High-precision relocation of the aftershock sequence of the January 8,2022,M_(S)6.9 Menyuan earthquake

The 2022 Menyuan M_(S)6.9 earthquake,which occurred on January 8,is the most destructive earthquake to occur near the Lenglongling(LLL)fault since the 2016 Menyuan M_(S)6.4 earthquake.We relocated the mainshock and aftershocks with phase arrival time observations for three days after the mainshock from the Qinghai Seismic Network using the double-difference method.The total length and width of the aftershock sequence are approximately 32 km and 5 km,respectively,and the aftershocks are mainly concentrated at a depth of 7-12 km.The relocated sequence can be divided into 18 km west and 13 km east segments with a boundary approximately 5 km east of the mainshock,where aftershocks are sparse.The east and west fault structures revealed by aftershock locations differ significantly.The west fault strikes EW and inclines to the south at a 71°-90°angle,whereas the east fault strikes 133°and has a smaller dip angle.Elastic strain accumulates at conjunctions of faults with different slip rates where it is prone to large earthquakes.Based on surface traces of faults,the distribution of relocated earthquake sequence and surface ruptures,the mainshock was determined to have occurred at the conjunction of the Tuolaishan(TLS)fault and LLL fault,and the west and east segments of the aftershock sequence were on the TLS fault and LLL fault,respectively.Aftershocks migrate in the early and late stages of the earthquake sequence.In the first 1.5 h after the mainshock,aftershocks expand westward from the mainshock.In the late stage,seismicity on the northeast side of the east fault is higher than that in other regions.The migration rate of the west segment of the aftershock sequence is approximately 4.5 km/decade and the afterslip may exist in the source region.

The 20 April 2013 Lushan, Sichuan, mainshock, and its aftershock sequence: tectonic implications

Using the double-difference relocation algo- rithm, we relocated the 20 April 2013 Lushan, Sichuan, earthquake （Ms 7.0）, and its 4,567 aftershocks recorded during the period between 20 April and May 3, 2013. Our results showed that most aftershocks are relocated between 10 and 20 km depths, but some large aftershocks were relocated around 30 krn depth and small events extended upward near the surface. Vertical cross sections illustrate a shovel-shaped fault plane with a variable dip angle from the southwest to northeast along the fault. Furthermore, the dip angle of the fault plane is smaller around the mainshock than that in the surrounding areas along the fault. These results suggest that it may be easy to generate the strong earthquake in the place having a small dip angle of the fault, which is somewhat similar to the genesis of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The Lushan mainshock is underlain by the seismically anomalous layers with low-Vp, low-Vs, and high-Poisson＇s ratio anomalies, possibly suggesting that the fluid-filled fractured rock matrices might signifi- cantly reduce the effective normal stress on the fault plane to bring the brittle failure. The seismic gap between Lushan and Wenchuan aftershocks is suspected to be vulnerable to future seismic risks at greater depths, if any.

Micro-earthquakes “Just-underneath” Seismic Stations as Ground Truth Events——Application to the 2008 Wenchuan Aftershock Sequence

Analyzing the aftershock sequence of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake,we considered 26 micro-earthquakes "just underneath" seismic stations.Making use of such special station-event configurations to determine the depth of these micro-earthquakes provided accurate relocation of aftershocks with a reference set of "ground truth(GT)events".

Moment tensor inversion of focal mechanism for the aftershock sequence of 1982 Lulong M_S =6.1 earthquake

Using the moment tensor inversion method, we calculate the focal mechanisms of the aftershock sequence of the Ms=6.1 Lulong earthquake occurred on October 19, 1982 in Hebei Province. We found that the pressure axis in Lulong basin is nearly in the east-west direction with an azimuth of N74°E. However, in the north of the basin the stress axis changes to N43°E; and in some places near the center of the basin it changes to the northwest that is almost perpendicular to the P axis obtained by us from those events around the basin. This feature illuminates that in Lulong earthquake sequence, the stress direction is different in different parts of crustal structure, which shows that the tectonic movement in Lulong region is complex. This is because that Lulong is located in the eastern part of Chinese mainland and is subject to the compression of Japanese Sea Basin driven by the Pacific Plate. On the other hand, nipped by the Yanshan and North China blocks, Lulong is obviously restricted by the block boundaries.

Spatio-temporal epidemic type aftershock sequence model for Tangshan aftershock sequence

Shallow earthquakes usually show obvious spatio-temporal clustering patterns. In this study, several spatio-temporal point process models are applied to investigate the clustering characteristics of the well-known Tangshan sequence based on classical empirical laws and a few assumptions. The relative fit of competing models is compared by Akalke Information Criterion. The spatial clustering pattern is well characterized by the model which gives the best fit to the data. A simulated aftershock sequence is generated by thinning algorithm and compared with the real seismicity.

Models of wave duration and event frequency of explosion aftershocks

The contained underground explosion (CUE) usually generates huge number of aftershocks. This kind of after-shocks induced by three CUEs was investigated in the paper. The conclusions show that the duration of aftershock waveforms are rather short, 70 percent of them range from 2 to 7; the occurrences of the aftershocks conform to negative power function, which has the power of -1.6. The aftershock sequence attenuates a little bit faster, with power of -1.0, within two weeks of post-explosions. During the early stage of post-explosions the aftershocks show up in a cluster, however, they usually show up individually during the late stage of post-explosions. The number of aftershocks generated by the compatible explosions differs by several times because of different me-dium and geological structure; within one month after an explosion with Richater magnitude of 5.5, the number of aftershocks attenuates to the background. Hereafter there are still tiny numbers of aftershocks.

Comparative Study of Changes in Stress-drop of the Jinggu MS6.6 and Ludian MS6.5 Earthquake Sequences

The earthquake stress-drop values of two sequences were accurately calculated after taking away the effects due to regional earthquake anelastic attenuation and station site response,using waveform data and seismic phase data of sequences of the Jinggu M_S6. 6,and Ludian M_S6. 5 earthquakes in Yunnan. These results show that the stress drop with magnitude increases within the scope of this study of magnitude. After eliminating the influence of the magnitude,the average value of stress-drop in the Jinggu sequence is higher than that of the Ludian sequence at the same magnitude range. This may be related to the stress state in different regions. In terms of the changes of time and space of stress-drop,before M_S5. 8 strong aftershock,the stress-drop is "slowing down-turning up-keeping a high value"after the mainshock,meanwhile,almost all of the abnormally high stress drop value is distributed around the M_S5. 8 strong aftershock, showing that the stress environment in the region was increasing after the mainshock. And after the M_S5. 9 strong aftershock,stress-drop rapidly declines to a relatively stable state,meanwhile,the high value of stress-drop is distributed around the strong aftershock,showing that the regional tectonic stress gets more fully release,its stress environment begins to rapidly decrease.For the Ludian sequence without a strong aftershock occurring,the average value of stress drop is lower than that of the Jinggu earthquake sequence at the same magnitude range,while at the same time,the stress-drop of the aftershock sequence almost hasn't changed much. In the time after the mainshock,combined with the release characteristics of the main energy,the stress in the region is excessively released,the subsequent stress in the region gradually returns to normal. This may be the reason why the activity of Ludianaftershocks significantly was weaker and subsequently there were no strong aftershocks occurred.

Characteristics of Seismic Sequences and Early Tendency Judgment for Yutian M_S7.3 Earthquake in 2014

The basic parameters,seismogenic structure and seismic sequences characteristics of the Yutian MS7. 3 earthquake on February 12,2014 are introduced and compared to the Yutian MS7. 3 earthquake in 2008. The results show that the MS5. 4 earthquake is regarded as an immediate foreshock of the Yutian MS7. 3 main shock. The frequency of strong aftershock sequences was low and their number declined quickly,and the maximum aftershock was a MS5. 7 earthquake. According to analysis of the historical earthquake sequence type,and parameter of h-value,b-value and energy release ratio between main shock and sequence etc.,we found the preliminary conclusion that the Yutian MS7. 3 earthquake sequence in 2014 was a foreshock-main shock-aftershock type.

Statistical features of aftershock distribution size for moderate and large earthquakes in Chinese mainland

Based on data of earthquake sequences with Ms≥5.0 in Chinese mainland from 1970 to 2004, for different sequence types and different rupture modes of the main shock, the relationship between aftershock distribution size R and the magnitude of the main shock Mo has been studied statistically. Considering the rupture mode of the main shock, we give the quantitative statistical relationships between R and Mo under 95% confidence level for different sequence typos. Qualitatively, lgR, the logarithm of the aftershock distribution size, is positively correlative to the M0, but the data distribution is dispersed. Viewing from different sequence typos, the correlation between R and M0 is very weak for isolated earthquake type （lET） sequence, R distributes in the range from 5 to 60 km; For mainshock-aftershock type （MAT）, lgR is positively correlative to M0; For multiple main shock type （MMT）, the corelation between lgR and M0 is not very obvious when M0≤6.2 and R distributes in the range from 5 to 70 km, while it shows a linear correlation when M0≥6.3. The statistical results also show that the occupational ratios of different sequence types for strike-slip and oblique slip are almost the same. But for dip-slip （mostly are thrust mechanisms）, the ratio of MAT is higher than that of IET and MMT. Comparing with previous results, it indicates that, when M0 is large enough, R is mainly determined by M0 and there is almost no relationship with the rupture mode of the main shock.

A Review of Aftershock Mechanism Research

In this paper,research of aftershock mechanisms is reviewed,including heterogeneity of medium and stress,mechanical loading,fluid intrusion and stress corrosion,and ratestate dependence.Previous studies have indicated that the heterogeneity of media and stress is the basic premise of aftershocks generated.From the point view of mechanics,transient creep and afterslip can explain the decay of aftershocks in a short time after a mainshock and the relaxation of stress tends to interpret the characteristics of long-term aftershocks.Fluid intrusion and stress corrosion control the evolution process of the aftershocks under certain conditions.The interaction between the faults perturbed by the mainshock always exists during the aftershock activities.All kinds of models and the theories want to comply with the two basic power-law relationships---the G-R law and Omori law to some extent.

Aftershock sequence relocation of the 2021 M_(S)7.4 Maduo Earthquake, Qinghai, China

The 2021 Qinghai Maduo M_(S)7.4 earthquake was one of the strongest earthquakes that occurred in the Bayan Har block of the Tibetan Plateau during the past 30 years,which spatially filled in the gap of strong earthquake in the eastern section of the northern block boundary.In this study,the aftershock sequence within 8 days after the mainshock was relocated by double difference algorithm.The results show that the total length of the aftershock zone is approximately 170 km;the mainshock epicenter is located in the center of the aftershock zone,indicating a bilateral rupture.The aftershocks are mainly distributed along NWW direction with an overall strike of 285°.The focal depth profiles indicate that the seismogenic fault is nearly vertical and dips to southwest or northeast in different sections,indicating a complex geometry.There is an aftershock gap located to the southeast of the mainshock epicenter with a scale of approximately 20 km.At the eastern end of the aftershock zone,horsetaillike branch faults show the terminal effect of a large strike-slip fault.There is a NW-trending aftershock zone on the north side of the western section,which may be a branch fault triggered by the mainshock.The location of the aftershock sequence is close to the eastern section of the Kunlun Mountain Pass-Jiangcuo(KMPJ)fault.The sequence overlaps well with surface trace of the KMPJ fault.We speculate that the KMPJ fault is the main seismogenic fault of the M_(S)7.4 Maduo earthquake.

Focal mechanisms of the Lushan earthquake sequence and spatial variation of the stress field

Using broadband seismic records from regional networks, we determined the focal mechanisms and depths of 37 earthquakes in the 2013 M7.0 Lushan earthquake sequence(3.4≤Mw≤5.1) by fitting the three-component waveform data. The results show that the earthquakes are predominantly thrust events, with occasional strike-slip mechanisms. Most earthquakes occurred at depths of 10–20 km. We derived the regional distribution of the average stress field in this area using the damped linear inversion method and the focal mechanisms obtained in this study. The inversion results suggest that the Lushan region and the adjacent area are mostly under compression. The orientations of the maximum principal axes trend NW-SE, with some local differences in the stress distribution at different depths. Compared with the distribution of the stress field in the Wenchuan earthquake area, the stress field in the southwest section of the Longmenshan Fault zone(LFZ) share similar characteristics, predominantly thrust faulting with a few strike-slip events and the maximum compression axes being perpendicular to the LFZ.

Scaling behavior of magnitude clusters in aftershock sequence:An example of the Wenchuan Earthquake,China

The Gutenberg-Richter and Omori Laws, which are generally used to characterize the temporal distribution of aftershock, failed to reflect the statistic properties of climatic outbreak of aftershock energy. Based on a new concept of magnitude clusters describing the fluctuation of aftershock energy release of the Wenchuan Earthquake, we discovered that the pattern of the continuous high-magnitude aftershock follows a power-law rather than a non-Poisson distribution. This suggests that the after-shocks with high magnitudes are statistically clustered. We then divided the aftershock sequences into three sections and demonstrated that though the probability of strong outbreaks decreased with time, there exists a high possibility of the occurrence of isolated high-magnitude aftershocks in the future. Based on self-organized criticality theory, the mechanisms of the power-law pattern of magnitude clusters are discussed. This discovery may be used to guide future aftershock predication and the associated post-disaster reconstruction.

Application and discussion of statistical seismology in probabilistic seismic hazard assessment studies

Earthquakes are one of the natural disasters that pose a major threat to human lives and property. Earthquake prediction propels the construction and development of modern seismology;however, current deterministic earthquake prediction is limited by numerous difficulties. Identifying the temporal and spatial statistical characteristics of earthquake occurrences and constructing earthquake risk statistical prediction models have become significant;particularly for evaluating earthquake risks and addressing seismic planning requirements such as the design of cities and lifeline projects based on the obtained insight. Since the 21 st century, the occurrence of a series of strong earthquakes represented by the Wenchuan M8 earthquake in 2008 in certain low-risk prediction areas has caused seismologists to reflect on traditional seismic hazard assessment globally. This article briefly reviews the development of statistical seismology, emphatically analyzes the research results and existing problems of statistical seismology in seismic hazard assessment, and discusses the direction of its development. The analysis shows that the seismic hazard assessment based on modern earthquake catalogues in most regions should be effective. Particularly, the application of seismic hazard assessment based on ETAS(epidemic type aftershock sequence)should be the easiest and most effective method for the compilation of seismic hazard maps in large urban agglomeration areas and low seismic hazard areas with thick sedimentary zones.