The response law of far-field seismic ground motion of the Wenchuan earthquake and its damaging mechanism in the Loess Plateau

A series of housing collapses and other serious damage was caused by the 2008 Wenchuan M_(S)8.0 earthquake in the seismic intensity Ⅵ areas of the Loess Plateau, which is hundreds of kilometers away from the epicenter, and which showed a remarkable seismic intensity anomaly. The seismic disasters are closely related to the seismic response characteristics of the site, therefore, the systematic study of the far-field seismic response law of the Wenchuan earthquake in the Loess Plateau is of great significance to prevent the far-field disaster of great earthquake. In this paper, the seismic acceleration records of several bedrock stations and loess stations from the seismogenic fault of the Wenchuan earthquake to the Loess Plateau were collected, and the attenuation law of ground motion along the propagation path and the characteristics of seismic response on the loess site are studied,and the mechanism of amplification effect of ground motion is analyzed based on the dynamic feature parameters of the loess site obtained through the HVSR method. Taking a typical loess site of thick deposit as the prototype, a series of shaking table tests of dynamic response of loess site models with different thicknesses were carried out.Amplification effect, spectral characteristics of acceleration in model sites were analyzed under the action of a farfield seismic wave of the Wenchuan earthquake. The results show that seismic attenuation on the propagation path along the NE strike of the seismogenic fault to the Loess Plateau is slower than that in other directions, and the predominant period range of ground motion on bedrock site of the Loess Plateau presents broadband characteristics. Because the natural periods of loess sites with thick deposits are within the predominant period range of bedrock input wave, loess sites appear significant amplification effect of ground motion, the horizontal acceleration of ground motion exceeds 0.1 g, the seismic intensity reaches 7°. The thicker the loess deposit is, the more significant the change of spectral characteristics of ground motion on loess sites, and the narrower the predominant period range of ground motion becomes, and the closer it is to the natural period of loess sites.Therefore, for some old houses on thick loess sites, the poor seismic performance and strong seismic response eventually led to their collapses and damages because their natural periods are very close to the predominant period of ground motion of the Wenchuan earthquake on thick loess sites;For these damaged high-rise buildings,the resonance effect might be the main reason for their damages because their natural periods are included in the predominant period range of ground motion of the Wenchuan earthquake on thick loess sites.These research results would provide a basis for seismic disasters prediction and evaluation and seismic design of construction engineering in the Loess Plateau.

Aftershock of the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Triggers Large Earthquake in Minxian County, Gansu

Because of the confining compression of the Pacific, Eurasian and Indian plates, the Chinese mainland is frequently stricken with earthquakes, especially in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and surrounding areas and along the NS-trending tectonic zone from Yinchuan to Lanzhou, Chengdu, and finally to the Kunming tectonic belt （Fig. 1）. Historical records show that there are 14 earthquakes of 〉Ms 8 occurring in the two regions, eight of which occurred along the latter tectonic belt. The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake located on both the NS tectonic zone and the Longmenshan fault zone along the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

GPS observation in Sichuan-Yunnan and its vicinity before and after the Wenchuan earthquake in a decade

Based on the horizontal velocity data observed by GPS during 2004-2007,2007-2009,and 2011-2017 before,during,and after the Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan-Yunnan and its vicinity,we analyze evolution features of the tectonic deformation caused by crustal movement in main active fault belts,and its possible influence.We conclude:the Wenchuan earthquake area showed obvious co-seismic thrust and dextral deformation from 2007 to 2009.The earthquake,to a certain extent,promoted tectonic movements on the Gansu-Sichuan boundary,Western Qinling fault zone,Anninghe-Zemuhe fault zone,and southern Xianshuihe fault zone.The vectors and strain filed acquired by GPS during Lushan and Jiuzhaigou earthquakes period may indicate that the southwest segment in the Longmenshan fault zone still has the possibility of larger earthquakes.

Preliminary Study on the Correlation between Intensity Isoseismals and the Seismic Source Process of the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan,China

The M_S8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan caused heavy casualties and serious economic loss because of damage to engineering structures in high earthquake intensity regions. Earthquake intensity, especially in the near source region, as a macroscopic description of distribution of strong ground motions certain correlations with the earthquake source process, such as rupture directivity and the hanging-wall effect of the near-fault ground motions of this earthquake. In this article some qualitative analyses are carried out. The conclusion of this study may be useful for emergence response and rescue after earthquakes, when the strong ground motion recordings and the intensity distribution are not available immediately.

Analysis of Dynamic Characteristics of Crustal Horizontal Deformation in the South Segment of Longmenshan Fault Zone Revealed by GPS Data after the Wenchuan Earthquake

In order to obtain deformation parameters in the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone,Euler datum transformation and the least square collocation for data interpolation and smoothing are used to process GPS displacement time series data in the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone,and the rigid and elastic-plastic block motion model is used to calculate the strain parameters in each subarea. Conjoint analysis of displacement,velocity of each station and strain parameters of each subarea reveals that the influence of the Wenchuan earthquake on the south segment of Longmenshan fault zone increases from southeast to northwest,causing a highest deformation rate 6 times the background value and heightening the influence of the hidden faults on the difference of the earth surface along its two sides,which leads to the seismic risk of the southern segment increasing from north to south. The comparison of seismic risk among subareas based on the tectonic and seismicity background indicates that the most dangerous area is on the southeast of Longmenshan faults,and the background strain accumulation and the promoting effect of the Wenchuan earthquake advanced the occurrence of Lushan earthquake and the sinistral strike-slip on the rupture plane. The Wenchuan earthquake also caused a slight two-year long continuous strain release in the south segment of Xianshuihe fault,but the influence is far less than the effect of the compressive strain caused by the Sichuan-Yunnan block.

The Fraternal Bond between Ethnic Tibetans and the Victims of the Wenchuan Earthquake

At 2:28 pm on May 12^(th),2008,Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province suffered an earthquake of mag-nitude of 8.0.The local death toll had reached 69,016 by noon of June 1^(st),along with a total of 368,545 in-jured and 18,830 people still missing.The tragedy included the collapse of an enormous number of houses...over one hundred thousand families lost their homes.Tens of thou-sands of children were orphaned.However,faced with this devastation,all nationalities in China were not intimidated but rather work...

Did the reservoir impoundment trigger the Wenchuan earthquake?

January 16, 2009 issue of Science magazine published, in its ' News of the Week' section, an article entitled 'A Human Trigger for the Great Quake of Sichuan?'. The article boldly proposed, 'Zipingpu reservoir may have triggered the Wenchuan earthquake'[1]. Incidentally, similar reports had appeared in the media such

The Doppler effect induced by earthquakes:A case study of the Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake

Seismologists have found that the first arrival frequencies of P waves at different seismic stations have different widths,that is,different periods or frequencies,and they think that this phenomenon can be used to identify whether a Doppler effect is induced by earthquakes.However,the fault rupture process of a real earthquake is so complex that it is difficult to identify a frequency shift similar to the Doppler effect.A method to identify whether a Doppler effect is induced by an earthquake is proposed here.If a seismic station is in the direction of fault rupture propagation,this station could observe a Doppler effect induced by the earthquake.The Doppler effect causes the frequency of the seismic wave to shift from low frequency to high frequency,and the high frequency amplitudes become mutually superimposed.Under the combined influences of the absorption effect,geometric spreading effect and Doppler effect,the high frequency amplitude of the seismic wave will gradually become higher than the low frequency amplitude with increasing epicentral distance.If we find that the high frequency amplitude is higher than the low frequency amplitude with increasing epicentral distance in the direction of fault rupture propagation,then there is a Doppler effect.The fault that generated the Wenchuan earthquake is a reverse fault,and its horizontal rupture propagation velocity was low.To link fault rupture propagation velocity with the Doppler effect and identify the Doppler effect more easily,we decompose three-component records into two directions:the direction of fault rupture propagation and the direction perpendicular to the fault rupture propagation along the fault plane.The initial components of the two directions are processed by wavelet transform.Several seismic stations in the direction of fault rupture propagation of the Wenchuan earthquake were selected,and it was found that with increasing epicentral distance,the high frequency amplitudes of the wavelet spectra become obviously higher than the low frequency amplitudes.It can be concluded that due to the existence of the Doppler effect,high frequency amplitudes can overcome the influences of the absorption and geometric spreading effects on seismic waves in the fault rupture propagation process.

Post-seismic relaxation process and vertical deformation following the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, China

The post-seismic horizontal and vertical deformations following the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan earth- quake are inferred from GPS and precise leveling data. The post-seismic relaxation process is measured using GPS data from campaign stations located around the Longmenshan fault, and the derived decay time constant is 12 days. The evolution of the post-seismic vertical deformation is obtained from precise leveling data measured near the surface rupture. The results demonstrate that the hanging wall is uplifting and the foot wall is subsi- ding. The amplitude of the post-seismic deformation is lower than that of the co-seismic deformation. The re- gion with the largest post-seismic displacement is located on the leveling route between Maoxian and Beichuan on the hanging wall.