Internal structures and high-velocity frictional properties of Longmenshan fault zone at Shenxigou activated during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

This paper reports internal structures of a wide fault zone at Shenxigou,Dujiangyan,Sichuan province,China,and high-velocity frictional properties of the fault gouge collected near the coseismic slip zone during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.Vertical offset and horizontal displacement at the trench site were 2.8 m（NW side up）and 4.8 m（right-lateral）,respectively.The fault zone formed in Triassic sandstone,siltstone,and shale about 500 m away from the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault,a major fault in the Longmenshan fault system.A trench survey across the coseismic fault,and observations of outcrops and drill cores down to a depth of 57 m revealed that the fault zone consists of fault gouge and fault breccia of about0.5 and 250-300 m in widths,respectively,and that the fault strikes N62°E and dips 68° to NW.Quaternary conglomerates were recovered beneath the fault in the drilling,so that the fault moved at least 55 m along the coseismic slip zone,experiencing about 18 events of similar sizes.The fault core is composed of grayish gouge（GG） and blackish gouge（BG） with very complex slip-zone structures.BG contains low-crystalline graphite of about 30 %.High-velocity friction experiments were conducted at normal stresses of 0.6-2.1 MPa and slip rates of 0.1-2.1 m/s.Both GG and BG exhibit dramatic slip weakening at constant high slip rates that can be described as an exponential decay from peak friction coefficient lpto steadystate friction coefficient lssover a slip-weakening distance Dc.Deformation of GG and BG is characterized by overlapped slip-zone structures and development of sharp slickenside surfaces,respectively.Comparison of our data with those reported for other outcrops indicates that the high-velocity frictional properties of the Longmenshan fault zones are quite uniform and the high-velocity weakening must have promoted dynamic rupture propagation during the Wenchuan earthquake.

Wenchuan earthquake fault and seismic disaster

Major cases of the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake are obtained through field investigations of the epicenter and high-intensity areas, and the relationships among earthquake faults, ground motion and earthquake disasters near fault zones are analyzed. Both strong deformation and ground rupture lead to significant damages of the buildings, indicating that it is necessary to keep safe distance away from active faults and to take other necessary measures. There are two reasons for that the buildings near the surface rupture zones have withstood in the strong earthquake, other than their seismic resistance capacities, with the first being the site condition, and the second the reduced effective stress and low rupture velocity. The forms of structural damages are complex in the fault areas, with shear failure and tensile and compressive damages. Those structures in urban areas that have used qualified materials and followed the building codes performed well in the earthquake. Survey results also indicate that structures of flexible materials may show better seismic performance.

Intensive Observation of Reservoirinduced Seismicity and Preliminary Analysis on the Causes of Earthquakes in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area,Yangtze River

In accordance with the requirements of the National Key Technology R＆D Program of the 11th ＂Five-year Plan＂, a densified seismic network consisting of 26 seismic stations was established at the Three Gorges Reservoir area in the section of Hubei Province in March 2009 （21 short-period seismographs, 5 broadband digital seismographs）. From March to December, 2009, a total of 2,995 ML -0. 8 - 2. 9 earthquakes were detected during the trial impounding of the Three Gorges Reservoir （ water level rose from 145 m to 172.8m）. Using the double difference earthquake location algorithm, 2,837 earthquakes were precisely re-located. The results show that the pattern of small local earthquake swarms in the Three Gorges Reservoir area took on a linear distribution or mass-like cluster distribution, the mass-like clusters of events were generally within a distance of 5 km from waterfront, and the linear distribution of the earthquakes could be extended to a distance of 16 km away from the waterfront. In the Hubei section of the Three Gorges Reservoir, earthquakes were mainly concentrated in the northern end of the Xiannvshan and Jiuwanxi faults near the Xiangxihe River, and along the banks of the Yangtze River at the west of Xietan township and the Shenlongxi area on the northern bank in the Badong region, with focal depths less than 10km, and 4km in average. Earthquake frequency in the reservoir region had a positive correlation with reservoir water level fluctuations, indicating that the seismicity belongs to reservoir induced earthquakes. Along the Shenlong River in the reservoir area, earthquakes showed three linear distributions in the northern Badong county, and distributed according to Karst distribution. There are underground rivers in the carbonate strata. When the reservoir was impounded, water permeated into the underground rivers, thus inducing earthquakes. Earthquakes in the areas on the crossriver segment of Xiannvshan fault, the Jiuwanxi fault and at the areas west of Xietan, Shazhen and Xizhen, may be related to the softening of discontinuities, such as the Nukou fault, the Xiannvshan fault, or the bedding joints, which would lead to failure of rock masses, thus, inducing earthquakes. However, convincing conclusions about the triggering mechanism still need further study. Additionally, near the areas south of Wenhua and Yanglin of Zigui county and at Rangkou town east of Badong county, mininginduced earthquakes occurred at the mines nearby, and on the shores of the reservoir are some collapse earthquakes.

青藏高原东缘汶川地震断层陡坎类型与级联破裂模型(英文)

The post-earthquake field investigations reveal that the MW7.9 Wenchuan earthquake of 12th May 2008 ruptured three NE-striking imbricate reverse faults and another NW-trending reverse fault, along the middle Longmenshan fold-and-thrust belt at the eastern margin of the Tibetan plateau. The fault-scarp features can be categorized into eight groups: simple thrust scarp, hanging-wall collapse scarp, simple pressure ridge, dextral pressure ridge, fault-related fold scarp, back-thrust pressure ridge, local normal fault scarp and crocodile-mouth-like scarp. The local normal scarp is first discovered in the reverse-faulting earthquakes as ever reported in the world. Field observation indicates that the Wenchuan earthquake surface rupture is dominated by reverse faulting with a minus right-lateral component, but the relative ratio varies from site to site. Also, the surface ruptures can be divided, for the first order, into two segments, the Yingxiu and Beichuan segments, corresponding to MW7.8 and MW7.57 events, respectively. The two segments further can be divided, for the second order, into four sub-segments in total, which are equivalent to four sub-events of MW7.46, MW7.69, MW6.99 and MW7.52, respectively. The fault segmentation, for different orders, shows a cascade-rupturing pattern and can explain why the quake time of the Wenchuan earthquake was so long as up to 100 second. Aftershock focal mechanisms are also used to constrain the fault geometry for the sub-segments, indicating that the seismogenic faults are listric at depth and in general, the fault plane becomes steeper northward, which enables the fault to accommodate larger strike-slip motion. This earthquake also confirms that the crustal shortening across the Longmenshan fold-and-thrust belt should be responsible for the growth of high topographic relief along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.

The M_S7.1 Yushu earthquake surface rupture and large historical earthquakes on the Garzê-Yushu Fault

As revealed by field investigations,the co-seismic surface rupture zone of the 2010 MS7.1 Yushu earthquake,Qinghai is a characteristic sinistral strike-slip feature consisting of three distinct sinistral primary ruptures,with an overall strike of 310°-320° and a total length of 31 km.In addition,an approximately 2-km-long en-echelon tensile fissure zone was found east of Longbao Town;if this site is taken as the north end of the rupture zone,then the rupture had a total length of ～51 km.The surface rupture zone is composed of a series of fissures arranged in an en-echelon or alternating relationship between compressive bulges and tensile fissures,with a measured maximum horizontal displacement of 1.8 m.The surface rupture zone extends along the mapped Garzê-Yushu Fault,which implicates it as the seismogenic fault for this earthquake.Historically,a few earthquakes with a magnitude of about 7 have occurred along the fault,and additionally traces of paleoearthquakes are evident that characterize the short-period recurrence interval of large earthquakes here.Similar to the seismogenic process of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake,the Yushu earthquake is also due to the stress accumulation and release on the block boundaries resulting from the eastward expansion of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.However,in contrast with the Wenchuan earthquake,the Yushu earthquake had a sinistral strike-slip mechanism resulting from the uneven eastward extrusion of the Baryan Har and Sichuan-Yunnan fault blocks.

Discussion of rupture mechanisms on the seismogenic fault of the 2008 M_s8.0 Wenchuan earthquake

The May 12, 2008, Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake was the outcome of a recent movement of an active intra-continental thrust fault zone. The seismogenic fault of this earthquake underwent oblique-slip faulting along the central fault and pure thrust faulting along the range-front fault of the Longmenshan fault zone. The former had a steep dip and large vertical displacement, and the latter had a gentle dip and little vertical displacement. The fault zone consisted of compressive double fault ramps rup turing with right-lateral strike-slip components resulting from strain partitioning of a deep oblique slip fault in the brittle zone of the upper crust. The kinematic pattern and rupture mechanisms are complex for the seismogenic fault, as indicated by the geometric pattern of its surface ruptures, the coseismic displacement distribution and focal mechanisms of the main shock and aftershocks. As a tear fault, the NW-trending, left-lateral, strike-slip Xiaoyudong fault zone has accommodated NE-trending displacements with different shortening amounts. However, because of intense compression on the southwestern segment of the seismogenic fault, the left-lateral, strike-slip Xiaoyudong fault also carries a clear compression component. Normal faulting with a strike-slip component controls the formation of a fault-trough along the central fault, which is characterized by thrusting with a strike-slip component and strike-slip with thrusting. The fault-troughs are the product of the interaction of slip and grav ity on the seismogenic fault under specific geological and geomorphic conditions. Gravitational force exaggerated the vertical component of fault displacement, which by no means represents the actual maximum vertical displacement of the seismogenic fault.

Near-field postseismic deformation along the rupture of 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and its implications

At first time,we observed the postseismic deformation,which actually is a kind of creep after slip,along the intra-plate active fault associated with the Wenchuan earthquake.To understand the near-field postseismic deformation following 2008 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan Province of China,we compared the fault scarp or flexure scarp profiles measured in different campaigns.Our result shows that among total 19 observation sites,on 13 sites (68% of 19) fault scarps fall back with an average about 9.7% decrease;on 5 sites (26% of 19) fault scarps present no change;and on one site (6% of 19) fault scarp continues to uplift with 12.8% increase.The variety of fault scarp we observed results mainly from near-field postseismic deformation,after slip occurred in shallow.Based on our observations,the following are demonstrated: except for the southwestern end near Yingxiu Town where coseismic slip deficit and some elastic energy residue exist there,fall back (68%) or non-changing (26%) of fault scarp shows energy balance or energy deficit due to overthrust,implying that the likelihood of occurrence of strong aftershocks of ≥ M7 becomes very small in these energy-released areas.Moreover,we suggest that a minimum of 10% error due to near-field postseismic deformation should be considered when evaluating the magnitude of historic and paleoearthquake or slip rate based on the fault scarp displacement,even though the error caused by erosion has been accounted already.