Fluids Triggered the 2021 Mw 6.1 Yangbi Earthquake at an Unmapped Fault: Implications for the Tectonics at the Northern End of the Red River Fault

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Sun ◽  
Zhen Guo ◽  
Shunping Pei ◽  
Yuanyuan V. Fu ◽  
Yongshun John Chen
Keyword(s):  
Source Region ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Red River ◽  
Earthquake Sequence ◽  
Rupture Zone ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Upward Migration ◽  
Velocity Models ◽  
Red River Fault

Abstract On 21 May 2021 a magnitude Mw 6.1 earthquake occurred in Yangbi region, Yunan, China, which was widely felt and caused heavy casualties. Imaging of the source region was conducted using our improved double-difference tomography method on the huge data set recorded by 107 temporary stations of ChinArray-I and 62 permanent stations. Pronounced structural heterogeneities across the rupture source region are discovered and locations of the hypocenters of the Yangbi earthquake sequence are significantly improved as the output of the inversion. The relocated Yangbi earthquake sequence is distributed at an unmapped fault that is almost parallel and adjacent (∼15 km distance) to the Tongdian–Weishan fault (TWF) at the northern end of the Red River fault zone. Our high-resolution 3D velocity models show significant high-velocity and low-VP/VS ratios in the upper crust of the rupture zone, suggesting the existence of an asperity for the event. More importantly, low-VS and high-VP/VS anomalies below 10 km depth are imaged underlying the source region, indicating the existence of fluids and potential melts at those depths. Upward migration of the fluids and potential melts into the rupture zone could have weakened the locked asperity and triggered the occurrence of the Yangbi earthquake. The triggering effect by upflow fluids could explain why the Yangbi earthquake did not occur at the adjacent TWF where a high-stress accumulation was expected. We speculate that the fluids and potential melts in the mid-to-lower crust might have originated either from crustal channel flow from the southeast Tibet or from local upwelling related to subduction of the Indian slab to the west.

scholarly journals A benchmark case study for seismic event relative location

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (2) ◽  
pp. 1313-1326
Author(s):  
S J Gibbons ◽  
T Kværna ◽  
T Tiira ◽  
E Kozlovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Time Delay ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
High Signal ◽  
Relative Location ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Velocity Models ◽  
Event Location

Summary ‘Precision seismology’ encompasses a set of methods which use differential measurements of time-delays to estimate the relative locations of earthquakes and explosions. Delay-times estimated from signal correlations often allow far more accurate estimates of one event location relative to another than is possible using classical hypocentre determination techniques. Many different algorithms and software implementations have been developed and different assumptions and procedures can often result in significant variability between different relative event location estimates. We present a Ground Truth (GT) dataset of 55 military surface explosions in northern Finland in 2007 that all took place within 300 m of each other. The explosions were recorded with a high signal-to-noise ratio to distances of about 2°, and the exceptional waveform similarity between the signals from the different explosions allows for accurate correlation-based time-delay measurements. With exact coordinates for the explosions, we are able to assess the fidelity of relative location estimates made using any location algorithm or implementation. Applying double-difference calculations using two different 1-D velocity models for the region results in hypocentre-to-hypocentre distances which are too short and it is clear that the wavefield leaving the source region is more complicated than predicted by the models. Using the GT event coordinates, we are able to measure the slowness vectors associated with each outgoing ray from the source region. We demonstrate that, had such corrections been available, a significant improvement in the relative location estimates would have resulted. In practice we would of course need to solve for event hypocentres and slowness corrections simultaneously, and significant work will be needed to upgrade relative location algorithms to accommodate uncertainty in the form of the outgoing wavefield. We present this data set, together with GT coordinates, raw waveforms for all events on six regional stations, and tables of time-delay measurements, as a reference benchmark by which relative location algorithms and software can be evaluated.

A Seismic Event Relative Location Benchmark Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tormod Kvaerna ◽  
Steven J. Gibbons ◽  
Timo Tiira ◽  
Elena Kozlovskaya
Keyword(s):  
Time Delay ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
High Signal ◽  
Relative Location ◽  
Hypocenter Determination ◽  
Velocity Models ◽  
Event Location

<p>"Precision seismology'' encompasses a set of methods which use differential measurements of time-delays to estimate the relative locations of earthquakes and explosions.  Delay-times estimated from signal correlations often allow far more accurate estimates of one event location relative to another than is possible using classical hypocenter determination techniques.  Many different algorithms and software implementations have been developed and different assumptions and procedures can often result in significant variability between different relative event location estimates.  We present a Ground Truth (GT) database of 55 military surface explosions in northern Finland in 2007 that all took place within 300 meters of each other.  The explosions were recorded with a high signal-to-noise ratio to distances of about 2 degrees, and the exceptional waveform similarity between the signals from the different explosions allows for accurate correlation-based time-delay measurements.  With exact coordinates for the explosions, we can assess the fidelity of relative location estimates made using any location algorithm or implementation.  Applying double-difference calculations using two different 1-d velocity models for the region results in hypocenter-to-hypocenter distances which are too short and the wavefield leaving the source region is more complicated than predicted by the models.  Using the GT event coordinates, we can measure the slowness vectors associated with each outgoing ray from the source region. We demonstrate that, had such corrections been available, a significant improvement in the relative location estimates would have resulted.  In practice we would of course need to solve for event hypocenters and slowness corrections simultaneously, and significant work will be needed to upgrade relative location algorithms to accommodate uncertainty in the form of the outgoing wavefield.  We present this dataset, together with GT coordinates, raw waveforms for all events on six regional stations, and tables of time-delay measurements, as a reference benchmark by which relative location algorithms and software can be evaluated.</p>

scholarly journals Ground Motion and Seismic Source Aspects of the Canterbury Earthquake Sequence

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendon A. Bradley ◽  
Mark C. Quigley ◽  
Russ J. Van Dissen ◽  
Nicola J. Litchfield
Keyword(s):  
Ground Motion ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Source Region ◽  
High Stress ◽  
Central Business District ◽  
Seismic Source ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Earthquake Sequence ◽  
River Channels ◽  
Canterbury Earthquake Sequence

This paper provides an overview of the ground motion and seismic source aspects of the Canterbury earthquake sequence. Common reported attributes among the largest earthquakes in this sequence are complex ruptures, large displacements per unit fault length, and high stress drops. The Darfield earthquake produced an approximately 30 km surface rupture in the Canterbury Plains with dextral surface displacements of several meters, and a subordinate amount of vertical displacement, impacting residential structures, agricultural land, and river channels. The dense set of strong ground motions recorded in the near-source region of all the major events in the sequence provides significant insight into the spatial variability in ground motion characteristics, as well as the significance of directivity, basin-generated surface waves, and nonlinear local site effects. The ground motion amplitudes in the 22 February 2011 earthquake, in particular, produced horizontal ground motion amplitudes in the Central Business District (CBD) well above those specified for the design of conventional structures.

Supplemental Material: Geophysical analysis of the 30 July 1972 Sitka, Alaska, earthquake sequence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan A. Ochoa Chavez ◽  
Diane Doser
Keyword(s):  
Earthquake Sequence ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
Alaska Earthquake

Supplemental Material 1 contains relocated aftershocks of 30 July 1972 sequence. Supplemental Material 2 contains relocation parameters used in double-difference algorithm (HYPODD).<br>

scholarly journals Ground motions in urban Los Angeles from the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence

2021 ◽  
pp. 875529302110039
Author(s):  
Filippos Filippitzis ◽  
Monica D Kohler ◽  
Thomas H Heaton ◽  
Robert W Graves ◽  
Robert W Clayton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Ground Motion ◽  
Ground Motions ◽  
Earthquake Sequence ◽  
Motion Prediction ◽  
Ground Motion Prediction Equations ◽  
Prediction Equations ◽  
Ground Motion Prediction ◽  
Velocity Models ◽  
Spectral Accelerations

We study ground-motion response in urban Los Angeles during the two largest events (M7.1 and M6.4) of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence using recordings from multiple regional seismic networks as well as a subset of 350 stations from the much denser Community Seismic Network. In the first part of our study, we examine the observed response spectral (pseudo) accelerations for a selection of periods of engineering significance (1, 3, 6, and 8 s). Significant ground-motion amplification is present and reproducible between the two events. For the longer periods, coherent spectral acceleration patterns are visible throughout the Los Angeles Basin, while for the shorter periods, the motions are less spatially coherent. However, coherence is still observable at smaller length scales due to the high spatial density of the measurements. Examining possible correlations of the computed response spectral accelerations with basement depth and Vs30, we find the correlations to be stronger for the longer periods. In the second part of the study, we test the performance of two state-of-the-art methods for estimating ground motions for the largest event of the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, namely three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference simulations and ground motion prediction equations. For the simulations, we are interested in the performance of the two Southern California Earthquake Center 3D community velocity models (CVM-S and CVM-H). For the ground motion prediction equations, we consider four of the 2014 Next Generation Attenuation-West2 Project equations. For some cases, the methods match the observations reasonably well; however, neither approach is able to reproduce the specific locations of the maximum response spectral accelerations or match the details of the observed amplification patterns.

An Early Miocene Transition in deformation regime within the Red River Fault Zone, Yunnan, And its significance for Indo-Asian tectonics

1992 ◽  
Vol 97 (B5) ◽  
pp. 7159 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Mark Harrison ◽  
Chen Wenji ◽  
P. H. Leloup ◽  
F. J. Ryerson ◽  
Paul Tapponnier
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Red River ◽  
Early Miocene ◽  
Deformation Regime ◽  
Red River Fault

Seismic quiescence, stress drops, and asperities in the New Hebrides arc

1983 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-236
Author(s):  
M. Wyss ◽  
R. E. Habermann ◽  
Ch. Heiniger
Keyword(s):  
High Stress ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Seismic Quiescence ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Seismicity Rate ◽  
Seismic Gaps ◽  
Main Shocks ◽  
Seismicity Rates ◽  
New Hebrides ◽  
Stress Drops

abstract The rate of occurrence of earthquakes shallower than 100 km during the years 1963 to 1980 was studied as a function of time and space along the New Hebrides island arc. Systematic examination of the seismicity rates for different magnitude bands showed that events with mb &lt; 4.8 were not reported consistently over time. The seismicity rate as defined by mb ≧ 4.8 events was examined quantitatively and systematically in the source volumes of three recent main shocks and within two seismic gaps. A clear case of seismic quiescence could be shown to have existed before one of the large main shocks if a major asperity was excluded from the volume studied. The 1980 Ms = 8 rupture in the northern New Hebrides was preceded by a pattern of 9 to 12 yr of quiescence followed by 5 yr of normal rate. This pattern does not conform to the hypothesis that quiescence lasts up to the mainshock which it precedes. The 1980 rupture also did not fully conform to the gap hypothesis: half of its aftershock area covered part of a great rupture which occurred in 1966. A major asperity seemed to play a critical role in the 1966 and 1980 great ruptures: it stopped the 1966 rupture, and both parts of the 1980 double rupture initiated from it. In addition, this major asperity made itself known by a seismicity rate and stress drops higher than in the surrounding areas. Stress drops of 272 earthquakes were estimated by the MS/mb method. Time dependence of stress drops could not be studied because of changes in the world data set of Ms and mb values. Areas of high stress drops did not correlate in general with areas of high seismicity rate. Instead, outstandingly high average stress drops were observed in two plate boundary segments with average seismicity rate where ocean floor ridges are being subducted. The seismic gaps of the central and northern New Hebrides each contain seismically quiet regions. In the central New Hebrides, the 50 to 100 km of the plate boundary near 18.5°S showed an extremely low seismicity rate during the entire observation period. Low seismicity could be a permanent property of this location. In the northern New Hebrides gap, seismic quiescence started in mid-1972, except in a central volume where high stress drops are observed. This volume is interpreted as an asperity, and the quiescence may be interpreted as part of the preparation process to a future large main shock near 13.5°S.

Tectonics of the offshore Red River Fault: Implication of the junction of the Yinggehai and Qiongdongnan Basins

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Lei ◽  
Jianye Ren ◽  
Jianxiang Pei ◽  
Bowen Liu ◽  
Xiang Zuo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Red River ◽  
Red River Fault
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