Kinematics of the Iberia–Maghreb plate contact from seismic moment tensors and GPS observations

The Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb experience moderate earthquake activity and oblique,  NW–SE convergence between Africa and Eurasia at a rate of  5 mm/yr. Coeval extension in the Alboran Basin and a N35°E trending band of active, left-lateral shear deformation in the Alboran–Betic region are not straightforward to understand in the context of regional shortening, and evidence complexity of deformation at the plate contact. We estimate 86 seismic moment tensors (M_W 3.3 to 6.9) from time domain inversion of near-regional waveforms in an intermediate period band. Those and previous moment tensors are used to describe regional faulting style and calculate average stress tensors. The solutions associated to the Trans-Alboran shear zone show predominantly strike-slip faulting, and indicate a clockwise rotation of the largest principal stress orientation compared to the regional convergence direction (σ₁ at N350°E). At the N-Algerian and SW-Iberian margins, reverse faulting solutions dominate, corresponding to N350°E and N310°E compression, respectively. Over most of the Betic range and intraplate Iberia, we observe predominately normal faulting, and WSW–ENE extension (σ₃ at N240°E). From GPS observations we estimate that more than 3 mm/yr of African (Nubian)–Eurasian plate convergence are currently accommodated at the N-Algerian margin,  2 mm/yr in the Moroccan Atlas, and  2 mm/yr at the SW-Iberian margin. 2 mm/yr is a reasonable estimate for convergence within the Alboran region, while Alboran extension can be quantified as  2.5 mm/yr along the stretching direction (N240°E). Superposition of both motions explains the observed left-lateral transtensional regime in the Trans-Alboran shear zone. Two potential driving mechanisms of differential motion of the Alboran–Betic–Gibraltar domain may coexist in the region: a secondary stress source other than plate convergence, related to regional-scale dynamic processes in the upper mantle of the Alboran region, as well as drag from the continental-scale motion of the Nubian plate along the southern limit of the region. In the Atlantic Ocean, the  3.5 mm/yr, westward motion of the Gibraltar Arc relative to intraplate Iberia can be accommodated at the transpressive SW-Iberian margin, while available GPS observations do not support an active subduction process in this area.     

MEMS固体化学微推进阵列的微冲量测试技术

为了评价MEMS(Micro Electro Mechanical Systems)固体化学微推进阵列的推进性能,对其单元微冲量的精确测试显得尤为重要。在传统冲击摆的基础上,考虑微推进器推力和燃气射流冲击力之间的比例关系,设计了一套适用于MEMS固体化学微推进阵列单元微冲量的间接测试装置,并成功用于6×6规格(单元集成度为36个/cm²)微推进阵列的实际测试中。结果表明:典型实验数据下的待测微冲量为2.5442×10-4Ns,相对误差小于5%;实测8个单元的微冲量平均值为2.5574×10-4 N·s,相对偏差较小,具有很好的重复性。      

The March–April 2014 sequence of earthquakes in North Chile

During March–April 2014 a series of earthquakes occurred around the Iquique city located in the northern Chile region. The two largest events of this sequence are the Mw8.2, April 1, 2014 and Mw7.7, April 4, 2014 quakes. Here we computed the nodal planes of eight of the large and well teleseismically recorded events of this series based on grid search, teleseismic moment tensors inversion, empirical Green's function deconvolution and its stack to average the deconvolutions for the Mw = 8.2, April 1, 2014, synthetic Green's function deconvolution and its stack to average the deconvolutions for the same event and 3D static deformation analysis of the above mentioned events based on the AK135 model. Grid search nodal planes and moment tensors suggest the dominance of reverse faulting. Almost all of the calculated teleseismic moment tensors represent a considerable amount of DC (usually more than 90%) and lower amount of CLVD for this sequence of events. Empirical and synthetic Green's function deconvolution showing down dip rupture propagation and 3D static deformation representing higher amount of vertical deformation in comparison with horizontal deformation components plus the existence of uplift and subsidence. According to the aftershocks distribution there is a bilateral distribution of the aftershocks around the first large event of this sequence that occurred March 16, 2014 (Mw6.7) so that they are approximately limited between the Mw8.2 (at north) and Mw7.7 (at south) quakes. Moreover there exist two bands of regional seismicity during early-mid 2014: a shallow off-shore band between the trench and coast and a deeper inland band under the active volcanic chain (both nearly parallel to the trench).     

中国海域及邻区基于BP神经网络的矩震级转换模型

海域地震对我国海洋资源开发和沿海地区的经济建设形成严重威胁,开展相关地震活动性研究的重要前提是编译我国海域及邻区的地震目录。我国常用的震级标度为面波震级(MS),而国际上最新的地震活动模型多采用矩震级(MW),因此在应用这些模型时需要拟合面波震级与矩震级之间的转换关系。本文以中国海域及邻区为研究区,收集了1988—2020年中国地震台网的面波震级和全球矩心矩张量(GCMT)项目的矩震级数据,从中提取年份、深度、经度、纬度、面波震级作为影响因子,以实际记录的矩震级值作为标记,训练BP神经网络建立以GCMT的矩震级为目标的震级转换模型。同时,使用最小二乘回归和正交回归建立线性模型作为对比。结果显示,最小二乘回归和正交回归的平均绝对误差和均方根误差比BP神经网络高40%左右。此外,BP神经网络的残差绝对值更小、分布更集中。     

A Relative Moment Tensor Inversion Technique Applied to Seismicity Induced by Mining

Summary. Studies of source mechanisms of mining-induced seismic events play an important role in understanding the various modes of failure observed around underground excavations and enable the geometry of likely planes of failure to be determined. These planes can be mapped using conventional techniques, for example, geological fracture mapping. However, such an approach is often problematical due to limited access to the site and/or poor exposures (if any) of the failure plane. An added difficulty is that planes of failure often do not follow faults of geological origin, but are related to the geometry of the advancing stope face. For example, the development of face-parallel shear zones ahead of deep-level stope faces. In such cases, the stresses induced by mining dominate over the geological structure in the critical region close to the stope face. Seismic methods therefore have the potential of being a practical method of studying the development of seismic shear zones underground.Slip on such a failure plane generates a three dimensional elastic wave that propagates through the rockmass, carrying a wealth of information regarding the source rupture process. The ground motions caused by the passage of the wave can be recorded by arrays of sensitive instruments called seismometers. These sets of recordings (seismograms) provide the basic data that seismologists use to study these elastic waves as they propagate through the Earth. Conventional seismic analyses provide scalar measurements of the rupture size and intensity. However, through a process known as moment tensor inversion (MTI), the seismograms recorded from a seismic event can be used to calculate a moment tensor that describes the three dimensional nature of the source mechanism. Interpretation of the moment tensor gives insight into whether the rockmass failed in tension, compression or shear and indicates the direction of movement and the failure plane.Moment tensor solutions computed using conventional MTI methods are sensitive to noise and may be biased due to systematic errors in the measurements. The primary objective of this study was to develop a robust MTI method to estimate the moment tensors of clusters of seismic events recorded in the underground environment. To achieve this, three hybrid MTI methods were developed by the author. These methods involve different iterative weighting schemes designed to enhance the accuracy of the computed moment tensors by decreasing the effect of outliers (data points whose residuals lie far from the mean or median error). The additional information required for hybrid methods is obtained by considering a spatial cluster of seismic events and assuming that the waves generated by each event in the cluster follow a similar path through the rockmass and allowing a common ray-path to be assumed. Hence the unknown effect of the heterogeneous rockmass on the waveform is similar for all the events in the cluster.The final objective was to determine whether the techniques developed could be successfully applied to real data. The hybrid MTI methods using the median and the weighted mean correction were applied to a cluster of 10 events, having remarkably similar waveforms, recorded at Oryx Gold Mine. For comparative purposes, the more conventional absolute method was also applied. The solutions computed using the hybrid MTI with a median correction displayed a distinct improvement after the iterative residual correction procedure was applied, in contrast to the solutions obtained from the absolute method. The radiation patterns and fault-plane solutions from the hybrid method showed a high degree of similarity, and were probably more accurate reflections of reality. These observations are very encouraging and point towards the potential for using the hybrid MTI method with a median correction as a standard processing tool for mine seismicity.The implications of this work are that a robust method for calculating the focal mechanisms of clusters of seismic events induced by mining activities has been developed. Regular application will lead to a better understanding of rock fracture processes and to improved safety underground.     

Stochastic delineation of well capture zones

In this work, we describe a stochastic method for delineating well capture zones in randomly heterogeneous porous media. We use a moment equation (ME) approach to derive the time-dependent mean capture zones and their associated uncertainties. The mean capture zones are determined by reversely tracking the non-reactive particles released at a small circle around each pumping well. The uncertainty associated with the mean capture zones is calculated based on the particle displacement covariances for nonstationary flow fields. The flow statistics are obtained either by directly solving the flow moment equations derived with a first-order ME approach or from Monte Carlo simulations (MCS) of flow. The former constitutes a full ME approach, and the latter is a hybrid ME-MCS approach. This hybrid approach is invoked to examine the validity of the transport component of the stochastic method by ensuring that the ME and MC transport approaches have the same underlying flow statistics. We compared both the full ME and the hybrid ME-MCS results with those obtained with a full MCS approach. It has been found that the three approaches are in excellent agreement when the variability of hydrologic conductivity is small (_Y²=0.16). At a moderate variability (_Y²=0.5), the hybrid ME-MCS and the full MCS results are in excellent agreement whereas the results from the full ME approach deviate slightly from the full MCS results. This indicates that the (first-order) ME transport approach renders a good approximation at this level of variability and that the first-order ME flow approximation may not be sufficiently accurate at this variability in the case of divergent/convergent flow. The first-order ME flow approach may need to be corrected with higher-order terms even for moderate _Y² although the literature results reveal that the first-order ME flow approach is robust for uniform mean flow (i.e., giving accurate results even with _Y² as large as four).     

Moment tensors of the January 1997 earthquake swarm in NW Bohemia (Czech Republic): double-couple vs. non-double-couple events

We investigated moment tensors (MTs) of 70 events of the earthquake swarm which occurred in January 1997 in NW Bohemia. A refined location using the master-event procedure shows that all the foci clustered in a volume of less than 0.5 km³ comprising two compact clusters—the southern and northern ones. The results of single-source, absolute-moment tensor inversion of the P- and SH-peak amplitudes reveal two types of the source mechanisms, A and B in our denotation, which dominated in the swarm. Type A implies an oblique normal faulting with a nearly pure double-couple (DC) source. For the B type, an oblique-thrust faulting and a combined source [double-couple combined with the isotropic (ISO) and compensated linear-vector dipole (CLVD) components] are typical. Magnitudes of the non-double-couple components of MT appear unrelated to the M_L magnitude of the event. The proximity of hypocentres of A and B events guarantees the non-double-couple source mechanisms of the B events not to be an artefact of a mismodelling of the medium. To exclude finiteness of the focus or station-site effects as possible causes of spurious non-double-couple components of MTs of the B events, the residuals of the peak amplitudes across the set of the B events were analysed and the jack-knife test was applied. The A and B events separate in time and space. Consequently, three major phases of swarm activity can be distinguished. In the first, only the southern cluster was active and A events prevailed, while B events dominated in the northern cluster in the third phase. Both A and B events occurred (the former in the southern cluster, the latter in the northern one) during the second phase. The initiation of the B events in the northern cluster are reflected in a pronounced increase in the non-double-couple components of the MTs, which points to tensile-source mechanisms as a consequence of a hypothesised fluid injection.     

On the limits of linear moment tensor inversion of surface wave spectra

Some theoretical and practical limits to linear moment tensor inversion of surface waves are analyzed in detail, in particular when one or few stations are used for rapid determination of source parameters. The theory is briefly outlined and steps of preprocessing, especially corrections for source history and propagation, are discussed in order to guarantee the validity of the moment tensor inversion. The inverse problem is first studied from a theoretical point of view. Then the feasibility of the moment tensor inversion is tested from synthetic computations and the formalism is improved in order to obtain a better system conditioning. Finally, some cases of practical nonuniqueness of the solution are shown and possible restrictions to the applicability of the method are discussed. All steps are illustrated with the example of theM _s =6.9 Erzincan (Turkey) earthquake of March, 13, 1992.     

雷达回波跟踪的两种方法及精度比较

文章研究了用于天气雷达回波跟踪的矩不变量法和相关亮度综合分析法。首先用多阈值法对回波图象分团，然后计算出矩不变量和相关亮度系数，作为判别因子，分别用于回波团的跟踪，并作出回波移动的现时预报。实测资料的试验结果表明:矩不变量法的跟踪成功率高于相关亮度综合分析法。