东昆仑活动断裂带及其强震活动

本文在简述东昆仑活动断裂带的构造背景与演化历史的基础上，重点叙述了该活动断裂带的展布，几何结构，第四纪运动和强震活动等特征，指出，这是一条具有长期演化历史，深部构造背景和第四纪乃至全新强烈活动的断裂带。因而在我国大地构造演化，尤其在青藏高原隆起形成，占有重要地位，同时，它还是我国西部地区一条主要的强震活动构造带，根据现代强震活动记录和在全带新发现的多期全新世古地震及其地表破裂带，分析了大震在断裂带     

1996年3月19日新疆阿图什6.9级地震烈度与发震构造

１９９６年３月１９日新疆阿图什、伽师县东北部发生６．９级主震－余震型地震，震中烈度达ＩＸ度。极震区内边坡裂缝、山体塌陷、山石崩塌。伽师县卧里托乎拉克乡、古尔鲁克乡、西克尔镇和阿图什市的格大良乡、农三师红旗农场等地许多房屋倒塌，大多数房屋出现不同程度的破坏。水坝和公路出现塌陷、裂缝。在地下水位较高、土质松散的地区出现大面积喷砂冒水现象。地震造成直接经济损失３．８７亿元。此次地震是托特供拜孜－阿尔帕勒克断裂最新活动的表现。     

Active tectonics of the outer northern Apennines: Adriatic vs. Po Plain seismicity and stress fields

The recent earthquake sequences of 2012 (northern Italy) and 2013 (Marche offshore) provided new, fundamental constraints to the active tectonic setting of the outer northern Apennines. In contrast to the Po Plain area, where the 2012 northern Italy earthquakes confirmed active frontal thrusting, the new focal mechanisms obtained in this study for the 2013 Marche offshore earthquakes indicate that only minor thrust fault reactivation occurs in the Adriatic domain, even for a theoretically favourably oriented maximum horizontal compression. Recent seismicity in this domain appears to be mainly controlled by transcurrent crustal faults dissecting the Apennine thrust belt. The along-strike stress field variation from the Po Plain to the Adriatic area has been quantitatively investigated by applying the multiple inverse method (MIM) to the analysis of the entire seismicity recorded from January 1976 to August 2014, from the top 12 km of the crust (fault plane solutions from 127 earthquakes with M_W ≥ 4), allowing us to obtain a comprehensive picture of the state of stress over the outer zone of the fold and thrust belt. The present-day stress field has been defined for 39 cells of 1.5° × 1.5° surface area and 12 km depth. The obtained stress field maps point out that, although the entire outer northern Apennines belt is characterized by a sub-horizontal maximum compressive axis (σ₁), the minimum compression (σ₃) is sub-vertical only in the Po Plain area, becoming sub-horizontal in the Adriatic sector, thus confirming that the latter region is dominated by an active tectonic regime of strike-slip type.     

玉树MS7.1级地震部分余震重新定位及发震构造分析

综合利用玉树震区应急流动台站观测数据和青海地震台网固定台站观测数据,依据最新的人工地震宽角反射/折射剖面的速度模型,采用Hypo2000地震定位法,对2010年4月18日至4月29日期间玉树震区发生的部分余震进行了重新定位.重新定位后,震源位置的水平和垂直方向平均误差分别为1.35 km和4.68 km,走时残差为0.49 s.震源深度分布范围为1.48～19.85 km,平均震源深度为10.28 km.定位研究结果表明:玉树地震余震沿北西-南东向的甘孜-玉树断裂带的北支,即玉树-隆宝断裂分布,长约97 km.余震分布特征在主震(微观震中)两侧存在差异,可能反映了两侧构造特征存在差异.截止到4月29日,主震东南仍是应力的主要释放区域,余震强度大且活动密集的区域位于主震东南距主震约5 km、横向范围约20 km.主震破裂区的大部分应力在主震过程中得以释放,主震时应力未释放的区域成为主要的余震分布区.余震的连续发生可能已造成主震破裂区相互连通,且破裂范围向西北方向扩展.玉树主震及余震的发震构造为甘孜-玉树断裂的北支,即玉树-隆宝断裂段,断层性质为北东倾向的高角度左旋走滑断层.发震断层的倾角和宽度在帮洞两侧有所不同,帮洞以东发震断层宽度约为12 km,倾角约为83°;而帮洞以西发震断层宽度约为6.5 km,断层倾角约减缓为63°.     

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674987110000319

The 3-D geometry of the seismicity in Hindu Kush–Pamir–western China region has been defined by seismic records for 1975–1999 from the National Earthquake Information Center, the U.S. Geological Survey, and over 16,000 relocated earthquakes since 1975 recorded by the Xinjiang seismic network of China. The results show that most Ms ≥ 5.0 hypocenters in the area are confined to a major intracontinental seismic shear zone (MSSZ). The MSSZ, which dips southwards in Pamir has a north-dipping counterpart in the Hindu Kush to the west; the two tectonic realms are separated by the sinistral Chaman transform fault of the India–Asia collisional zone. We demonstrate that the MSSZ constitutes the upper boundary of a south-dipping, actively subducting Pamir continental plate. Three seismic concentrations are recognized just above the Pamir MSSZ at depths between 45–65 km, 95–120 km, and 180–220 km, suggesting different structural relationships where each occurs. Results from focal mechanism solutions in all three seismological concentrations show orientations of the principal maximum stress to be nearly horizontal in an NNW–SSE direction. The south-dipping Pamir subduction slab is wedge-shaped with a wide upper top and a narrow deeper bottom; the slab has a gentle angle of dip in the upper part and steeper dips in the lower part below an elbow depth of ca. 80–120 km. Most of the deformation related to the earthquakes occurs within the hanging wall of the subducting Pamir slab. Published geologic data and repeated GPS measurements in the Pamir document a broad supra-subduction, upper crustal zone of evolving antithetic (i.e. north-dipping) back-thrusts that contribute to north-south crustal shortening and are responsible for exhumation of some ultrahigh-pressure rocks formed during earlier Tethyan plate convergence. An alternating occurrence in activity of Pamir and Chaman seismic zones indicates that there is interaction between strike-slip movement of the Chaman transform fault system and deep-subduction of the Pamir earthquake zone. Pamir subduction-related seismicity becomes shallower in depth with increasing distance east of the transform fault. Therefore, sinistral movement of the Chaman transform fault appears to be influencing continental deep-subduction in the Pamir region and may provide an explanation for the unusual south-dipping geometry of the intracontinental Pamir plate.     

基于余震重定位和震源机制解研究青海玛多MS7.4地震序列的发震构造和断裂形态

2021年5月22日02时04分(北京时间),青海果洛州玛多县发生M_S7.4地震,震后余震不断.地质调查和卫星观测对地表断裂痕迹有较好的约束.然而,对于理解区域应力场、地震的产生、传播和终止具有重要意义的地下断层几何结构的约束精度略显不足.利用国家地震台网的连续波形记录,本研究首先基于双差定位法对玛多地震震后25天的余震序列进行重定位,结果显示余震序列大致沿NWW向的江错断裂呈线性分布,位于主震震中两侧,延伸总长~170 km.主震东南侧存在一余震稀疏区,在断裂带东西两端余震分布转向且出现分叉现象,反映出发震断层的复杂几何形态,这与前人研究结果基本一致.进一步采用波形反演方法和P波初动极性反演方法,获得了玛多震源区132个中小余震的震源机制解与震源矩心深度,并基于此对该主余型地震的发震构造与断裂形态进行了初步分析.震源机制解结果表明,玛多M_S7.4主震的发震断裂主要为左旋走滑性质,余震与主震性质整体相同,在断裂带东段存在部分逆冲型余震.震源机制解约束的区域主应力方向约N60°E,与区内整体走滑断裂作用相一致.余震震源深度略微起伏,主要集中在10~12 km,且浅部余震较少,表明浅部应力可能主要通过主震释放,余震深度分布可能限定了主震同震破裂的下边界.玛多主震破裂起始于断裂带走向和倾向发生明显变化的位置,表明断裂带的复杂几何结构可能是此次玛多M_S7.4地震初始破裂空间分布的决定因素.主震破裂结束的两端都有"马尾状"构造(或次级断层),表明这种分叉断层复杂的几何形态可能控制着主震破裂的最终位置.     

Seismotectonics of strike–slip earthquakes within the deep crust of southern Italy: Geometry, kinematics, stress field and crustal rheology of the Potenza 1990–1991 seismic sequences (Mmax 5.7)

We present a revision and a seismotectonic interpretation of deep crust strike–slip earthquake sequences that occurred in 1990–1991 in the Southern Apennines (Potenza area). The revision is motivated by: i) the striking similarity to a seismic sequence that occurred in 2002  140 km NNW, in an analogous tectonic context (Molise area), suggesting a common seismotectonic environment of regional importance; ii) the close proximity of such deep strike–slip seismicity with shallow extensional seismicity (Apennine area); and iii) the lack of knowledge about the mechanical properties of the crust that might justify the observed crustal seismicity. A comparison between the revised 1990–1991 earthquakes and the 2002 earthquakes, as well as the integration of seismological data with a rheological analysis offer new constraints on the regional seismotectonic context of crustal seismicity in the Southern Apennines. The seismological revision consists of a relocation of the aftershock sequences based on newly constrained velocity models. New focal mechanisms of the aftershocks are computed and the active state of stress is constrained via the use of a stress inversion technique. The relationships among the observed seismicity, the crustal structure of the Southern Apennines, and the rheological layering are analysed along a crustal section crossing southern Italy, by computing geotherms and two-mechanism (brittle frictional vs. ductile plastic strength) rheological profiles. The 1990–1991 seismicity is concentrated in a well-defined depth range (mostly between 15 and 23 km depths). This depth range corresponds to the upper pat of the middle crust underlying the Apulian sedimentary cover, in the footwall of the easternmost Apennine thrust system. The 3D distribution of the aftershocks, the fault kinematics, and the stress inversion indicate the activation of a right-lateral strike–slip fault striking N100°E under a stress field characterized by a sub-horizontal N142°-trending σ1 and a sub-horizontal N232°-trending σ3, very similar to the known stress field of the Gargano seismic zone in the Apulian foreland. The apparent anomalous depths of the earthquakes (> 15 km) and the confinement within a relatively narrow depth range are explained by the crustal rheology, which consists of a strong brittle layer at mid crustal depths sandwiched between two plastic horizons. This articulated rheological stratification is typical of the central part of the Southern Apennine crust, where the Apulian crust is overthrusted by Apennine units. Both the Potenza 1990–1991 and the Molise 2002 seismic sequences can be interpreted to be due to crustal E–W fault zones within the Apulian crust inherited from previous tectonic phases and overthrusted by Apennine units during the Late Pliocene–Middle Pleistocene. The present strike–slip tectonic regime reactivated these fault zones and caused them to move with an uneven mechanical behaviour; brittle seismogenic faulting is confined to the strong brittle part of the middle crust. This strong brittle layer might also act as a stress guide able to laterally transmit the deviatoric stresses responsible for the strike–slip regime in the Apulian crust and may explain the close proximity (nearly overlapping) of the strike–slip and normal faulting regimes in the Southern Apennines. From a methodological point of view, it seems that rather simple two-mechanism rheological profiles, though affected by uncertainties, are still a useful tool for estimating the rheological properties and likely seismogenic behaviour of the crust.     

Statistical occurrence analysis and spatio-temporal distribution of earthquakes in the Apennines (Italy)

We present two examples of statistical analysis of seismicity conducted by integrating geological, geophysical and seismological data with the aim to characterize the active stress field and to define the spatio-temporal distribution of large earthquakes. Moreover, our data will help to improve the knowledge of the “seismogenic behavior” of the areas and to provide useful information for seismic hazard evaluation.The earthquakes are described by two non-parametric statistical procedures integrating also tectonic-physical parameters to study the spatio-temporal variability.The results show that the areas are characterized by: 1) a stress regime with mainly extensional kinematics; 2) tectonic structures mainly oriented with the active stress field (S_hmin = N44° ± 18° in the southern Apennines and S_hmin = N50° ± 17° in the central Apennines); 3) cluster distribution of seismicity and 4) a high probability of earthquake occurrence (M > 5.5) in the next 10 years.     

The 1780 seismic sequence in NE Sicily (Italy): shifting an underestimated and mislocated earthquake to a seismically low rate zone

The southernmost sector of the Italian peninsula is crossed by an almost continuous seismogenic belt capable of producing M ∼ 7 earthquakes and extending from the Calabrian Arc, through the Messina Straits, as far as Southeastern Sicily. Though large earthquakes occurring in this region during the last millennium are fairly well known from the historical point of view and seismic catalogues may be considered complete for destructive and badly damaging events (IX ≤ I _o ≤ XI MCS), the knowledge and seismic completeness of moderate earthquakes can be improved by investigating other kinds of documentary sources not explored by the classical seismological tradition. In this paper, we present a case study explanatory of the problem, regarding the Ionian coast between the Messina Straits and Mount Etna volcano, an area of North-eastern Sicily lacking evidence of relevant seismic activity in historical times. Now, after a systematic analysis of the 18th century journalistic sources (gazettes), this gap can be partly filled by the rediscovery of a seismic sequence that took place in 1780. According to the available catalogues, the only event on record for this year is a minor shock (I _o = VI MCS, M _w = 4.8) recorded in Messina on March 28, 1780. The newly discovered data allow to reinstate it as the mainshock (I _o = VII–VIII MCS, M _w = 5.6) of a significant seismic period, which went on from March to June 1780, causing severe damage along the Ionian coast of North-eastern Sicily. The source responsible for this event appears located offshore, 40-km south of the previous determination, and is consistent with the Taormina Fault suggested by the geological literature, developing in the low seismic rate zone at the southernmost termination of the 1908 Messina earthquake fault.     

Review on Deep Geoplhysical Exploration and Research in China

The status of deep geophysical exploration and research in China is summarized in this paper.New achievements in the study of the velocity structure,seismotectonics and geodynamics of the crust and upper mantle are also briefly descibed.