Three-dimensional velocity structure around the focal area of the 2021 MS6.4 Yangbi earthquake

Abstract

On May 21, 2021, an MS6.4 earthquake occurred in Yangbi, Yunnan province, China, which exhibited typical foreshock-mainshock-aftershock characteristics. To better understand the velocity structure of the focal area and adjacent fault zones, Pg/Sg travel times at 12 seismic stations for the local earthquakes with ML ≥ 1.5 from 2009–2019 and the Yangbi sequence in May of 2021 were used to invert the three-dimensional (3D) structures for both vP and vP/vS. The obtained structure extends deeply to 15 km for area (25°N–26.5°N, 99.5°E–101°E) at a horizontal resolution of 10× 10 km, and the accuracy of the vP velocity was verified using airgun signals excited by the Binchuan Airgun Transmitting Seismic Station (BATSS). The resulting vP and vP/vS images correlate with existing fault zones and the Yangbi sequence, including: (1) The shallow velocity structure at 0 km agrees with local topography, where the Binchuan basin exhibits low-vP and high-vP/vS values. From 3–15 km, vP and vP/vS show variations, and the boundaries are consistent with the main faults (e.g., the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan, Honghe, and Chenghai faults). (2) The largest foreshock (MS5.6), mainshock (MS6.4), and largest aftershock (MS5.2) occurred near the boundaries where both vP and vP/vS have clear contrasts. (3) Small earthquakes are also concentrated in the transition zone between high- and low-vP and vP/vS anomalies, and are biased toward low-vP/vS zones. (4) Boundaries in vP and vP/vS are observed at 20 km west of the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan fault, indicating that there may exist one hidden fault.