained by tectonic process relating to plate motion.…     

Crustal structure beneath the Songpan—Garze orogenic belt

The Benzilan-Tangke deepseismic sounding profile in the western Sichuan region passes through the Song-pan-Garze orogenic belt with trend of NNE.Based on the travel times and the related amplitudes of phases in the record sections,the 2-D P-wave crustal structure was ascertained in this paper.The velocity structure has quite strong lateral variation along the profile.The crust is divided into 5layers,where the first,second and third layer belong to the upper crust,the forth and fifth layer belong to the lower crust.The low velocity anomaly zone gener-ally exists in the central part of the upper crust on the profile,and it integrates into the overlying low velocity basement in the area to the north of Ma‘erkang.The crustal structure in the section can be divided into 4parts:in the south of Garze-litang fault,between Garze-Litang fault and Xianshuihe fault,between Xianshuihe fault and Longriba fault and in the north of Longriba fault,which are basically coincided with the regional tectonics division.The crustal thickness decreases from southwest to northeast along the profile,that is ,from62km in the region of the Jinshajiang River to 52km in the region of the Yellow River.The Moho discontinuity does not obviously change across the Xianshuihe fault basesd on the PmP phase analysis.The crustal average velocity along the profile is lower,about 6.30 km/s.The Benzilan-Tangke profile reveals that the crust in the study area is orogenic.The Xianshuihe fault belt is located in the central part of the profile,and the velocity is positive anomaly on the upper crust,and negative anomaly on the lower crust and upper mantle.It is considered as a deep tectonhic setting in favor of strong earthquake‘s accumulation and occurrence.     

Azimuthal anisotropy of Rayleigh waves beneath the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas

The crustal and upper mantle azimuthal anisotropy of the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas was studied by Rayleigh wave tomography. We collected sufficient broadband digital seismograms trav-ersing the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent areas from available stations, including especially some data from the temporary stations newly deployed in Yunnan, eastern Tibet, and western Sichuan. They made an adequate path coverage in most regions to achieve a reasonable resolution for the inversion. The model resolution tests show that the anisotropic features of scope greater than 400 km and strength greater than 2% are reliable. The azimuthal anisotropy pattern inside the Tibetan Plateau was similar to the characteristic of tectonic partition. The crustal anisotropy strength is greater than 2% in most re-gions of East Tibet, and the anisotropy shows clockwise rotation surrounding the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. Vertically, the anisotropy direction indicates a coherent pattern within the upper crust, lower crust, and lithosphere mantle of the Tibetan Plateau, which also is consistent with GPS velocity field and SKS fast polarization directions. The result supports that the crust-mantle deformation beneath the Tibetan Plateau is vertically coherent. The anisotropy strength of crust and lithospheric upper mantle in Yunnan outside the Tibetan Plateau is lower than 2%, so SKS splitting from core-mantle boundary to station should largely be attributed to the anisotropy of asthenosphere.     

Tomographic investigation of the upper crustal structure and seismotectonic envi—ronments in Yunnan Province

Investigation has been made for the upper crust structure and seismotectionic environments in Yunnan Province using the plentiful DSS data of the four profiles.The derived velocity model has a good relationship with the ex-posed basins,uplifts and faults.The low velocity anomaly corresponding to the volcano also has been revealed.There exits a prominent lateral inhomogeneity within the upper crust of Yunnan region.The depth of crystalline basement generally ranges from 0km to 5km,and the bedrocks are exposed on the ground directly in some places,nevertheless the thickness of sedimentary cover also can reack to 8km or even 12km at some targe depressions.Although the Changning-Shuangjiang fault is a boundary between two first class tectonic units,its incision depth within the crust maybe shallow.On the other hand,known as the plates‘seam,the Honghe fault has a distinct evi-dence of extending into the mid-lower crust.The widely spread activity of the volcanoes in the geological era has a close relationship with the earthquake‘s occurrence nowadays.Despite of the ceasing of the volcanoes in some places on the ground,the material in the mid-lower crst is still active,and there still exists strong upward stress-As the ceasing of the volcanoes on the surface,most parts of the power from the lower crust and the upper mantle cannot be released;therefore it accumulates at some appropriate tectonic locations.Moreover,the saturation of the water from the basin,the action of other fluids,and the effects of the outer stress maybe another direct reason ac-count for the strong earthquakes‘occurrence in Yunnan region.     

Shear wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle underneath the Tianshan orogenic belt

From April, 2003 to September, 2004, a passive broadband seismic array consisting of 60 stations was deployed over the Tianshan orogenic belt by State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration. Among them, 51 stations make up an about 500-km-long profile across the Tianshan Mountains from Kuytun to Kuqa. The receiver function profile and S-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle down to 100 km deep are obtained by using the re-ceiver function method (Liu et al. 1996, 2000). The main results can be summarized as follows: (1) A clear mountain root does not exist beneath the Tianshan Mountains, and the crust-mantle boundaries underneath the stations mostly have transitional structures. This implies that the material differentia-tion between the crust and mantle is not yet accomplished and the orogenic process is still going on. (2) The crust beneath the Tianshan Mountains has laterally blocked structures in direction perpendicular to the mountain strike, and the crust-mantle boundary has a clear dislocation structure. Both of them correspond to each other. (3) The offsets of the Moho discontinuity are highly correlated to the tectonic borders on the surface and that corresponding to the frontal southern Tianshan fault reaches to 14 km. This manifests that large vertical divergent movement took place between different blocks. This sup-ports the discontinuous model of the Tianshan orogeny, and the Tarim block subduction is restricted only to the southern side of the South Tianshan. (4) Inside the upper and middle crust of the Tianshan Mountains exist several low-velocity bodies correlated with high seismicity located on the moun-tain-basin jointures on both sides of the mountain and between different blocks, and the low-velocity bodies on the mountain-basin jointures are inclined obviously to the mountain. This implies that the low-velocity bodies may be correlated closely to the thrust and subduction of the basins on both sides of the mountain, the splicing of adjacent blocks and the fast uplift of the Tianshan Mountains.     

SKS splitting beneath Capital area of China

Based on the polarization analysis of teleseismic SKS waveform data recorded at 49 seismic stations in Capital Area Seismograph Network,the SKS fast-wave direction and the delay time between the fast and slow shear waves at each station were determined by using the grid searching method of minimum transverse energy and the stacking analysis method,and then we acquired the image of upper mantle anisotropy in Capital area.In the study area,the fast-wave polarization direction is basically WNW-ESE,and the delay time falls into the interval from 0.56 s to 1.56 s.The results imply that the upper mantle anisotropy in Capital area is mainly caused by the subduc-tion of the Pacific plate to Eurasian plate.The subduction has resulted in the asthenospheric material deformation in Capital area,and made the alignment of upper mantle peridotite lattice parallel to the deformation direction.And the collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates made the crust of western China thickening and uplifting and material eastwards extruding,and then caused the upper mantle flow eastwards,and made the upper mantle de-formation direction parallel to the fast-wave direction.The deformation model of the crust and upper mantle is possibly vertically coherent deformation by comparing the fast-wave polarization direction with the direction of lithospheric extension and the GPS velocity direction.     

Numerical simulation of the influence of lower-crustal flow on the deformation of the Sichuan-Yunnan Region

On the basis of distribution of active fault and regional rheological structure, a three-dimensional finite element model of Sichuan-Yunnan region, China, is constructed to simulate contemporary crustal motion and stress distri- bution and discuss the dynamic mechanism of crustal motion and deformation in the Sichuan-Yunnan region. Lin- ear Maxwell visco-elastic model is applied, which includes the active fault zones, the elastic upper crust and vis- cous lower crust and upper mantle. Four different models with different boundary conditions and deep structure are calculated. Some conclusions are drawn through comparison. Firstly, the crustal rotation about the eastern syntaxis of the Himalaya in the Sicuan-Yunnan region may be controlled by the special dynamic boundary condition. The drag force of the lower-crust on the upper crust is not negligible. At the same time, the main active fault zones play an important role in the contemporary crustal motion and deformation in Sichuan-Yunnan region.