The Characteristics of Seismic Activity Before the Devastating Earthquake with M_W9.0 Off the West Coast of Northern Sumatra

The characteristics of seismic activity in different time-spatial domain before the M_W9.0 earthquake were studied. The results are as follows:The activity of the deep earthquakes in the north boundary zone of the Australian plate had been evidently strengthened since 1994, showing an increased frequency, magnitude and depth, especially in regards to the heterogeneous distribution of the earthquake depth (namely between 500km and 689km). Meanwhile the shallow earthquakes of M≥7.0 in the Sumatra island and its vicinity had been obviously strengthened too, and formed a strengthening area with a length of about 1000 km and width 300 km. ②The time distribution of global strong earthquakes with M≥7.0 shows that the character of anomalous seismic quiescence-activity one year before the M_W9.0 earthquake and during its active period, the strong earthquakes formed a seismic belt striking in NWW direction. At the same time, there is a seismic gap formed by earthquakes of M≥5.0 in the epicenter and its neighboring region. ③Two deep earthquakes of M≥7.0 occurred in the west and in the east of the north boundary zone of the Australian plate half year ago. It is notable that one of them occurred in the Sumatra island where no deep earthquake with M≥6.0 has occurred in the past thirty years. ④The space distribution of moderate shocks occurring three days ago exhibited a NWW-strike seismic belt along the north boundary zone of the Australian plate. ⑤The activity of volcanoes distributed in the north boundary zone of the Australian plate had been strengthened in the past 4 years, especially several months before the occurrence of the M_W9.0 earthquake.

Yanshan, Gaoshan-Two Active Volcanoes of the Volcanic Cluster in Arshan, Inner Mongolia

The volcanic cluster in Arshan, inner Mongolia, is located in the west of the middle section of the Da Hinggan Mountains. There are more than forty Cenozoic volcanoes among which the Yanshan Volcano and Gaoshan Volcano are the active ones in broad sense and basaltic central vents. Arshan is a newly found volcanic active region in the Chinese continent. The volcanoes are perfectly preserved and composed of cinder cones, pyroclastic sheets and lava flows. Their cones are grand and the Gaoshan cone is about 362m high, and the depth of the Yanshan crater is about 140m. The pyroclastic sheet is mainly made up of scoria, and the distribution area of scoria with thickness more than i m is about 27km^2 . There are two Carbonized-wood sites in the pyroclastic sheet and the ^14C datings indicate ages of 1990±100a B. P and 1900 ±70a B. P, which are rectified by dendrodating. Basaltic lava flows are uncovered, and they change from pahoehoe in the early stage to aa in the later stage. There are lots of perfect fumarolic cones, fumarolic dishes and lava tumulus in the front zones. The spread of lava flow is controlled by the local topography and its main body flowed northwestwards covering the Holocene rivers and swamp deposits and blocked up the Halahahe river and its branches to create six lava-dam lakes. For these distinguishing features, Arshan volcanic cluster could be called another natural “Volcano Museum”.

A Potential Flood Hazard Caused by Tianchi Volcano Eruption in Changbai Mountain, Northeast China

Geohazards appear to be increasing in frequency globally. It is of necessity to actively manage these natural hazards to minimize loss of life and property. From an early warning perspective, this paper stresses the potential fatal flood hazard represented by the huge volume of water in Tianchi Lake, the unique geography of Changbai Mountain, and the limited flood control ability in the upstream of the Songhua River. Northeast Asian countries should keep a watchful eye on the Changbai volcano cooperatively, and Chinese government especially needs to prepare plans for fighting a flood in advance.

Focal mechanism solutions and its tectonic significance in the trench of the eastern South China Sea

According to the activity of earthquakes and volcanoes along the Manila trench and its adjacent region, combined with analysis of focal mechanism solutions and geophysics data, the Manila trench is still being downward subduction in the depth of 200 km. Deep earthquakes mainly concentrate between 12°N and 14°N, the concentrated region is divided into different sections, and the focal depth is gradually deep from the north to the south. From the focal mechanism solution data, the maximum principal stress direction (P axis) varies from the northern region of Philippine fault to the southern region of the fault. In the north P axes directions are mainly NW, however in the south there is the complex displaying and P axes have NW, NE and approximately NS directions. These results show the characteristics of press-thrust in the northern region of the Philippine fault and the clockwise rotation in the southern region of the fault. The stress caused by the Philippine plate, which moved upon the South China Sea sub-plate, is adjusted by the oblique subduction of the Manila trench, the sinistral strike-slip of the Philippine fault and the sinistral strike-slip of the Mindoro fault.

New Data on the Genesis and Evolution of the Primitive Magmas of Mount Cameroon: Contribution of Melt Inclusions

Mount Cameroon is a Plio-Quaternary volcanic massif, without a centralcrater, made up of more than 140 pyroclastic cones. It is one of theactive volcanoes of the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Mount Cameroon meltinclusions are found in microdroplets trapped in the early minerals (olivines)from the pyroclastic products. The analysis of these melt inclusions allowedus to find primitive liquids compared to lavas. Major elements study ofthe magmatic inclusions, trapped in the most magnesian olivines (Mg#84-86) of Mount Cameroon revealed “primitive” liquids of basanite and alkalibasalt type with variable composition compared to the much more uniformbasalts of the magmatic series of Mount Cameroon. The study of thesetrapped liquids shows that: (1) the original primitive lavas did not undergothe process of evolution by FC, but rather underwent fundamentally (orexclusively) the process of partial melting;(2) the emitted lavas, evolvedessentially by FC;(3) the variations in the trace element contents of theprimitive liquids directly reflect a variation in the rate of partial melting ofa homogeneous mantelic source. The very high La/Yb ratios of the MountCameroon melt inclusions (> 20) characterize a garnet lherzolite source.Spectra of the melt inclusions show a negative anomaly or depletion in K,Rb and Ba as those of HIMU. The “primitive” liquids and lavas of MountCameroon represent a co-genetic sequence formed by varying degrees ofpartial melting of a source considered as homogeneous.

Effect of gas emissions from Tianchi volcano (NE China) on environment and its potential volcanic hazards

The Tianchi volcano in the Changbai Mountains is located on the boundary between China and North Korea.There are many times of eruptions of the Tianchi volcano during the Holocene.One of its large eruptions occurred around 1000 years ago dated by ^(14)C method and historical records.Composition of products of the largest Tianchi volcanic eruption studied is characterized by comendi-tic Plinian fallout and unwelded ignimbrite,which are mainly distributed in China and North Korea.Caldera is about 4.4 km long and 3.4 km wide,which had filled with water(e.g.Tianchi Lake).The Tianchi volcanic cone is about 2700 m high above sea level.The Tianchi Lake is located on the summit of the volcanic cone,that is also highest peak of the Changbai Mountains in northeastern China.This study analyzed Cl,F,S and H_(2)O concentrations of melt inclusions in the phenocryst min-erals(anorthoclase and quartz)and co-existing matrix glasses using the electron microprobe and estimated environmental effect of Tianchi volcanic gases.The authors proposed a new method to evaluate future eruption of active volcano and estimate potential volcanic hazards based on contents of volatile emissions.Using this method,we made a perspective of future volcanic hazard in this region.

The CatMath: an online predictive platform for thermal + electrocatalysis

The catalytic volcano activity models are the quantified and visualized tools of the Sabatier principle for heterogeneous catalysis, which can depict the intrinsic activity optima and trends of a catalytic reaction as a function of the reaction descriptors, i.e., the bonding strengths of key reaction species. These models can be derived by microkinetic modeling and/or free energy changes in combination with the scaling relations among the reaction intermediates. Herein, we introduce the CatMath—an online platform for generating a variety of common and industrially important thermal + electrocatalysis. With the CatMath, users can request the volcano models for available reactions and analyze their materials of interests as potential catalysts. Besides, the CatMath provides the function of the online generation of Surface Pourbaix Diagram for surface state analysis under electrocatalytic conditions, which is an essential step before analyzing the activity of an electrocatalytic surface. All the model generation and analysis processes are realized by cloud computing via a user-friendly interface.

Characteristics of PmP phases from earthquakes and their role in crustal tomography:An active volcanic area example,northeastern Japan

Later earthquake-sourced PmP phases have the potential to significantly improve ray coverage and resolution of crustal tomography methods,as their trajectories are quite different from those of shallower P phases.This paper analyzes the characteristics of later PmP arrival times from earthquakes with different focal depths.The results show that PmP arrival time differences from earthquakes at a range of focal depths are gradually lowered with increasing offset.We found that where the first recorded P-wave phase was the intra-crustal refraction phase(Pg),the differences in arrival time between Pg and PmP phases decreased with increasing focal depth at an offset of less than 120 km.Where the first P-wave phase is the upper mantle refraction phase(Pn),the difference in arrival times between Pn and PmP phases became larger with an increase in focal depth at an offset of more than 150 km.A total of 394 PmP phases and 3356 first P phases were picked from seismograms in the active volcanic area of northeastern Japan,according to the characteristics of calculated arrival times,amplitudes and particle motions.These were used to investigate the role of PmP phases in crustal tomography beneath an active volcanic region.Results of the detailed resolution analysis show that the addition of PmP data can improve significantly the resolution of the lower crustal structure in tomographic images.After the PmP data were included in the tomographic inversion,the path of upwelling magma,along which a series of low-frequency microearthquakes is clearly distributed,was better imaged.These results suggest that the PmP phase has an important role in detailed crustal tomography.