Study on Effective Elastic Thickness of Longmenshan Fault Zone after the Wenchuan Earthquake

SUMMARY Between 2008 and 2013, the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake and the Ms 7.0 Lushan earthquake occurred successively in the Longmenshan fault zone. Their aftershocks delineated a prominent seismic gap approximately 50 km long, hereafter referred to as the WLSG. The possibility of an event of Ms 7.0 or above occurring in the WLSG is a matter of great concern. In this study, we estimated the change of Coulomb failure stress (ΔCFS) along the WLSG caused by historical earthquakes in the last 300 yr. Our results revealed that 20 major earthquakes cast a stress shadow on the WLSG before 2008 (−148.7 to −7.0 kPa), hindering the rupture of the Wenchuan earthquake and the Lushan earthquake. The Wenchuan earthquake had an important influence on the stress redistribution of the WLSG, resulting in significant stress increase (14.7 to 337.5 kPa). As of 2018, although the negative ΔCFS caused by historical earthquakes (especially the Dayi earthquake) pushed the southern end of the WLSG away from failure, the positive peak ΔCFS of 323.0 kPa greatly encouraged the rupture of the northern WLSG. The small afterslip and weak microseismicity indicate that the WLSG is a stress barrier with high seismic potential, which can explain the mechanism of rupture termination of the Wenchuan earthquake and the Lushan earthquake.

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High-resolution lithosphere viscosity structure and the dynamics of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake area: new constraints from magnetotelluric imaging

Geophysical Journal International ◽

10.1093/gji/ggaa214 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 222 (2) ◽

pp. 1352-1362

Author(s):

Tao Zhu ◽

Yan Zhan ◽

Martyn Unsworth ◽

Guoze Zhao ◽

Xiangyu Sun

Keyword(s):

Tibetan Plateau ◽

Wenchuan Earthquake ◽

Fault Zone ◽

Crustal Deformation ◽

Small Scale ◽

Longmenshan Fault Zone ◽

2008 Wenchuan Earthquake ◽

Longmenshan Fault ◽

Lateral Variations ◽

Earthquake Area

SUMMARY Estimation of lithospheric viscosity remains challenging, especially for variations with spatial scales less than 100 km. Some recent studies have developed a method to determine viscosity structure from electrical conductivity models determined from magnetotelluric (MT) data. This method was initially applied to the extensional transition zone from the Great Basin to Colorado Plateau. Here, we use this approach to infer the effective lithospheric viscosity in a convergent setting by using an MT profile that crosses the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The profile extends from the Songpan-Ganzi block, crosses the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake epicentre region and ends in the Sichuan basin. The preferred viscosity structure is characterized by the middle-lower crustal viscosities in the range 2.42 × 1018 to 2.69 × 1021 Pa s below the Songpan-Ganzi block. In the Longmenshan fault zone and 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake area, the crustal viscosity is higher and in the range 4.32 × 1018 to 5.10 × 1021 Pa s with significant small-scale (<100 km) lateral variations. The MT-derived viscosities are consistent with previous regional-scale estimates but reveal the viscosity structure in more detail. The preferred geodynamic model can explain both the crustal deformation velocity and the small-scale lateral variations of surface topography. It implies that the crustal deformation is driven by mantle flow that results in a weak coupling of the upper and middle-lower crust beneath the eastern Tibetan Plateau. The inferred viscosity structure may help further understand the earthquake mechanisms in the Longmenshan fault zone.

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Seismic Structure of Local Crustal Earthquakes beneath the Zipingpu Reservoir of Longmenshan Fault Zone

International Journal of Geophysics ◽

10.1155/2011/407673 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2011 ◽

pp. 1-6 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Haiou Li ◽

Xiwei Xu ◽

Wentao Ma ◽

Ronghua Xie ◽

Jingli Yuan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fault Zone ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

P Wave ◽

The Tibetan Plateau ◽

Seismic Structure ◽

Infiltration Depth ◽

Low Velocity ◽

Longmenshan Fault Zone ◽

Velocity Models ◽

Longmenshan Fault

Three-dimensional P wave velocity models under the Zipingpu reservoir in Longmenshan fault zone are obtained with a resolution of 2 km in the horizontal direction and 1 km in depth. We used a total of 8589 P wave arrival times from 1014 local earthquakes recorded by both the Zipingpu reservoir network and temporary stations deployed in the area. The 3-D velocity images at shallow depth show the low-velocity regions have strong correlation with the surface trace of the Zipingpu reservoir. According to the extension of those low-velocity regions, the infiltration depth directly from the Zipingpu reservoir itself is limited to 3.5 km depth, while the infiltration depth downwards along the Beichuan-Yingxiu fault in the study area is about 5.5 km depth. Results show the low-velocity region in the east part of the study area is related to the Proterozoic sedimentary rocks. The Guanxian-Anxian fault is well delineated by obvious velocity contrast and may mark the border between the Tibetan Plateau in the west and the Sichuan basin in the east.

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