Earthquake-generating Structure Revealed by 1999 Sichuan Mianzhu Earthquake Sequence with M_S=5.0

Through the accurate determination of hypocenter location, the measurement of the main focal mechanism solutions and the analyses of time dependent processes for Sichuan Mianzhu earthquake sequence with M S=5 0 occurred along the middle segment of Longmenshan fault zone on November 30, 1999, the distribution of focal depth section, the stress release and seismicity features are given to reveal the earthquake-generating structure of the earthquake sequence. The obtained results show the activity features for this sequence as follows: ① There is no obvious foreshock, the accumulated strain energy releases in nearly pulse way, fluctuation of the seismic activity level is not quite evident during the duration of the sequence, and the statistical relation between the large events and the small events is less compatible with the traditional G-R estimation; ② The epicenters of the earthquake sequence are not distributed on the main Longmenshan piedmont faults emerging out ground, but near the hidden Longmenshan piedmont faults. The direction of epicenter distribution is not very coincident with the fault strikes. The microscopic epicenters are relatively far from the macroscopic epicenters. The focal depths range from 5km to 16km; ③ The fractures of focal fault plane with the NE strike appear out the strike-slip displacement with a few overthrust components under the major principal compressive stress of NNE direction. From these, we consider it should be paid more attentions to the underground hidden faults near the ground fault zone on a large scale for their generating earthquake risk.

Numerical Green’s function method:Application to quantifying ground motion variations of M7 earthquakes

The concept of ＂numerical Green’s functions＂ （NGF or Green’s function database） is developed. The basic idea is： a large seismic fault is divided into subfaults of appropriate size, for which synthetic Green’s functions at the surface （NGF） are calculated and stored. Consequently, ground motions from arbitrary kinematic sources can be simulated, rapidly, for the whole fault or parts of it by superposition. The target fault is a simplified, vertical model of the Newport-Inglewood fault in the Los Angeles basin. This approach and its functionality are illustrated by investigating the variations of ground motions （e.g. peak ground velocity and synthetic seismograms） due to the source complexity. The source complexities are considered with two respects： hypocenter location and slip history. The results show a complex behavior, with dependence of absolute peak ground velocity and their variation on source process directionality, hypocenter location, local structure, and static slip asperity location. We concluded that combining effect due to 3-D structure and finite-source is necessary to quan- tify ground motion characteristics and their variations. Our results will facilitate the earthquake hazard assessment projects.

3-D multi-parameter type traveltime tomography in a spherical coordinate frame: comparison of double and triple class simultaneous inversions

It is now common practice to perform simultaneous traveltime inversion for the velocity field and the reflector geometry in reflection/refraction tomography, or the velocity field and the hypocenter locations in regional earthquake tomography, but seldom are all three classes of model parameters updated simultaneously. This is mainly due to the trade-off between the different types of model parameters and the lack of different seismic phases to constrain the model parameters. Using a spherical-coordinate ray tracing algorithm for first and later（primary reflected） arrival tracing algorithm in combination with a popular linearized inversion solver, it is possible to simultaneously recover the three classes of model parameters in regional or global tomographic studies. In this paper we incorporate the multistage irregular shortest-path ray tracing algorithm（in a spherical coordinate system） with a subspace inversion solver to formulate a simultaneous inversion algorithm for triple model parameters updating using direct and later arrival time information.Comparison tests for two sets of data（noise free and added noise） indicate that the new triple-class parameter inversion algorithm is capable of obtaining nearly the same results as the double-class parameter inversion scheme. Furthermore,the proposed multi-parameter type inversion method is not sensitive to a modest level of picking error in the traveltime data, and also performs well with a relatively large uncertainty in earthquake hypocentral locations. This shows it to be a feasible and promising approach in regional or global tomographic applications.