Correction to the crustal thickness of the northwestern China using the data of seis-mic tomography

Introduction The gravity anomaly is an indicator of the density distribution of the underground material. Therefore the gravity anomalies have been important data used for studying the deep crustal struc-ture for a long time. Many people have made detailed researches on the regional crustal structure inverted by Bouguer anomalies. In particular some empirical formulae and practical algorithms about the crustal thickness were brought forward, and a series of results were obtained (MENG, 1996)…     

A discussion on the application of b-value to the prediction of seismic tendency

It has been recognized for a long time that the b-value in the Gutenberg-Richters fre-quency-magnitude relation (Gutenberg, Richter, 1954) tends to decrease before some of the earth-quakes (LI, et al, 1979, and the references therein). Since the 1980s, study on b-value has caused much attention among seismologists and physicists when b-value was related to the fractal dimen-sion of an earthquake fault (Aki, 1981; King, 1983) and/or the scaling constant in the model of self-organized critical…     

Invitation of Contributions to the International Journal of Sediment Research

Dear Colleagues:We would like to draw your attention to recent developments with the International Journal ofSediment Research. The Journal has been published by the International Research and Training     

Nonzonal structure of the response of the global field of the Earth’s atmospheric temperature to solar activity

The work describes the results of calculations obtained with the Atmospheric Research Model (ARM) general circulation model. The temperature response of the troposphere and middle atmosphere to variations in UV solar radiation were found to have a large-scale wave structure when planetary waves at the lower model boundary were taken into account. In the present paper, the results from the processing of global temperature fields with three databases (ERA-20C, NOAA-CIRES 20th Century Reanalysis, v2, and NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis I) are provided. Analysis of the differences of the mean monthly temperature global fields (January and July) between the maxima and minima of three solar activity cycles (21, 22, and 23 cycles) also demonstrated their nonzonal structure. It was shown that the amplitude of this difference in January in the stratosphere (10 hPa) can be 7–29 K in the Northern Hemisphere. In July, this effect is prominent in Southern Hemisphere. In the troposphere (500 hPa), a nonzonal temperature effect is present in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; the amplitude of the effects amounts to approximately 5–12 K. In conclusion, we discuss that the mechanism of solar energy impact on atmospheric temperature discovered by numerical modeling is supported after reanalysis data processing.     

Possibility of Application of the Electromagnetic Missile Theory to Earthquake Prediction

Geoeiectromagnetic signals related to earthquakes have been detected in China and many other countries.Problems concerning the mechanism of the electromagnetic emission and transportation still remain unsolved,although several models have been proposed.We consider that the theory of "electromagnetic missile emission" may be used to solve this problem,and thus develops the basic ideal of the Electro Magnetic Missile Emission(EMME)model of the emission of electromagnetic signals before earthquakes:pulse variation of the stress state causes the emission of electrons,or sudden flow of the fluid,in a certain direction along or near the fault which is located at the focus of an earthquake,forming a pulse electric current; this current accordingly produces a kind of slowly attenuated EM Wave(electromagnetic missile,which may be observed on the surface of the earth)in the perpendicular direction.In other directions these EM waves vanish quickly and cannot reach ground level.     

Application of digital image processing to the determination of spatial distribution of earthquakes

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Application of Information Gain to Estimating the Seismic Tendency

Considering two seismic parameters,energy and the frequency of an earthquake as a whole from the definition of information gain in entropy,we study the information gain of M≥6.0 earthquakes from the world earthquake catalogue during 1900-1992.The results show that the information gain decreases before strong earthquakes.Our study of the recent seismic tendency of large earthquakes shows that the probability of earthquakes with M≥8.5 is low for the near future around the world.The information gain technique provides a new approach to tracing and predicting earthquakes from the data of moderate and small earthquakes.     

Earth''''s deformation due to the dynamical perturbations of the fluid outer core

Introduction The fluid outer core separates the solid inner core from the solid elastic mantle, and as a result, makes the free and forced movement of this mechanical system more complicated and profuse. As the elastic mantle, the free oscillations may occur within the Earths fluid outer core (FOC) due to excitation of a strong and deep earthquake (Crossley, 1975b; Friedlander, Siegmann, 1982; Shen, 1983; Friedlander, 1985). However, compared with the oscillations of the elastic mantle, i…     

Application of the Linearity Method to Processing and Analyzing of Precursory Data

In this paper,the spatial linearity method is applied to synthetical processing of precursory data from different stations and different disciplines.The new characteristic value(a)obtained can describe the whole precursory field.The authors present the formulas for calculating spatial linearity.Furthermore,the spatial linearity method is applied to processing of geoelectrical resistivity and groundwater level data from 1970 to 1994 in North China.The results show that the new characteristic value(a)could detect the anomaly 1 year before moderately strong earthquakes.     

Increase of Local Seismicity Due to the Construction of Taipei 101？

Considering the controversy over whether the Taipei 101 skyscraper has induced an increase of local seismicity, we reanalyzed the local earthquake catalogue before and after the construction to investigate whether the reported seismicity increase related to the construction is statistically significant. Statistical tests obtained a positive conclusion about the apparent seismicity increase. However, the calculation of maximum ΔCFS shows that at most a 2.2×10-4 bar Coulomb Failure Stress change was produced by the construction. Therefore, whether the construction of Taipei 101 really triggered the increase of seismicity still remains an open question: Statistically-yes; physically-no.     

Deformation processes in the lithosphere related to the nonuniformity of the Earth’s rotation

The series of observations conducted at the Baksan and Protvino deformation stations in the Northern Caucasus and the Central Russian Plain, respectively, and the length-of-day (LOD) data describing the variable rate of the Earth’s rotation are used to study the relation between the deformation processes in the lithosphere and the global geodynamics of the Earth over short time intervals. The methods applied are based on high-resolution spectral analysis, analysis of the coherence of the studied processes, and correlation analysis. A significant (95%) correlation is revealed between the local deformation fields at two remote observation stations, which proves the existence of a global component in the Earth’s deformation field that manifests itself at characteristic time intervals of up to 3–4 weeks. At the same level of significance, the correlation between the local deformation fields and variations in the rate of the Earth’s rotation has also been identified. It is shown that the found correlations in the tidal low-frequency range are caused by the direct impact of the long-period tidal loading (M _f and M _tm waves) on the lithosphere and the length-of-the-day (LOD). The global mechanisms giving rise to the correlation of these processes in the nontidal range require further study.     

Application of mechanical and statistical models to the study of seismicity of syn-thetic earthquake

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Features of Seismicity in the Northeastern China Region and Their Relation to the Subduction of the Japan Sea Plate

INTRODUCTIONThewestPacificplatedivestowardsthewest,formingthesubductionzoneintheJapanSea ,hencecalledtheJapanSeasubductionzone .ItsfrontendgoesdeepintoWangqingandMulinginNortheastChina .Thefocusdepthisabout 540～ 590km .Withthedipangleofabout 2 9°andthwidthof 12 87km ,theJapanseasubductionzoneistheonewiththesmallestdipangleandthelargestwidthintheworld .ThedeepearthquakestherecorrespondtotheoccurrenceofshallowonesandhaveeffectstoacertainextentontheshallowstrongearthquakeinnortheastAs…     

Is the abnormal response of the tide at the frequency of S2 really due to radiational effects?

The equilibrium ratios of the major solar component of the tide S₂ and of the component K₂, which have very close frequencies, seldom follow a linear trend when one extrapolates from that of the lunar component M₂. This is due to the different damping of the resultant of S₂ and K₂ during their six-month interference cycle, compared to that of the other components: it gives to K₂ a value larger than expected, while the reverse hold for S₂. It is unlikely that radiational effects are the cause of such behaviour as is currently believed.     

Assessing the use of U–Th methods to determine the age of cold-water calcareous algae

Calcitic crusts of calcareous red algae could be suitable material for age determination of raised marine deposits and palaeothermometry at annual to sub-annual resolution. We examined the potential of U–Th dating of cold-water calcareous algae by analysing fossil specimens (n=10) from Kapp Ekholm (Svalbard) and recent specimens from Norway (n=3) and Scotland (n=1). After initial measurements using α-spectrometry, thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) was used to study the material in more detail. Recent specimens contain 0.19–1.55 μg g⁻¹ U, and the measured (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratios vary between 1.12 and 1.30. Fossil specimens contain 1–168 μg g⁻¹ U, and display variable and highly elevated initial (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratios. In general, the TIMS results show increasing (²³⁴U/²³⁸U) activity ratios and concentrations of U and Th with increasing stratigraphic age. From this it is evident that marine calcareous red algae contain U in-vivo and they experience substantial post-mortem uptake of U. We conclude that direct U–Th dating of fossil calcareous algae from raised marine deposits is not viable without further geochemical understanding of the in-vivo uptake and post-depositional pathways of U and Th in such deposits. Despite the convincing open-system behaviour of the material, comparison with previously published chronostratigraphy from the site shows that the calcareous algae generally yield ages that are too old. This is in contrast to the expected result based on simple continuous post-mortem U accumulation and calls for a complex model comprising migration of U and multi-component addition of Th (detrital/colloidal) to explain the observed trends.     

Parameter estimation of the stochastic AMR model and its application to the study of several strong earthquakes

Introduction According to many published papers, seismicity in time-space domain shows some characteristics, such as doughnut epicenter distribution (Mogi, 1969) or quiescence of seismic activity before large earthquakes (WANG, et al, 2002), and aftershock decay (Ogata, 1998). In recent years, more and more seismologists (Lynnr, Steven, 1990) have found that many strong earthquakes are preceded by enhancing regional seismicity and accelerating strain energy release (ZHANG, et al, 2001). T…     

Application of the radial basis function neural network to the short term prediction of the Earth’s polar motion

By a number of test cases using different sample numbers and sample lengths, we obtain a Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFNN) model that is suitable for the short-term forecast of polar motion, especially for the ultra-short-term forecast. By using the same data sample of Earth’s polar motion, this RBFNN model can achieve better short-term prediction accuracy than the least-squares+autoregressive (LS+AR) method, and better ultra-short-term prediction accuracy than the LS+AR+Kalman method. Using this model to forecast the polar motion data from January 1, 2002 to December 30, 2007 and from January 1, 2010 to December 30, 2016, respectively, experimental results show that the ultra-short-term forecast accuracy of this RBFNN model is within a precision of 3.15 and 3.08 milliseconds of arc (mas) in polar motion x direction, 2.02 and 2.04 mas in polar motion y direction; the short-term forecast accuracy of RBFNN model is within a precision of 8.83 and 8.69 mas in polar motion x direction, and 5.59 and 5.85 mas in polar motion y direction. As is stated above, this RBFNN model is well capable of forecasting the short-term of polar motion, especially the ultra-short-term.     

Detection capabilities of the BURAR seismic array—contributions to the monitoring of regional and distant seismicity

Data recorded with the Bucovina Romanian Seismic Array (BURAR) seismic array between January 2005 and December 2008 were analyzed to verify the monitoring capabilities of regional and distant seismicity. For this time interval, nearly 35,000 events detected by BURAR and identified in seismic bulletins (Preliminary Determination of Epicenters and Romanian Earthquake Catalogue) were investigated using parameters as backazimuth, epicentral distance and magnitude. A remarkably detection capability is emphasized for teleseismic observations (Δ > 20°). BURAR onsets could be associated to almost 60% of all events in the teleseismic distance, with a magnitude detection threshold of 4.5 (mb). When no threshold magnitude is applied, the full detection capability of BURAR is in the same order as the performance of GERES array, which is one of the most sensitive stations in Central Europe. For regional events, detection capability decreases to about 16% of all events within regional distance range. The site conditions (crustal structure and high frequency cultural noise) as well as array dimension, affect the signal coherency and reduce the array detection capability for regional events. For both teleseismic and regional distances, a monthly variation of BURAR detection capabilities has been found; the number of events detected during the summer time is diminished by the specific seasonal human activity and atmospheric conditions (thunderstorms). To prove the good detection capability of the BURAR for teleseismic distances, a comparison with the observations of the Romanian Real Time Network in terms of magnitude and epicentral distance was carried out. The higher signal detection capability of BURAR is due to the array techniques applied in data processing, which enhance the signal-to-noise ratio. The monitoring performed by the BURAR seismic array provides a good azimuthal coverage of the regional and distant seismicity, in a large range of epicentral distances.     

Neotectonic modelling of the western part of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary: from the Mid-Atlantic ridge to Algeria

In this work we use the thin-shell approximation to model the neotectonics of the western part of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary, extending from the Mid-Atlantic ridge to Tell Atlas (northern Algeria). Models assume a nonlinear rheology and include laterally variable heat flow, elevation, and crust and lithospheric mantle thickness. Including the Mid-Atlantic ridge permits us to evaluate the effects of ridge push and to analyse the influence of the North America motion on the area of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary. Ridge push forces were included in a self-consistent manner and have been shown to exert negligible effects in the neotectonics of the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Africa. Different models were computed with systematic variation of the fault friction coefficient. Model quality was scored by comparing predictions of anelastic strain rates, vertically integrated stresses and velocity fields to data on seismic strain rate computed from earthquake magnitude, most compressive horizontal principal stress direction, and seafloor spreading rates on the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The best model scores were obtained with fault friction coefficients as low as 0.06–0.1. The velocity boundary condition representing spreading on the Mid-Atlantic ridge is shown to produce concentrated deformation along the ridge and to have negligible effect in the interior of the plates. However, this condition is shown to be necessary to properly reproduce the observed directions of maximum horizontal compression on the Mid-Atlantic ridge. The maximum fault slip rates predicted by the model are obtained along the Mid-Atlantic ridge, Terceira ridge and Tell Atlas front. Relatively high slip rates are also obtained in the area between the Gloria fault and the Gulf of Cadiz. We infer from our modelling a significant long-term seismic hazard for the Gloria fault, and interpret the absence of seismicity on this fault as possibly due to transient elastic strain accumulation. The present study has also permitted better understanding of the geometry of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary from the Azores triple junction to the Algerian Basin. The different deformational styles seem to be related to the different types of lithosphere, oceanic or continental, in contact at the plate boundary.