Probability-consistent earthquakes and probability-consistent conservative earthquakes

It is pointed out in this paper that the concept of scenario earthquake, expectant earthquake or proposed earthquake suggested by Kameda Nojima (1988) is not probability consistent due to unfit understanding for the aseismic design standard of probabilistic method. The corresponding concept proposed by QI FENG LUO meets the meaning of probability consistent, but it is still in a meaning of average so the result is not good enough. On the basis of above analysis, a concept of probability consistent conservative earthquakes is suggested. And a new method selecting aseismic objective earthquake with physical meaning is proposed on the basis of probabilistic method. After seismic hazard is analysed by certain control parameters, such as peak acceleration, we can determine the aseismic standard according to certain probabilistic level. Based on the attenuation law and the potential sources, we can find out some earthquakes or their combinations of magnitudes and distances. Such earthquakes or combinations are probability consistent for this control parameter. Based on above parameter, we suggest considering the destructive effects of other parameters (such as response spectrum), and selecting conservative earthquakes to replace the average earthquake and meet the requirements of aseismic design better.

Relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters:theoretical and semi-empirical relationships

Fault parameters are important in earthquake hazard analysis.In this paper,theoretical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters including subsurface rupture length,downdip rupture width,rupture area,and average slip over the fault surface are deduced based on seismological theory.These theoretical relationships are further simplified by applying similarity conditions and an unique form is established.Then,combining the simplified theoretical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters with seismic source data selected in this study,a practical semi-empirical relationship is established.The seismic source data selected is also to used to derive empirical relationships between moment magnitude and fault parameters by the ordinary least square regression method.Comparisons between semi-empirical relationships and empirical relationships show that the former depict distribution trends of data better than the latter.It is also observed that downdip rupture widths of strike slip faults are saturated when moment magnitude is more than 7.0,but downdip rupture widths of dip slip faults are not saturated in the molnent magnitude rangcs of this study.

The spatiotemporal variation of the b-value and its tectonic implications in North China

In this study, we adopt an improved Bayesian approach based on free-knot B-spline bases to study the spatial and temporal distribution of the b-value. Synthetic tests show that the improved Bayesian approach has a superior performance compared to the Bayesian approach as well as the widely used maximum likelihood estimation （MLE） method in fitting the real variation of b-values. We then apply the improved Bayesian approach to North China and find that the b-value has a clear relevance to seismicity. Temporal changes of b-values are also investigated in two specific areas of North China. We interpret sharp decreases in the b-values as useful messages in earthquake hazard analysis.