Characteristics Of Shear Wave Splitting Research Articles

Erratum to: The characteristics of shear wave splitting in the source region of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake

Erratum to: The characteristics of shear wave splitting in the source region of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake

The characteristics of shear wave splitting in the source region of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake

Using seismic data of the aftershocks sequence of the April 20, 2013 Lushan earthquake recorded by seismic temporary and permanent stations in the source region, with the visual inspection of particle motion diagrams, this paper preliminarily contains the polarization directions of fast shear wave and the time-delays of split shear waves at every station, and analyzes the crustal anisotropic characteristics in the source region. In the study area, the polarization directions at stations BAX, TQU, L132, L133, L134, and L135 are northeast, which is consistent with the strike of Dachuan–Shuangshi fault. There are two polarization directions at MDS and L131, which are northeast and southeast. The scatter of polarization directions suggests the complex stress field around these two stations where two faults intersect. For the normalized time-delays at every station, the range is 1.02–8.64 ms/km. The largest time-delay is from L134 which is closest to the mainshock, and the smallest one is from L133. The variations in time-delays show the decreasing at stations BAX, L134, and L135 because of the stress–relaxation after earthquake.

Coupling characteristics of stress and strain at different layers of different sub-regions in Yunnan and its adjacent areas

In this paper, we collect 6 361 waveform data to calculate the shear wave splitting parameters from a regional seismic network of 22 digital stations in Yunnan and its adjacent area from July 1999 to June 2005. By using the cross-correlation method, 64 splitting events of 16 stations are processed. We also collect the splitting results of eight earthquake sequences to present the characteristics of shear wave splitting in Yunnan and its adjacent areas. The orientations of maximum principal compressive stress of three sub-regions in this area are derived from the CMT focal mechanism solutions of 43 moderate-strong earthquakes provided by Harvard University by the P axis azimuth-averaging method. The principal strain rate at each observatory is deduced from the observations of Crustal Movement Observation Network of China during the period from 1999 to 2004. In addition, the data of Pn aniso-tropy and SKS splitting of Yunnan and its adjacent areas are also collected. We have discovered from this study that the continental lithosphere, as a main seismogenic environment for strong earthquake, can be divided into blocks laterally; the mechanical behavior of lithosphere varies with depth and can be divided into different layers in the vertical orientation; the information of crustal deformation obtained from GPS might be affected by the type of blocks, since there are different types of active blocks in Yunnan and its adjacent areas; the shear wave splitting in this region might be affected mainly by the upper crust or even the surface tectonics.

Variational characteristics of shear-wave splitting on the 2001 Shidian earthquakes in Yunnan, China

In 2001 three earthquakes occurred in Shidian in Yunnan Province, which were the M S=5.2 on April 10, the M S=5.9 on April 12 and the M S=5.3 on June 8. Based on the data from the station Baoshan of Yunnan Telemetry Digital Seismograph Network, the variational characteristics of shear-wave splitting on these series of strong earthquakes has been studied by using the systematic analysis method (SAM) of shear-wave splitting. The result shows the time delays of shear-wave splitting basically increase with earthquake activity intensifying. However the time delays abruptly decrease immediately before strong aftershocks. It accords with the stress relaxation before earthquakes, which was found recently in study on shear-wave splitting. The result suggests it is significant for reducing the harm degree of earthquakes to develop the stress-forecasting on earthquake in strong active tectonic zones and economic developed regions or big cities under the danger of strong earthquakes.

Shear wave anisotropy beneath the Tibetan Plateau

Eleven broadband digital seismic stations were deployed across the central Tibetan Plateau in the first extensive passive‐source experiment attempted within the Tibetan Plateau. One year of recording resulted in 186 event‐station pairs which we analyze to determine the characteristics of shear wave splitting in the upper mantle beneath the array. Measurements of the fast polarization direction (ϕ) and delay time (δt) for SKS and direct S arrivals reveal systematic variations along the north‐south oriented array. In the north central region of the plateau, very large delay times are observed at three stations, the largest of which is BUDO with of δt=2.4 s. However, at TUNL, which is off the northern edge of the plateau and 110 km from BUDO, and at sites in the south central plateau, δt decreases by nearly a factor of 3. We also observe systematic rotation of ϕ from about 45° (NE) to 90° (E‐W) from south to north along the array. A previously identified zone of inefficient Sn propagation correlates well with our region of large δt observations. The large delay times suggest that a relateively high number of anisotropic crystals are preferentially alligned within the mantle‐lid, beneath the north central portion of the Tibetan Plateau. In most cases, fast polarization directions appear to be parallel to surface geologic features suggesting as much as 200 km of the upper mantle has been involved in the collisional deformation that has produced the Tibetan Plateau.