Mechanical and statistical evidence of the causality of human-made mass shifts on the Earth��s upper crust and the occurrence of earthquakes

A global catalog of small- to large-sized earthquakes was systematically analyzed to identify causality and correlatives between human-made mass shifts in the upper Earth??s crust and the occurrence of earthquakes. The mass shifts, ranging between 1?kt and 1?Tt, result from large-scale geoengineering operations, including mining, water reservoirs, hydrocarbon production, fluid injection/extractions, deep geothermal energy production and coastal management. This article shows evidence that geomechanical relationships exist with statistical significance between (a) seismic moment magnitudes M of observed earthquakes, (b) lateral distances of the earthquake hypocenters to the geoengineering ??operation points?? and (c) mass removals or accumulations on the Earth??s crust. Statistical findings depend on uncertainties, in particular, of source parameter estimations of seismic events before instrumental recoding. Statistical observations, however, indicate that every second, seismic event tends to occur after a decade. The chance of an earthquake to nucleate after 2 or 20?years near an area with a significant mass shift is 25 or 75?%, respectively. Moreover, causative effects of seismic activities highly depend on the tectonic stress regime in which the operations take place (i.e., extensive, transverse or compressive). Results are summarized as follows: First, seismic moment magnitudes increase the more mass is locally shifted on the Earth??s crust. Second, seismic moment magnitudes increase the larger the area in the crust is geomechanically polluted. Third, reverse faults tend to be more trigger-sensitive than normal faults due to a stronger alteration of the minimum vertical principal stress component. Pure strike-slip faults seem to rupture randomly and independently from the magnitude of the mass changes. Finally, mainly due to high estimation uncertainties of source parameters and, in particular, of shallow seismic events (<10?km), it remains still very difficult to discriminate between induced and triggered earthquakes with respect to the data catalog of this study. However, first analyses indicate that small- to medium-sized earthquakes (<M6) seem to be induced and large-sized events (>M6) seem to be triggered. The rupture propagation of triggered events might be dominated by pre-existing tectonic stress conditions.     

利用独立成分分析检测2004年和2012年印度洋地震的重力变化

2004年12月苏门答腊发生M_W9.3地震,造成巨大的质量重新分布.利用GRACE卫星月重力场数据计算了研究区域地面1°×1°网格点上的重力变化时间序列,采用主成分分析和独立成分分析两种方法,提取了重力变化的空间与时间特征,结果显示震中两侧区域的重力变化呈两极分布,其中东侧重力下降,西侧重力增加.相较于传统的主成分分析方法,独立成分分析能更好地从原始信号中提取地震的信息,能分解出具有显著阶跃变化的独立成分.除了2004年的苏门答腊大地震外,独立成分分析还分解得到了2012年Andaman地震的特征,与该次地震的空间特征与时间序列基本一致.相较于适合定量分析的多项式拟合方法,独立成分分析更适合大范围区域的定性分析,建议将两种方法相结合,取长补短,从而为GRACE地震监测提供一种更为客观、有效的方法.     

Seasonal water storage change of the Yangtze River basin detected by GRACE

1 Introduction Large-scale mass redistribution, or temporal varia- tion of mass within the Earth system, the driving force of interactions between solid Earth and geophysical fluids envelope (i.e., atmosphere, ocean, and hydro- sphere), is an important geophysical process critical to human life. Most of the interactions between solid Earth and the atmosphere/oceans happen at seasonal and inter-annual time scales. One important contribu- tor of mass redistribution at seasonal and inter-annual …     

Prediction and verification of earthquakes induced by the Xiluodu hydropower station reservoir

Research has been conducted on reservoir-induced earthquakes in China since the Xinfengjiang reservoir-induced earthquakes in the 1960s. Regulations now require the risk of reservoir-induced earthquakes to be evaluated in the pre-research stage of all hydropower projects. Although nearly 40 cases of reservoir-induced earthquakes have been reported in China, analyses comparing the changes in seismic activity following reservoir impoundment with predictions are rare. In this study, we compared seismic activities observed in the reservoir area before and after the impoundment of the Xiluodu hydropower station in terms of the spatial distribution, frequency, and focal depths of the earthquakes, and clarified the correlation between their frequency/timing and reservoir level after impoundment. We then concluded that the seismic events in the head region were karst-type earthquakes, while those in the second segment of the reservoir were tectonic earthquakes. The spatial distribution of the earthquake epicenters and the seismic intensities validated some of the results for the reservoir-induced seismic risk assessment for the Xiluodu hydropower station, indicating that the proposed earthquake triggers and predictive models are reasonable. This study can provide a valuable reference for investigating the mechanism (s) of reservoir-induced earthquakes, revising reservoir-induced earthquake hazard assessment codes, and predicting the hazard zones of reservoir-induced seismicity under similar conditions.     

GRACE detection of the medium- to far-field coseismic gravity changes caused by the 2004 MW9.3 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake

Large earthquakes cause observable changes in the Earth's gravity field, which have been detected by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). Since most previous studies focus on the detection of near-field gravity effects, this study provides the results from the medium- to far-field gravity changes caused by the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake that are recorded within GRACE monthly solutions. Utilizing a spherical-earth dislocation model we documented that large-scale signals predominate in the global field of the coseismic gravity changes caused by the earthquake. After removing the near-field effects, the coseismic gravity changes show a negative anomaly feature with an average magnitude of -0.18×10^-8 m·s^-2 in the region ranging ~40° from the epicenter, which is considered as the "medium field" in this study. From the GRACE data released by Center for Space Research from August 2002 to December 2008, we retrieved the large-scale gravity changes smoothed with 3 000 km Gaussian filter. The results show that the coseismic gravity changes detected by GRACE in the medium field have an average of (-0.20€±0.06)×10^-8 m·s^-2, which agrees with the model prediction. The detection confirms that GRACE is sensitive to large-scale medium-field coseismic gravitational effects of mega earthquakes, and also validates the spherical-earth dislocation model in the medium field from the perspective of satellite gravimetry.     

Significance of secular trends of mass variations determined from GRACE solutions

Since 2002 the Earth’s gravity field is globally observed by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission. The GRACE monthly gravity field solutions, available from several analysis centres, reflect mass variations in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and geosphere. Due to correlated noise contained in these solutions, it is, however, first necessary to apply an appropriate filtering technique. The resulting, smoothed time series are applied not only to determine variations with different periodic signatures (e.g., seasonal, short and medium-term), but to derive long-periodic mass variations and secular trends as well. As the GRACE monthly solutions always show the integral effect of all mass variations, for separation of single processes, like the GIA (Glacial isostatic adjustment)-related mass increase in Fennoscandia, appropriate reduction models (e.g. from hydrology) are necessary.In this study we show for the example of the Fennoscandian uplift area that GRACE solutions from different analysis centres yield considerably different secular trends. Furthermore, it turns out that the inevitable filtering of the monthly gravity field models affects not only the amplitudes of the signals, but also their spatial resolution and distribution such as the spatial form of the detected signals. It also becomes evident that the determination of trends has to be performed together with the determination of periodic components. All periodic terms which are really contained in the data, and only such, have to be included. The restricted time span of the available GRACE measurements, however, limits the separation of long-periodic and secular signals. It is shown that varying the analysis time span affects the results considerably. Finally, a reduction of hydrological signals from the detected integral secular trends using global hydrological models (WGHM, LaDWorld, GLDAS) is attempted. The differences among the trends resulting from different models illustrate that the state-of-the-art hydrology models are not suitable for this purpose as yet. Consequently, taking the GRACE monthly gravity field solutions from one centre, choosing a single filter and applying an insufficiently reliable reduction model leads sometimes to a misinterpretation of considered geophysical processes. Therefore, one has to be cautious with the final interpretation of the results.     

近期天山地震带地震活动固体潮调制的统计分析

利用Schuster检验方法, 以潮汐体应力为计算量, 采用2010年1月1日至2012年8月31日天山中东段M_L≥2.0的地震数据, 对天山地震带地震活动受固体潮触发情况从时、 空两方面进行统计分析。 研究结果显示, Schuster检验p值时间窗平滑结果与天山地震带较强地震的发生对应较好, 尤其是2011年11月1日尼勒克6.0级地震之前很长一段时间, Schuster检验p值时间窗平滑结果一直低于潮汐触发地震的阈值0.05, 而尼勒克6.0级地震发生后, 该值迅速恢复到较高水平, 反应了此次地震的发生与固体潮的密切关系; 从Schuster检验p值空间窗平滑结果看, 尼勒克6.0级地震也处于或接近潮汐调制触发地区。 因而, 从时、 空两方面的检验结果看, 尼勒克6.0级地震的发生受固体潮调制明显。     

大震前区域地震活动应变场的时空异常特征

本文基于自然正交函数展开方法, 以地震应变为变量, 计算1980年以来中国大陆7级以上大震前的地震应变, 提取出大震前区域地震活动应变场的时空异常。 结果表明大震前时间因子在平稳背景上会出现突跳上升或突跳下降异常变化。 一般情况下, 前4个应变场中至少有3个出现异常变化, 异常分布具有多分量特点, 出现的最早时间大约在震前3年, 少数出现在震前1~6个月。 对比应变场时间因子异常与研究区域每个网格单元(0.5°×0.5°)内的地震能量时间因子异常形态的相似性、 时间的一致性, 找出地震应变场空间异常位置。 结果表明, 多数大震前的空间异常分布在主震震中周围; 少数大震的空间异常远离主震震中。 产生这种现象的原因是大震前与主震不同距离的单元网格内发生中短期或者临震的震群、 显著地震等地震活动性异常。     

GRACE卫星观测到的与汶川Ms8.0地震有关的重力变化

利用GRACE卫星重力资料,计算了中国大陆及周边的卫星重力时变场和地表密度变化分布,获取了具有代表性的点位区域的每月重力变化时间序列.同时获得了WUSH、LHAS、KUNM、LUZH站相对于区域参考框架的GPS位移时间序列.卫星重力观测结果显示喜马拉雅弧形带的重力在2004年苏门答腊M_w9.3地震后快速下降, 2006~2008年尤为明显,西域地块西北边界带上震后重力下降也较为显著;而沿青藏高原北至东边界2007年出现明显的重力上升沿构造边界的弧形分布,且2008年南北地震带中南段重力上升变化显著.这些苏门答腊地震后的重力变化趋势到汶川地震发生后才开始改变.GPS位移结果显示四个台站均记录到苏门答腊大地震的同震信号,震后WUSH、LHAS、KUNM站水平位移向量出现明显的运动趋势改变,且一直持续到2008年汶川M_s8.0地震的发生.GRACE卫星揭示的青藏高原及周边地表质量的变化为解释汶川地震的动力机制提供了新的观测途径和资料.本文结合区域构造运动的特点和GPS位移,对GRACE观测的时变重力场特征及汶川地震的动力机制进行了初步解释和讨论.     

Outlier identification and correction for GRACE aggregated data

Gravity measurements within the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) provide a direct measure of monthly changes in mass over the Earth’s land masses. As such changes in mass mainly correspond to water storage changes, these measurements allow to close the continental water balance on large spatial scales and on a monthly time scale within the respective error bounds. When quantifying uncertainties, positive and negative peaks are detected in GRACE aggregated monthly time series (from different data providers) that do not correspond to hydrological or hydro-meteorological signals. These peaks must be interpreted as outliers, which carry the danger of signal degradation. In this paper an algorithm is developed to identify outliers and replace them with hydrologically plausible values. The algorithm is based on a statistical approach in which hydrological and hydro-meteorological signals are used to control the algorithm. The procedure of outlier detection is verified by evaluating catchment based aggregated GRACE monthly signals with ground truth from hydrology and hydro-meteorological signals. The results show improvement in the correlation of GRACE versus hydrometeorological and hydrological signals in most catchments. Also, the noise level is significantly reduced over 255 largest catchments.     

Comparative study of temporal variations in the earth’s gravity field using GRACE gravity models in the regions of three recent giant earthquakes

Comparative analysis of coseismic and postseismic variations of the Earth’s gravity field is carried for the regions of three giant earthquakes (Andaman-Sumatra, December 26, 2004, magnitude M _w = 9.1; Maule-Chile, February 27, 2010, M _w = 8.8, and Tohoku-Oki, March 11, 2011, M _w = 9.0) with the use of GRACE satellite data. Within the resolution of GRACE models, the coseismic changes of gravity caused by these seismic events manifest themselves by large negative anomalies located in the rear of the subduction zone. The real data are compared with the synthetic anomalies calculated from the rupture surface models based on different kinds of ground measurements. It is shown that the difference between the gravity anomalies corresponding to different rupture surface models exceeds the uncertainties of the GRACE data. There-fore, the coseismic gravity anomalies are at least suitable for rejecting part of the models that are equivalent in the ground data. Within the first few months after the Andaman-Sumatra earthquake, a positive gravity anomaly started to grow above the deep trench. This anomaly rapidly captured the area of the back-arc basin and largely compensated the negative coseismic anomaly. The processes of viscoelastic stress relaxation do not fully allow for these rapid changes of gravity. According to the calculations, even with a sufficiently low viscosity of the upper mantle, relaxation only covers about a half of the observed change of the field. In order to explain the remaining temporal variations, we suggested the process of downdip propagation of the coseismic rupture surface. The feasibility of such a process was supported by numerical simulations. The sum of the gravity anomalies caused by this process and the anomaly generated by the processes of viscoelastic relaxation accounts well for the observed changes of the gravity field in the region of the earthquake. The similar postseismic changes of gravity were also detected for the region of the Tohoku-Oki earthquake. Just as in the case discussed above, this earthquake was also followed by a rapid growth of a positive postseismic anomaly, which partially counterbalanced the negative coseismic anomaly. The time variations of the gravity field in the region of the Maule-Chile earthquake differ from the pattern of changes observed in the island arcs described above. The postseismic gravity variations are in this case concentrated in a narrower band above the deep trench and shelf, and they do not spread over the continental territory, where the negative coseismic anomaly is located. These discrepancies reflect the difference in the geodynamical settings of the studied earthquakes.     

重力卫星GRACE检测出2010年智利Mw8.8地震的同震重力变化

本研究通过对重力卫星GRACE观测数据的处理,采用去相关加300 km半径的高斯平滑,成功地提取了2010智利M_w8.8地震所产生的重力变化信号,最大变化幅度达到7 μGal,并且与位错理论计算结果具有较好的一致性.这是继GRACE检测出2004苏门答腊M9.3地震重力变化后的又一个卫星观测地震的例证,说明GRACE具有检测出M<9.0量级地震的能力,为利用GRACE研究地震以及其更广泛的应用提供了可靠的依据.     

论发震构造特性在潜在震源区参数确定中的应用

发震构造特性是潜在震源区划分及其地震年发生率确定的重要依据。潜在震源区除了反映“未来具有发生破坏性地震的地区”的内涵外,还应反映高震级档地震具有相似复发特征的涵义。由于在地震活动性参数统计单元内,有一些具有不同本底地震的活动构造块体,为更好地反映地震活动的空间不均匀性,考虑潜在震源区的三级划分是有必要的。通过分析潜在震源区内高震级档地震的复发特征,计算预测时段内潜在震源区的高震级档地震的发震概率,采用预测时段内概率等效转换获得地震年平均发生率的方法,有助于在中国地震危险性分析框架内考虑潜在震源区的强震复发特性。另外,文中还对潜在震源区内特征地震次级震级档频度不足的特性和发震构造上强震非均匀性在地震危险性分析中的应用问题进行了探讨     

模糊数学在地震活动性图象研究中的应用

本文应用模糊数学方法从给定地区的地震目录中识别出地震簇.这些地震簇由一系列时空相关的地震组成,每一次强震前都可能有其地震簇出现.两次地震的函数由以下公式来确定:eij=1e-1t+2e-2s计算出某一地区所有 MM0地震相互之间的联系强度,并取一个经验参数之后,就可以根据编网原则识别出地震簇.利用地震簇,可以把强震的地震活动性图象识别得更清楚,简单和定量化.此方法曾用于我国大华北及西南地区的地震簇识别与地震活动图象研究.清楚地识别出了13次大震(M6.5)的地震簇.研究了它们的时空特性.近似建立了 lg△t,lgL,lgS 与震级 M 间的线性经验关系,此处△t,L,S 分别表示地震簇的前兆时间(持续时间)及其震中分布的最大线度与面积.显然,这些关系式对地震预报研究可能有一定用途.      

GRACE和地面重力测量监测到的中国大陆长期重力变化

自2002年以来,GRACE卫星探测计划可提供高精度的时变地球重力场,用以探测地球系统的物质分布.自1998年中国大陆重力监测网建立以来,利用FG5绝对重力仪和LCR-G型相对重力仪每2年对该网进行重复测量获取重力场时变信息.基于此,本文利用GRACE和地面重力测量获得了中国大陆重力场的长期年变率,利用位错理论根据USGS发布的断层模型计算了2008年汶川M_s8.0级地震的同震重力变化并进行了300 km高斯滤波.GRACE卫星重力和地面重力结果均表明华北地区地下水流失严重,在绝对重力基准站上,GRACE卫星重力与绝对重力变化率较为一致,汶川区域的地面重力变化结果可视为大地震前兆信息.     

Effect of earthquakes on ambient noise cross-correlation function

Surface wave tomography method based on analysis of ambient noise is widely used during the last decade. It is assumed that correlated component of noise is composed of surface waves generated by sources distributed over the Earth’s surface more or less uniformly. In such a case the cross-correlation function (CCF) at two stations may be considered as the Green’s function of surface wave. This function should be symmetric relatively to zero time. However analysis of CCF at the stations located at the East-European Platform shows that as a rule CCF is characterized with a strong asymmetry. Since “purered noise cannot be extracted from seismic records due to superposition of earthquake signals, the method for calculation of CCF includes amplitude normalization for suppression of earthquakes that reduces signals from earthquakes to a noise level. The parts of records containing waves from earthquakes are neglected because of their short duration. Present study shows that this contribution turns out to be dominant at periods larger than 20–40 s. In other words, what is assumed as a “noisered in reality is a superposition of signals from earthquakes. This fact results in distortion of the Green’s function and of surface wave dispersion curve used in surface wave tomography if in the time interval used for calculation of CCF many earthquakes occur within a small area apart of an extension of the interstation path (clustering). Numerical modeling shows how clusters of sources affect CCF and dispersion curve correspondingly. Means for reducing this effect are outlined.     

Comparative analysis of the characteristics of global seismic wave propagation excited by the Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake using numerical simulation

Giant earthquakes generate rich signals that can be used to explore the characteristics of the hierarchical structure of the Earth’s interior associated with the eigenfrequencies of the Earth.We employ the spectral element method,incorporated with large-scale parallel computing technology,to investigate the characteristics of global seismic wave propagation excited by the2011 Mw9.0 Tohoku earthquake.The transversely isotropic PREM model is employed as a prototype of our numerical global Earth model.Topographic data and the effect of the oceans are taken into consideration.Wave propagation processes are simulated by solving three-dimensional elastic wave governing equations with the seismic moment tensor obtained from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Catalog.Three-dimensional visualization of our computing results displays the nature of the global seismic wave propagation.Comparative analysis of our calculations with observations obtained from the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology demonstrates the reliability and feasibility of our numerical results.We compare synthetic seismograms with incorporated and unincorporated ocean models.First results show that the oceans have obvious effects on the characteristics of seismic wave propagation.The peak displacement and peak velocity of P waves become relatively small under the effect of the ocean.However,the effect of the ocean on S-waves is complex.The displacement and velocity of S waves decrease rapidly over time using an unincorporated ocean model.Therefore,the effects of the ocean should be incorporated when undertaking quantitative earthquake hazard assessments on coastal areas.In addition,we undertake comparative analysis on the characteristics of the Earth’s oscillation excited by the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman,2008 Wenchuan,and 2011Tohoku earthquakes that incorporate the effect of the Earth’s gravitational potential.A comparison of the amplitude spectra of the numerical records indicates that energy released by the three big earthquakes is different.Our comparative analysis realizes that the computing results can accurately reproduce some eigenfrequencies of the Earth,such as toroidal modes 0T2 to 0T13and spheroidal modes 0S7 to 0S31.These results demonstrate that numerical simulations can be successfully used to investigate the Earth’s oscillations.We propose that numerical simulations can be used as one of the major tools to further reveal how the Earth’s lateral heterogeneities affect the Earth’s oscillations.     

Seismic electric signals in seismic prone areas

The Varotsos-Alexopoulos-Nomicos(VAN) method of short-term earthquake prediction was introduced in the 1980s. The VAN method enables estimation of the epicenter, magnitude and occurrence time of an impending earthquake by observing transient changes of the electric field of the Earth termed seismic electric signals(SES). Here, we present a few examples of SES observed in various earthquake prone areas worldwide.     

Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies Associated with Drought in Southwestern USA from GPS Observations

The Earth’s surface fluid mass redistribution, e.g., groundwater depletion and severe drought, causes the elastic surface deformation, which can be measured by global positioning system (GPS). In this paper, the continuous GPS observations are used to estimate the terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes in southwestern USA, which have a good agreement with TWS changes derived from Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) and hydrological models. The seasonal variation is mostly located in the Rocky mountain range and Mississippi river watershed. The largest amplitude of the seasonal variation is between 12 and 15 cm in equivalent water thickness. The timing and duration of TWS anomalies caused by the severe drought in 2012 are observed by the GPS-derived TWS, which are confirmed by the GRACE results. Different hydrological models are further used for comparison with GPS and GRACE results. The magnitude of TWS depletion from GRACE and GPS observations during the drought is larger than that from hydrological models, which indicates that the drought was caused by comparable groundwater and surface water depletion. The interannual TWS changes from GPS are also consistent with the precipitation pattern over the past 6 years, which further confirms the severe drought in 2012. This study demonstrates that continuous GPS observations have the potential as real-time drought indicator.