Anomalous signals before 2011 Tohoku-oki Mw9.1 earthquake,detected by superconducting gravimeters and broadband seismometers

The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake,occurred on 11 March,2011,is a great earthquake with a seismic magnitude Mw9. 1,before which an Mw7. 5 earthquake occurred. Focusing on this great earthquake event,we applied Hilbert-Huang transform（ HHT） analysis method to the one-second interval records at seven superconducting gravimeter（ SG） stations and seven broadband seismic（ BS） stations to carry out spectrum analysis and compute the energy-frequency-time distribution. Tidal effects are removed from SG data by T-soft software before the data series are transformed by HHT method. Based on HHT spectra and the marginal spectra from the records at selected seven SG stations and seven BS stations we found anomalous signals in terms of energy. The dominant frequencies of the anomalous signals are respectively about 0. 13 Hz in SG records and 0. 2 Hz in seismic data,and the anomalous signals occurred one week or two to three days prior to the event. Taking into account that in this period no typhoon event occurred,we may conclude that these anomalous signals might be related to the great earthquake event.

A Novel Approach for Estimating Debris Flow Velocities from Near-Field Broadband Seismic Observations

On August 7^(th),2010,Sanyanyu and Luojiayu debris flows triggered by a heavy rain have lashed Zhouqu City around midnight,leading to catastrophic destruction which killed 1765 people and resulted in enormous economic loss.The ZHQ Seismic Station is located approximately 170 m west of the outlet of the Sanyanyu Gully.The seismometer deployed at the seismic station started recording seismic signals of ever-enlarging amplitude around 10 minutes before the debris flow rushed out of the Sanyanyu Gully,showing ever approaching seismic source,i.e.the debris flow.In this study,we analyze this seismic event and propose an inversion algorithm to estimate the velocity of the debris flow by searching the best-fitting pairs of envelopes in the synthetic seismograms and the corresponding field seismic records in a least-square sense.Inversion results reveal that,before rushing out of the outlet,the average velocity of the debris flow gradually increased from 6.2 m/s to 7.1 m/s and finally reached 15 m/s at approximately 0.5 km above the outlet and kept this value since then.Obviously,the ever-increasing velocity of the debris flow is the key factor for the following disasters.Compared with other studies,our approach can provide the velocity distribution for the debris flow before its outbreak;Besides,it has the potential to provide technological support for a better understanding of the disaster process of a debris flow.

Crustal and upper mantle structure and deep tectonic genesis of large earthquakes in North China

From the 1960 s to 1970 s, North China has been hit by a series of large earthquakes. During the past half century,geophysicists have carried out numerous surveys of the crustal and upper mantle structure, and associated studies in North China.They have made significant progress on several key issues in the geosciences, such as the crustal and upper mantle structure and the seismogenic environment of strong earthquakes. Deep seismic profiling results indicate a complex tectonic setting in the strong earthquake areas of North China, where a listric normal fault and a low-angle detachment in the upper crust coexist with a high-angle deep fault passing through the lower crust to the Moho beneath the hypocenter. Seismic tomography images reveal that most of the large earthquakes occurred in the transition between the high-and low-velocity zones, and the Tangshan earthquake area is characterized by a low-velocity anomaly in the middle-lower crust. Comprehensive analysis of geophysical data identified that the deep seismogenic environment in the North China extensional tectonic region is generally characterized by a low-velocity anomalous belt beneath the hypocenter, inconsistency of the deep and shallow structures in the crust, a steep crustalal-scale fault,relative lower velocities in the uppermost mantle, and local Moho uplift, etc. This indicates that the lithospheric structure of North China has strong heterogeneities. Geologically, the North China region had been a stable craton named the North China Craton or in brief the NCC, containing crustal rocks as old as ～3.8 Ga. The present-day strong seismic activity and the lower velocity of the lower crust in the NCC are much different from typical stable cratons around the world. These findings provide significant evidence for the destruction of the NCC. Although deep seismic profiling and seismic tomography have greatly enhanced knowledge about the deep-seated structure and seismogenic environment, some fundamental issues still remain and require further work.