基于EMD的中国大陆强震活动特征分析

利用EMD方法对中国大陆年度最大地震时间序列进行逐级分解, 得到5个本征模态函数(IMF)项和1个趋势项, 分析了各个IMF分量不同的周期成分同地球自转速度变化、 太阳黑子活动和潮汐运动等环境因子之间的相关关系, 初步探讨了各个IMF分量的物理机理及其对中国大陆地震活动的影响。     

板内与板间地震活动时空分布的多重分形特征研究

利用多重分形分析方法,考察了中国大陆和台湾地区以及新西兰的地震活动广义应变释放时间和空间分布的多重分形特征. 结果表明,地震活动时空分布的多重分形特征与不同地球动力学环境关系密切. 强震活动时间分布在板间地区具有比板内地区更明显的丛集性, 对中小地震这种丛集性差异较小;强震活动空间分布在板内地区具有比板间地区更强的丛集性,但对中小地震则相反.      

断层垂直形变对强远震的响应

利用新型断层形变三维观测系统的垂直向观测结果, 研究了两年以来7.0级以上强远震在非发震断层上的同震响应特征. 结果表明,非发震断层体垂直向同震形变的延迟时间、 同震位移最大振幅、 振动持续时间等特征与地震震级、震中距等之间存在密切联系. 断层体垂直向同震形变延迟时间与震中距线性正相关,发生地震同震形变的响应速度约为5.5km/s,反映了在上层花岗岩地层中面波的传播速度;同震位移最大振幅和震中距的对数、 震级之间具有明显线性关系,震级越大,同震位移的最大振幅越大;地震震级是断层体垂直同震形变振动持续时间的主要影响因素,震级越大,同震形变振动持续时间越长. 根据断层仪观测数据推算得到的断层体垂直向同震形变延迟时间、同震位移最大振幅、振动持续时间的经验计算公式,对于地震同震形变研究具有一定意义.      

Limit states and failure mechanisms of viscous dampers and the implications for large earthquakes

Fluid viscous dampers are used to control story drifts and member forces in structures during earthquake events. These elements provide satisfactory performance at the design‐level or maximum considered earthquake. However, buildings using fluid viscous dampers have not been subjected to very large earthquakes with intensities greater than the design and maximum considered events. Furthermore, an extensive database of viscous damper performance during large seismic events does not exist. To address these issues, a comprehensive analytical and experimental investigation was conducted to determine the performance of damped structures subjected to large earthquakes. A critical component of this research was the development and verification of a detailed viscous damper mathematical model that incorporates limit states. The development of this model and the laboratory and simulation results conclude good correlation with the new model and the damper limit states and provide superior results compared with the typical damper model when considering near collapse evaluation of structures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic parameters controlling far-field tsunami amplitudes: A review

We present a review of the influence of various parameters of the sources of major oceanic earthquakes on the amplitude of tsunamis at transoceanic distances. We base our computations on the normal mode formalism, applied to realistic Earth models, but interpret our principal results in the simpler framework of Haskell theory in the case of a water layer over a Poisson half-space. Our results show that source depth and focal geometry play only a limited role in controlling the amplitude of the tsunami; their combined influence reaches at most 1 order of magnitude down to a depth of 150 km into the hard rock. More important are the effects of directivity due to rupture propagation along the fault, which for large earthquakes can result in a ten-fold decrease in tsunami amplitude by destructive interference, and the possibility of enhanced tsunami excitation in material with weaker elastic properties, such as sedimentary layers. Modelling of the so-called tsunami earthquakes suggests that an event for which 10% of the moment release takes place in sediments generates a tsunami 10 times larger than its seismic moment would suggest. We also investigate the properties of non-double couple sources and find that their relative excitation of tsunamis and Rayleigh waves is in general comparable to that of regular seismic sources. In particular, landslides involving weak sediments could result in very large tsunamis. Finally, we emphasize that the final amplitude at a receiving shore can be strongly affected by focusing and defocusing effects, due to variations in bathymetry along the path of the tsunami.     

Active tectonics of the Himalaya

The Himalayan mountains are a product of the collision between India and Eurasia which began in the Eocene. In the early stage of continental collision the development of a suture zone between two colliding plates took place. The continued convergence is accommodated along the suture zone and in the back-arc region. Further convergence results in intracrustal megathrust within the leading edge of the advancing Indian plate. In the Himalaya this stage is characterized by the intense uplift of the High Himalaya, the development of the Tibetan Plateau and the breaking-up of the central and eastern Asian continent. Although numerous models for the evolution of the Himalaya have been proposed, the available geological and geophysical data are consistent with an underthrusting model in which the Indian continental lithosphere underthrusts beneath the Himalaya and southern Tibet. Reflection profiles across the entire Himalaya and Tibet are needed to prove the existence of such underthrusting. Geodetic surveys across the High Himalaya are needed to determine the present state of the MCT as well as the rate of uplift and shortening within the Himalaya. Paleoseismicity studies are necessary to resolve the temporal and spatial patterns of major earthquake faulting along the segmented Himalayan mountains.     

Comparison of amplitude decay rates in reflection,refraction, and local earthquake records

Three types of seismic data recorded near Coalinga, California were analyzed to study the behavior of scattered waves: 1) aftershocks of the May 2, 1983 earthquake, recorded on verticalcomponent seismometers deployed by the USGS; 2) regional refraction profiles using large explosive sources recorded on essentially the same arrays above; 3) three common-midpoint (CMP) reflection surveys recorded with vibrator sources over the same area. Records from each data set were bandpassed filtered into 5 Hz wide passbands (over the range of 1–25 Hz), corrected for geometric spreading, and fit with an exponential model of amplitude decay. Decay rates were expressed in terms of inverse codaQ (Q _c ^–1 ).Q _c ^–1 values for earthquake and refraction data are generally comparable and show a slight decrease with increasing frequency. Decay rates for different source types recorded on proximate receivers show similar results, with one notable exception. One set of aftershocks shows an increase ofQ _c ^–1 with frequency.Where the amplitude decay rates of surface and buried sources are similar, the coda decay results are consistent with other studies suggesting the importance of upper crustal scattering in the formation of coda. Differences in the variation ofQ _c ^–1 with frequency can be correlated with differences in geologic structure near the source region, as revealed by CMP-stacked reflection data. A more detailed assessment of effects such as the depth dependence of scattered contributions to the coda and the role of intrinsic attenuation requires precise control of source-receiver field geometry and the study of synthetic seismic data calculated for velocity models developed from CMP reflection data.     

Statistical analysis and long-term prediction of seismicity for linear zones

The model of the Poisson point process is too vague for earthquake locations in space and time: earthquakes tend to cluster in middle distances and to repulse in large ones. The Poisson point model with variable density makes it possible to describe the tendency for clustering but does not reveal the periodicity of clusters. The author proposes the point-process model where locations of points are determined not by densities of point distribution, but by densities of interpoint differences distribution. In the model, a latent periodicity is revealed and used for prediction of a point process. In 1983, the point-process model prediction was made for the Kuril Islands for 1983–1987 and two signs of danger in time and location were determined. Then they were confirmed by strong earth-quakes. In 1989, a similar prediction was made for North Armenia. The Spitak earthquake in 1988 is clearly seen from the data of previous earthquakes.     

Dynamic faulting under rate-dependent friction

We discuss the effects of rate-dependent friction on the propagation of seismic rupture on active faults. Several physicists using Burridge and Knopoff's box and spring model of faulting have proposed that fault complexity may arise from the spontaneous development of a self-similar stress distribution on the fault plane. If this model proves to be correct, it has important consequences for the origin of the complexity of seismic sources. In order to test these ideas on a more realistic earthquake model, we developed a new boundary integral equation method for studying rupture propagation along an antiplane fault in the presence of nonlinear rate-dependent friction. We study rupture dynamics of models with single and twin asperities. In our models, asperities are places on the fault with a higher value of prestress. Othewise all fault parameters are homogeneous. We show that for models with such asperities, a slip velocity weakening friction leads to the propagation of supersonic healing phases and to the spontaneous arrest of fracture if the prestress outside the asperities is low enough. For models with asperities, we can also observe narrow slip velocity pulses, qualitatively similar to the so-called Heaton pulses observed in some earthquake accelerograms. We also observe a complex distribution of stress after the rupture that depends on details of the initial distribution of asperities and on the details of the friction law.