Influences of the heterogeneity of viscoelastic medium on postseismic deformation of the 2008 M_(W) 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake

The study of postseismic deformation is important for constraining the viscoelastic properties of the Earth and inverting the post-earthquake process.The levelling survey revealed that the area near Bei-chuan elevated 5.3 cm about two years after the M_(W) 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake(05/12/2008),during which the area underwent significant downward movement.The GPS horizontal displacements showed a non-monotonic variation after the Wenchuan earthquake.In this study,a 3-D viscoelastic finite element model is employed to simulate the coseismic and postseismic deformation of the Wenchuan earthquake.The numerical simulations show that the lateral heterogeneity across the Longmenshan fault plays an important role in the postseismic displacements.The results reveal that the coseismic defor-mation is not sensitive to the horizontal heterogeneity,but the postseismic deformation is sensitive to it.The postseismic deformation of the horizontally heterogeneous model is generally consistent with the observations of all geodetic surveys,such as GPS,InSAR and levelling,but not for the horizontally homogenous model.We also find that the non-monotonous variation of the postseismic deformation of the Wenchuan earthquake could be explained by a viscoelastic relaxation model with lateral heterogeneous medium across the Longmenshan fault.

Co and postseismic fault slip models of the 2022 M_(W)6.7 Menyuan earthquake reveal conjugated faulting tectonics at the central section of the Lenglongling fault

The 2022 M_(W)6.7 Menyuan earthquake ruptured the western end of the Tianzhu seismic gap,providing an opportunity to study the regional seismogenic characteristics and seismic hazards.Here we use interferometric synthetic aperture radar(InSAR)and seismic data to study the mainshock rupture,early afterslip and the second largest aftershock of the 2022 Menyuan earthquake sequences.Our modeling results show that the mainshock ruptured the Lenglongling fault and the Tuolaishan fault with a maximum slip of~3 m.Rapid postseismic transient deformation occurred at the center of the Lenglongling fault.Our afterslip modeling reveals that the majority of afterslip occurred in the deeper part of the Lenglongling fault.A high-angle conjugated faulting event is found at the middle section of the Lenglongling fault.We use the stress inversion to investigate the possible triggering mechanism of the conjugated rupture event.The results indicate the maximum principal stress direction is in~222°,forming a~22°angle between the conjugated fault of second largest aftershock and the mainshock.The calculated normal stress changes indicate the region is within a pull-apart stress field,which favors such a conjugated rupturing event.Our study will help understand the rupture behavior of such kind of conjugated fault in other regions.

Coseismic and postseismic slip ruptures for 2015Mw 6.4 Pishan earthquake constrained by static GPS solutions

On 3 July 2015, a Mw 6.4 earthquake occurred on a blind fault struck Pishan, Xinjiang,China. By combining Crustal Movement Observation Network of China（CMONOC） and other Static Global Positioning System（GPS） sites surrounding Pishan region, it provides a rare chance for us to constrain the slip rupture for such a moderate event. The maximum displacement is up to 12 cm, 2 cm for coseismic and postseismic deformation, respectively,and both the deformation patterns show a same direction moving northeastward. With rectangular dislocation model, a magnitude of Mw6.48, Mw6.3 is calculated based on coseismic, postseismic deformation respectively. Our result indicates the western Kunlun range is still moving toward Tarim Basin followed by an obvious postseismic slip associated with this earthquake. To determine a more reasonable model for postseismic deformation, a longer GPS dataset will be needed.

Crustal deformation on the Chinese mainland during 1998—2004 based on GPS data

This study focuses on resolving moderate amounts of crustal motion at the continental scale based on a large volume of global positioning system（GPS） data during 1998e2014. A state-of-the-art GPS processing strategy was used to resolve position time series and velocities from carrier beat phases for all available data. Position time series were closely analyzed to estimate linear constant, coseismic displacements, postseismic motions, and other parameters. We present coseismic offsets inferred from the GPS data for the 2010 Yushu and 2014 Yutian earthquakes, and also illustrate transient postseismic motions following the 2001 Kokoxili, 2008 Wenchuan, and 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquakes. Since not all GPS position time series dominated by postseismic motions can be modeled and corrected reasonably, we present contemporary horizontal velocities from 2009 to 2014 for campaign stations and from 1998 to 2014 for continuous stations, irrespective of postseismic deformations. Our study concludes that we need to accumulate observations over a greater duration and apply accurate postseismic modeling to correct for transient displacement in order to resolve reasonable interseismic velocity.

Rapid afterslip and short-term viscoelastic relaxation following the 2008 M_W7.9 Wenchuan earthquake

Significant postseismic deformation of the 2008 M W 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake has been observed from GPS data of the first 14 days after the earthquake. The possible mechanisms for the rapid postseismic deformation are assumed to be afterslip on the earthquake rupture plane and viscoelastic relaxation of coseismiclly stress change in the lower crust or upper mantle. We firstly use the constrained least squares method to find an afterslip model which can fit the GPS data best. The afterslip model can explain near-field data very well but shows considerable discrepancies in fitting far-field data. To estimate the effect due to the viscoelastic relaxation in the lower crust, we then ignore the contribution from the afterslip and attempt to invert the viscosity structure beneath the Longmenshan fault where the Wenchuan earthquake occurred from the postseismic deformation data. For this purpose, we use a viscoelastic model with a 2D geometry based on the geological and seismological observations and the coseismic slip distribution derived from the coseismic GPS and InSAR data. By means of a grid search we find that the optimum viscosity is 9×10 18 Pa·s for the middle-lower crust in the Chengdu Basin, 4×10 17 Pa·s for the middle-lower crust in the Chuanxi Plateau and 7×10 17 Pa·s for the low velocity zone in the Chuanxi plateau. The viscoelastic model explains the postseismic deformation observed in the far-field satisfactorily, but it is considerably worse than the afterslip model in fitting the near-fault data. It suggests therefore a hybrid model including both afterslip and relaxation effects. Since the viscoelastic model produces mainly the far-field surface deformation and has fewer degree of freedoms （three viscosity parameters） than the afterslip model with a huge number of source parameters, we fix the viscositiy structure as obtained before but redetermine the afterslip distribution using the residual data from the viscoelastic modeling. The redetermined afterslip distribution becomes physically more reasonable; it is more localized and exhibits a pattern spatially complementary with the coseismic rupture distribution. We conclude that the aseismic fault slip is responsible for the near-fault postseismic deformation, whereas the viscoelastic stress relaxation might be the major cause for the far-field postseismic deformation.

Seismologic applications of GRACE time-variable gravity measurements

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment（GRACE） has been measuring temporal and spatial variations of mass redistribution within the Earth system since2002. As large earthquakes cause significant mass changes on and under the Earth＇s surface,GRACE provides a new means from space to observe mass redistribution due to earthquake deformations. GRACE serves as a good complement to other earthquake measurements because of its extensive spatial coverage and being free from terrestrial restriction. During its over 10 years mission,GRACE has successfully detected seismic gravitational changes of several giant earthquakes,which include the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake,2010 Maule（Chile） earthquake,and 2011 Tohoku-Oki（Japan） earthquake. In this review,we describe by examples how to process GRACE timevariable gravity data to retrieve seismic signals,and summarize the results of recent studies that apply GRACE observations to detect co- and post-seismic signals and constrain fault slip models and viscous lithospheric structures. We also discuss major problems and give an outlook in this field of GRACE application.