Earthquake Electromagnetic Precursor Anomalies Detected by a New Ground-based Observation Network

It is a debated topic if there are any observable precursor anomalies prior to the earthquake(EQ hereafter)and if the stronger EQ can be successfully predicted.During last few decades quite a lot of observable electromagnetic(EM)precursors were published by using techniques equipped in either satellites or on ground-based stations.But there are only a few cases that the shortterm precursor anomalies of EM field before earthquakes were observed by using alternate EM fields on ground.This paper will present a new EM observation network built in recent years and show a new finding of EM field with the variation of a one-year cycle observed using the network.As an example,the short-term precursor anomalies of apparent resistivity before the Yangbi EQ(Ms 5.1)occurred on March 27,2017 in Yunnan Province will be studied.The observed anomalous phenomena indicate that the anomaly before the EQ can be captured only if reasonable effective methods including sophisticated analytical techniques are used,and it is believed that continuously observed data on the fixed observation network for a long time is an effective means for studying anomalies that appeared before earthquakes.This network can also play an important role in studying the EM environment from space.

Shear strength of frozen clay under freezing-thawing cycles using triaxial tests

Using a new low-temperature dynamic triaxial apparatus, the influence law of freezing-thawing cycles on clay shear strength is studied. In this research, the concept of correction coefficients of freezing-thawing cycles on clay static strength, cohesion and internal friction angles is proposed, and the change patterns, correction curves and regressive formulae of clay static strength, cohesion and internal friction angles under freezing-thawing cycles are given. The test results indicate that with increasing numbers of freezing-thawing cycles, the clay static strength and cohesion decrease exponentially but the internal friction angle increases exponentially. The performance of static strength, cohesion and internal friction angles are different with increasing numbers of freezing-thawing cycles, i.e., the static strength decreases constantly until about 30% of the initial static strength prior to the freezing-thawing cycling and then stays basically stable. After 5-7 freezing-thawing cycles, the cohesion decreases gradually to about 70% of the initial cohesion. The internal friction angle increases about 20% after the first freezing-thawing cycle, then increases gradually close to a stable value which is an increase of about 40% of the internal friction angle. The freezing-thawing process can increase the variation of the density of the soil samples; therefore, strict density discreteness standards of frozen soil sample preparation should be established to ensure the reliability of the test results.