Particle size distribution of cataclastic fault materials from Southern California: A 3-D study

The particle size distributions of fault gouge from the San Andreas, the San Gabriel, and the Lopez Canyon faults in Southern California were measured using sieving and Coulter-Counter techniques over a range of particle sizes from 2 m to 16 mm. The distributions were found to be power law (fractal) for the smaller fragments and log-normal by mass for sizes near and above the peak size. The apparent fractal dimensionD of the smaller particles in gouge samples from the San Andreas fault, the San Gabriel fault and the Lopez Canyon gouge were 2.4–3.6, 2.6–2.9 and 2.4–3.0, respectively. The averageD for the Lopez Canyon gouge was 2.7±0.2, which is in agreement with earlier studies of this gouge using planar 2-D sections. The fractal dimension of the finer fragments from all three faults is observed to be correlated with the peak fragment size, with finer gouges tending to have a largerD. A computer automaton is used to show that this observation may be explained as resulting from a fragmentation process which has a grinding limit at which particle reduction stops.     

A prototype earthquake warning system for strike-slip earthquakes

A prototype expert system has been developed to provide rapid warning of earthquakes while they are occurring. Warning times of up to 100 seconds will be possible. In the complete system, several accelerometers are distributed at intervals within a few kilometers of a known fault; data are telemetered to a central computer which implements the expert system. The expert system incorporates specific information about the type of fault to be monitored, and includes simple rules for estimating the fault slip, rupture length, and seismic moment, all in real time. If the seismic moment exceeds a preset value, an alarm may be issued. The prototype is designed for deployment on near-surface strike-slip faults such as the San Andreas and has been successfully tested with data from the 1979 Imperial Valley and 1984 Morgan Hill earthquakes. Crucial concepts have also been tested using synthetic data calculated for a model of the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake. Parkfield, California, could be used as a test site.     

Radon anomalies on three kinds of faults in California

Radon emanation is known to be anomalously high along active faults in many parts of the world. We tested this relationship in California during July and early August 1992, using a portable radonmeter to conduct soil-air radon surveys at 5 sites across three kinds of faults: Creeping, locked, and freshly broken.Along a 350-m long survey line across a creeping segment of the San Andreas fault at Nyland Ranch in San Juan Bautista, we found anomalous radon concentrations not in the creep zone itself as determined by a creepmeter, but on the adjacent sides, 10 and 30 meters from the center line of the fault. The anomalous values were 5 times higher than the background values measured farther away from the fault. A similar radon anomaly was observed along a 420-m long survey line across a creeping segment of the Calaveras fault near 7th Street in Hollister. There, the anomalous values were about 6 to 11 times the background values and about 40 and 50 m from the center line of the fault. The double-peaked featire of the anomalies may be indicative of a relatively low gas permeability of the fault-gouge materials in the creeping zones and high permeability of fractured rocks in the adjacent shear zones.Along a 144-m survey line across the currently locked segment of the San Andreas fault at the Earthquake Trail near Olema, the radon concentration was indeed anomalously high in the fault zone, by a factor of two above background values. However, the maximum values (3 to 6 times background) again were recorded about 10 meters from the center line.Three weeks after the magnitude 7.5 Landers earthquake of 28 June 1992, we conducted a survey along a 300-m line across the earthquake fault alongside Encantado Road in the epicenter area. The radon values measured at the two main fault breaks were an order of magnitude higher than the background values. A similar result was found along a 420-m line alongside Reche Road about 1.7 km south of Encantado Road.     

Instability model for recurring large and great earthquakes in southern California

The locked section of the San Andreas fault in southern California has experienced a number of large and great earthquakes in the past, and thus is expected to have more in the future. To estimate the location, time, and slip of the next few earthquakes, an earthquake instability model is formulated. The model is similar to one recently developed for moderate earthquakes on the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, California. In both models, unstable faulting (the earthquake analog) is caused by failure of all or part of a patch of brittle, strain-softening fault zone. In the present model the patch extends downward from the ground surface to about 12 km depth, and extends 500 km along strike from Parkfield to the Salton Sea. The variation of patch strength along strike is adjusted by trial until the computed sequence of instabilities matches the sequence of large and great earthquakes sincea.d. 1080 reported by Sieh and others. The last earthquake was theM=8.3 Ft. Tejon event in 1857. The resulting strength variation has five contiguous sections of alternately low and high strength. From north to south, the approximate locations of the sections are: (1) Parkfield to Bitterwater Valley, (2) Bitterwater Valley to Lake Hughes, (3) Lake Hughes to San Bernardino, (4) San Bernardino to Palm Springs, and (5) Palm Springs to the Salton Sea. Sections 1, 3, and 5 have strengths between 53 and 88 bars; sections 2 and 4 have strengths between 164 and 193 bars. Patch section ends and unstable rupture ends usually coincide, although one or more adjacent patch sections may fail unstably at once. The model predicts that the next sections of the fault to slip unstably will be 1, 3, and 5; the order and dates depend on the assumed length of an earthquake rupture in about 1700.     

Observations and estimation of long-period strong ground motion in the los angeles basin

While the accurate estimation of ground-motion amplitudes across the entire frequency band of engineering interest is not possible at the present time, the excitation and propagation of long-period strong-ground motion can be understood with existing seismological methodology. In the Los Angeles Basin, the long-period strong ground motion excited by the San Fernando earthquake is dominated by the presence of surface waves, whose gross amplitude and frequency content are easily attributable to physical properties of the earthquake source and source-station propagation paths. Observed measures of the long-period strong ground motion of the Kern County earthquake relative to the San Fernando earthquake at two sites in the Los Angeles Basin which recorded both shocks can be predicted with considerable accuracy by a simple earthquake source model. This source model is extrapolated to represent the maximum credible earthquake likely to affect the Los Angeles area, taken to be a repeat of the Fort Tejon (1857) earthquake along the San Andreas fault. The measures of long-period strong ground motion in the Los Angeles Basin estimated for it agree well with the comparable measures of Earthquake A-2, intended to represent the same situation. For the purpose of aseismic design of long-period structures, Earthquake A-2 is a reasonable, if not all inclusive, estimate of the long-period strong ground motion in the Los Angeles Basin generated by a magnitude 8+ earthquake along the San Andreas fault north and east of Los Angeles.     

Water-rock interactions in fault gouge

Measurements were made of the amounts of D,¹⁸O, and H₂O⁺ in fault gouge collected over a depth of 400 m in the San Andreas fault of California. The amounts and isotopic compositions of the pore fluids, also analyzed, suggest that formation waters from adjacent Franciscan rocks have migrated into the gouge and mixed with local meteoric water. Thus the gouge is an open system permeable to fluid flow. This permeability has important implications concerning heat flow along the fault zone.Analyses of the fault gouge itself give information on the amounts, timing, and conditions of formation of the clay minerals.Stable-isotope analyses of materials from fault zones are good indicators of water-rock interactions that bear importantly on processes taking place in seismically active regions.     

Self-similar cataclasis in the formation of fault gouge

Particle-size distributions have been determined for gouge formed by the fresh fracture of granodiorite from the Sierra Nevada batholith, for Pelona schist from the San Andreas fault zone in southern California, and for Berea sandstone from Berea, Ohio, under a variety of triaxial stress states. The finer fractions of the gouge derived from granodiorite and schist are consistent with either a self-similar or a logarithmic normal distribution, whereas the gouge from sandstone is not. Sandstone gouges are texturally similar to the disaggregated protolith, with comminution limited to the polycrystalline fragments and dominantly calcite cement. All three rock types produced significantly less gouge at higher confining pressures, but only the granodiorite showed a significant reduction in particle size with increased confining pressure. Comparison with natural gouges showed that gouges in crystalline rocks from the San Andreas fault zone also tend to be described by either a self-similar or log-normal particle distribution, with a significant reduction in particle size with increased confining pressure (depth). Natural gouges formed in porous sandstone do not follow either a self-similar or a log-normal distribution. Rather, these are represented by mixed log-normal distributions. These textural characteristics are interpreted in terms of the suppression of axial microfracturing by confining pressure and the accommodation of finite strain by scale-independent comminution.     

Seismic measurements of the internal properties of fault zones

The internal properties within and adjacent to fault zones are reviewed, principally on the basis of laboratory, borehole, and seismic refraction and reflection data. The deformation of rocks by faulting ranges from intragrain microcracking to severe alteration. Saturated microcracked and mildly fractured rocks do not exhibit a significant reduction in velocity, but, from borehole measurements, densely fractured rocks do show significantly reduced velocities, the amount of reduction generally proportional to the fracture density. Highly fractured rock and thick fault gouge along the creeping portion of the San Andreas fault are evidenced by a pronounced seismic low-velocity zone (LVZ), which is either very thin or absent along locked portions of the fault. Thus there is a correlation between fault slip behavior and seismic velocity structure within the fault zone; high pore pressure within the pronounced LVZ may be conductive to fault creep. Deep seismic reflection data indicate that crustal faults sometimes extend through the entire crust. Models of these data and geologic evidence are consistent with a composition of deep faults consisting of highly foliated, seismically anisotropic mylonites.     

Similarities between strike-slip faults at different scales and a simple age determining method for active faults

Abstract Several differently scaled strike‐slip faults were examined. The faults shared many geometric features, such as secondary fractures and linkage structures (damage zones). Differences in fault style were not related to specific scale ranges. However, it was recognized that differences in style may occur in different tectonic settings (e.g. dilational/contractional relays or wall/linkage/tip zones), different locations along the master fault or different fault evolution stages. Fractal dimensions were compared for two faults (Gozo and San Andreas), which supports the idea of self‐similarity. Fractal dimensions for traces of faults and fractures of damage zones were higher (D ～1.35) than for the main fault traces (D ～1.005) because of increased complexity due to secondary faults and fractures. Based on the statistical analysis of another fault evolution study, single event movements in earthquake faults typically have a maximum earthquake slip : rupture length ratio of approximately 10^?4, although this has only been established for large earthquake faults because of limited data. Most geological faults have a much higher maximum cumulative displacement : fault length ratio; that is, approximately 10^?2 to 10^?1 (e.g. Gozo, ～10^?2; San Andreas, ～10^?1). The final cumulative displacement on a fault is produced by accumulation of slip along ruptures. Hence, using the available information from earthquake faults, such as earthquake slip, recurrence interval, maximum cumulative displacement and fault length, the approximate age of active faults can be estimated. The lower limit of estimated active fault age is expressed with maximum cumulative displacement, earthquake slip and recurrence interval as T ? (d_max /u) · I(M).     

The response of creeping parts of the San Andreas fault to earthquakes on nearby faults: Two examples

Rates of shallow slip on creeping sections of the San Andreas fault have been perturbed on a number of occasions by earthquakes occurring on nearby faults. One example of such perturbations occurred during the 26 January 1986 magnitude 5.3 Tres Pinos earthquake located about 10 km southeast of Hollister, California. Seven creepmeters on the San Andreas fault showed creep steps either during or soon after the shock. Both left-lateral (LL) and right-lateral (RL) steps were observed. A rectangular dislocation in an elastic half-space was used to model the coseismic fault offset at the hypocenter. For a model based on the preliminary focal mechanism, the predicted changes in static shear stress on the plane of the San Andreas fault agreed in sense (LL or RL) with the observed slip directions at all seven meters; for a model based on a refined focal mechanism, six of the seven meters showed the correct sense of motion. Two possible explanations for such coseismic and postseismic steps are (1) that slip was triggered by the earthquake shaking or (2) that slip occurred in response to the changes in static stress fields accompanying the earthquake. In the Tres Pinos example, the observed steps may have been of both the triggered and responsive kinds. A second example is provided by the 2 May 1983 magnitude 6.7 Coalinga earthquake, which profoundly altered slip rates at five creepmeters on the San Andreas fault for a period of months to years. The XMM1 meter 9 km northwest of Parkfield, California recorded LL creep for more than a year after the event. To simulate the temporal behavior of the XMM1 meter and to view the stress perturbation provided by the Coalinga earthquake in the context of steady-state deformation on the San Andreas fault, a simple time-evolving dislocation model was constructed. The model was driven by a single long vertical dislocation below 15 km in depth, that was forced to slip at 35 mm/yr in a RL sense. A dislocation element placed in the seismogenic layer under XMM1 was given a finite breaking strength of sufficient magnitude to produce a Parkfield-like earthquake every 22 years. When stress changes equivalent to a Coalinga earthquake were superposed on the model running in a steady state mode, the effect was to make a segment under XMM1, that could slip in a linear viscous fashion, creep LL and to delay the onset of the next Parkfield-like earthquake by a year or more. If static stress changes imposed by earthquakes off the San Andreas can indeed advance or delay earthquakes on the San Andreas by months or years, then such changes must be considered in intermediate-term prediction efforts.     

贡嘎山快速隆升的磷灰石裂变径迹证据及其隆升机制讨论

鲜水河断裂是青藏高原东南缘的一条北西向大型左旋走滑断裂,其南东段逐渐向南偏转,并与近南北向的安宁河断裂相接,在两个断裂相接处西侧耸立着海拔7556 m高的贡嘎山.磷灰石裂变径迹(AFT)测试可知,贡嘎山及其邻区12个样品的年龄分布在0.2±0.1 Ma~2.7±0.7 Ma之间,平均径迹长度在13.64~15.19 μm之间,表明贡嘎山及其邻区第四纪时期一直处于快速剥蚀状态.结合前人在此地区的低温热年代研究成果,揭示出两个现象:(1)贡嘎山岩体及鲜水河断裂与龙门山断裂所夹的三角区域为快速隆升区域,而其西侧、北侧的高原腹地的隆升速率远低于这两个区域;(2)贡嘎山岩体从北向南隆升速率逐渐变大,其最南端1 Ma以来的隆升速率超过3.3±0.8 mm/a.这些现象表明青藏高原在整体横向挤出、缓慢隆升的基础上,还存在着一些特殊的局部快速隆升区域.通过对川滇地块水平运动的矢量分解,我们认为贡嘎山花岗岩体是鲜水河断裂至安宁河断裂间挤压弯曲段吸收、转换川滇地块南东向水平运动导致局部快速隆升的产物,在这一过程中,由于垂直于断裂的挤压分量从北到南逐渐增大,导致了岩体从北往南的隆升速率逐渐增大.     

温度压力孔隙压力对断层泥强度及滑动性质的影响

在不同的压力、温度和孔隙压力下进行了含四种不同断层泥标本的强度试验。碎屑型断层泥对压力很敏感,对温度无反应,对孔隙压力的反应符合有效应力律。粘土类断层泥则对温度和孔隙压力有明显响应。这些力学性质的差别反映了具体变形机制的差别     

Parkfield,California, Earthquake of June 1966: Interpretation of the strong motion records

A detailed seismological interpretation of the strong motion records was attempted for the 1966 Parkfield earthquake, California. Velocity and displacement traces integrated from the corresponding recorded accelerograms were found most valuable in studying the earthquake mechanism and wave forms. A double-couple right-lateral strike — slip mechanism (along the San Andreas fault) is consistent with the recorded direct S-waves originating from the hypocentre. High energy arrivals observed on the velocity traces are interpreted as S-waves (‘stopping phases’) that originated at the termination of the rupture towards the south-east of the San Andreas fault. A double-couple left-lateral strike–slip mechanism is suggested as the cause of this rupture termination. From particle velocity diagrams of the stopping phases in the horizontal plane, the rupture length was found to be between 20 and 28 km. Corresponding rupture velocities are estimated to be 2·5 ± 0·1 and 3·1 ± 0·5 km/s. The inference from the strong motion records is that Love waves were more excited at the south-western than the north-eastern side of the fault, whereas the Rayleigh waves were more energetic at the north-eastern than the south-western side of the fault.     

Asymmetric deformation across the San Francisco Bay Area faults from GPS observations in Northern California

We show that geodetic data from the Bay Area Regional Deformation (BARD) network indicate asymmetric motion across the San Andreas fault in the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA), resulting from a strong contrast in rigidity across the fault, as determined previously from seismological data. Assuming asymmetric motion across the fault, we determine the location and size of the maximum strain rate in the region. We find that, compared to the determination using a symmetric model of deformation, it is shifted eastward and its value increases from ～0.4 μstrain/yr to ～0.65 μstrain/yr. Such strain rate amplitudes are consistent with previous geodetic slip rate estimates. We confirm that the geological units located east of SAF are entrained by the motion of the Pacific Plate and that the San Andreas fault (SAF) is the real rheological limit between the Pacific and North-American Plates. The asymmetry of rheology constrained in this study implies the strain rate maximum in SFBA is likely located between SAF and the Hayward fault system. This also has implications for hazards in the northern SFBA, in particular on the Rodgers creek fault.     

Identification of Pathways for Hydrogen Gas Migration in Fault Zones with a Discontinuous,Heterogeneous Permeability Structure and the Relationship to Particle Size Distribution of Fault Materials

Previous studies have reported that high concentrations of H₂ gas are released from active fault zones. Experimental studies suggest that the H₂ gas is derived from the reaction of water with free radicals formed when silicate minerals are fractured at hypocenter depths during fault activities. However, the pathways for migration of deep-seated fluids to surface are still unknown. In this study we performed quick, multipoint H₂ gas measurements across a fault zone using a portable gas monitor and a hand drill. The fault zone studied includes a smectite-rich fault core dividing two clearly distinguishable damage zones: granite cataclasite and welded tuff fault breccia. The measurements show that H₂ gas emissions collected in 2–3 h sampling periods from start of measurement range from 320.3 to 446.2 ppm/min in the granite cataclasite and 60.5 to 137.8 ppm/min in the welded tuff fault breccias. Negligible quantities of H₂ gas could be collected from the fault core. Particle size distribution analyses of fault rocks indicate that the granite cataclasite tends to be rich in particles that are finer, i.e., less cohesive and easy to disaggregate, which leads to the inference that the granite cataclasite has high permeability. Based on the H₂ gas measurements and the particle size distribution analyses, the H₂ gas is considered to have migrated in permeable damage zones mostly by advection with groundwater. Multipoint H₂ gas measurement will be effective in qualitative delineation of variations in permeability of regional structures.     

Earthquakes: Recurrence and Interoccurrence Times

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the statistical distributions of recurrence times of earthquakes. Recurrence times are the time intervals between successive earthquakes at a specified location on a specified fault. Although a number of statistical distributions have been proposed for recurrence times, we argue in favor of the Weibull distribution. The Weibull distribution is the only distribution that has a scale-invariant hazard function. We consider three sets of characteristic earthquakes on the San Andreas fault: (1) The Parkfield earthquakes, (2) the sequence of earthquakes identified by paleoseismic studies at the Wrightwood site, and (3) an example of a sequence of micro-repeating earthquakes at a site near San Juan Bautista. In each case we make a comparison with the applicable Weibull distribution. The number of earthquakes in each of these sequences is too small to make definitive conclusions. To overcome this difficulty we consider a sequence of earthquakes obtained from a one million year “Virtual California” simulation of San Andreas earthquakes. Very good agreement with a Weibull distribution is found. We also obtain recurrence statistics for two other model studies. The first is a modified forest-fire model and the second is a slider-block model. In both cases good agreements with Weibull distributions are obtained. Our conclusion is that the Weibull distribution is the preferred distribution for estimating the risk of future earthquakes on the San Andreas fault and elsewhere.     

Measurement of radon gas on major faults in California,USA

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Crustal-scale prestack depth imaging of the 1994 and 1999 LARSE surveys

While seismic imaging for crustal and mantle structures has traditionally relied on surface wave and refraction data, the use of reflection data for crustal-scale targets has been largely limited to the common midpoint (CMP) stack techniques. The rapid increase in the number of seismograph array deployments in recent years in crustal and mantle seismology has reached a level such that a re-examination of the imaging techniques is becoming necessary. In this paper we show the advantage of prestack depth imaging for crustal reflection studies, based on data from two reflection surveys of the Los Angeles Regional Seismic Experiment (LARSE) to map faults and crustal-scale structures. Our analysis indicates that the quality of the previous images of these surveys is limited by the CMP stack technique. For comparison, we present here depth images of the same LARSE data using wave equation prestack depth imaging and a tomographic velocity model based on first arrivals of the LARSE surveys and local earthquakes. Our new images are considerably improved over previous images in terms of resolution and reflector continuity. The new images show reflectors throughout the crust and suggest truncations in the Moho associated with the San Andreas Fault. A series of bright reflector segments, which are associated with the San Gabriel and San Andreas faults have been identified and might represent reflections from the fault zones. Our results suggest that the presence of high noise level, strong lateral velocity heterogeneity and wide angle geometry argue for, rather than against, the use of prestack depth imaging over the simple CMP stack techniques. As demonstrated in this study, it is now viable to conduct prestack depth imaging of crustal reflection data using a velocity model based on earthquake first arrivals thanks to the dense acquisition deployment.     

虹口八角庙-深溪沟炭质泥岩同震断层泥的X射线衍射分析结果

5.12汶川地震同震地表破裂带在虹口八角-深溪沟一带主要出露于三叠系须家河组的炭质泥岩中,同震断层泥在颜色、结构上与老断层泥和围岩类似。通过开挖探槽,系统采样,采用粉晶X射线衍射定量分析方法,研究了同震地表破裂带的围岩、断层角砾岩、老断层泥和新断层泥的矿物成分特征。同震断层泥的主要成分为石英和黏土矿物,含微量长石和白云石;断层泥的显著特征为高黏土矿物含量,从同震断层泥、老断层泥、角砾岩到围岩黏土矿物含量依次降低,黏土矿物以伊利石和伊蒙混层为主,含微量绿泥石和高岭石,矿物组成明显比地表破裂带北段同震断层泥简单。不同颜色的同震断层泥成分略有不同,黑色断层泥中伊利石含量明显高于白色断层泥;老断层泥中含有方解石和白云石,而同震断层泥不含方解石,只含微量白云石。同震断层泥中伊蒙混层高含量表明,在本次地震错动中有富含K的流体参与。     

Three-dimensional P-wave Velocity Structure of the Bear Valley Region of Central California

—The three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure of the Bear Valley region of central California is determined by applying a circular ray-tracing technique to 1735 P-wave arrivals from 108 locally recorded earthquakes. Comparison of the results obtained from one-dimensional and laterally varying starting models shows that many of the features in the structure determined are fairly insensitive to the choice of the starting model. Velocities associated with the Gabilan granites southwest of the San Andreas Fault are slightly higher than those in the Franciscan formation to the northeast, and these two features are separated in the southern part of the region by a narrow fault zone with very low velocities. In the southeastern part of the region, where the Gabilan granites do not abut the San Andreas Fault, the low velocities of the fault zone cross over to the southwestern side of the fault. They also appear to extend to depths of at least 15km, thus locally reversing the contrast across the San Andreas Fault that prevails farther to the northwest. In the northwestern part of the region, the low velocities of the fault zone split and follow the surface traces of the San Andreas and Calaveras Faults, but do not appear to extend to depths much deeper than about 6km. There also appears to be a well-defined contrast in structure in the middle of the Santa Clara Valley, suggesting the existence of a fault in the basement of the valley that may be a southern extension of the Sargent Fault into this region. Relocated hypocenters beneath the San Andreas Fault cluster in a zone that dips about 80° southwest and intersects the surface trace of the fault in the southern part of region.