The experimental research onb value of AE for the rock specimens with pre-existing crack or notch under uniaxial compression

A lot of researches onb value have been made in seismology. Since the 1960’s Mogi, Scholz and others have studied AE of rock specimens in laboratory and discovered that it is related to natural earthquakes. All former researchers used integral specimens to studyb value in the laboratory. However a major earthquake is usually related to a existing seismic-fault in that area. For this reason, a series of fracture experiments with rock and glass specimens having pre-existing crack or notch is performed in order to examine the effect of preexisting crack tob value. The experimental results show that theb value begins to decrease as soon as the initiation of the crack and finally drop to a very low value when the specimen breaks unstably. Based on these, a brief discussion on the possible mechanism ofb value change for natural earthquakes is given.     

On the physical essence of the b value for AE of rock tests and natural earthquakes in terms of fracture mechanics

The problem of physical essence of theb value forAE of rock tests and natural earthquakes has been a controversial topic during the past two decades. In the present paper the order and energy of each microfracturing of the microcrack system existing in a rock specimen is discussed from the viewpoint of fracture mechanics, then the whole series ofAE and subsequently the value ofb are determined. The order of microfracturing depends on the parametersKei/Kci whereKei is the effective stress intensity factor of thei-th microcrack andKci is the fracture toughness in the site of thei-th crack. The energy of eachAE can be expressed asηi ∫ loili Gids whereG is the energy release rate of microcarck,loi andli are the original and final crack lengths respectively andηi is the emanating efficiency for thei-th crack. If we assume that the distribution density function of microcrack lengthl isp(l)=Bl−v whereB andγ are constants, then the expressionb=3γ/2 can be deduced. Hence, we have come to the conclusion that the value ofb mirrors essentially the “crack-system-configuration” of the material, which means the distribution of the sizes, shapes and orientations of microcracks over space as well as the distribution of the other relevant physical parameters such as fracture toughness, friction coefficient, etc. Our conclusion is somewhat similar in character to Mogi’s. He concluded thet the heterogeneity of the material plays the most important role in determining the value ofb. The term heterogeneity of course covers the idea of “crack-system-configuration, but we think that our view has a little bit deeper insight to the problem than that of Mogi. This subject is supported by Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

Research on the diffusion of pore fluid and in-situ hydraulic diffusivity in the epicentral region of Xinfengjiang reservoir earthquakes

According to the fact that the Xinfengjiang reservoir earthquakes are caused mainly by water seepage, this paper using the data ofM _s⩾2. 0 earthquakes, studies the hydraulic diffusivity of the mainshock zone by the expansion of the distribution area of epicenters. It is indicated thatin-situ hydraulic diffusivity during the preshock activity of the Xinfengjiang reservoir region was about 6. 2 m²/s. However, after the main shock, thein-situ hydraulic diffusivity in the main shock region increased by fifty percent, that is to say, to 9. 7 m²/s. During the long period after main shock occurrence thein-situ hydraulic diffusivity was affected by significant anisotropy of the medium and fluctuation of water level. No regularity can be found. In addition, we compare the diffusivity found by experiment with rock samples collected with thein-situ hydraulic diffusivity estimated. It is shown that the diffusivity of rock samples with fractures is about the same as the diffusivity estimatedin-situ. However, the diffusivity of whole rock samples is 3 orders of magnitudes smaller than that estimatedin-situ. Finally, we discuss the limits on the method by the expansion of distribution area of epicenters in the study of reservoir induced seismicity. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 364–371, 1991. This subject is sponsored by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

The experimental study of acoustic emission during creep of rocks

Under normal temperature, the creep experiments with complete samples of Gabbro and Marble rocks are made under uniaxial compression. It is found that at the instantaneous creeping stage, AE activities increase with loading; at the steady creeping stage, large AE signals may appear at lower background of AE action, andm—value which shows the relationship between AE amplitude and frequency keeps stable on the low value or decreases; at the accelerate creeping stage, AE activities increase andm—value decreases quickly or decreases again after recovery. These experimental results are related to the quality of the samples. In this paper, AE activities during three stages of creeping process are connected with the seismic patterns (for exampleb—value, foreshocks). Finally, it is pointed out the possibility that the foreshock—mainshock—aftershock earthquake sequence has been formed by the mechanism of creep fracture of crustal rocks. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 104–112, 1991. This subject is sponsored by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

Interrelation among strong earthquakes and its application in seismic hazard analysis

The intterrelation among strong earthquakes and its application are emphatically studied in this paper. Taking North China seismic region as study area, we have investigated how a great earthquake influence other strong earthqukaes in neighbouring area? Does there exist earthqukae immunity phenomenon? If it exists, what distributional pattern did it has in space-time domain? The results show that occurrence of earthquakes withM⩾7 has cetain immunity phenomenon to earthquakes withM⩾6 in North China. Among others, the immunity area of earthquakes withM=8 is much larger than that ofM=7. For earthquakes withM⩾8, the immunity area to the earthquakes ofM=7 is larger than toM=6. Based on the above analysis, using some statistical methods, we gave the variational regularity of seismic immunity factor with space and time, and explored its concrete application in seismic hazard analysis. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 339–346, 1993.     

The application of the method of reconstruction a phase space with higher dimensions to the study of seismic processes and earthquake prediction

The method of reconstructing a phase space with higher dimensions can be applied to analysing the observaiton data for studying the dynamic behavior of seismic processes and earthquake prediction. It is found that seismic processes are chaotic. So earthquakes could be determinately predicted only within the predictable period. Here, some related problems (e.g. several primary parameters and the relations among them, the relation between the quality of used data and analytical results, the relation between a reductive process of the fractal dimensions and earthquake prediction and so on) are discussed. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 470–476, 1993. This study was sponsored by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation under Contract NO. 9000007.     

Randomization test and its application

In this paper, one of the distribution-free tests — randomization test, is briefly described. It doesn’t need any distribution assumption and its related parameter estimation and is applicable to random and nonrandom sample. Then it is used to the test of migration of strong earthquakes on the Xianshuihe Fault Belt and “immunity” of large earthquakes in the large northern reigon of China. The test results show that there is 98.7% confidence degree for the migration of strong earthqueks on the Xianshuihe Fault Belt and “immunity” of earthqueks withM _S⩾8 toM _S⩾7 is significant in the large northern region of China. The obtained test results and the test method itself have certain application in the practice. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 484–489, 1993.     

Dipole electrode sounding in earthquake prone region

This paper aims to analyse the geoelectrical resistivityρ _s data on the dipole electrode sounding, which were firstly accumulated from the earthquake prone region in China. The analyses on the one order difference value of the geoelectrical resistivity indicated that, firstly, more than 4 percent of theρ _s data reveals the precursors by 3 to 76 days ahead the earthquakes occurring, with the magnitude range of 4 ≤M ≤ 6. 4, in a region of 100 km around the station, and secondly, the results revealed that the seasonal variation ofρ _s data were slight. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 211–219, 1992.     

Inversion of waveform from the data of six moderate strong earthquakes in Chinese mainland to seismic moment tensors and source mechanism

Based on Generalized Seismic Ray Theory (Helmberger, 1968), a new quickly linear inversion method from the data of seismic waveform to seismic moment tensor and source mechanism for domestic earthquake is studied in this paper. Six moderately strong earthquakes which occurred in Chinese mainland in the past few years are studied. The seismic source parameters of these earthquakes, seismic moment tensors, scalar seismic moments, fault plane solutions and source time functionsetc, are obtained. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 261–268, 1993.     

The influence of stiffness of the true triaxial testing machine on the rupturing and acoustic emission of rocks and its correlation with seismic activities

This paper introduces how the ratioR of the characteristic stiffness of rock samplevs. the stiffness of testing machines would influence the rupturing process and the acoustic emission (AE) on the part of the tested rock samples. Result of the experiment shows: WhenR>0.20, the rock sample would rupture abruptly; whereas whenR<0.20, the rock samples would rupture slowly. When the samples rupture abruptly, the time-dependent variation of the AE rate takes such a pattern:peak value—stable low values—rises to the maximum value (concentration)—drops back to the minimum value (quiescence)—(rises again)—ruptures. Moreover, smallerR-value tends to be associated with longer quiescence and vice versa. WhenR>1.50, no pre-failure quiescence is detected. When the rock samples rupture slowly, the variation pattern of the AE rate (after the stress has increased to more than 50% of the rupturing stress) is as the following:stable low (or high) values—rises (or drops) to its maximum (or minimum) values and then continues for some time—ruptures. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 223–233, 1991. This study is supported by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

Experimental study on the effect of the critical temperature of water on the preparing and occurring of large earthquakes

The features of fracturing and dissolving of Yunnan marble in distilled water near the critical temperature have been studied experimentally. The results indicate that the mechanical parameters of the samples (fracture strength, Young’s Modulus, shear fracture energy and fracture toughness) drop with the temperature of the environment water, near the critical temperature (380°C), these parameters have sudden changes (drop), then keep stable values roughly. The contents of some chemical materials in the water, PH value and conductivity at every experiment temperature have been analysed and measured. At 380°C, there all exist sudden changes. According to the results, it is pointed out that the sudden changes are related to strong stress corrosion of water near its critical temperature to the rock and the exist and its migration of the water solution near the critical temperature in the crust have important significance to the earthquake source process, the formation cause of the low-focal depth earthquakes in the crust. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 156–163, 1992. This work was sponsored by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.     

Distribution of<Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript>g</Subscript> coda<Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis> in the Chinese continent and its adjacent regions

785 traces of vertical components from shallow earthquakes recorded by 10 CDSN (Chinese Digital Seismographic Network) stations and 5 GSN (Global Seismographic Network) stations were collected to study the attenuation characteristics ofL _g coda in the Chinese continent and its adjacent regions. The records were processed first using the stack spectral ratio method to obtain the average values ofQ ₀ (Q at 1Hz) and η, the frequency dependence, ofL _g coda in the ellipses corresponding to the paths. The back-projection technique was then employed to obtain the tomographic maps ofQ ₀ and η values, and the distribution of their errors. Results indicate that in the studied areaQ ₀ varies between 200 and 500. The lowest value ofQ ₀ exists in the Yun-nan-Tibetan region, while the highest value ofQ ₀ occurs in the southern edge of Siberian platform. η varies between 0.3 and 0.8. For most part of the studied area η varies inversely withQ ₀.     

Complete process of rock failure and the complete course of seismogeny

Conclusion Based on the analysis about the law of deformation rate, the concepts of the deformation rate of precursor, and its stress drop, and the stress drop of instability are discussed. According to the obtained deformationu ₀ corresponding to the maximum stress, the unstable pointu ₁ and the stable pointu ₂ of equilibrium, the complete process of rock failure can be divided into four stages quantitatively, corresponding to “the steady stage I”, “the precursor stage II”, “the unstable stage III” and “the later stage IV” of rock failure respectively, which can be used to simulate the complete course of earthquake. This kind of similarity between the complete process of rock failure and the complete course of earthquake suggests clearly the direction to reveal the law being of universal significance for the simulation of the earthquake in the laboratory experiments. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 517–521, 1991.     

Stochastic spatial analysis of earthquake sequence

In this paper, by means of the statistical analysis method of stochastic spatial point process, statistical analysis of spatial distribution of earthquakes in the large northern region of China is made. Emphasis is on the test and analysis of the complete spatial randomness, correlation of earthquake distribution in the different magnitude interval and random labeling. It is shown by the analysis that the spatial distribution of earthquakes in the large northern region is “clustered”, the distributions of earthquakes in different magnitude interval are positively correlated and can be modeled by a two-dimensional process. The results obtained in the paper can be used for the establishment of a reasonable spatial distribution model and have some application in the reasonable estimation of seismic hazard. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 129–135, 1993.     

Determination of Q S, spreading factor and S-wave acceleration by inversion of seismic intensity data

In this paper, on the basis of intensity data from 85 earthquakes occurred in China, the method of resolving overdetermined equations by using the damped least squares method is applied to inversing for the mean value of 1 s. S wave quality factor, the spreading factor and the S-wave acceleration at the foci of earthquakes in 7 regions of China. The relation between S-wave acceleration at the foci of earthquakes and magnitude is discussed. As an example, 2-DQ _S distribution in Taiwan Province is obtained by inversion. It is found that there exists some corresponding relation between this distribution and Bouguer gravitational anomaly and seismicity. Preliminary analysis and discussion on results of the inversion, and estimation of error inQ _S are made. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 202–211, 1991. The English version of this paper is improved by Professor Yushou Xie.     

Statistical testing of the relation between burst of aftershocks and strong earthquakes

According to geological tectonics and seismic activites this paper devided North China (30°–45°N, 105°–130°E) into four areas. We analyzed the North China earthquake catalogue from 1970 to 1986 (from 1965 to 1986 for Huabei, the North China, plain region) and identified forty-two bursts of aftershock. Seven of them occurred in aftershock regions of strong earthquakes and seventeen of them in the seismic swarm regions. The relation between strong earthquakes with the remaining eighteen bursts of aftershocks has been studied and tested statistically in this paper. The result of statistical testing show that the random probabilityp of coincidence of bursts of aftershock with subsequent strong earthquakes is less than six percent. By Xu’sR scoring method the efficacy of predicting strong earthquake from bursts of aftershock is estimated greater than 39 percent. Following the method proposed in the paper we analyzed the earthquake catalogue of China from 1987 to June, 1988. The results show that there was only one burst of aftershock occurred on Jan. 6, 1988 withM=3.6 in Xiuyan of Northeast China. It implicates that a potential earthquake withM _S⩽5 might occur in one year afterwards in the region of Northeast China. Actually on Feb. 25, 1988 an earthquake withM _S=5.3 occurred in Zhangwu of Northeast China. Another example is Datong-Yanggao shock on October 18, 1989 which is a burst of aftershock. Three hours after an expected shock withM =6.1 took place in the same area. Two examples above have been tested in practical prediction and this shows that bursts of aftershocks are significant in predicting strong earthquakes. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 273–280, 1991. Part of earthquake catalogue is from Jinbiao Chen, Peiyan Chen and Quanlin Li.     

The possible changes of tectonic stress fields in North China in 16–17th centuries

The ancient tectonic stress field in North China during 16–17th centuries were recovered by studying seismogenic faults of four great earthquakes. Three of them are dip slip events, the direction of the maximum principal stress is vertical, and that of the minimum principal stress is in the NW—SE direction and nearly horizontal tensile stress. Another earthquake is a complicated one which includes thrust and dip-slip activities. The above-stated character is quite different from that of present stress field, it is inferred that the stress field has significantly changed since 16th century, the main stress axis revolved an angle of 90 degrees nearly. The mantle upheaval in the faulted basins in North China during 16–17th centuries may cause the tensile stress field and a series of great earthquakes. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 144–148, 1992.     

A visco-elastoplastic model for fault rocks and its application to earthquake research

In the light of the rheological properties of crustal rocks and some features of earthquakes, a rheological model for fault rocks is suggested in the paper and the possibility of applying the suggested model to the study of earthquake mechanism is discussed. The results show that it is reasonable to take the suggested model as a physical simplification of fault rocks and to apply it to the numerical calculation and simulation of 2-D problems. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 129–136, 1992.     

Research on the time changes of transfer functions at Heze observatory before and after Heze earthquake of magnitude 5.9 A discussion with Qi Wang

In this paper, the coefficients of Parkinson vectora, b and the in-phase partA _r, B_r and quadrature-phase partA _i, B_i of transter functions are calculated by using two kinds of data processing methods, respectively. The results of both methods are close to each other. All these six parameters above are low in value, showing that the electric structure in Heze area is rather uniform. It seems that the anomalous changes appeared in both results, and the values of parameters decrease before and after Heze earthquake. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 113–120, 1991.     

The revised m Lg scale in six eastern provinces of China

The influence of the four different methods of measuring Lg amplitude, and the selection of different geometrical attenuation coefficient ζ-values (=5/6 or 1) on the determination ofγ value of Lg wave are discussed.γ=0.0034±0.0001km⁻¹ (when ζ=5/6) for six eastern provinces is redetermined. The revised magnitude calibration function ofm _Lg (mxh),q _E (Δ)=(5/6)logΔ+0.00147Δ+1.81 is deduced. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,13, 171–178, 1991. Projects sponsored by the Chinese Joint Seismological Science Foundation.