Study on relationship between features of strain anomaly obtained by borehole strain meter at Wushi station in Xinjiang and strong earthquake: Taking Jiashi MS = 6.8 earthquake as an example

Introduction According to the Seismograph Network of China, an earthquake of MS=6.8 occurred at10:03:42 on February 24, 2003 in Jiashi county, Xinjiang (39.55°N, 77.15°E) with the focal depthof 25.2 km. The macroseismic epicenter located at the boundary of Bachu and Jiashi counties,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. 248 persons died and 4 853 ones were injured (2 058 ofthem were heavily injured) in the earthquake. 49 656 households (about 205 079 persons) losttheir houses. The Dis…     

Study on the earthquake fault of the Lulong ML=6.2 earthquake by precise relocation of aftershock

Introduction The Lulong county is about 75 km northeast to Tangshan in Hebei Province. An earthquake of ML=6.2 took place on October 19, 1982 about 4 km northeast to the county town. The epicenter of the mainshock is located at 39°57′N, 119°04′E by the Beijing seismic network. The 1976 Tang- shan 7.8 earthquake and the successive Luanxian 7.1, Ninghe 6.9 and the Lulong earthquake spread in NE-SW direction in space. SONG and WANG et al of Institute of Geophysics, China Seismolog…     

Changes in source parameters of foreshocks and aftershocks of the 2001 Ms=6.0 Yajiang,Sichuan, earthquake

In this paper changes in focal mechanisms) parameters of wave spectra, and stress drops for the Ms=5.0 forcshock and Ms=6.0 mainshock in February 2001 in Yajiang County, Sichuan, and seismicity in cpiccntral region are studied. Comparison of focal mechanisms for the Yajiang earthquakes with distribution patterns of aftcrshocks, the nodal plane Ⅰ, striking in the direction of NEN, of the Yajiang M=5.0 event is chosen as the faulting plane, the nodal plane Ⅱ, striking in the direction of WNW, of the M=6.0 event as the faulting plane. The strikes of the two faulting planes are nearly perpendicular to each other. The level of stress drops in the cpicentral region before the occurrence of the M=6.0 earthquake increases, which is consistent with increase of seismicity in the epicentral region. The rate decay of the Yajiang earthquake sequence, changes in wave spectra for foreshocks and aftershocks,and focal mechanisms are complex.     

Intensity distribution and effect of the Nov. 9, 1996 earthquake of Ms=6.1 in offshore outside the Yangtze River Mouth on the South Korea

On Nov. 9, 1996 at 21h56min (Beijing Time), an earthquake of MS=6.1 occurred in offshore outside the Yangtze River Mouth (31o43￠N, 123o04￠E). The shock affected Shanghai City and both Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces in China mainly. The shock was felt more strongly in the Yangtze River Mouth and Hangzhou Bay area than in the rest of them, particularly in high buildings of Shanghai City. In addition, the earthquake was felt in South Korea and also stronger in apartments or high buildings. LIU, JIN (1998) and LIU, et al (1999) described effect of the shock on the eastern China. The paper describes the effect of the earthquake on South Korea and the whole intensity distribution in South Korea and eastern China.     

Earthquake source parameters of the 2009 M_W7.8 Fiordland （New Zealand） earthquake from L-band InSAR observations

The 2009 M W 7.8 Fiordland (New Zealand) earthquake is the largest to have occurred in New Zealand since the 1931 M W 7.8 Hawke’s Bay earthquake, 1 000 km to the northwest. In this paper two tracks of ALOS PALSAR interferograms (one ascending and one descending) are used to determine fault geometry and slip distribution of this large earthquake. Modeling the event as dislocation in an elastic half-space suggests that the earthquake resulted from slip on a SSW-NNE orientated thrust fault that is associated w...     

The December 26, 2004, off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, M_W=9.0, earthquake and the critical-point-like model of earthquake preparation

Introduction The unexpected December 26, 2004, off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia, MW=9.0 earthquake, which caused devastating tsunami around the Indian Ocean, reminds seis-mologists of the difficulty of earthquake forecast and/or prediction. For seismologists this earth-quake is almost completely unexpected, because there was neither forecasting (which means the estimation of the future earthquake rate as a function of location, time, and magnitude) nor predic-tion (forecasti…     

Automatic recognition of damaged town buildings caused by earthquake using remote sensing information: Taking the 2001 Bhuj, India, earthquake and the 1976 Tangshan, China, earthquake as examples

Introduction As we well know, the hazard of earthquake is very wide especially in cities. The conventionalmethods to investigate the damage are difficult to meet the requirements in applications. In recentyears, with the rapid development of remote sensing, especially the successful launch and applica-tion of high-resolution commercial remote sensing satellite, it has become possible to recognize andextract damage information by using remote sensing. The researchers at home and abroad hav…     

Discussion on the feature of strong earthquake: Orderly distribution in time, space and intensity before the Western Kunlun Mountain Pass M=8.1 earthquake

Introduction The Western Kunlun Mountain Pass M=8.1 earthquake occurred on November 14, 2001 is the other M=8 earthquake occurred 50 years after Dangxiong, Tibet M=8.0 earthquake in Chinese mainland. The earthquake has caused the attention of the seismologists in the following aspects: 1) The fracture length is more than 400 km, which is far away from the estimated length by the statistic empirical function between the magnitude and the fracture length (WANG, et al, 2002); 2) The aftersh…     

Characteristics of InSAR Coseismic Deformation and Slip Distribution of the Akto MS6.7 Earthquake,Xinjiang

The Akto M_S6. 7 earthquake occurred near the western end of the Muji fault basin in the top of the Pamir syntaxis. The main shock of this earthquake is complicated and the focal mechanism solutions based on the seismic wave inversions are different. Based on the Sentinel-1 SAR data,the coseismal deformation field of the earthquake is obtained by In SAR technique. Based on the elastic half-space dislocation model,the geometrical parameters and the slip distribution model are determined by nonlinear and linear inversion algorithms. The results show that the distributed slip model can well explain the coseismic deformation field. The earthquake includes at least two rupture events,which are located at 7 km(74. 11°E,39. 25°N)and 33 km(74. 49°E,39. 16°N)east from the epicenter according to the CENC. The deformation field caused by the earthquake shows a symmetry distribution,with the maximum LOS deformation of 20 cm. The main seismic slip is concentrated in the 0-20 km depth,and the maximum slip is 0. 84 m. The seismic fault is the Muji fault,and this earthquake indicates that the northeastward push of the Indian plate is enhanced.     

Gravity variation before Kunlun mountain pass western Ms=8.1 earthquake

The relation between the gravity variation features and Ms=8.1 earthquake in Qinghai-Xizang monitoring area is analyzed preliminarily,by using spatial dynamic variation results of regional gravity field from absolute gravity and relative gravity observation in 1998 and 2000.The results show that:1)Ms\8.1 earthquake in Kulun mountain pass westem occurred in the gravity variation high gradient near gravity‘s high negative variation;2)The Main tectonic deformation and emnergy accumulation before MS=8.1 earthquake are distributed at south side of the epicenter;3)The range of gravity‘s high negative variation at east of the MS=8.1 earthquake epicenter relatively coincides with that rupture region according to field geology investigation;4)Gravity variation distribution in high negative value region is just consistent with the second shear strain‘s high value region of strain field obtained from GPS observation.     

Reduction of earthquake disasters

The article summarizes the researches on mitigating earthquake disasters of the past four years in China. The studyof earthquake disasters′ quantification shows that the losses increase remarkably when population concentrates inurban area and social wealth increase. The article also summarizes some new trends of studying earthquake disas-ters′ mitigation, which are from seismic hazard to seismic risk, from engineering disaster to social disaster andintroduces the community-centered approach.     

The November 14, 2001 west of Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake: An earthquake with unsaturated surface wave magnitude

Introduction According to the Rapid Earthquake Information Release of CNDSN (Department of Earth- quake Monitoring and Prediction, China Earthquake Administration, 2002), an earthquake with surface wave magnitude MS=8.1 shook west of Kunlun Mountain Pass (KMP) at the juncture of Xinjiang, Qinghai and Xizang on November 14, 2001. This is the largest and the only MS>8.0 earthquake in Chinese mainland over 50 years since the August 15, 1950 MS=8.6 (MW=8.6) Chayuearthquake in Tibeta…     

Gravity variation before Kunlun mountain pass western M_s=8.1 earthquake

AbstractThe relation between the gravity variation features and M_S=8.1 earthquake in Qinghai-Xizang monitoring area isanalyzed preliminarily,by using spatial dynamic variation results of regional gravity field from absolute gravityand relative gravity observation in 1998 and 2000.The results show that:1)M_S=8.1 earthquake in Kulun mountainpass western occurred in the gravity variation high gradient near gravity's high negative variation; 2)The maintectonic deformation and energy accumulation before M_S=8.1 earthquake are distributed at south side of theepicenter;3)The range of gravity’s high negative variation at east of the M_s=8.1 earthquake epicenter relativelycoincides with that rupture region according to field geology investigation; 4)Gravity variation distribution in highnegative value region is just consistent with the second shear strain’s high value region of strain field obtainedfrom GPS observation.     

Changes in source parameters of foreshocks and aftershocks of the 2001 M_S=6.0 Yajiang, Sichuan, earthquake

Introduction An MS=6.0 earthquake occurred on February 23, 2001 in Yajiang county, Sichuan Province. The earthquake is located on the east of the southeast segment of the Litang-Dewu fault with strike of NW. Before the event, on February 14, an MS=5.0 earthquake took place nearly in the same place. In 1948 an MS=7.3 earthquake occurred on the northwestern segment of the Litang fault. The length of the surface rupture belt caused by the earthquake is 70 km, which extended from Litang to…     

A τ_c magnitude estimation of the 20 April 2013 Lushan earthquake,Sichuan, China

A crucial part of proposed earthquake early warning systems is a rapid estimate for earthquake magnitude.Most of these methods are focused on the first part of the P-wave train,the earlier and less destructive part of the ground motion that follows an earthquake.A method has been proposed by using the period of the P-wave to determine the magnitude of a large earthquake at local distance,and a specific relation for the Sichuan region was calibrated according to acceleration records of Wenchuan earthquake.The Mw 6.6 earthquake hit Lushan County,Sichuan,on April 20,2013 and the largest aftershocks provide a useful dataset to validate the proposed relation and discuss the risks connected to the extrapolation of magnitude relations with a poor dataset of large earthquake waveforms.A discrepancy between the local magnitude(ML)estimated by means ofτc evaluation and the standard ML(6.4 vs.7.0)suggests using caution when ML vs.τc calibrations do not include a relevant dataset of large earthquakes.Effects from large residuals could be mitigated or removed by introducing selection rules onτc function,by regionalizing the ML vs.τc function in the presence of significant tectonic or geological heterogeneity,and by using probabilistic and evolutionary methods.     

Relocation and seismogenic structure of the 1998 Zhangbei-Shangyi earthquake sequence

Introduction The January 10, 1998 Zhangbei-Shangyi, Hebei Province, earthquake has been the third large event of magnitude 6.0 and greater since the 1976 great Tangshan earthquake of magnitude 7.8 in the northern China (33皛42癗, 110皛124癊). Before this event, there were only two events of magnitude 6.0 and greater occurred in or around the Tangshan area since 1976: the M=6.9 Ninghe, Tianjin, earthquake of November 15, 1976 and the M=6.2 Hangu, Tianjin, earthquake of May 12, 1977. The …     

Relocation of the 1998 Zhangbei-Shangyi earthquake sequence using the double difference earthquake location algorithm

Introduction On January 10, 1998, at 11h50min Beijing Time (03h50min UTC), an earthquake of ML=6.2 occurred in the border region between the Zhangbei County and Shangyi County of Hebei Province. In total 87 events with ML3.0 were recorded by Beijing Telemetry Seismic Network (BTSN) before March of 1999. Before relocation the preliminary hypocenters determined by BTSN showed an epicentral distribution of 25 km long and 25 km wide without any predominate orientation. The epicentral a…     

Intensity Distribution of Jingtai Ms 6.2 Earthquake in 1990 and Causative Fault

A Ms 6.2 strong earthquake occurred at 16:07 on October 20,1990 in a juncture of the three counties of Jingtai,Tianzhu,Gulang in Gansu Province.Field observations indicate that the macroseismic epicenter lies from Xiatang to Daquanwan and that its geographical location is at 37°07'N and 103°37.5'E.The epicentral intensity is Ⅷ degree.The meizoseismal region,covering about 20 km-,is an elliptical area with its long axis orienting NWW.In the circled areas with the earthquake intensity from VI to Ⅷ degree,the formation cause of high intensity(Ⅷ)anomalous area appeared in the Ⅶ area has been discussed in this paper.According to the data of direct aftershock area,epicentrai intensity area,focal mechanism solution and the direction of the ground motion,etc.,this strong earthquake was caused by latest sinistral lateral movement of Laohushan fault that has been the most active fault since the Holocene.     

The GIS and analysis of earthquake damage distribution of the 1303 Hongtong M=8 earthquake

Introduction The 1303 Hongtong earthquake is an important earthquake in the eastern China. There is a lot of information in historical documents about the earthquake and many traces destroyed by the earthquake in the southern Shanxi Province. Many scholars have studied the earthquake from dif-ferent aspects, but mainly limited the definitions of the isoseismal and three factors of the earth-quake. Owing to being limited by the analysis technique, many useful damage information of the earthqu…     

Intensity distribution and effect of the Nov. 9, 1996 earthquake of M_S=6.1 in offshore outside the Yangtze River Mouth on the South Korea

On Nov. 9, 1996 at 21h56min (Beijing Time), an earthquake of MS=6.1 occurred in offshore outside the Yangtze River Mouth (31?3N, 123?4E). The shock affected Shanghai City and both Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces in China mainly. The shock was felt more strongly in the Yangtze River Mouth and Hangzhou Bay area than in the rest of them, particularly in high buildings of Shanghai City. In addition, the earthquake was felt in South Korea and also stronger in apartments or high buildings. …