On the anomalous land uplift and aseismic creep prior to the 1976 Tangshan earthquake

Abstract

A spatio-temporal analysis based on the data of eleven repeated levellings around the Tangshan region prior to the 1976 earthquake indicates that an uplift lasting for 2 years, from 1968 through 1969. with a magnitude of 50 mm, occurred in the epicentral area. Aseismic creep superimposed on the accumulated strain has been found in the vicinity of Tangshan and Baodi along both the Tangshan and the Jiyunhe faults. Assuming uniform strain accumulation and elastic dislocation, theoretical values of displacement at the various dislocation sites have been calculated and, using the least squares method, the optimal values of strain accumulation and the parameters of the creep faults in different years have been determined. The creep fault under Tangshan, a right-lateral normal fault, strikes N47°E and dips S87°E. and is 8 km long and 6 km wide. The upper boundary of the fault lies 2 km deep. The strike-slip and dip-slip offsets are, respectively, 104 cm and 8cm. The average rate of strain accumulation amounts to 0.9 × 10 −7/ yr. Creep at the fault amounted to 18.6 cm/yr and 1.4 cm/yr, respectively, in the strike and dip directions over the period 1969–1975. The Jiyunhe fault, although of smaller dimensions, has experienced a greater rate of creep than the Tangshan fault. A correlation of the above-mentioned uplift and creep with that of the Tangshan earthquake suggests that the uplift might have been a manifestation of the early development of the earthquake and that aseismic creep may be one of the precursory phenomena of shallow earthquakes. The sequence of processes preceding the Tangshan earthquake may be described as: strain accumulation-land upliftaseismic creep-inverse land deformation (or decrease in creep rate)-earthquake.