Analysis of Dynamic Characteristics of Crustal Horizontal Deformation in the South Segment of Longmenshan Fault Zone Revealed by GPS Data after the Wenchuan Earthquake

In order to obtain deformation parameters in the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone,Euler datum transformation and the least square collocation for data interpolation and smoothing are used to process GPS displacement time series data in the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone,and the rigid and elastic-plastic block motion model is used to calculate the strain parameters in each subarea. Conjoint analysis of displacement,velocity of each station and strain parameters of each subarea reveals that the influence of the Wenchuan earthquake on the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone increases from southeast to northwest,causing a highest deformation rate 6 times the background value and heightening the influence of the hidden faults on the difference of the earth surface along its two sides,which leads to the seismic risk of the southern segment increasing from north to south. The comparison of seismic risk among subareas based on the tectonic and seismicity background indicates that the most dangerous area is on the southeast of Longmenshan faults,and the background strain accumulation and the promoting effect of the Wenchuan earthquake advanced the occurrence of Lushan earthquake and the sinistral strike-slip on the rupture plane. The Wenchuan earthquake also caused a slight two-year long continuous strain release in the south segment of Xianshuihe fault,but the influence is far less than the effect of the compressive strain caused by the Sichuan-Yunnan block.

Contemporary kinematic models and moment deficit of Chinese mainland

There are lots of achievements about kinematics of Chinese mainland and its vicinity determined from historic earthquake data, Quaternary fault rates and geodesy observations, which provide basic data for analysis of seismic hazard in study areas. Based on impreciseness in using energy of 47 earthquakes with magnitude greater than 7.0 in previous study, we firstly collected source parameters, surface ruptures and displacements of major earthquakes carefully, and divided them into small segmentations with these data gathered. Secondly, we determined contemporary deformation field from latest earthquake mechanisms, Quaternary fault slip rates and geodesy observations. Finally, we evaluated moment deficit of study areas from historic earthquake data and predicted deformation field, and removed 10 percent of aseismic deformation. Combining with previous results, we analyzed the seismic hazard of study areas. The results show that there are some areas with large moment deficit in Chinese mainland. There are also large moment deficit areas, including regions around the Ordos Block, southeastern coast of China and the Bakal rift zone. Previous studies show that there may be some potential earthquakes in the near future in Darts of areas mentioned above.

Deformation Model Inferred from Focal Mechanisms in the Chinese Mainland and Its Adjacent Areas

We collect seismic moment tensors of the earthquakes occurring from 1900 to 2013 in and around the Chinese mainland and summarize the surface ruptures and displacements of 70 earthquakes with M S≥7. 0. We divide these large earthquakes into three types. Type A contains earthquakes with surface ruptures and displacements. Type B is earthquakes without displacements and Type C is those without any of this data. We simulate a triangular distribution of displacements for Type B and C. Then,we segment these large earthquakes by using their displacements and surface ruptures. Finally,kinematic models are determined from earthquake data and Bicubic Bessel spline functions. The results show that,first of all,the reasonability and spatial consistency of defined models are advanced.Strain rates have better continuity and are comparable with geologic and geodetic results in Himalaya thrust fault zones. The strain rates decrease in the Tarim basin and the Altun Tagh fault zones because of their low seismicity. The direction of compressional deformation in Gobi-Altay is changed from SE to NE and its extensional direction is changed from NE to NW. The extensional deformation in the Ordos block is diminished obviously. Secondly,earthquakes account for 30- 50% of expected motion of India relative to Eurasia determined from the NUVEL-1A model,with a missing component of 20 mm / a which may contain aseismic deformation such as fault creep and folds,the missing parts of earthquake data and elastic strain energy released by potential earthquakes.