Segmentations of active normal dip-slip faults around Ordos block according to their surface ruptures in historical strong earthquakes

From the results of researches of active faults in resent years, a correlation analysis between segments of the faults according to surface ruptures in nine historical strong earthquakes occurring in downfaulted system and active structures around Ordos block is conducted in paper. The result shows that there is a good correlation between them, except few individual data that have more uncertain parameters. It shows that intensity and segments of surface ruptures in these strong earthquakes are intrinsically related with the active structures. These strong earthquakes produced stable and unstable rupture boundaries of characteristic-earthquake type and successive occurrence of strong earthquakes on the different boundary faults in the same tectonic unit.

Dynamic variation of ambient shear stress field before and after three strong earthquakes in Yunnan

A method calculating relative shear stress values in seismic source areas using data of seismic wave is used in thispaper which is introduced by PEI-SHAN CHEN, based on a rupture model studying seismic rupture process fromtheory of fracture mechanics. The shear stress values τ0 in mid-small earthquakes occurred in 1986~June of 1997in Yunnan and its adjacent areas are used to trace the variation process of ambient shear stress field before andafter three strong earthquakes in Yunnan and China-Myanmar border areas. The results show that there exists abackground of high values in ambient shear stress field. In the development process of a strong earthquake, theambient shear stress field in and nearby its potential source area increases obviously, for a long time, experiences aprocess of multiple down - up - down - up. The pattern of dynamic variation of ambient shear stress field hasreflected the multi-source fields of seismogenesis in and nearby Yunnan. There exist multi-increased areas of ambient shear slress fields synchronously in southwest, northwest. west and east of Yunnan, and three strong eathquakes of magnitude about 7 occurred in the most obviously increased areas of ambient shear stress fields.

Response of vertical deformation on faults to remote strong earthquakes

Vertical coseismic deformation on non-causative fault caused by remote strong earthquakes （epicentral distance ≥1 500 km, Ms≥7.0） are observed by fault-monitoring instruments of new type during recent two years. The monitoring result shows, delay time, maximum amplitude and duration of vertical deformation on the non-causative fault have remarkable close relationship with earthquakes magnitude and epicentral distance. The delay time of vertical coseismic deformation have positive linear relationship with epicentral distance. The velocity of coseismic deformation is 5.5 km/s, close to the velocity of surface wave in granite. The logarithms of maximum amplitude of coseismic deformation and epicentral distance have remarkable linear relationship with magnitude. The greater the magnitude and the closer the epicentral distance are, the bigger the maximum amplitude of coseismic deformation on non-causative fault will be. Relative to the epicentral distance, the magnitude is the most important factor to the duration of coseismic vertical deformation on the non-causative fault. Stronger earthquake causes longer vibration duration of coseismic deformation. The experiential equation of co-seismic deformation faults obtained by this work is significant on the coseismic deformation research.

A Study on the Early Warning Time of Strong Earthquakes in Taiwan

The paper collects the records by the Fujian Digital Seismic Network of 40 shallow earthquakes in Taiwan with M_S≥5.0 from 1999 to 2013,analyzes the seismic phase(Pn,Sn phase)characteristics and travel-time rules,determines travel-time models and develops a seismic phase travel-time equation based on the two-step fitting algorithm.With the deduction of processing time and network delay time,this method can provide an accurate estimation of early warning time of Taiwan earthquakes for the Fujian region,and has been officially employed in the earthquake early warning system of Fujian Province.

Relationship between the earthquake sequences of Tangshan and Xingtai and the three dimensional velocity structure──Discussion on predicting strong earthquakes of swarm-type

In this paper, based on the results of tomographic image of Tangshan and Xingtai areas, the relations between thecharacteristics of the two strong earthquake sequences and their three-dimensional velocity structures are studied.The research results indicate that:① Mosaic distribution of low-velocity bodies and high-velocity bodies, especially the existence of high-velocity bodies with large size in crust are the common basis of development of thetwo earthquake sequences. ② Scale, depth, and heterogeneity of high-velocity and low-velocity bodies are theimportant factors to effect the characteristic of earthquake sequences. ③ The depth of the high-velocity body inTangshan area is less than that in Xingtai area, which is the principal reason why the dominant focal depth and thebiggest focal depth of Tangshan earthquake sequence are less than Xingtai's. ④ The depth of the high-velocitybodies in Ninghe area is more than that in Tangshan-Luanxian area, which lead to the biggest magnitude and epicentral intensity are lower. These results could be helpful for predicting the main shock of strong swarm-typeearthquakes and later strong aftershocks.

3-D finite element modeling for evolution of stress field and interaction among strong earthquakes in Sichuan-Yunnan region

Based on the latest achievement about activities of geological structure, a 3-D finite-element model containing four layers of upper crust, lower crust (two layers) and upper mantle is established in the paper. By repeated tests and revisions, the boundary conditions of the model are determined. And then the background stress field, the stress field caused by fault creep and the stress field triggered by strong earthquake in Sichuan-Yunnan region, as well as their dynamic variations are calculated. The results indicate that the latter earthquake often occurs in the area with positive Coulomb rupture stress change associated with the former one, the former earthquake has a triggering effect on the latter one to a certain extent, and strong earthquake often occur in groups under the background of high stress, which is of great significance for distinguishing seismic anomalies, as well as for improving the level of earthquake prediction.

Statistical analysis on temporal-spatial correlativity within temporal doublets of strong earthquakes in North China and its vicinity

In order to unify the time and the space attributes into temporal-spatial distance, the temporal-spatial proportional coefficient fTS is proposed in this paper. In accordance with the new distance concept, the temporal-spatial correlativity within temporal doublets of strong earthquakes in North China and its vicinity since AD 1500 has been analyzed. The computation results indicate that doublets of strong earthquake can be divided into two groups when fTS is endowed with 10 km/a in the new distance formula. The temporal-spatial distance between two points of doublet generally cannot exceed 140 km when two strong quakes in doublet have some causative relation. And those doublets with temporal-spatial distance exceeding 280 km are probably independent seismic events in doublets. This character can be the reference to the migration law summarization and trend prediction.

The characteristics of variation in inhomo geneity of temporalspatial distribution of short to imminent precursors before strong earthquakes

C_v is used in this paper to describe the variation in inhomogeneity of spatial and temporal distribution of precur sors. The inhomogeneous variation in the spatial and temporal distribution of the anomalies in water radon and electromagnetic waves before M_s≈6 earthquakes in northern North China is analyzed in detail. Results show that before a moderate to strong earthquake, the distribution of anomalies in water radon and electromagnetic waves changes inhomogeneously, i.e., C_v increases significantly. The inhomogeneity in spatial distribution of short-to- imminent precursors increases before a strong earthquake, which may relates to the enhancement of crustal strain field. The research will not only help us to know more about the process of seismogeny and to improve practical earthquake prediction, but also blaze a new way to do earthquake prediction with present precursor data.

Parameter estimation of the stochastic AMR model and its application to the study of several strong earthquakes

Based on the stochastic AMR model, this paper constructs man-made earthquake catalogues to investigate the property of parameter estimation of the model. Then the stochastic AMR model is applied to the study of several strong earthquakes in China and New Zealand. Akaikes AIC criterion is used to discriminate whether an accelerating mode of earthquake activity precedes those events or not. Finally, regional accelerating seismic activity and possible prediction approach for future strong earthquakes are discussed.

Recurrence anomaly of ground water behavior before strong earthquakes in North China

By analyzing the relationship between ground water behavior and strong seismic activity during the past more than 20 years in North China, we have found similar water level descending variation of a part of wells in the short-term stage before several strong earthquakes. The characteristics of anomaly are: at the beginning, water level dropped abruptly or accelerated to drop; then it turned to slow rising with a smaller amplitude than that of descending; earthquakes occurred during the slow-rising process of water level, and at that time or before earthquake occurrence, water level rose with a large amplitude. Among more than 100 wells in North China, the descending anomalies were not recorded for many times, but similar variation processes of water level were noted at different wells before several strong earthquakes, which proves that seismic precursory anomalies of ground water are of certain recurrence features, occurring repeatedly before different strong earthquakes. Therefore, it is necessary to study the genesis of this type of anomaly and its relationship with strong seismic activity.

On correlation between seismic activities and focal mechanisms of subsequent strong earthquakes

On the basis of the results from spatial-temporal scanning of moderate seismic activities prior to 63 strong earth- quakes occurred since 1966, we investigate in this paper the characteristics of anomalous evolution of moderate seismic activities prior to strong earthquakes with different focal mechanisms in different tectonic blocks, as well as the correlation between principal seismic activities and nodal planes of focal mechanisms. The research results indicate that the moderate seismic activities prior to strong earthquakes display two significant stages of stress concentration and stress weakening, which are consistent to the evolvement of local tectonic stress field. The first stage, defined as medium-term stage, is characterized by seismic belts, seismic gaps and centralized activities; The second stage, defined as short-term stage, is predominated by continuous quiescence. For the earthquakes occurred on the strike-slip and normal faults, the two stages are relatively evident; while for the earthquakes occurred on the thrust faults, there are not characteristic images and seismic quiescence in both stages. The spatial distribution of moderate shock belts before strong earthquakes show a good coherence with that of the two nodal planes of focal mechanisms, while the spatial distribution of seismic gaps enclosed by moderate shocks display a poor coherence with the nodal planes.

Geomagnetic diurnal-variation anomalies and their relation to strong earthquakes

The diurnal-variation anomalies of the vertical-component in geomagnetic field are mainly the changes of phase and amplitude before strong earthquakes. On the basis of data recorded by the network of geomagnetic observato- ries in China for many years, the anomalous features of appearance time of the minima of diurnal variations (i.e, low-point time) of the geomagnetic vertical components and the variation of their spatial distribution (i.e, phe- nomena of low-point displacement) have been studied before over 30 strong earthquakes with MS≥6.6 such as Kunlunshan MS=8.1 earthquake on November 14, 2001; Bachu-Jashi MS=6.8 earthquake on February 24, 2003; Xiaojin MS=6.6 earthquake on September 22, 1989, etc. There are good relations between such rare phenomena of geomagnetic anomalies and the occurrence of earthquakes. It has been found that most earthquakes occur in the vicinity of the boundary line of sudden change of the low-point displacement and generally within four days before and after the 27th or 41st day counting from the day of appearance of the anomaly. In addition, the anomalies of diurnal-variation amplitude near the epicentral area have been also studied before Kunlunshan MS=8.1 earthquake and Bachu-Jiashi MS=6.8 earthquake.

Intracontinental basins and strong earthquakes

The September 17, 1303 Hongtong M=8 earthquake occurred in Linfen basin of Shanxi down-faulted basin zone. It is the first recorded M=8 earthquake since the Chinese historical seismic records had started and is a great earth-quake occurring in the active intracontinental basin. We had held a Meeting of the 700th Anniversary of the 1303 Hongtong M=8 Earthquake in Shanxi and a Symposium on Intracontinental Basins and Strong Earthquakes in Taiyuan City of Shanxi Province on September 17~18, 2003. The articles presented on the symposium discussed the relationships between active intracontinental basins of different properties, developed in different regions, in-cluding tensional graben and semi-graben basins in tensile tectonic regions, compression-depression basins and foreland basins in compressive tectonic regions and pull-apart basins in strike-slip tectonic zones, and strong earth-quakes in China. In this article we make a brief summary of some problems. The articles published in this special issue are a part of the articles presented on the symposium.

Research on strong earthquake type division and forecast method for subsequent strong earthquakes

The relationships between energy, amplitude and frequency of eanhquake are correlative with the property of the seismic source. And the grade of the correlativity can be used as an index to distinguish the types of strong earth quakes. Primarily the strong earthquake can be divided into three types of main-after earthquakes, double-main earthquakes and swarm of strong earthquake. There are similarity and a certain repeatability at the quantificational indexes of hypocenter property between the same type of strong earthquakes, which supply basis for the forecast of subsequent strong shocks. The reference indexes of after strong shock forecast which are valuable for the applica tions of the method of type-divided forecast come from the analysis about more than fifty strong shock wide-band (BPZ wave) recording data of CDSN from 1988 to 1997.

High-resolution velocity structure and seismogenic potential of strong earthquakes in the Bamei-Kangding segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone

On September 5,2022,a strong MS6.8 earthquake struck the Luding area in the Kangding-Moxi segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone,which is the northern boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan rhombic block,causing considerable casualties.The Bamei-Kangding segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone,which is located only tens of kilometers away from the Luding earthquake,has hosted frequent moderate to strong earthquakes in history and is a dangerous earthquake-prone zone.Therefore,it is critical to investigate the regional seismogenic environment for strong earthquakes and to evaluate the impact of the Luding earthquake in this area.For this purpose,we deployed a dense seismic array comprising over 200 short-period nodes in this region from July to August,2022 and acquired seismic ambient noise for over 30 days.Using the collected data,we conducted surface wave tomography and obtained a high-resolution 3-D shear wave velocity model for the regional shallow crust down to 8 km in depth.The key findings include:(1)the Bamei-Kangding segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone exhibits widespread stripped lowvelocity anomalies,suggesting shear movements at a relatively high temperature of the Xianshuihe fault zone;the Zheduoshan granitic pluton situated between the Zheduotang and southern Selaha faults shows a distinct low-velocity anomaly,which may be attributed to the localized high-temperature anomaly resulted by a deep magmatic heat source and the recent rapid uplift of the Zheduoshan area;(2)a ten-kilometer-wide high velocity body found below 4 km in depth near the Zhonggu area in the Bamei segment coincides with the seismic gap of moderate to strong earthquakes in this region,suggesting that the high velocity body may act as a seismic barrier;(3)the heterogeneity of the velocity structure along the Bamei-Kangding segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone corresponds to the regional changes in temperature,which reveals the reason for the spatially varying seismogenic potential in this segment;especially,the Selaha and Zheduotang faults which are located along the boundaries between the high and low velocity anomalies may possess considerable seismogenic potential;(4)the Coulomb failure stress calculations indicate that the Luding earthquake has imposed nontrivial stress loading in the Bamei-Kangding segment,and may shorten the earthquake recurrence intervals of the southern Selaha fault,the Zheduotang fault,and the Xuemenkan segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone.Thus,the Luding earthquake may potentially pose threats to the Sichuan-Xizang railway passing through this region.

Grouping occurrences being the fundamental feature of the strong earthquakes in Chinese mainland

The temporal and spatial distributions of all the 259 M≥6 earthquakes of eastern Chinese mainland (λ≥108° E) and its adjacent area and all the 153 M≥7 earthquakes of western Chinese mainland (λ<108°E) and its adjacent area up to 1991 were analyzed systematically.These earthquakes are called as strong earthquakes and those of the east before and after 1600,and those of the west before and after 1900, are called respectively as former ones and latter ones.Most of these events were divided into 45 sets of which the each relatively concentrated in both time and space and took the form of group.In the grouping form,the probability of occurrence of a strong earthquake higher than the average appeared simultaneously in time and space.The grouping occurrences of the strong earthquakes of Chinese mainland has been determined as a fundamental feature of the seismicity.

Information characteristics of ground fluid precursors of strong continental earthquakes

It has become seismologist's common view to attach importance to the study of the characteristics about the relationship among the space distribution of precursory anomalous stations, active structure, deep rock character, and different kinds of earthquakes. In this paper, the information characteristics of ground fluid precursors are analyzed with a few examples of earthquakes. The result shows that information characteristics of ground fluid precursors mainly demonstrate, temporally stage and acceleration pattern, specially, swarm and concurrence feature. It is a key scientific problem, we propose, to give deep study on the stage and concurrence pattern for realizing the seismogenic process as well as making relatively correct prediction to the potential earthquake focus and the occurrence time.

Seismic design of high-rise towers for cable-stayed bridges under strong earthquakes

This paper presents the first of a series of studies on the seismic design of high-rise towers for cablestayed bridges under strong earthquakes.One practical cable-stayed bridge with a 730 m long main span and two high-rise towers over 200 m in height was selected for this study.The preliminary results show that compared with piers,the tower is more vulnerable to pulse-like earthquakes,and it may develop plasticity at certain locations.In addition,viscous dampers may not have the same effect during pulse-like earthquakes as they do under site-specific earthquakes.Hence,reoptimization of damper parameters or reconsideration of other energy dissipation devices will be needed if strong earthquakes are likely to occur.

Study on relationship between historical volcanic eruptions and historical strong earthquakes in China and its adjacent regions

This thesis lists and describes 6 pairs of tectonic events, i.e ., historical volcanic eruptions associated with historical strong earthquakes, based on the analysis for the records of historical volcanic eruptions and historical strong earthquakes in China and its adjacent region since the first record. And discusses the relationship between historical eruptions and strong earthquakes by means of analyzing the characteristics of tectonic events themselves, plate movement, regional seismicity, and regional stress environment in China and its adjacent region.

Characteristics and main controlling factors of helium resources in the main petroliferous basins of the North China Craton

At present, the main controlling factors of helium accumulation is one of the key scientific problems restricting the exploration and development of helium reservoir. In this paper, based on the calculation results of He generation rate and the geochemical characteristics of the produced gas, both the similarities and differences between natural gas and He resources in the Bohai Bay, Ordos and the surrounding Songliao Basin are compared and analyzed, discussing the main controlling factors of helium resources in the three main petroliferous basins of the North China Craton. It is found that the three basins of Bohai Bay, Ordos and Songliao have similar characteristics of source rocks, reservoirs and cap rocks, that's why their methane resource characteristics are essentially the same. The calculated ~4He generation per cubic metamorphic crystalline basement in the three basins is roughly equivalent, which is consistent with the measured He resources, and it is believed that the ~4He of radiogenic from the crust is the main factor controlling the overall He accumulation in the three basins;there is almost no contribution of the mantle-derived CH_4, which suggests that the transport and uplift of mantle-derived ~3He carried by the present-day magmatic activities along the deep-large faults is not the main reason for the mantle-derived ~3He mixing in the basins. Combined with the results of regional volcanic and geophysical studies,it is concluded that under the background of the destruction of North China Craton, magma intrusion carried a large amount of mantle-derived material and formed basic volcanic rocks in the Bohai Bay Basin and Songliao Basin, which replenished mantle-derived ~3He for the interior of the basins, and that strong seismic activities in and around the basins also promoted the upward migration of mantle source ~3He. This study suggests that the tectonic zone with dense volcanic rocks in the Cenozoic era and a high incidence of historical strong earthquakes history may be a potential area for helium resource exploration.