scholarly journals Exploring the Rheology of a Seismogenic Zone by Applying Seismic Variation

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 8847
Author(s):  
Chun-Fu Liao ◽  
Strong Wen ◽  
Chau-Huei Chen ◽  
Ying-Nien Chen

Although the study of spatiotemporal variation of a subsurface velocity structure is a challenging task, it can provide a description of the fault geometry as well as important information on the rheological changes caused by fault rupture. Our main objective is to investigate whether rheological changes of faults can be associated with the seismogenic process before a strong earthquake. For this purpose, a 3D tomographic technique is applied to obtain P- and S-wave velocity structures in central Taiwan using travel time data. The results show that temporal variations in the Vs structure in the source area demonstrate significant spatiotemporal variation before and after the Chi-Chi earthquake. We infer that, before the mainshock, Vs began to decrease (and Vp/Vs increased) at the hanging wall of the Chelungpu fault, which may be induced by the increasing density of microcracks and fluid. However, in the vicinity of the Chi-Chi earthquake’s source area, Vs increased (and Vp/Vs decreased), which may be attributed to the closing of cracks or migration of fluid. The different physical characteristics at the junctional zone may easily generate strong earthquakes. Therefore, seismic velocity changes are found to be associated with a subsurface evolution around the source area in Taiwan. Our findings suggest that monitoring the Vp and Vs (or Vp/Vs) structures in high seismic potential zones is an important ongoing task, which may minimize the damage caused by future large earthquakes.

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rajaure

An attempt has been made to study the velocity structure of western Nepal. Arrival time data of local earthquakes occurring in that region were used to derive the model. A three layered velocity model both for the P- as well as S-wave velocity has been estimated. The compressional wave velocities in the first, second and the third layers have been estimated to be 5.53 km/sec. 6.29 km/sec and 8.13 km/sec respectively. Similarly the corresponding S-wave velocities are 3.18, 3.62, 4.66 km/sec respectively. The model for the Western Nepal and that for the Centre-East Nepal are almost same. The crust and the mantle beneath west and center-east are homogeneous.


2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhira Aoyagi ◽  
Haruo Kimura ◽  
Kazuo Mizoguchi

Abstract The earthquake rupture termination mechanism and size of the ruptured area are crucial parameters for earthquake magnitude estimations and seismic hazard assessments. The 2016 Mw 7.0 Kumamoto Earthquake, central Kyushu, Japan, ruptured a 34-km-long area along previously recognized active faults, eastern part of the Futagawa fault zone and northernmost part of the Hinagu fault zone. Many researchers have suggested that a magma chamber under Aso Volcano terminated the eastward rupture. However, the termination mechanism of the southward rupture has remained unclear. Here, we conduct a local seismic tomographic inversion using a dense temporary seismic network to detail the seismic velocity structure around the southern termination of the rupture. The compressional-wave velocity (Vp) results and compressional- to shear-wave velocity (Vp/Vs) structure indicate several E–W- and ENE–WSW-trending zonal anomalies in the upper to middle crust. These zonal anomalies may reflect regional geological structures that follow the same trends as the Oita–Kumamoto Tectonic Line and Usuki–Yatsushiro Tectonic Line. While the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake rupture mainly propagated through a low-Vp/Vs area (1.62–1.74) along the Hinagu fault zone, the southern termination of the earthquake at the focal depth of the mainshock is adjacent to a 3-km-diameter high-Vp/Vs body. There is a rapid 5-km step in the depth of the seismogenic layer across the E–W-trending velocity boundary between the low- and high-Vp/Vs areas that corresponds well with the Rokkoku Tectonic Line; this geological boundary is the likely cause of the dislocation of the seismogenic layer because it is intruded by serpentinite veins. A possible factor in the southern rupture termination of the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake is the existence of a high-Vp/Vs body in the direction of southern rupture propagation. The provided details of this inhomogeneous barrier, which are inferred from the seismic velocity structures, may improve future seismic hazard assessments for a complex fault system composed of multiple segments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Metin Kahraman ◽  
Hans Thybo ◽  
Irina Artemieva ◽  
Alexey Shulgin ◽  
Alireza Malehmir ◽  
...  

<p>The Baltic Shield is located in the northern part of Europe, which formed by amalgamation of a series of terranes and microcontinents during the Archean to the Paleoproterozoic, followed by significant modification in Neoproterozoic to Paleozoic time. The Baltic Shield includes an up-to 2500 m high mountain range, the Scandes , along the western North Atlantic coast, despite being a stable craton located far from any active plate boundary.</p><p>We study a crustal scale seismic profile experiment in northern Scandinavia between 63<sup>o</sup>N and 71<sup>o</sup>N. Our Silverroad seismic profile extends perpendicular to the coastline around Lofoten and extends ~300km in a northwest direction across the shelf into the Atlantic Ocean and ~300km in a southeastern direction across the Baltic Shield. The seismic data were acquired with 5 explosive sources and 270 receivers onshore; 16 ocean bottom seismometers and air gun shooting from the vessel Hakon Mosby were used to collect both offshore and onshore.</p><p>We present the results from raytracing modelling of the seismic velocity structure along the profile. The outputs of this experiment will help to solve high onshore topography and anomalous and heterogeneous bathymetry of the continental lithosphere around the North Atlantic Ocean. The results show crustal thinning from the shield onto the continental shelf and further into the oceanic part. Of particular interest is the velocity below the high topography of the Scandes, which will be discussed in relation to isostatic equilibrium along the profile.</p>


1981 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-334
Author(s):  
Robin K. McGuire ◽  
Theodore P. Barnhard

abstract The accuracy of stationary mathematical models of seismicity for calculating probabilities of damaging shaking is examined using the history of earthquakes in China from 1350 A.D. to 1949 A.D. During this time, rates of seismic activity varied periodically by a factor of 10. Probabilities of damaging shaking are calculated in 62 cities in North China using 50 yr of earthquake data to estimate seismicity parameters; the probabilities are compared to statistics of damaging shaking in the same cities for 50 yr following the data window. These comparisons indicate that the seismic hazard analysis is accurate if: (1) the maximum possible earthquake size in each seismogenic zone is determined from the entire seismic history rather than from a short-time window; and (2) the future seismic activity can be estimated accurately. The first condition emphasizes the importance of realistically estimating the maximum possible size of earthquakes on faults. The second indicates the need to understand possible trends in seismic activity where these exist, or to develop an earthquake prediction capability with which to estimate future activity. Without the capability of estimating future seismicity, stationary models provide less accurate but generally conservative indications of seismic ground-shaking hazard. In the United States, the available earthquake history is brief but gives no indication of changing rates of activity. The rate of seismic strain release in the Central and Eastern United States has been constant over the last 180 yr, and the geological record of earthquakes on the southern San Andreas Fault indicates no temporal trend for large shocks over the last 15 centuries. Both observations imply that seismic activity is either stationary or of such a long period that it may be treated as stationary for seismic hazard analyses in the United States.


Author(s):  
Bernd Resch ◽  
Andreas Wichmann ◽  
Nicolas Göll

Even though advantages of 3D visualisation of multi-temporal geo-data versus 2D approaches have been widely proven, the particular pertaining challenge of real-time visualisation of geo-data in mobile Digital Earth applications has not been thoroughly tackled so far. In the emerging field of Augmented Reality (AR), research needs comprise finding the optimal information density, the interplay between orientation data in the background and other information layers, using the appropriate graphical variables for display, or selecting real-time base data with adequate quality and suitable spatial accuracy. In this paper we present a concept for integrating real-time data into 4D (three spatial dimensions plus time) AR environments, i.e., data with “high” spatial and temporal variations. We focus on three research challenges: 1.) high-performance integration of real-time data into AR; 2.) usability design in terms of displaying spatio-temporal developments and the interaction with the application; and 3.) design considerations regarding reality vs. virtuality, visualisation complexity and information density. We validated our approach in a prototypical application and extracted several limitations and future research areas including natural feature recognition, the cross-connection of (oftentimes monolithic) AR interface developments and well-established cartographic principles, or fostering the understanding of the temporal context in dynamic 4D Augmented Reality environments.


Geophysics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. R45-R56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Nielsen ◽  
Hans Thybo ◽  
Martin Glendrup

Seismic wide-angle data were recorded to more than 300-km offset from powerful airgun sources during the MONA LISA experiments in 1993 and 1995 to determine the seismic-velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle along three lines in the southeastern North Sea with a total length of 850 km. We use the first arrivals observed out to an offset of 90 km to obtain high-resolution models of the velocity structure of the sedimentary layers and the upper part of the crystalline crust. Seismic tomographic traveltime inversion reveals 2–8-km-thick Paleozoic sedimentary sequences with P-wave velocities of 4.5–5.2 km/s. These sedimentary rocks are situated below a Mesozoic-Cenozoic sequence with variable thickness: ∼2–3 km on the basement highs, ∼2–4 km in the Horn Graben and the North German Basin, and ∼6–7 km in the Central Graben. The thicknesses of the Paleozoic sedimentary sequences are ∼3–5 km in the Central Graben, more than 4 km in the Horn Graben, up to ∼4 km on the basement highs, and up to 8 km in the North German Basin. The Paleozoic strata are clearly separated from the shallower and younger sequences with velocities of ∼1.8–3.8 km/s and the deeper crystalline crust with velocities of more than 5.8–6.0 km/s in the tomographic P-wave velocity model. Resolution tests show that the existence of the Paleozoic sediments is well constrained by the data. Hence, our wide-angle seismic models document the presence of Paleozoic sediments throughout the southeastern North Sea, both in the graben structures and in deep basins on the basement highs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidayat Hidayat ◽  
Andri Dian Nugraha ◽  
Awali Priyono ◽  
Marjiyono Marjiyono ◽  
Januar H. Setiawan ◽  
...  

The Banyumas Basin is a tertiary sedimentary basin located in southern Central Java, Indonesia. Due to the presence of volcanic deposits, 2-D seismic reflection methods cannot provide a good estimation of the sediment thickness and the subsurface geology structure in this area. In this study, the passive seismic tomography (PST) method was applied to image the 3-D subsurface Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs ratio. We used 70 seismograph borehole stations with a recording duration of 177 days. A total of 354 events with 9, 370 P and 9, 368 S phases were used as input for tomographic inversion. The checkshot data of a 4, 400-meter deep exploration well (Jati-1) located within the seismic network were used to constrain the shallow crustal layer of the initial 1-D velocity model. The model resolution of the tomographic inversions was assessed using the checkerboard resolution test (CRT), the diagonal resolution element (DRE), and the derivative weight sum (DWS). Using the obtained Vp, Vs, and Vp/Vs ratio, we were able to sharpen details of the geological structures within the basin from previous geological studies, and a fault could be well-imaged at a depth of 4 km. We interpreted this as the main dextral strike-slip fault that controls the pull apart process of the Banyumas Basin. The thickness of the sediment layers, as well as its layering, were also could be well determined. We found prominent features of the velocity contrast that aligned very well with the boundary between the Halang and Rambatan formations as observed in the Jati-1 well data. Furthermore, an anticline structure, which is a potential structural trap for the petroleum system in the Banyumas Basin, was also well imaged. This was made possible due to the dense borehole seismographic stations which were deployed in the study area.


1987 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-120
Author(s):  
Yoshibumi Tomoda ◽  
Hiromi Fujimoto

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