Spatial damage distribution of August 16, 2003, Inner Mongolia, China, M S=5.9 earthquake and analysis

The spatial damage distribution of August 16, 2003, Inner Mongolia, China, M _S=5.9 earthquake is summarized through field investigation. The moment tensor solution and focal mechanism are inverted using the digital long-period waveform records of China Digital Seismograph Network (CDSN). The relation between the spatial damage distribution and focal mechanism is analyzed according to the focal mechanism, the aftershock distribution and the spatial damage distribution. The possible relation between the characteristics of ground motion and the tectonic background of the source region is discussed in terms of the global ground motion records, historical earthquake documents and the damage distribution. Investigation reveals that the meizoseismal region is in east-west direction, which is consistent with the nodal plane of focal mechanism inversion. The meizoseismal area is relatively large and the damage of single-story adobe houses or masonry houses is more severe. This may have relations with local seismotectonic environment. Foundation item: The Special Funds for Major State Basic Research Project (2002CB412706). Contribution No. 05FE3009, Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration.     

Postseismic deformation at El Asnam (Algeria) in the seismotectonic context of northwestern Algeria

We use a combination of seismicity. tectonic features, focal mechanisms, seismic strain and postseismic movement to study the western part of North Algeria, the El Asnam region and its surrounding area in particular. A seismotectonic map of this part of Algeria, delimited by the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Tellian mountains in the south, was built from available geological and seismological data. An examination of this map shows that the most significant earthquakes are concentrated along tectonic features and quaternary basins elongated in an east-west direction, suggesting NNW-SSE compressional movements. During the large El Asnam earthquake of 1980 October 10, M _w= 7.1, vertical movement was measured along a 40 km northeast-southwest thrust fault. These movements were determined geodetically in 1981 with reference to a basic network previously measured in 1976. In order to control postseismic movement and to ensure the monitoring of the seismic area, a dense geodetic network has been regularly measured since 1986, both in planemetry and altimetry. The results of the altimetric remeasurements show significant vertical movements. The elevation changes of the benchmarks have been deduced from precise levelling measurements: a remarkable uplift (5.1 ± 1.9 mm yr⁻¹) of the northwestern block, during the 1986-91 period has been observed, whereas the southeastern block is seen to be relatively stable. The Sar El Marouf anticline, situated along the central segment of the El Asnam surface breaks, appears to be growing with a maximum postseismic slip rate of (9.6 ± 1.4 mm yr⁻¹). The mean uplift rates computed for the northwestern block support the view that the 1954 earthquake did not occur on the same reverse fault as the 1980 event.     

Moment tensor rate functions from waveforms with non-homogeneous variance

When discussing error estimates of the point-source mechanism and the source time function obtained by the two-step procedure by Šílený, Panza & Campus (1992), the authors insist that in the first step—inversion of seismograms (after Sipkin 1982) to get the moment tensor rate functions (MTRFs)—a homogeneous variance for all the data is needed to keep the advantageous symmetry of the normal equations. We show that this is too strong a requirement and can be dropped.     

甘肃省张掖地区中强地震的对策

甘肃省张掖地地区位于祁连山地震带中段，是国家地震局划定的地震重点监视防御区之一。由于该防御区在９０年代中期仍有发生６－７级强震的可能，因此，该地区的各极政府采取了一系列抗震防灾措施。本文介绍了该地区中强地震的对策，包括：不断加强短临监测预报能力；制定并不断完善、落实地震应急顶案；宣传普及防震减灾知识；加强抗震设防以提高建筑物的抗震性能     

Comparison and analysis of the stress field in the source region of Tangshan and Lancang earthquake sequences

ＣｏｍｐａｒｉｓｏｎａｎｄａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｏｆｔｈｅｓｔｒｅｓｓｆｉｅｌｄｉｎｔｈｅｓｏｕｒｃｅｒｅｇｉｏｎｏｆＴａｎｇｓｈａｎａｎｄＬａｎｃａｎｇｅａｒｔｈｑｕａｋｅｓｅｑｕｅｎｃｅｓＧｕｉ－ＬｉｎｇＤＩＡＯ；（刁桂苓）Ｌｉ－ＭｉｎＹＵ；（于利民）...     

A model of nonuniform fracture system for Langcang-Gengma earthquake sequence and elasto-plastic computation method

Based on the observation data, it is found that the Lancang-Gengma earthquake sequence is resulting from the propagation of a nonuniform fracture system in which the lengths and strikes of fractures are different from each other, the stress field and medium condition around fractures are also heterogeneous. Therefore, a mechanical model simulating suitably the fracture processes of the Lancang-Gengma earthquake sequence is suggested in this paper. The fracture criterions and computation method for elastic fracture and elasto-plastic fracture are studied. The stress intensity factor, strain energy release rate and J-integral are evaluated respectively. The forward and inverse method jointing a variety of observation data to determine the earthquake fracture processes is also developed in this paper. The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,14, 463–471, 1992. This project was sponsored by the Chinese Jonit Seismological Science Foundation.     

用停止相研究震源的破裂过程

利用国内基准台的 SK 地震记录图上的停止相研究了1989年4月16日,4月25日和5月3日巴塘3次中强地震(M_s=6.5,6.5和6.3)的震源详细破裂过程。研究结果表明:巴塘3次中强地震均为不对称双侧破裂机制,断层面走向均为 NNE,震源体破裂错动总长分别为23.9,21.3和27.1km,断层面宽度分别为7.1,6.1和6.4km,破裂错动的倾角较小,因此震源体的破裂错动以水平运动为主。     

1976年龙陵震群序列的破裂特征

龙陵地震是由８个６级以上地震组成的强震震群序列，采用地震活动图象和震源机制资料的构造分析方法，得到带有运动学和动力学特征的震源破裂组合在地面的投影图象，配合其它资料，提出龙陵地震序列强震的破裂特征是：由３条北东东向左旋走滑断层和２条北北西向右旋走滑断层组成的共轭破裂组合，进一步讨论了某些有关的地震地质问题。