Present-day movement characteristics of the Qinghai Nanshan fault and its surrounding area from GPS observation

The Qinghai Nanshan fault is a larger fault in the Northeastern Xizang Plateau.In previous studies,its movement characteristics are mainly investigated with geological and seismic observations,and the tectonic transformation role of the fault on its east is not yet clear.This study uses data fusion to obtain denser GPS observations near the Qinghai Nanshan fault.Based on tectonic characteristics,we establish a block model to investigate the fault slip rate,locking degree,and slip deficit.The results show that the Qinghai Nanshan fault slip rate is characterized by sinistral and convergent movement.Both the sinistral and convergent rates display a decreasing trend from west to east.The locking degree and slip deficit are higher in the western segment(with an average of about 0.74 and 1.1 mm/a)and lower in the eastern segment.Then,we construct a strain rate field using GPS observations to analyze the regional strain characteristics.The results indicate that along the fault,the western segment shows a larger shear strain rate and negative dilation rate.Regional earthquake records show that the frequency of earthquakes is lower near the fault.The joint results suggest that the western segment may have a higher earthquake risk.In addition,the insignificant fault slip rate in the eastern segment may indicate that it does not participate in the tectonic transformation among the Riyueshan,Lajishan,and West Qinling faults.

Numerical simulations of earthquake rupture induced by pressure perturbation

The subsurface fluid injection can cause pressure increase within faults,leading to earthquake occurrences.However,the factors controlling earthquake rupture due to pressure perturbation remain poorly understood.To resolve this problem,we simulate the physical processes of earthquake nucleation and rupture on strike-slip faults perturbated by pressure migration based on the slip-weakening law.Multiple kinds of factors,including background stress,fluid injection rates,the area of the pressurized region,fault geometry,and fault friction coefficients,are considered in our simulations.Our simulation results reveal that the ratio of shear stress to normal stress rather than their absolute values controls the rupture behavior.With the large stress ratios,high injection rates,and large pressurized areas,earthquakes are prone to propagate as runaway ruptures.Additionally,faults with large aspect ratios of length to width are also favorable for causing runaway ruptures.In contrast,the factors of fault strike,dip angles and friction coefficients have minor influence on rupture behavior.

A tectonic geodesy mapping software based on QGIS

To overcome the high cost of learning,non-visual operation,and cumbersome steps of fine-tuning map elements in Generic Mapping Tools(GMT)and other geoscience mapping softwares,we present the Tectonic Geodesy Application(TGA),a user-friendly 64-bit tectonic geodesy mapping software based on the secondary development interface of the open source geographic information system QGIS.In this paper,we detailly introduce the architecture and function modules of our software,and highlight the functions of rendering and map decoration through four cases:the geologic map of Papua New Guinea,the seismicity in China and surrounding regions,the seismicity and crustal deformation of the Tibetan Plateau and the coseismic deformation of the 2017 Jiuzhaigou earthquake in China.Compared with GMT,the tectonic geodesy mapping software we developed has the advantages of simple operation,low learning cost and user-friendly interface.

Coseismic fault model of the 2017 M_(W)6.5 Jiuzhaigou earthquake and implications for the regional fault slip pattern

On August 8,2017,an M_(W)6.5 earthquake occurred in Jiuzhaigou County,Sichuan Province,China,on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.This study investigates the coseismic deformation field and fault model with ascending and descending Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar(SAR)images,aftershock distribution,and elastic half-space dislocation model.The regional fault slip pattern is then quantita-tively examined using the boundary element method.The results show that the ascending and descending interferometric synthetic aperture radar(InSAR)coseismic deformation fields display an overall NNW-SSE trend,with more significant deformation on the southwest side of the fault.The coseismic fault geometry is divided into NW and SE sub-faults with strikes of 162.1°and 149.3°,respectively.The coseismic fault slip is dominated by a left-lateral strike-slip movement with an average rake of-2.31°,mainly occurring at a depth of 0-13.04 km with a shape of an approximately inverted triangle.The fault slip features two peak slip zones,with a maximum of 1.39 m.The total seismic moment is 6.34×10^(18) N·m(M_(W)6.47).The boundary element calculation quantitatively indicates that the regional fault slip pattern may be mainly attributable to the changing strike and dip.The strike changes from NNWeSSE to nearly NS direction,and the dip gradually decreases from the Jiuzhaigou earthquake fault in the north to the Huya fault in the south.With these characteristics,the Huya and the Jiuzhaigou earthquake faults form the eastern boundary of the Minshan uplift zone and accommodate the accumulated deformation.

Interseismic deformation rate of the Haiyuan fault system based on the modified SBAS method

Radar interferograms are usually influenced by factors such as atmospheric artifacts,orbital errors,and terrain errors.It is difficult to reduce the influence by using the conventional small baseline subset(SBAS)method when determining the deformation rate.This study uses the adjustment model with systematic parameters to improve the conventional SBAS method and employs it to determine the interseismic deformation rate of the Haiyuan fault system,providing a data reference for exploring the locking depth,strain accumulation state,and potential seismic risk assessment of different segments of the Haiyuan fault system.The results are as follows:(1)the simulation experiment verifies the feasibility and robustness of the modified SBAS method.This method can effectively reduce the influence of residual signals such as atmospheric artifacts,orbital errors and terrain errors in the interferograms.The deformation rate map can be significantly improved;(2)the deformation rate field in the radar’s Line of Sight(LOS)direction shows that there are obvious differences between the north and south sides of Haiyuan fault system,which is consistent with the characteristics of the left-lateral strike-slip movement of the Haiyuan fault system.The deformation rate field and profiles reflect the complex trends among different segments of Haiyuan fault system in detail.(3)the deformation rate of the Jingtai pull-apart basin is higher than that of the surrounding areas,possibly indicating strong regional activity,which provides a reference for studying the seismic risk of the Jingtai pull-apart basin;and(4)the interseismic deformation rate and profiles across the fault show that the middle section of the Lao Hu Shan(LHS)segment and the western and middle sections of the Haiyuan segment are locked.

Focal mechanism inversion of the 2018 M_(W)7.1 Anchorage earthquake based on high-rate GPS observation

The M_(W)7.1 Anchorage earthquake is the most destructive earthquake since the 1964 M_(W)9.2 great Alaska earthquake in the United States.In this study,high-rate GPS data and near-field broadband seismograms are used in separate and joint inversions by the generalized Cut-and-Paste(gCAP)method to estimate the focal mechanism.In order to investigate the influence of crustal velocity structure on the focal mechanism inversion results,two velocity models(Crustl.0 and Alaska Earthquake Center(AEC))are used for detailed comparison and analysis.The results show that:(1)The two nodal planes of the optimal double-couple solution are nearly north-south striking,with dip angles of about 30°and 60°respectively,and the centroid focal depth is 54-55 km,which is an intraplate normal fault event.(2)The inversion results for the two types of data and the two velocity models are consistent with some previous studies,which indicates that the results are stable and reliable.The more accurate velocity structure model is helpful for focal mechanism inversion of the complex earthquake.(3)The inclusion of high-rate GPS data in joint inversion provides a more effective constraint on centroid depth.

Reassessing the contributions of terrestrial waters to sea level variations in the South China Sea and its response to alternating ENSO events

Regional sea level variability is linked to regional terrestrial water and the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation(ENSO).This study assessed the relationships between the sea level variations in the South China Sea(SCS)and ENSO,the impact of terrestrial water storage(TWS)on non-steric sea level(NSSL),and the contributions of steric sea level(SSL)and NSSL to sea level anomaly(SLA),respectively.From 2003 to 2015,the SLAs exhibited a long-term trend of 6.65±0.78 mm/yr,which was primarily attributed to the SSLs.Additionally,during 2003-2015,ENSO events alternating with varying intensities might also be responsible for the unusually high SLA trend.Compared to the SSLs,the NSSLs contributed the seasonal signals to the SLAs,while the NSSLs changes were largely explained by the TWS in the Mekong River Basin at the seasonal scale and in the Pearl River Basin and Red River Basin at other time scales.In contrast to the TWS,the contributions of precipitation and evapotranspiration were relatively minor.A negative correlation between the sea level variations and ENSO was also found,with cross-correlation coefficients between the oceanic Ni?o index and SLAs/SSLs/NSSLs of -0.36/-0.37/-0.62 with lags of 2/3/2 months,respectively.These findings systematically reassessed the contributions of different components to the sea level variations.This study provided a benchmark for in-depth analysis of the impacts of terrestrial water and other potential causes on sea level rise in the SCS.

Dual threshold search method for asperity boundary determination based on geodetic and seismic catalog data

As an important model for explaining the seismic rupture mode,the asperity model plays an important role in studying the stress accumulation of faults and the location of earthquake initiation.Taking Qilian-Haiyuan fault as an example,this paper combines geodetic method and b-value method to propose a multi-source observation data fusion detection method that accurately determines the asperity boundary named dual threshold search method.The method is based on the criterion that the b-value asperity boundary should be most consistent with the slip deficit rate asperity boundary.Then the optimal threshold combination of slip deficit rate and b-value is obtained through threshold search,which can be used to determine the boundary of the asperity.Based on this method,the study finds that there are four potential asperities on the Qilian-Haiyuan fault:two asperities(A1 and A2)are on the Tuolaishan segment and the other two asperities(B and C)are on Lenglongling segment and Jinqianghe segment,respectively.Among them,the lengths of asperities A1 and A2 on Tuolaishan segment are 17.0 km and 64.8 km,respectively.And the lower boundaries are 5.5 km and 15.5 km,respectively;The length of asperity B on Lenglongling segment is 70.7 km,and the lower boundary is 10.2 km.The length of asperity C on Jinqianghe segment is 42.3 km,and the lower boundary is 8.3 km.