Dynamic nucleation process of shallow earthquake faulting in a fault zone

Two distinct phases are commonly observed at the initial part of seismograms of large shallow earthquakes: low-frequency and low-amplitude waves following the onset of a P wave ( P ₁) are interrupted by the arrival of the second impulsive phase P₂ enriched with high-frequency components. This observation suggests that a large shallow earthquake involves two qualitatively different stages of rupture at its nucleation.
We propose a theoretical model that can naturally explain the above nucleation behaviour. The model is 2-D and the deformation is assumed to be anti-plane. A key clement in our model is the assumption of a zone in which numbers of pre-existing cracks are densely distributed; this cracked zone is a model for the fault zone. Dynamic crack growth nucleated in such a zone is intensely affected by the crack interactions, which exert two conflicting effects: one tends to accelerate the crack growth, and the other tends to decelerate it. The accelerating and decelerating effects are generally ascribable to coplanar and non-coplanar crack interactions, respectively. We rigorously treat the multiple interactions among the cracks, using the boundary integral equation method (BIEM), and assume the critical stress fracture criterion for the analysis of spontaneous crack propagation.
Our analysis shows that a dynamic rupture nucleated in the cracked zone begins to grow slowly due to the relative predominance of non-coplanar interactions. This process radiates the P₁ phase. If the crack continues to grow, coalescence with adjacent coplanar cracks occurs after a short time. Then, coplanar interactions suddenly begin to prevail and crack growth is accelerated; the P₂ phase is emitted in this process. It is interpreted that the two distinct phases appear in the process of the transition from non-coplanar to coplanar interaction predominance.     

乌鲁木齐西山断层新构造运动特征

展布于哈萨克斯坦—准噶尔亚板块南缘西山南麓的乌鲁木齐西山断层，构造地貌发育，航卫片上线性影象清晰，呈舒缓波状。断面倾向ＮＷＷ，倾角６０°～８３°。破碎带宽约１００ｍ，内含多个断面，构成叠瓦状构造，逆冲量颇大。在走向近ＮＥ区段有一定左行走滑活动分量。新构造运动使侏罗系逆冲到中更新统之上，断层断错了全新统的冲积层。由中强地震沿西山断层分布资料显示，现今仍为粘滑活动。经１４Ｃ测年确定，最近两次明显粘滑活动时间为４７５９ａ和４９３ａ，其时间间隔为４２６６ａ，其中一个断面的逆冲量分别为１．０ｍ和０．２５ｍ。     

Structural and geotechnical impacts of surface rupture on highway structures during recent earthquakes in Turkey

The most significant damage on highway bridges during the recent earthquakes in Turkey (Kocaeli and Duzce earthquakes) and Taiwan (Chi–Chi earthquake) was the result of fault ruptures traversing transportation infrastructure. This phenomenon and its consequences accentuate the need to examine surface rupture hazards and to identify those areas at risk. This understanding can help to develop remedial measures for both structural and geotechnical engineering. For that purpose, damage to highway bridges during the recent events was reviewed. The total collapse of the highway overpass in Arifiye, during the Kocaeli earthquake, was investigated. The major problems under consideration (in Arifiye) were: (i) dislodging of the bridge spans, and consequently, the total separation of the reinforced concrete girders from the piers; and (ii) the stability of a mechanically stabilized earth wall (MSEW) system under extreme loading conditions. The results of the structural and geotechnical investigations presented herein can be taken in consideration to improve transportation infrastructure against surface rupture hazards.     

Numerical simulation for 1975 Haicheng and 1999 Xiuyan earthquake processes by DDA+FEM

Introduction The Xiuyan earthquake(MS=5.4)on Nov.29,1999,occurred between Hushan town and Pi-anling town at the southeast end of the aftershocks of Haicheng earthquake(MS=7.3).These two earthquakes′sequences are highly similar in the way that the foreshocks are very frequent,focal mechanisms of the main shocks are about the same and fault strikes are approximately in the same direction.It is important to study these earthquakes for further research on seismogenesis to fore-cast earthquake…     

Creation of the Cocos and Nazca plates by fission of the Farallon plate

Throughout the Early Tertiary the area of the Farallon oceanic plate was episodically diminished by detachment of large and small northern regions, which became independently moving plates and microplates. The nature and history of Farallon plate fragmentation has been inferred mainly from structural patterns on the western, Pacific-plate flank of the East Pacific Rise, because the fragmented eastern flank has been subducted. The final episode of plate fragmentation occurred at the beginning of the Miocene, when the Cocos plate was split off, leaving the much reduced Farallon plate to be renamed the Nazca plate, and initiating Cocos–Nazca spreading. Some Oligocene Farallon plate with rifted margins that are a direct record of this plate-splitting event has survived in the eastern tropical Pacific, most extensively off northern Peru and Ecuador. Small remnants of the conjugate northern rifted margin are exposed off Costa Rica, and perhaps south of Panama. Marine geophysical profiles (bathymetric, magnetic and seismic reflection) and multibeam sonar swaths across these rifted oceanic margins, combined with surveys of 30–20 Ma crust on the western rise-flank, indicate that (i) Localized lithospheric rupture to create a new plate boundary was preceded by plate stretching and fracturing in a belt several hundred km wide. Fissural volcanism along some of these fractures built volcanic ridges (e.g., Alvarado and Sarmiento Ridges) that are 1–2 km high and parallel to “absolute” Farallon plate motion; they closely resemble fissural ridges described from the young western flank of the present Pacific–Nazca rise. (ii) For 1–2 m.y. prior to final rupture of the Farallon plate, perhaps coinciding with the period of lithospheric stretching, the entire plate changed direction to a more easterly (“Nazca-like”) course; after the split the northern (Cocos) part reverted to a northeasterly absolute motion. (iii) The plate-splitting fracture that became the site of initial Cocos–Nazca spreading was a linear feature that, at least through the 680 km of ruptured Oligocene lithosphere known to have avoided subduction, did not follow any pre-existing feature on the Farallon plate, e.g., a “fracture zone” trail of a transform fault. (iv) The margins of surviving parts of the plate-splitting fracture have narrow shoulders raised by uplift of unloaded footwalls, and partially buried by fissural volcanism. (v) Cocos–Nazca spreading began at 23 Ma; reports of older Cocos–Nazca crust in the eastern Panama Basin were based on misidentified magnetic anomalies.There is increased evidence that the driving force for the 23 Ma fission of the Farallon plate was the divergence of slab-pull stresses at the Middle America and South America subduction zones. The timing and location of the split may have been influenced by (i) the increasingly divergent northeast slab pull at the Middle America subduction zone, which lengthened and reoriented because of motion between the North America and Caribbean plates; (ii) the slightly earlier detachment of a northern part of the plate that had been entering the California subduction zone, contributing a less divergent plate-driving stress; and (iii) weakening of older parts of the plate by the Galapagos hotspot, which had come to underlie the equatorial region, midway between the risecrest and the two subduction zones, by the Late Oligocene.     

利用机载GNSS反射信号反演海面风速的研究

全球卫星导航定位系统的反射信号(GNSS-R)遥感技术作为一种新型的、低成本的、高机动性的海面微波遥感测风技术,与其他测风手段优势互补,可以增加测风手段的多样性,弥补局部测风手段不足的状况。研究了接收机在机载高度时,GPS反射信号功率理论模型四部分函数的性质,在此基础之上,数值模拟了机载高度下理论相关功率波形,基于海面风速对波形峰值与后沿的影响,提出了一种能够兼顾所有理论波形信息的二维插值风速反演方法。利用该方法,结合实测机载数据对海面风速进行反演,反演的风速均值与附近测站风速均值相差为1.4 m/s,与浮标数据相一致。     

汶川大地震(MS 8.0)同震变形作用及其与地质灾害的关系

2008年5月12日发生于四川盆地西部龙门山断裂带的汶川大地震（MS 8.0）波及半个亚洲,震撼整个中国。本文通过地震后的实地调查,对发育在龙门山断裂带上的同震地表破裂带的分布、产状、继承性复活与变形特征,以及同震变形与地震地质灾害的关系等进行了初步总结,分析表明这次汶川大地震(MS 8.0)沿北川-映秀逆冲断裂和安县-灌县逆冲断裂同时发生地表破裂,前者产生以高角度逆冲兼右旋走滑为特征的地表破裂带长约275 km,后者产生以缓倾角逆冲作用为特征的地表破裂带长约80 km。汶川大地震的同震地表破裂带分布具有分段性特征,并与地表破坏程度的分带性有着一定的内在联系,详细研究表明,同震地表破裂带的产状直接影响地表破坏程度和地震地质灾害的强度,汶川大地震（MS 8.0）沿呈高角度陡倾的北川-映秀逆冲断裂发育的同震地表变形所产生的地表破坏程度和地震地质灾害的强度比沿缓倾角的安县-灌县逆冲断裂要强。从各种类型的地震断裂来看,具有垂直运动的逆冲型地震断裂所造成的地表破坏程度和地质灾害强度比具水平运动的走滑型地震断裂要强。因此,汶川大地震发生的破裂过程和同震地表变形与地震地质灾害的关系值得深入研究。     

剧冲式高速滑坡全程动力学机理分析

剧冲式高速滑坡是具有剧动启程,高速运行,碰撞解体及冲击成坝的高速岩质滑坡。本文根据高山峡谷区大型滑坡坝的形成过程,分析了高速岩质滑坡的临床峰残强降加速机理,滑体势动转化加速机理,空气动力擎托持速机理及滑坡坝冲击夯实机理,论述了其运动学特征。