Seismological Constraints on the Causes of Intraplate Earthquakes in Yangjiang Region, South China

Abstract

AbstractLarge earthquakes that occur away from plate boundaries (i.e., large intraplate earthquakes), though rare, could cause heavy damage. Understanding their causes could help with seismic hazard assessment. In this study, we image the seismogenic structure under the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang intraplate earthquake within the stable South China Block with a high‐resolution three‐dimensional shear‐wave velocity model constructed from ambient noise tomography based on a dense nodal seismic array. The model images relatively low velocities at a fault intersection region from the surface to at least 13 km depth in the Yangjiang seismogenic zone. Given spatial links among the intersection zone of faults, surface seawater, and low velocities, we interpret the low velocities to reflect the presence of seawater‐filled, highly fractured rocks created by the intersection of faults. We infer that the seawater infiltration through densely‐fractures could have elevated pore pressure in the long term, as evidenced by low earthquake b values at 8–13 km depths. We hypothesize that this long‐term seawater infiltration could have lowered the stress threshold of earthquake occurrence and contributed to the generation of the 1969 Ms6.4 Yangjiang earthquake. We propose that the large intraplate earthquakes within stable plates tend to occur in regional weakening regions (e.g., fault intersections) favorable to stress buildup. Given sufficient tectonic stress accumulation, the long‐term hydrologically driven crustal stress variations could play an essential role in triggering large intraplate earthquakes. This study could potentially contribute to improving seismic hazard assessment in the Guangdong‐Hong Kong‐Macao‐Greater‐Bay‐Area, China.