Abstract
A review on studies of the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake for resolving the debatable problems in earthquake physics
Highlights
For a long time, there have been several debatable problems in earthquake physics
The stress problem concerns the debate of localization or non-localization of strain along and surrounding the earthquake fault
For the Chi-Chi earthquake, the estimated value of D = 3.1 - 6.0 m (Wang 2006a), Δσ = 4.2 - 10.0 MPa (Wang 2005), and μ = 19 GPa (Wang et al 2009) lead to 2w = 5.9 - 27.1 km, with an average of 18 km. This can be confirmed by the field surveys made by Yu et al (2001, 2003), whose results show that the larger strain is distributed in a range of ~10 km from the fault
Summary
There have been several debatable problems in earthquake physics. Sornette (1999) pointed out three of the problems: (1) the strain problem (localized versus non-localized); (2) the stress problem (high versus low); and (3) the heat flux problem (high versus low). There are four interesting, debatable problems: (1) the stress drop problem (high versus low); (2) the source spectral problem (ω-2 versus ω-3); (3) the seismic efficiency problem (high versus low); and (4) the earthquake recurrence problem (time-predictable versus slip-predictable). Based on the PEAR, an island-wide continuouslyrecording GPS network was installed, several down-hole strain-meters were set up, several seismic profiles across the island were imaged, a few shallow and two ~2000-m deep boreholes were drilled, and numerous earthquake faults were trenched. Nine stations (shown by open tringles in Fig. 1) are located much closed to the surface trace of the Chelungpu fault. The data gained from two trenching sites in the southern segment of the fault, in addition to the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, 1 - 4 events rupturing the fault in the past 1900 years were recognized.
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