Numerical earthquake model of the 31 October 2013 Ruisui, Taiwan, earthquake: Source rupture process and seismic wave propagation

Abstract

We build a numerical earthquake model, including numerical source and wave propagation models, to understand the rupture process and the ground motion time history of the 2013 ML 6.4 Ruisui earthquake in Taiwan. This moderately large event was located in the Longitudinal Valley, a suture zone of the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasia Plate. A joint source inversion analysis by using teleseismic body wave, GPS coseismic displacement and near field ground motion data was performed first. The inversion results derived from a western dipping fault plane indicate that the slip occurred in depths between 10 and 20km. The rupture propagated from south to north and two asperities were resolved. The largest one was located approximately 15km north of the epicenter with a maximum slip about 1m. A 3D seismic wave propagation simulation based on the spectral-element method was then carried out by using the inverted source model. A strong rupture directivity effect in the northern area of the Longitudinal Valley was found, which was due to the northward rupture process. Forward synthetic waveforms could explain most of the near-field ground motion data for frequencies between 0.05 and 0.2Hz. This numerical earthquake model not only helps us confirm the detailed rupture processes on the Central Range Fault but also gives contribution to regional seismic hazard mitigation for future large earthquakes.