Calculation of the h-value during Superposing of Strong Earthquake Sequences and Its Application in Earthquake Prediction

For a strong earthquake swarm, the key to estimate the frequency attenuation coefficient h-value of ensuing strong earthquake sequence accurately lies in quantitative calculation and subtraction of the foreshock sequence effect.Taking the Jiashi strong earthquake swarm sequence as an example, we analyzed and compared the h-values when foreshock effect has been subtracted or not subtracted. The result shows that the boundary between the two great difference is the M56.6 earthquake on April 11,1997. The h-values with foreshock effect subtracted are all Iess than 1 before the moderately strong earthquakes, but after the earthquake, the h-values are all greater than 1. On the contrary, the h-values with foreshock effect do not show this kind of turning variation.Practical test results shows that quantitatively subtracting foreshock effect is beneficial to the judgement of the trend of the activity of the Jiashi strong earthquake swarm. This provides the basis for accurately grasping sequence development