A tentative model for the explanation of B?th law using the order parameter of seismicity in natural time

Using the order parameter of seismicity defined in natural time, we suggest a simple model for the expla- nation of Bath law, according to which a mainshock differs in magnitude from its largest aftershock by approximately 1.2 regardless of the mainshock magnitude. In addition, the validity of Bath law is studied in the Global Centroid Moment Tensor catalogue by using two different aftershock definitions. It is found that the mean of this difference, when considering all the pairs mainshock-largest aftershock, does not markedly differ from 1.2 and the corresponding distributions do not depend on the mainshock＇s magnitude threshold in a statistically significant manner. Finally, the analysis of the cumulative distribution functions provides evidence in favour of the proposed model.

Impacts of Land-use and Land-cover Changes on River Runoff in Yellow River Basin for Period of 1956–2012

River runoff is affected by many factors, including long-term effects such as climate change that alter rainfall-runoff relationships, and short-term effects related to human intervention(e.g., dam construction, land-use and land-cover change(LUCC)). Discharge from the Yellow River system has been modified in numerous ways over the past century, not only as a result of increased demands for water from agriculture and industry, but also due to hydrological disturbance from LUCC, climate change and the construction of dams. The combined effect of these disturbances may have led to water shortages. Considering that there has been little change in long-term precipitation, dramatic decreases in water discharge may be attributed mainly to human activities, such as water usage, water transportation and dam construction. LUCC may also affect water availability, but the relative contribution of LUCC to changing discharge is unclear. In this study, the impact of LUCC on natural discharge(not including anthropogenic usage) is quantified using an attribution approach based on satellite land cover and discharge data. A retention parameter is used to relate LUCC to changes in discharge. We find that LUCC is the primary factor, and more dominant than climate change, in driving the reduction in discharge during 1956–2012, especially from the mid-1980 s to the end-1990 s. The ratio of each land class to total basin area changed significantly over the study period. Forestland and cropland increased by about 0.58% and 1.41%, respectively, and unused land decreased by 1.16%. Together, these variations resulted in changes in the retention parameter, and runoff generation showed a significant decrease after the mid-1980 s. Our findings highlight the importance of LUCC to runoff generation at the basin scale, and improve our understanding of the influence of LUCC on basin-scale hydrology.

Study of elastic wave propagation in two phase anisotropic media by numerical modeling of pseudospectral method

When there exists anisotropy in underground media elastic parameters of the observed coordinate possibly do not coincide with that of the natural coordinate. According to the theory that the density of potential energy, dissipating energy is independent of the coordinate, the relationship of elastic parameters between two coordinates is derived for two-phase anisotropic media. Then, pseudospectral method to solve wave equations of two-phase anisotropic media is derived. At last, we use this method to simulate wave propagation in two-phase anisotropic media four types of waves are observed in the snapshots, i.e., fast P wave and slow P wave, fast S wave and slow S wave. Shear wave splitting, SV wave cusps and elastic wave reflection and transmission are also observed.