The initial subevent of the 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake: Is earthquake size predictable?

We examine the initial subevent (ISE) of the M 6.7, 1994 Northridge, California, earthquake in order to discriminate between two end-member rupture initiation models: the preslip and cascade models. Final earthquake size may be predictable from an ISE's seismic signature in the preslip model but not in the cascade model. In the cascade model ISEs are simply small earthquakes that can be described as purely dynamic ruptures. In this model a large earthquake is triggered by smaller earthquakes; there is no size scaling between triggering and triggered events and a variety of stress transfer mechanisms are possible. Alternatively, in the preslip model, a large earthquake nucleates as an aseismically slipping patch in which the patch dimension grows and scales with the earthquake's ultimate size; the byproduct of this loading process is the ISE. In this model, the duration of the ISE signal scales with the ultimate size of the earthquake, suggesting that nucleation and earthquake size are determined by a more predictable, measurable, and organized process. To distinguish between these two end-member models we use short period seismograms recorded by the Southern California Seismic Network. We address questions regarding the similarity in hypocenter locations and focal mechanisms of the ISE and the mainshock. We also compare the ISE's waveform characteristics to those of small earthquakes and to the beginnings of earthquakes with a range of magnitudes. We find that the focal mechanisms of the ISE and mainshock are indistinguishable, and both events may have nucleated on and ruptured the same fault plane. These results satisfy the requirements for both models and thus do not discriminate between them. However, further tests show the ISE's waveform characteristics are similar to those of typical small earthquakes in the vicinity and more importantly, do not scale with the mainshock magnitude. These results are more consistent with the cascade model.     

基于统计学的地震显著平静阈值估计

提出具有统计学意义的地震显著平静阈值估算方法,用于中国大陆及川滇、新疆和华北地区中强震活动分析,在不同区域得到不同起始震级的显著平静阈值范围。结果显示:(1)中国大陆7级、6级和5级地震显著平静的阈值范围分别为3.9—6.2年、7.9—9.6个月和62—70天;(2)川滇地区6级和5级地震显著平静的阈值范围分别为2.1—2.9年和7.0—8.5个月;(3)新疆地区6级和5级地震显著平静的阈值范围分别为2.6—4.0年和8.5—10.5个月;(4)华北地区6级和5级地震显著平静的阈值范围分别为11.7—23.4年和5.2—7.7年。     

Seismic quantification of the explosions that destroyed the dome of Volcán de Colima, Mexico, in July–August 2003

In July–August 2003, the andesitic lava dome at Volcán de Colima, México, was destroyed by a sequence of explosions that replaced the 2×10⁶ m³ dome with a crater 200 m across and 30 m deep. The two strongest explosions occurred on July 17 and August 28. The initial low-frequency impulses that they produced, which were recorded on broadband seismic records, allowed an estimation of the counter forces of the initiating process as being equal to 0.3×10¹¹ N and 1×10¹¹ N for the July and August events, respectively. The seismic characteristics follow the Nishimura-Hamaguchi scaling law for volcanic explosions, reflecting self-similarity in the processes initiating explosive events. The results also show that counter forces can discriminate between the sizes of explosive eruptions that are assigned the same magnitude by conventional methods of classification such as the Volcanic Explosivity Index. The increasing use of broadband seismometers may therefore provide the basis for using counter forces to determine the magnitude of explosive eruptions.     

Archaeoseismology: Methodological issues and procedure

Archaeoseismic research contributes important data on past earthquakes. A limitation of the usefulness of archaeoseismology is due to the lack of continuous discussion about the methodology. The methodological issues are particularly important because archaeoseismological investigations of past earthquakes make use of a large variety of methods. Typical in situ investigations include: (1) reconstruction of the local archaeological stratigraphy aimed at defining the correct position and chronology of a destruction layer, presumably related to an earthquake; (2) analysis of the deformations potentially due to seismic shaking or secondary earthquake effects, detectable on walls; (3) analysis of the depositional characteristics of the collapsed material; (4) investigations of the local geology and geomorphology to define possible natural cause(s) of the destruction; (5) investigations of the local factors affecting the ground motion amplifications; and (6) estimation of the dynamic excitation, which affected the site under investigation. Subsequently, a ‘territorial’ approach testing evidence of synchronous destruction in a certain region may delineate the extent of the area struck by the earthquake. The most reliable results of an archaeoseismological investigation are obtained by application of modern geoarchaeological practice (archaeological stratigraphy plus geological–geomorphological data), with the addition of a geophysical-engineering quantitative approach and (if available) historical information. This gives a basic dataset necessary to perform quantitative analyses which, in turn, corroborate the archaeoseismic hypothesis. Since archaeoseismological investigations can reveal the possible natural causes of destruction at a site, they contribute to the wider field of environmental archaeology, that seeks to define the history of the relationship between humans and the environment. Finally, through the improvement of the knowledge on the past seismicity, these studies can contribute to the regional estimation of seismic hazard.     

我国早期的地震科学研究概述

我国早期的现代地震学研究，曾孕育于现代地质学中。用现代科学观点，最早调查研究现场大地震的年代，可追溯到1913年云南峨山7级地震考察。地震台站监测工作，是从1923年地质调查所派李善邦先生前去日本东京学习测震，并于1930年在北京西山郊区建造鹫峰地震观测台开始。最早的地震目录是1913年由上海黄司铎编的“法文中国地震表”。1921年翁文灏先生发表的“甘肃地震考”，首次将史料中的地震情形描述与罗西一福来氏烈度表加以对照，来确定地震烈度，从而提供了更详细、确切的“甘肃地震表”。1922年翁文灏在布鲁塞尔国际地质大会上宣读的“中国地质构造对于产生地震的影响”论文，曾引起与会者极大兴趣与关注，是最早论述我国地震地质和地震区域划分的文献。     

New seismic images of the crust in the central Trans-Hudson Orogen of Saskatchewan

A reprocessing program to enhance the correlation between the surface geology and the seismic data has been completed for seismic line 9 (eastern 100 km) and line 10 in the central region of the Trans-Hudson Orogen of Saskatchewan, Canada. The new seismic images through lateral continuity of reflectivity provide sufficient detail to resolve the discrepancy between the low-dipping, layer-parallel and dextral-reverse nature of the Sturgeon-Weir shear zone (line 9) observed in the field and its steeply dipping (apparent) normal displacement character interpreted on the basis of the initial processing. Furthermore, the new interpretation provides a strong confirmation of the role of Pelican Thrust as a major detachment zone — the main `sole thrust' — along which juvenile allochthons have been carried across the Archaean microcontinental block. The images are also refined enough to suggest: (a) a boundary within the Pelican Thrust between its internal and external suites; (b) a possible boundary separating a lower (older?) Archaean basement from its upper (younger?) counterpart; and (c) sub-Moho events (M2) which reveal possible involvement of the upper mantle in the collisional tectonic process in addition to the well defined Moho (M1) which probably represents the youngest of the post-collisional detachments.     

Resonantly Damped Surface and Body MHD Waves in a Solar Coronal Slab with Oblique Propagation

The theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in solar coronal slabs in a zero-β configuration and for parallel propagation of waves does not allow the existence of surface waves. When oblique propagation of perturbations is considered, both surface and body waves are able to propagate. When the perpendicular wavenumber is larger than a certain value, the body kink mode becomes a surface wave. In addition, a sausage surface mode is found below the internal cutoff frequency. When nonuniformity in the equilibrium is included, surface and body modes are damped by resonant absorption. In this paper, first, a normal-mode analysis is performed and the period, the damping rate, and the spatial structure of the eigenfunctions are obtained. Then, the time-dependent problem is solved, and the conditions under which one or the other type of mode is excited are investigated.     

Regional 3-D heterogeneities by waveform inversion – application to the Atlantic area

The waveform inversion method described in Woodhouse & Dziewonski (1984) was modified to retrieve regional scale 3-D heterogeneities by using the minor arc part of seismograms. The lateral heterogeneities are expanded horizontally into blocks (10°× 10°) and radially into Legendre polynomials up to order 3 (0–670 km), and thus the results show much fine details of lateral variation than previous global scale studies. We assumed that the heterogeneities produce the perturbation of eigenfrequencies which are the minor arc average of local eigenfrequency shift. We applied the method to the upper mantle beneath the Atlantic Ocean and its environments. Care was taken about the weighting of the data set. We found that the fit of each seismogram became better when the weighting of each seismogram is proportional to the inverse of initial data residuals. Resolution is good in the triangular region surrounded by South America, Europe, and North America. Resolution is not good in the South Atlantic because of the poor path coverage. Depth resolution is not clear, because of the use of Legendre polynomials, though the results suggest a broad half-width of the order of 200 km or more. We found some similarities between previous global studies and our results. For example, low velocities beneath the East Pacific Rise, Chile Rise and Azores triple junction and a high velocity Canadian shield are obtained. However, there are also differences; the high-velocity zone beneath the Brazilian shield at shallow depth is not a prominent feature in this study. Instead, we found a somewhat unexpected feature near the Romanche and Vema fracture zones where shallow positive anomalies exist. Smoothed results calculated by the spherical harmonic expansion are also shown for the purpose of comparison with global studies.     

A Teleseismic Delay Time Study Across the Central African Shear Zone In the Adamawa Region of Cameroon, West Africa

Summary. P -wave relative teleseismic residuals were measured for a network of seismological stations along a 300 km profile across the Adamawa Plateau and the Central African Shear Zone of central Cameroon, to determine the variation in crust and upper mantle velocity associated with these structures. A plot of the mean relative residuals for the stations shows a long wavelength (> 300 km) variation of amplitude 0.45 s. the slowest arrivals are located over and just to the north, of the faulted northern margin of the Adamawa Plateau. the residuals do not correlate with topography, surface geology or the previously determined crustal structure, in any simple way.
The Aki inversion technique has been used to invert the relative residuals into a 3-D model of velocity perturbations from a mean earth model. the results show the region is divided roughly into three blocks by two subvertical boundaries, striking ENE and traversing both the crust and upper mantle down to depths greater than 190km. the central block, which is 2 per cent slower than the adjacent blocks, roughly corresponds to the Central African Shear Zone. the Adamawa Plateau, as an individual uplifted area, is explained by the interaction of a regional anomalous upper mantle associated with the West African Rift System, and the Central African Shear Zone, which provided a conduit for heat flow to the surface.