EARTHQUAKE FOCAL MECANISMS IN THE DALIANGSHAN SUB-BLOCK AND ADJACENT AREAS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REGIONAL STRESS FIELD

The Daliangshan sub-block is a boundary region among the Bayan Har block, the Sichuan-Yunnan block and the South China block. It hosts four major fault systems:The southwest to south trending Xianshuihe-Zemuhe Fault zone in the west, the Longmenshan fault zone is the northern boundary, the Zhaotong-Lianfeng fault zone in the south, and the NS-trending Mabian-Yanjin fault zone in the east. This study focused on focal mechanisms and the regional stress field of the Daliangshan sub-block to help understand the earthquake preparation process, tectonic deformation and seismic stress interaction in this area. We collected broadband waveform records from the Sichuan Seismic Network and used multiple 1-D velocity models to determine the focal mechanisms of moderate and large earthquakes(M_L ≥ 3.5)in the Daliangshan sub-block by using the CAP method. Results for 276 earthquakes from Jan 2010 to Aug 2016 show that the earthquakes are dominated by strike-slip and trust faulting, very few events have normal faulting and the mixed type. We then derived the regional distribution of the stress field through a damp linear inversion(DRSSI)using the focal mechanisms obtained in this study. Inversion results for the spatial pattern of the stress field in the block suggest that the entire region is predominantly under strike-slip and trust faulting regimes, largely consistent with the focal mechanisms. The direction of maximum compression axes is NW-NWW, and part of the area is slightly rotated, which is consistent with the GPS velocity field. Combining geodynamic background, this work suggests that because the Sichuan-Yunnan block is moving to SE and the Tibetan plateau to SE-E along major strike-slip faults, the stress field of the Daliangshan sub-block and its adjacent regions is controlled jointly by the Bayan Har block, the Sichuan-Yunnan block and the South China block.