Numerical calculations of tectonic stress field of Chinese mainland and its neighboring regions and their applications to explanation of seismic activity

This paper made a numerical simulation to the basic tectonic stress field of Chinese mainland and its neighboring region using the visco-elasticity finite element model and the new published displacement rate result. Main contents include the simulation of maximum shear stress and its varying rate, the maximum shear strain and its varying rate, the shear strain energy density and its varying rate. In view of the high inhomogeneous distribution character of seismicity in space and time in Chinese mainland and its neighboring area, the normalized background energy value was given by means of normalized treatment to the earthquake energy release in the eastern and western parts of Chinese mainland. And the comparison of the simulation result with the actual seismicity was made. The results show that the simulation values can explain well the earthquake distribution character of Chinese mainland and its neighboring area. This subject is supported by the Key Project of earthquake imminent prediction during “9-th Five-Year Plan” from China Seismological Bureau (95-04-03-03-03).