Coseismic Coulomb stress changes induced by a 2020-2021 M_(W)>7.0 Alaska earthquake sequence in and around the Shumagin gap and its influence on the Alaska-Aleutian subduction interface

Three M_(W)>7.0 earthquakes in 2020-2021 occurred in the Shumagin seismic gap and its adjacent area of the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone,including the Mw7.8 Simeonof thrust earthquake on July 22,2020,the M_(W)7.6 Sand Point strike-slip earthquake on October 19,2020,and the M_(W)8.2 Chignik thrust earthquake on July 29,2021.The spatial and temporal proximity of these three earthquakes prompts us to probe stress-triggering effects among them.Here we examine the coseismic Coulomb stress change imparted by the three earthquakes and their influence on the subduction interface.Our results show that:(1)The Simeonof earthquake has strong loading effects on the subsequent Sand Point and Chignik earthquakes,with the Coulomb stress changes of 3.95 bars and 2.89 bars,respectively.The Coulomb stress change caused by the Sand Point earthquake at the hypocenter of the Chignik earthquake is merely around 0.01 bars,suggesting the negligible triggering effect on the latter earthquake;(2)The triggering effects of the Simeonof,Sand Point,and Chignik earthquakes on aftershocks within three months are not well pronounced because of the triggering rates of 38%,14%,and 43%respectively.Other factors may have played an important role in promoting the occurrence of these aftershocks,such as the roughness of the subduction interface,the complicated velocity structure of the lithosphere,and the heterogeneous prestress therein;(3)The three earthquakes caused remarkable coseismic Coulomb stress changes at the subduction interface nearby these mainshocks,with an average Coulomb stress change of 3.2 bars in the shallow region directly inwards the trench.

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.

Recent developments in seismological geodesy

With the advanced development of the modern geodetic techniques, the geodetic obser- vations have been proved to be more powerful to uncover the geophysical phenomena, especially the seismic one, than that in the past time. The recent developments and achievements in the seismological geodesy are summarised here. Several popular geodetic techniques, such as high-rate GNSS, InSAR and Satellite Gravimetry, are introduced first to present their recent contributions in studying the seismic deformations. The developments of the joint inversion of the seismic source parameters from multiple observations are then highlighted. Some outlooks in seismological geodesy are presented in the end.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kilometer-resolution three-dimensional crustal deformation of Tibetan Plateau from InSAR and GNSS

Located at the forefront of the collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates,the Tibetan Plateau experiences intense crustal movement.Traditional ground-based geodetic monitoring,such as GNSS and leveling,is challenging,due to factors such as high altitude and harsh climate,making it difficult to accurately determine a high-resolution crustal deformation field of the plateau.Unaffected by ground observation conditions,InSAR technique has key advantages for obtaining extensive and high-resolution crustal deformation fields.This makes it indispensable for crustal deformation monitoring on the Tibetan Plateau.This study used Sentinel-1 data from 2014 to 2020 to compute the ascending and descending InSAR deformation fields for the Tibetan Plateau.This was conducted with a measurement accuracy of approximately 3 mm/yr.Building upon this,we integrated InSAR and GNSS data to yield kilometer-resolution three-dimensional(3D)crustal deformation and strain rate fields for the Tibetan Plateau.A spherical wavelet analysis was used to decompose the 3D deformation field and separate the nontectonic crustal deformation to increase the strength of the tectonic deformation signal.Short-wavelength(<110 km)deformations match the distribution of fault movement,post-seismic deformations,and other non-tectonic factors.Long wavelength(>110 km)deformation mainly results from subsidence in the central plateau and uplifts along the Himalayan Arc.This indicates that the Tibetan Plateau may have stopped the entire uplift and entered a local collapse stage.Furthermore,the deformation fields at different spatial scales reveal that the plateau exhibits discontinuous deformation in short wavelengths and continuous deformation in long wavelengths.The findings of this study contribute to resolving the controversy between the Block and Continuum Deformation models of the Tibetan Plateau.