大震前显示的地震震源机制趋于一致的变化

在构造应力场的制约下强震孕育过程中特定阶段, 震源区中小地震震源机制与构造应力场的方向大体一致, 根据这一特点, 定义各个震源机制解的P轴, B轴, T轴和构造应力场的3个应力主轴在3维空间的夹角之和为一致性参数a, 研究强震前应力场变化特征。 对2006年11月15日千岛岛弧M_W8.3地震和2001年6月23日秘鲁M_W8.4地震研究表明, 大震发生前孕震区一致性参数a比较低, 震源机制与构造应力场的差异较小, 说明这些前震受到了震源区应力场的统一作用, 而主震发生之后震源机制解的一致性参数比较高, 说明后续发生的地震的震源机制散乱, 表明背景应力场的控制作用开始减弱。     

应变能积累在地震安全性评价中的应用探讨

理论及实验研究显示,震源区的位置和最大震级不仅可能与构造和历史有关,更重要的是与应力状态包括其方向、大小、增加速率、集中位置等以及岩体自身性质,包括其强度、杨氏模量、应变大小及增长速率、裂缝(断层)大小和数量等有关,同时与作用方式有关.综合考虑各种因素,探讨了利用应变能积累确定强震位置和震级的方法:首先对利用形变空间特征变化判断强震震源区位置的方法进行了讨论;接着着重提出估算应变能的初步方法:一是由地表裂缝最大错距和裂缝(断层)长度比估算地震释放能量;二是由新构造运动分区块体体积、年平均应变速率及杨氏模量估算块体应变能积累;进而依据能量估算地震震级;最后以实例论述了应变能积累过程及特点对地震安全性评价的重要作用.     

紫坪铺水库水位变化对剪切波分裂参数的影响

本文通过对2006—2009年四川紫坪铺水库库区8个地震台站记录的地震事件,采用剪切波分裂方法获得了水库库区剪切波分裂参数,并结合地震活动性与水库水位之间的变化关系,分析了紫坪铺水库库区地壳应力的变化特征.剪切波分裂结果显示该研究区域快波偏振方向有两个,分别为北东向和北西向,充分体现了紫坪铺水库地区地壳应力是由北西向的区域主压应力与南东走向的龙门山断裂带综合作用的结果.慢波延迟时间平均值为5.8ms·km-1,慢波延迟时间较大的地区位于库坝和库尾,分别是水库蓄水排水引起地壳应力变化最大的区域.对比慢波延迟时间的变化和水库水位的变化显示了慢波延迟时间与水库水位之间的一致变化关系,揭示了水库的蓄水排水对地壳应力的影响.     

2015年尼泊尔M_S8.1强震对中国大陆静态应力触发影响的初探

本研究基于地震危险性分析中地震重复原则和构造外推原则,以及一段时期内活动断裂上发生地震机制是相似或相近的假设,利用中国已发生的震级为MS5.0以上的地震震源机制解,将其中的一个节面视为实际地质断层参数和静态应力触发计算中的接收断层面,计算了2015年4月25日尼泊尔MS8.1地震对中国大陆地区的静态应力触发情况.研究结果表明:2015年4月25日尼泊尔MS8.1地震,触发了其后续的2次强余震的发生;本次地震对中国大陆产生的应力变化量值很小,其产生的应力加载主要集中在其邻近的西藏和新疆地区的部分断层上,而其余地区的断层则主要受到了应力卸载作用.     

Wavefield tomography based on local image correlations

The estimation of a velocity model from seismic data is a crucial step for obtaining a high‐quality image of the subsurface. Velocity estimation is usually formulated as an optimization problem where an objective function measures the mismatch between synthetic and recorded wavefields and its gradient is used to update the model. The objective function can be defined in the data‐space (as in full‐waveform inversion) or in the image space (as in migration velocity analysis). In general, the latter leads to smooth objective functions, which are monomodal in a wider basin about the global minimum compared to the objective functions defined in the data‐space. Nonetheless, migration velocity analysis requires construction of common‐image gathers at fixed spatial locations and subsampling of the image in order to assess the consistency between the trial velocity model and the observed data. We present an objective function that extracts the velocity error information directly in the image domain without analysing the information in common‐image gathers. In order to include the full complexity of the wavefield in the velocity estimation algorithm, we consider a two‐way (as opposed to one‐way) wave operator, we do not linearize the imaging operator with respect to the model parameters (as in linearized wave‐equation migration velocity analysis) and compute the gradient of the objective function using the adjoint‐state method. We illustrate our methodology with a few synthetic examples and test it on a real 2D marine streamer data set.     

Active tectonics of the outer northern Apennines: Adriatic vs. Po Plain seismicity and stress fields

The recent earthquake sequences of 2012 (northern Italy) and 2013 (Marche offshore) provided new, fundamental constraints to the active tectonic setting of the outer northern Apennines. In contrast to the Po Plain area, where the 2012 northern Italy earthquakes confirmed active frontal thrusting, the new focal mechanisms obtained in this study for the 2013 Marche offshore earthquakes indicate that only minor thrust fault reactivation occurs in the Adriatic domain, even for a theoretically favourably oriented maximum horizontal compression. Recent seismicity in this domain appears to be mainly controlled by transcurrent crustal faults dissecting the Apennine thrust belt. The along-strike stress field variation from the Po Plain to the Adriatic area has been quantitatively investigated by applying the multiple inverse method (MIM) to the analysis of the entire seismicity recorded from January 1976 to August 2014, from the top 12 km of the crust (fault plane solutions from 127 earthquakes with M_W ≥ 4), allowing us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the state of stress over the outer zone of the fold and thrust belt. The present-day stress field has been defined for 39 cells of 1.5° × 1.5° surface area and 12 km depth. The obtained stress field maps point out that, although the entire outer northern Apennines belt is characterized by a sub-horizontal maximum compressive axis (σ₁), the minimum compression (σ₃) is sub-vertical only in the Po Plain area, becoming sub-horizontal in the Adriatic sector, thus confirming that the latter region is dominated by an active tectonic regime of strike-slip type.     

Three-dimensional limit analysis of seismic displacement of slope reinforced with piles

Three-dimensional (3D) limit analysis of seismic stability of slopes reinforced with one row of piles is presented in this paper. A 3D rotational mechanism for earth slope is adopted. The lateral forces provided by the piles are evaluated by the theory of plastic deformation. Expressions for calculating the yield acceleration coefficient are derived. A random iteration method is employed to find the critical acceleration coefficient for the 3D slopes with or without reinforcement. Based on the kinematic theory within the frame of the pseudo-static approach, a 3D model is proposed for evaluating the critical state and the subsequent displacement response. Furthermore, Newmark׳s analytical procedure is employed to estimate the cumulative displacement induced by given earthquake loads. An example is shown to illustrate the influence of the piles on the seismic displacement of the 3D slopes.     

Seismic fragility of lightly reinforced concrete frames with masonry infills

Seismic fragility of lightly reinforced concrete frames with masonry infills is assessed through numerical simulations considering uncertainty in ground motion and building materials. To achieve this aim, a numerical model of the components is developed, a rational approach to proportion and locate individual struts in the equivalent three‐strut model is proposed, and an explicit nonlinear column shear response model accounting for the infill–column interaction and soft‐story mechanism is employed. The proposed numerical model is used to (1) generate probabilistic seismic demand models accounting for a wide range of ground motion intensities with different frequency content and (2) determine limit state models obtained from nonlinear pushover analysis and incremental dynamic analysis. Using the demand and limit state model, fragility curves for the masonry‐infilled frames are developed to investigate the impact of various infill properties on the frame vulnerability. It is observed that the beneficial effect of the masonry infill diminishes at more severe limit states because of the interaction with the boundary frame. In some cases, this effect almost vanishes or switches to an adverse effect beyond a threshold of ground motion intensities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.