The mechanism of postseismic deformation related to strong earthquakes is important in geodynamics, and presumably afterslip
or viscoelastic relaxation is responsible for the postsesimic deformation. The 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan of China, earthquake occurred
in the region where GPS observation station is most densely deployed in the world. The unprecedented GPS data provides a unique
opportunity to study the physical processes of postseismic deformation. Here we assume that the interactions of viscoelastic
relaxation, afterslip, fault zone collapse, poroelastic rebound, flow of underground fluids, and all these combined contribute
to the surface displacements following the main shock. In order to know the essence of the postseismic deformation after the
strong event, fault zone collapse, poroelastic rebound, flow of underground fluids, and so on, are represented equivalently
by the variations of the focal medium properties. Therefore, the viscoelastic relaxation, afterslip, and the variations of
the equivalent focal medium properties are inverted by applying the GPS temporal series measurement data with viscoelastic
finite element method. Both the afterslip rate distribution along the fault and the afterslip evolution with time are obtained
by means of inversion. Also, the preliminary result suggests that viscosities of the lower crust and the upper mantle in Taiwan
region is 2.7×1018 and 4.2×1020 Pa·s, respectively. Moreover, the inversion results indicate that the afterslip contributing to postseismic deformation of
44.6% in 450 days after the Chi-Chi earthquake, with 34.7% caused by the viscous relaxation and 20.7% by other factors such
as fault zone collapse, poroelastic rebound, and the flow of liquids. 相似文献