Deep medium environment of strong earthquakes occurrence in Yunnan region

Abstract

The deep structure background of earth medium for strong earthquakes occurrence in Yunnan area is discussed in this paper, by using the results on the study of the velocity structure, electrical conductivity structure, geothermal structure in the crust and upper mantle in Yunnan area. The results show that the occurrence of strong earthquakes in Yunnan region is obviously related to the deep medium and tectonic environment such as the existence of the high velocity zone in the upper crust, the low velocity zone or high electrical conductivity layer in the middle crust, local uplift in the upper mantle, high geothermal activity and deep and large fault, etc. The M≥6 large earthquakes could not take place at anywhere, they often occur at some regions which have a certain background in the deep medium structure. The activity of the earthquakes with magnitude of 5 or less is quite random, the occurrence of them have not the obvious background of the deep medium structure.