Locating, monitoring, and characterizing typhoon-linduced landslides with real-time seismic signals

Landslides induced by typhoon Morakot during its passage across Taiwan on 7–9 Aug 2009 claimed more than 700 lives and caused heavy economic loss. Unlike earthquake monitoring, precise locations of landslides could not be determined in near-real time because their seismic phases are difficult to identify. Here, we show that large, damaging landslide events are characterized seismically by a distinct waveform pattern of frequent intermixes of P and S waves over a time window of several tens of seconds. The predominant frequency band during these time windows ranges from 0.5 to 5?Hz. The high-frequency content is clearly deficient relative to that of local earthquakes by about one to two orders. We also demonstrate that large landslide events can be located and monitored with algorithms specifically designed for real-time seismic applications. This near-real-time monitoring capability would be particularly useful for emergency responders and government organizations to coordinate effective relief-and-rescue operations.     

Seismicity characteristics of a potentially active Quaternary volcano: The Tatun Volcano Group, northern Taiwan

The Tatun Volcano Group (TVG) is located at the northern tip of Taiwan, near the capital Taipei and close to two nuclear power plants. Because of lack of any activity in historical times it has been classified as an extinct volcano, even though more recent studies suggest that TVG might have been active during the last 20 ka. In May 2003 a seismic monitoring project at the TVG area was initiated by deploying eight three-component seismic stations some of them equipped with both short-period and broadband sensors. During the 18 months observation period local seismicity mainly consisted of high frequency earthquakes either occurring as isolated events, or as a continuous sequence in the form of spasmodic bursts. Mixed and low frequency events were also present during the same period, even though they occurred only rarely. Arrival times from events with clear P-/S-wave phases were inverted in order to obtain a minimum 1D velocity model with station corrections. Probabilistic nonlinear earthquake locations were calculated for all these events using the newly derived velocity model. Most high frequency seismicity appeared to be concentrated near the areas of hydrothermal activity, forming tight clusters at depths shallower than 4 km. Relative locations, calculated using the double-difference method and utilising catalogue and cross-correlation differential traveltimes, showed insignificant differences when compared to the nonlinear probabilistic locations. In general, seismicity in the TVG area seems to be primarily driven by circulation of hydrothermal fluids as indicated by the occurrence of spasmodic bursts, mixed/low frequency events and a b-value (1.17 ± 0.1) higher than in any other part of Taiwan. These observations, that are similar to those reported in other dormant Quaternary volcanoes, indicate that a magma chamber may still exist beneath TVG and that a future eruption or period of unrest should not be considered unlikely.     

用1999年集集地震序列建立台湾地区地震形变的三维模型及其特殊意义

编纂了台湾地区包括震源位置和震源参数的地震目录。选择的数据库用于建立与菲律宾海板块与欧亚板块俯冲和碰撞等各种构造运动有关的台湾地区三维地震形变模型。我们将整个台湾地区划分为10km间隔的三维网格,计算每个网格的地震矩释放量,即该网格内所有地震释放的地震矩总和。当一次地震的物理尺度超过网格尺寸10km时,相应的地震矩就分布在多个网格上。这种定量方法较好地描述了该地区地震矩释放的一级特征。值得注意的是,集集地震的发生,填充了震源区附近地震矩释放量在震前存在的明显不足。本文推测某个区域内地震矩分布的不足—填充模式可以应用于预测未来大地震的发生地点。根据这一观点,我们认为,集集地震可能会引起另外2次地震(北部的苗栗—新竹区和南部的嘉义区),这2次地震的破坏性及震级与集集地震类似,且靠近集集地震震源区。