Review on study of seismotectonics in China

This paper reviews briefly the progresses made during the last four years (1999～2002) in study of seismotectonics in China, especially appraises the achievements in the fields of the crustal and upper mantle‘s structure, the active faults and tectonic setting of large earthquakes, the crustal deformation, and the numerical simulation. Most earth-quakes occurred in China belong to continental earthquakes. Therefore, Chinese seismologists pay more attention to the continental earthquakes. Based on improvements of the observation systems in China during the ninth Five-Year Plan, the studies on seismotectonics have achieved great progresses.     

Seismicity anomalies before the great earthquake of M_S=8.1 in the Kunlun Pass and its significance to earthquake prediction

Introduction The MS=8.1 earthquake occurred in west of the Kunlun Pass on November 14, 2001. It is the greatest earthquake occurred in China since the last half of the century and is an important event in recent seismic history of China. Some specialists consider that the earthquake occurred in the area where the earthquake monitoring capability is lowest in Chinese mainland; no striking precursory seismicity was found. The study on the precursory seismicity before the earthquake has not b…     

3-D rheologic model of earthquake preparation (I)—Displacement field

Introduction The rock medium shows mainly elastic character under low-temperature, low-pressure and external force for short duration, yet it shows rheologic property under high-temperature, high-pressure and long-time external force. It is reasonable that the rapid earthquake generating process lasted for tens seconds is analyzed by the elastic theory. As for the earthquake generating process for hundreds or thousand years, nevertheless, the rheologic property of rock must be taken into accou…     

Paleocene deep-water sediments and radiolarian faunas: Implications for evolution of Yarlung-Zangbo foreland basin, southern Tibet

Only a few Paleocene radiolarian assemblages have been reported, while the Early Paleocene zonal schemes remain poorly delineated. The Early Paleocene on-land radiolarians were described in the Hidaka melange belt of Japan and the North Island of New Zeal…     

Synthesis of zeolites using fly ash and their application in removing heavy metals from waters

Fly ash is the solid waste of thermal power plants where coal is used as fuel, and its management and utilization have been of environmental concern for decades. Since the technique of synthesizing zeolite from coal fly ash was introduced by Holler[1] (19…     

Focused ion beam technique and transmission electron microscope studies of microdiamonds from the Saxonian Erzgebirge, Germany

A focused ion beam of Ga ions is a relatively new technique that has been developed for microelectronic industries. Now researchers of the Earth sciences find it to be a promising tool for studying various geological materials. Using the FIB technique and an FEI Strata DB 235 dual beam system, we have successfully prepared several electron-transparent foils, which crossed μm-sized diamonds included in host minerals such as zircon and garnet from quartzofeldspathic rocks of the Saxonian Erzgebirge, Germany. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy applied to these foils revealed that the diamonds contain crystalline nanometric inclusions. These inclusions consist of minerals of known stoichiometries such as SiO₂ and Al₂SiO₅, whereas others are characterized by different combinations of Si, K, P, Ti, and Fe in the presence of oxygen (stoichiometries are not clear at this stage of research). One suite of inclusions is assumed to be represented by archerite, KH₂PO₄, which is known to be stable at pressures of 4–22 GPa, and one nanocrystal containing Pb, oxygen and carbon is interpreted to be Pb_xO_y or PbCO₃. Along with solid crystalline inclusions, the diamonds contain cavities filled by liquid/gas that escaped during sample preparation. These are associated with dislocations of diamond growth. Our data are consistent with the concept of diamond crystallization from a COH-rich multicomponent supercritical fluid and suggest that the composition of such a fluid is more consistent with a local crustal source rather than that of a mantle origin.     

Crustal structure beneath the Songpan—Garze orogenic belt

The Benzilan-Tangke deepseismic sounding profile in the western Sichuan region passes through the Song-pan-Garze orogenic belt with trend of NNE.Based on the travel times and the related amplitudes of phases in the record sections,the 2-D P-wave crustal structure was ascertained in this paper.The velocity structure has quite strong lateral variation along the profile.The crust is divided into 5layers,where the first,second and third layer belong to the upper crust,the forth and fifth layer belong to the lower crust.The low velocity anomaly zone gener-ally exists in the central part of the upper crust on the profile,and it integrates into the overlying low velocity basement in the area to the north of Ma‘erkang.The crustal structure in the section can be divided into 4parts:in the south of Garze-litang fault,between Garze-Litang fault and Xianshuihe fault,between Xianshuihe fault and Longriba fault and in the north of Longriba fault,which are basically coincided with the regional tectonics division.The crustal thickness decreases from southwest to northeast along the profile,that is ,from62km in the region of the Jinshajiang River to 52km in the region of the Yellow River.The Moho discontinuity does not obviously change across the Xianshuihe fault basesd on the PmP phase analysis.The crustal average velocity along the profile is lower,about 6.30 km/s.The Benzilan-Tangke profile reveals that the crust in the study area is orogenic.The Xianshuihe fault belt is located in the central part of the profile,and the velocity is positive anomaly on the upper crust,and negative anomaly on the lower crust and upper mantle.It is considered as a deep tectonhic setting in favor of strong earthquake‘s accumulation and occurrence.     

Regional Stress Field and Seismic Dynamics Along the Border Zone Between Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi Provinces

The regional stress field and seismic dynamics along the border zone between Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi Provinces are studied based on the seismo-geological data, GPS measurement, and seismicity. The results show that: (1) the principal compressional stress of the stress field is oriented in NW-SE direction and the principal extensional stress is in NE-SW direction; (2) the WNW-ward compression and collision of the Philippine Sea Plate to the eastern coast of Taiwan Island are the most direct and most important dynamic source for preparation and occurrence of strong earthquakes in the Taiwan area and along the border zone between Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi Provinces.     

Study of Triggering Action Between the Mani （Ms7.9） and the West Kunlun Mountains Pass （ Ms 8.1 ） Great Earthquakes and Their Dynamic Background

Based on Coulomb static stress variation, the stress trigging action of the Mani ( Ms7.9, Nov.1997) earthquake on the West Kuulun Mountains Pass (MsS.1, Nov. 2001 ) earthquake is researched. Results of different source mechanism resolutions show that a 10_3 MPa Coulomb stress due to the Mani earthquake was added to the fracture fault of the Kunlun earthquake, and this may shift the broken date to about 10 years earlier, and infer that the stress level in the crust is not low. Comparing the relationship between strong earthquake strength and frequency and earth rotation change, it is shown that the strength‘s decrease and the variation period‘ s shortening of earth rotation are important controlling factors on strong earthquake activity. This great event with Ms = 8.1 took place probably due to a gradual strengthening background of regional stress field within the Qinghai-Xizang block in the period of acceleration of change of day‘s length and stress triggering from the Mani earthquake.