Earthquake migration in East Asia mainland (I)—The migration of huge earthquakes and volcanic activity from West Pacific Trench to the Chinese mainland

Abstract

The researches in this paper disclose a huge earthquake migration series that lasted more than one century—from the 17th century to the early day of the 18th, transverse migration of huge earthquake from West Pacific trench to the Chinese mainland, lasted about 134 a, the distance is about 2600 km, the velocity is about 19 km/a, and the direction of migration agrees with the direction of plate subduction and vertical to the strike of plate boundary. The migration has two branches. One extends westwards and terminates at the central longitude belt (Helanshan—Liupanshan fault zone) of the Chinese mainland, triggered the strongest seismicity episode in North China, including 4 earthquakes withM ⩾8.0. The other extends northwards, passing through Korea Peninsula, terminates at the north part of Heilongjian Province, and triggered the volcanic eruption activity in Changbaishan and Wudalianchi. The time-space linearity of migration is good. Its velocity is stable and its activity attenuates gradually. It is estimated that it is related with the disturbance of asthenosphere matters caused by the sudden acceleration of the subduction of the trench plate. There are two similar transverse migration series from 1498 to 1556 and from 1843 to 1927, and the velocities are 36.2 and 33.7 km/a respectively.