Research on Frequency of the Aftershock Sequence of the Wenchuan Earthquake Based on Coseismic Coulomb Stress Change

By the aftershock frequency estimation method based on the calculation of coseismic static Coulomb stress changes and rate-and state-dependent fault constitutive law,we calculate the frequency of "direct "aftershocks of the Wenchuan earthquake related to coseismic static Coulomb stress changes in its aftershock zone and the areas nearby.It shows that the frequency is significantly lower than the truth in the main rupture zone,especially in the southern rupture zone,due to the decrease of stress level on the rupture plane of the main shock resulting from coseismic Coulomb stress change.The study also shows that the effect of the Coulomb stress change on the duration of aftershock activity is associated with the lower limit magnitude.The duration is about 15-16 months for aftershocks above ML4.0,and close to 60 months for aftershocks above ML3.5.In this period,the ratio of the"direct"aftershocks caused by coseismic Coulomb stress change ranges between 44.7% to48.6%,which suggests that,even in the "effective"period of coseismic Coulomb stress changes,about half of the aftershocks on the main shock rupture plane are independent of coseismic Coulomb stress changes.It is pointed out that those aftershocks may be related to the afterslip or the viscoelastic relaxation,which are time dependent cases.

Study on Stress Triggering During the Activity Process of the Jiashi Strong Earthquake Swarm

The Bachu-Jiashi earthquake of MS6.8 occurred on February 24,2003,about 20km from the southeast of the 1997～1998 Jiashi seismic region in Xinjiang,and its aftershocks are rich and strong.Did the 1997～1998 Jiashi strong earthquake swarm trigger the Bachu-Jiashi MS6.8 earthquake? The Atushi earthquake of MS6.7 occurred in 1996,and the 1997～1998 Jiashi strong earthquake swarm occurred about 70km from the Atushi earthquake 10 months later.Did the Atushi earthquake of M-S6.7 encourage the 1997～1998 Jiashi strong earthquake swarm? There were 9 earthquakes with M-S6.0 from 1996 to 1997 in the Jiashi seismic region,how did they act on each other? To answer the above questions,the article studies the triggering effect of the activity process of the whole Jiashi earthquake swarm from the 1996 Atushi earthquake of M-S6.7,the 1997～1998 Jiashi strong swarm to the 2003 Bachu-Jiashi earthquake of M-S6.8,and analyzes the seismicity characteristics around the Jiashi region.The results show that the 1996 Atushi earthquake of M-S6.7 encouraged the 1997～1998 Jiashi strong swarm to some extent,the accumulative Coulomb stress change from the previous M-6.0 earthquakes of the Jiashi strong swarm had certain triggering effects on the following M-6.0 events,and the Coulomb stress change converted from the Jiashi strong swarm strongly encouraged the 2003 Bachu-Jiashi earthquake with M-S6.8.

Features of seismicity in Xinjiang and its possible reason after the Yutian M_S7.4 earthquake,2008

The paper discusses quantitatively the influence of the Yutian Ms7.4 earthquake of March 21, 2008 and Wuqia Ms6.9 earthquake of October 5, 2008 on regional seismicity in Xinjiang, and explains primarily the possible reason of earthquake activity feature in Xinjiang after the Yutian Ms7.4 earthquake by analyzing the static Coulomb failure stress change produced by the Yutian Ms7.4 earthquake and Wuqia Ms6.9 earth-quake, and the seismicity feature of Ms≥3 earthquakes in the positive Coulomb stress change region of Kashi-Wuqia joint region, the central segment of Tianshan Mountain and Kalpin block. The result shows that the Yutian Ms7.4 earthquake of March 21, 2008, may encourage the Wuqia Ms6.9 earth-quake of October 5, 2008, and the Yutian Ms7.4 earthquake and Wuqia Ms6.9 earthquake may change the seismicity state in the central segment of Tianshan Mountain, Kalpin block and Kashi-Wuqia joint region, and encourage the subsequent Ms≥3 earthquakes.