Study of the Change in Wave Velocity Ratio before and after Two Strong Earthquakes Using Airgun Source Data

Using the signals excited by the large-volume airgun source at the Binchuan transmitting seismic station from January to June, 2016, arrival-time data was acquired at four stations near the epicenter of the Eryuan M_S4.5 and M_S4.0 earthquakes on February 8, 2016, as well as the epicenter of the Yunlong M_S5.0 and Eryuan M_S4.6 earthquakes on May 18, 2016 through the waveform cross-correlation technique. The wave velocity ratio of the four stations was calculated using the single-station method. At the same time, the b-value and the focal mechanism consistency parameters of the study area were also calculated. The results show that:(1) the wave velocity ratio of each station experienced a process of decline-recovery-fast rise before the two strong earthquakes, and a significant quasi-synchronous rapid rise occurred within 3-12 days before the earthquake; (2) the timing of the rapid rise of the wave velocity ratio of the four stations before the Yunlong M_S5.0 and Eryuan M_S4.6 earthquakes were related to the epicentral distance. The station which observed the earliest increase in rapid rise is the farthest one from the epicenter, and the station where the rapid rise appeared in the latest is closest to the epicenter; (3) the form of change of the wave velocity ratio before the earthquake was different between stations located at different directions in the epicenter area; (4) the b-value and the focal mechanism consistency parameter which is commonly used to characterize the stress level both showed a downward trend before the two strong earthquakes, and were consistent with the change in the wave velocity ratio. According to the preliminary analysis, the wave velocity ratio obtained by using airgun source can better reflect the change in the stress state of the underground medium.