Depth and region dependence of b-value for micro-aftershocks of the May 12th, 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and its tectonic implications

Micro-aftershocks with magnitude range of 1.5?4 around the Wenchuan earthquake epicenter, the southern part of the Longmenshan fault zone, exhibit good frequency-magnitude linear relationships, thus enabling b-value analysis. The average b-value for micro-aftershocks of M1.5?4 from July to December of 2008 in our local study region is about 0.88, similar to the b-value for all aftershocks of M3.0?5.5 from May, 2008 to May, 2009 along the whole Longmenshan fault zone. The similarity between the local and regional b-values possibly indicates that the southern part of the Longmenshan fault zone has similar seismogenic environment to the whole Longmenshan fault zone. Alternatively, it may also imply that b-values derived from all events without consideration of structural variation can not discriminate local-scale tectonic information. The present study shows that the b-value for the Wenchuan earthquake micro-aftershocks varies with different regions. The b-value in southwest of the Yingxiu town is higher than that in the northeast of the Yingxiu town. The high b-value in the southwest part where the Wenchuan earthquake main shock hypocenter located indicates that the current stress around the hypocenter region is much lower than its surrounding area. The b-values are also dependent on depth. At shallow depths of < 5 km, the b-values are very small (~0.4), possibly being related to strong wave attenuation or strong heterogeneity in shallow layers with high content of porosity and fractures. At depths of ~5?11 km, where most aftershocks concentrated, the b-values become as high as ~0.9?1.0. At the depth below ~11 km, the b-values decrease with the depth increasing, being consistent with increasing tectonic homogeneity and increasing stress with depth.

     

Beyond 'someone else's agenda': An example of indigenous/academic research collaboration

In recent years, Māori and wider indigenous geographies have flourished. These include works by scholars identifying specific Māori or indigenous issues but less attention has been paid to the way such research is conducted. This paper engages with these developments and presents the practices and lessons learnt from one particular research collaboration. Relationship building, multiple methods, flexibility, communication choices and wider support are all noted as key elements in establishing a supportive and fruitful collaboration.     

宁夏罗山油松(Pinus tabulaeformis)树轮宽度对气候因子的响应分析

 树轮样本采自宁夏罗山油松纯林的下限和上限。建立了下限和上限的树轮宽度标准化年表,分析了树轮宽度与降水、气温、湿润指数(P/T)的相关关系,结果显示,下限和上限树轮宽度指数都与当年3月、5月、春季以及年降水量显著正相关,与7月气温显著负相关;下限树轮宽度标准化年表与气候要素的相关系数一般大于上限的相关系数,而且下限树轮宽度与前一年9月、秋季降水以及夏季气温的相关也达到显著水平,表明下限树轮宽度标准化序列对降水和气温单一气候要素的变化较敏感;下限和上限的树轮宽度指数和湿润指数(P/T)呈正相关关系,而且上限树轮宽度和3—8月湿润指数的正相关达到99%的置信水平,说明罗山油松纯林上限树轮宽度标准化序列对水热组合的响应较敏感。     

改革开放以来济—青双核结构的空间关系演变

济—青双核结构是山东省典型的双核结构。明确改革开放以来济—青双核结构的空间关系演变,是整合济南、青岛功能的基础。改革开放的前十几年,济—青双核结构的空间关系以对抗性竞争为主。通过主成分分析,借助ArcGIS3．3软件,得出近年来在济南与青岛的竞争中,青岛的腹地范围西扩明显;从分形角度,度量出近年来济南与青岛引力不断增强,空间关系向合作性竞争转变。影响济—青双核结构空间关系演变的因素是政策因素,规模因素,资源特性因素,生产方式因素,网络载体因素。     

中国城市化进程中的生态环境保障程度

Studying the change of resources consumption and eco-environmental carrying capacity are of importance to the sustainable development of urbanization. Based on the China’s economic and social statistical data from 1950 to 2006, the ecological footprint, ecological footprint intensity, ecological deficit and surplus, and eco-environment quality comprehensive index are calculated, the correlation between urbanization and eco-environmental change is analyzed and the eco-environmental guarantee for China’s urbanization in 2030 is forecasted. The major results could be summarized as follows: (1) there is a positive linear relation between urbanization and ecological footprint, negative linear relation between urbanization and ecological footprint intensity, ecological deficit and surplus and the negative exponential relation between urbanization and eco-environment quality comprehensive index. (2) By 2030, the urbanization level will reach 61.32%, the ecological deficit will increase to 42.2866×10⁸ hm² and the eco-environment quality comprehensive index will drop to 0.3016 on the condition that the total quantity ecological footprint achieves 55.9348×10⁸ hm². (3) Under the existing urban development pattern, the ecological overload will be more serious in the next 24 years. Constructing the reasonable industrial structure and establishing the intensive resources utilization system to alleviate the eco-environmental pressure are the tough challenges in China’s urbanization process. Foundation: Knowledge Innovation Project of CAS, No.KZCX2-YW-307-02; No.KZCX2-YW-321-05; Major Project of 11th Five-year Scientific and Technological Support Plan of China, No.2006BAJ05A06 Author: Fang Chuanglin(1966–), Ph.D. and Professor, specialized in regional and urban planning.     

Seismic Risk Assessment and Maximum Magnitudes of Potential Earthquakes on Active Faults near Lanzhou City

The Zhuanglang river and Baiyin Baiyangshu river faults are late Quaternary faults near Lanzhou city,which pose a threat to the safety of the city. However,the cause of medium-strong earthquakes along the fault is rather complicated and even uncertain. It is important for us how to assess the magnitudes of maximum potential earthquakes and the seismic risk of the faults. The authors make reference to the method that Wen Xueze,et al.(2007) developed to assess the magnitudes of maximum potential earthquakes in sub-areas of moderately and weakly active faults in the eastern Chinese Mainland,and brought forward an empirical relationship between the maximum magnitudes M_max and the a_t/b values of the sub-areas' frequency-magnitude relationships in the Lanzhou area. By using this empirical relationship,the authors have estimated the upper-limits M_u of the Zhuanglang river and Baiyin Baiyangshu river active faults near Lanzhou city as M_S6.9 and 6.3,respectively. In addition,they have assessed the average interval recurrence time and the probabilities of destructive earthquakes on the faults.     

Dissecting the effect of rainfall variability on the statistical structure of peak flows

This study examines the role of rainfall variability on the spatial scaling structure of peak flows using the Whitewater River basin in Kansas as an illustration. Specifically, we investigate the effect of rainfall on the scatter, the scale break and the power law (peak flows vs. upstream areas) regression exponent. We illustrate why considering individual hydrographs at the outlet of a basin can lead to misleading interpretations of the effects of rainfall variability. We begin with the simple scenario of a basin receiving spatially uniform rainfall of varying intensities and durations and subsequently investigate the role of storm advection velocity, storm variability characterized by variance, spatial correlation and intermittency. Finally, we use a realistic space–time rainfall field obtained from a popular rainfall model that combines the aforementioned features. For each of these scenarios, we employ a recent formulation of flow velocity for a network of channels, assume idealized conditions of runoff generation and flow dynamics and calculate peak flow scaling exponents, which are then compared to the scaling exponent of the width function maxima. Our results show that the peak flow scaling exponent is always larger than the width function scaling exponent. The simulation scenarios are used to identify the smaller scale basins, whose response is dominated by the rainfall variability and the larger scale basins, which are driven by rainfall volume, river network aggregation and flow dynamics. The rainfall variability has a greater impact on peak flows at smaller scales. The effect of rainfall variability is reduced for larger scale basins as the river network aggregates and smoothes out the storm variability. The results obtained from simple scenarios are used to make rigorous interpretations of the peak flow scaling structure that is obtained from rainfall generated with the space–time rainfall model and realistic rainfall fields derived from NEXRAD radar data.     

Sensitivity analysis of the parameters of earthquake recurrence time power law scaling

The stability of the power law scaling of earthquake recurrence time distribution in a given space–time window is investigated, taking into account the magnitude of completeness and the effective starting time of aftershock sequences in earthquake catalogs from Southern California and Japan. A new method is introduced for sampling at different distances from a network of target events. This method allows the recurrence times to be sampled many times on the same area. Two power laws with unknown exponents are assumed to govern short- and long-recurrence-time ranges. This assumption is developed analytically and shown to imply simple correlation between these power laws. In practice, the results show that this correlation structure is not satisfied for short magnitude cutoffs (m _c = 2.5, 3.5, 4.5), and hence the recurrence time distribution departs from the power law scaling. The scaling parameters obtained from the stack of the distributions corresponding to different magnitude thresholds are quite different for different regions of study. It is also found that significantly different scaling parameters adjust the distribution for different magnitude thresholds. In particular, the power law exponents decrease when the magnitude cutoff increases, resulting in a slower decrease of the recurrence time distribution, especially for short time ranges. For example, in the case of Japan, the exponent p₂ of the power law scaling at large recurrence times follows roughly the relation: , where m _c is the magnitude cutoff. In case of Southern California, it is shown that Weibull distribution provides a better alternative fit to the data for moderate and large time scales.     

Scaling soil water retention functions using particle-size distribution

The presented study explores the prediction of soil water retention and its variability from soil texture and bulk density measurements, using a physically-based scaling technique. Specifically, the Arya–Paris (AP) physico-empirical model is applied to two soil datasets that are collected from two catchments located in different areas of Southern Italy. Laboratory-measured soil water retention functions are scaled to characterize soil variability. The laboratory-measured and AP-predicted reference water retention functions are compared by evaluating the lognormal distribution of derived scaling factors, relative to the mean reference retention function. Since the scaling theory assumes geometric similitude for the investigated soils, successful application of using particle-size distribution to estimate soil water retention requires separation of soils with different textures, using variance analysis. We conclude that variability in soil water retention can be determined from limited soil water retention data using the scaling approach when combined with particle-size distribution measurements. This method can potentially be used as an effective tool for identifying soil hydrologic response at catchment scales.