Decay of aftershock density with distance does not indicate triggering by dynamic stress

Resolving whether static or dynamic stress triggers most aftershocks and subsequent mainshocks is essential to understand earthquake interaction and to forecast seismic hazard. Felzer and Brodsky examined the distance distribution of earthquakes occurring in the first five minutes after 2?≤?M?相似文献   

Earthquake triggering by seismic waves following the Landers and Hector Mine earthquakes

The proximity and similarity of the 1992, magnitude 7.3 Landers and 1999, magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine earthquakes in California permit testing of earthquake triggering hypotheses not previously possible. The Hector Mine earthquake confirmed inferences that transient, oscillatory 'dynamic' deformations radiated as seismic waves can trigger seismicity rate increases, as proposed for the Landers earthquake. Here we quantify the spatial and temporal patterns of the seismicity rate changes. The seismicity rate increase was to the north for the Landers earthquake and primarily to the south for the Hector Mine earthquake. We suggest that rupture directivity results in elevated dynamic deformations north and south of the Landers and Hector Mine faults, respectively, as evident in the asymmetry of the recorded seismic velocity fields. Both dynamic and static stress changes seem important for triggering in the near field with dynamic stress changes dominating at greater distances. Peak seismic velocities recorded for each earthquake suggest the existence of, and place bounds on, dynamic triggering thresholds. These thresholds vary from a few tenths to a few MPa in most places, depend on local conditions, and exceed inferred static thresholds by more than an order of magnitude. At some sites, the onset of triggering was delayed until after the dynamic deformations subsided. Physical mechanisms consistent with all these observations may be similar to those that give rise to liquefaction or cyclic fatigue.     

Remote triggering of deep earthquakes in the 2002 Tonga sequences

It is well established that an earthquake in the Earth's crust can trigger subsequent earthquakes, but such triggering has not been documented for deeper earthquakes. Models for shallow fault interactions suggest that static (permanent) stress changes can trigger nearby earthquakes, within a few fault lengths from the causative earthquake, whereas dynamic (transient) stresses carried by seismic waves may trigger earthquakes both nearby and at remote distances. Here we present a detailed analysis of the 19 August 2002 Tonga deep earthquake sequences and show evidence for both static and dynamic triggering. Seven minutes after a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurred at a depth of 598 km, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake (664 km depth) occurred 300 km away, in a previously aseismic region. We found that nearby aftershocks of the first mainshock are preferentially located in regions where static stresses are predicted to have been enhanced by the mainshock. But the second mainshock and other triggered events are located at larger distances where static stress increases should be negligible, thus suggesting dynamic triggering. The origin times of the triggered events do not correspond to arrival times of the main seismic waves from the mainshocks and the dynamically triggered earthquakes frequently occur in aseismic regions below or adjacent to the seismic zone. We propose that these events are triggered by transient effects in regions near criticality, but where earthquakes have difficulty nucleating without external influences.     

Effects of acoustic waves on stick-slip in granular media and implications for earthquakes

It remains unknown how the small strains induced by seismic waves can trigger earthquakes at large distances, in some cases thousands of kilometres from the triggering earthquake, with failure often occurring long after the waves have passed. Earthquake nucleation is usually observed to take place at depths of 10-20 km, and so static overburden should be large enough to inhibit triggering by seismic-wave stress perturbations. To understand the physics of dynamic triggering better, as well as the influence of dynamic stressing on earthquake recurrence, we have conducted laboratory studies of stick-slip in granular media with and without applied acoustic vibration. Glass beads were used to simulate granular fault zone material, sheared under constant normal stress, and subject to transient or continuous perturbation by acoustic waves. Here we show that small-magnitude failure events, corresponding to triggered aftershocks, occur when applied sound-wave amplitudes exceed several microstrain. These events are frequently delayed or occur as part of a cascade of small events. Vibrations also cause large slip events to be disrupted in time relative to those without wave perturbation. The effects are observed for many large-event cycles after vibrations cease, indicating a strain memory in the granular material. Dynamic stressing of tectonic faults may play a similar role in determining the complexity of earthquake recurrence.     

Triggering of earthquake aftershocks by dynamic stresses

It is thought that small 'static' stress changes due to permanent fault displacement can alter the likelihood of, or trigger, earthquakes on nearby faults. Many studies of triggering in the near-field, particularly of aftershocks, rely on these static changes as the triggering agent and consider them only in terms of equivalent changes in the applied load on the fault. Here we report a comparison of the aftershock pattern of the moment magnitude Mw = 7.3 Landers earthquake, not only with static stress changes but also with transient, oscillatory stress changes transmitted as seismic waves (that is, 'dynamic' stresses). Dynamic stresses do not permanently change the applied load and thus can trigger earthquakes only by altering the mechanical state or properties of the fault zone. These dynamically weakened faults may fail after the seismic waves have passed by, and might even cause earthquakes that would not otherwise have occurred. We find similar asymmetries in the aftershock and dynamic stress patterns, the latter being due to rupture propagation, whereas the static stress changes lack this asymmetry. Previous studies have shown that dynamic stresses can promote failure at remote distances, but here we show that they can also do so nearby.     

Decay of aftershock density with distance indicates triggering by dynamic stress

The majority of earthquakes are aftershocks, yet aftershock physics is not well understood. Many studies suggest that static stress changes trigger aftershocks, but recent work suggests that shaking (dynamic stresses) may also play a role. Here we measure the decay of aftershocks as a function of distance from magnitude 2-6 mainshocks in order to clarify the aftershock triggering process. We find that for short times after the mainshock, when low background seismicity rates allow for good aftershock detection, the decay is well fitted by a single inverse power law over distances of 0.2-50 km. The consistency of the trend indicates that the same triggering mechanism is working over the entire range. As static stress changes at the more distant aftershocks are negligible, this suggests that dynamic stresses may be triggering all of these aftershocks. We infer that the observed aftershock density is consistent with the probability of triggering aftershocks being nearly proportional to seismic wave amplitude. The data are not fitted well by models that combine static stress change with the evolution of frictionally locked faults.     

Earthquake nucleation by transient deformations caused by the M = 7.9 Denali, Alaska, earthquake

The permanent and dynamic (transient) stress changes inferred to trigger earthquakes are usually orders of magnitude smaller than the stresses relaxed by the earthquakes themselves, implying that triggering occurs on critically stressed faults. Triggered seismicity rate increases may therefore be most likely to occur in areas where loading rates are highest and elevated pore pressures, perhaps facilitated by high-temperature fluids, reduce frictional stresses and promote failure. Here we show that the 2002 magnitude M = 7.9 Denali, Alaska, earthquake triggered widespread seismicity rate increases throughout British Columbia and into the western United States. Dynamic triggering by seismic waves should be enhanced in directions where rupture directivity focuses radiated energy, and we verify this using seismic and new high-sample GPS recordings of the Denali mainshock. These observations are comparable in scale only to the triggering caused by the 1992 M = 7.4 Landers, California, earthquake, and demonstrate that Landers triggering did not reflect some peculiarity of the region or the earthquake. However, the rate increases triggered by the Denali earthquake occurred in areas not obviously tectonically active, implying that even in areas of low ambient stressing rates, faults may still be critically stressed and that dynamic triggering may be ubiquitous and unpredictable.     

Nonlinear dynamics, granular media and dynamic earthquake triggering

The 1992 magnitude 7.3 Landers earthquake triggered an exceptional number of additional earthquakes within California and as far north as Yellowstone and Montana. Since this observation, other large earthquakes have been shown to induce dynamic triggering at remote distances--for example, after the 1999 magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine and the 2002 magnitude 7.9 Denali earthquakes--and in the near-field as aftershocks. The physical origin of dynamic triggering, however, remains one of the least understood aspects of earthquake nucleation. The dynamic strain amplitudes from a large earthquake are exceedingly small once the waves have propagated more than several fault radii. For example, a strain wave amplitude of 10(-6) and wavelength 1 m corresponds to a displacement amplitude of about 10(-7) m. Here we show that the dynamic, elastic-nonlinear behaviour of fault gouge perturbed by a seismic wave may trigger earthquakes, even with such small strains. We base our hypothesis on recent laboratory dynamic experiments conducted in granular media, a fault gouge surrogate. From these we infer that, if the fault is weak, seismic waves cause the fault core modulus to decrease abruptly and weaken further. If the fault is already near failure, this process could therefore induce fault slip.     

Experimental study on patterns of fault interaction

Based on the data of strain field, fault slip and acoustic emission during the deformation of some fault models, the fault interaction patterns are studied. The experiments reveal four patterns of fault interaction, i.e. static promotion or delay of earthquake, creep triggering, dynamic triggering and dynamic loading-relaxation. Promotion and delay of earthquake caused by fault interaction and mechanical property of fault combinations are preliminarily analyzed from the perspective of series and parallel connection of faults, and the relationship between patterns of fault interaction and mechanical and material properties of fault is discussed.     

云南省姚安县地震前天体引潮力和NCEP的异常现象

本文采用天体引潮力对地震诱发作用计算模型和NCEP数据提取异常增温信息,分析2009.7.9发生在我国云南省楚雄彝族自治州姚安县Ms6.0级地震。分析表明：NCEP异常增温图像可以较好的反映地震构造活动时空演变过程,并且天体引潮力对地应力处于临界状态的活动断层具有明显的诱发作用。两者的相互结合分析对于地震的预报具有指导作用。     

跨断层铁路简支梁桥地震响应分析

为研究跨断层铁路桥梁的地震响应,基于MATLAB平台,引用公式及参数,合成地震动,然后将人工合成的跨断层地震动输入位移模型中,分别考虑跨断层的方向性效应和滑冲效应,在不同地震动方向作用下进行非线性时程分析。考虑不同设防水准,对桥梁结构内力、位移等进行跨断层地震响应分析,进而研究不同断层距下断层效应影响。结果表明,在顺桥向+竖桥向、横桥向+竖桥向地震作用下,随着断层距的增大,桥墩的内力、支座的变形和桥墩位移的变形都在减小;不同断层距对桥梁的内力、位移变形影响较大,当断层距大于50 km时,断层效应影响较小。     

Honeybee dances communicate distances measured by optic flow

In honeybees, employed foragers recruit unemployed hive mates to food sources by dances from which a human observer can read the distance and direction of the food source. When foragers collect food in a short, narrow tunnel, they dance as if the food source were much farther away. Dancers gauge distance by retinal image flow on the way to their destination. Their visually driven odometer misreads distance because the close tunnel walls increase optic flow. We examined how hive mates interpret these dances. Here we show that recruited bees search outside in the direction of the tunnel at exaggerated distances and not inside the tunnel where the foragers come from. Thus, dances must convey information about the direction of the food source and the total amount of image motion en route to the food source, but they do not convey information about absolute distances. We also found that perceived distances on various outdoor routes from the same hive could be considerably different. Navigational errors are avoided as recruits and dancers tend to fly in the same direction. Reported racial differences in honeybee dances could have arisen merely from differences in the environments in which these bees flew.     

1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的影响因子敏感性分析

基于前人的研究和龙陵地震滑坡的调查资料,选取了地层岩性、断裂、地震烈度、震中距、地形坡度、坡向、高程、水系等8个因子作为1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的影响因子。利用GIS强大的空间分析能力,结合滑坡确定性系数(CF)的方法,对1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的诸影响因子进行敏感性分析,确定了该区域内各因子最利于地震滑坡发育的数值区间,为进一步区域地震滑坡稳定性评价奠定基础。     

近断层竖向速度脉冲地震作用对RC柱抗剪性能的影响

以单个RC柱为分析对象,采用台湾集集地震中3组断层距18条速度脉冲型地震动记录,通过非线性动力时程分析,研究断层距、竖向与水平加速度谱值比、柱初始轴压比、竖向和水平振动周期以及剪跨比对RC柱抗剪性能的影响规律。结果表明:近断层竖向速度脉冲地震作用对RC柱的抗剪性能有很大影响;抗剪性能系数随反应谱比值增大而减小,中等初始轴压比与断层距、以及剪跨比与近断层距(0～10km)对柱抗剪性能有交互作用。最后,对结果进行非线性回归分析,建立了考虑近断层竖向速度脉冲地震效应及其影响因素交互作用的抗剪性能系数表达式。     

1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的影响因子敏感性分析

基于前人的研究和龙陵地震滑坡的调查资料,选取了地层岩性、断裂、地震烈度、震中距、地形坡度、坡向、高程、水系等8个因子作为1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的影响因子。利用GIS强大的空间分析能力,结合滑坡确定性系数(CF)的方法,对1976年龙陵地震诱发滑坡的诸影响因子进行敏感性分析,确定了该区域内各因子最利于地震滑坡发育的数值区间,为进一步区域地震滑坡稳定性评价奠定基础。     

云贵彝良-威宁中强地震地震动特性

2012年9月7日,我国西南云贵交界彝良-威宁地区连续发生两次中强地震,为地震动特性的比较研究提供了强震动记录．考虑距离、方向的影响,从地震动衰减关系和反应谱两个方面考查了两次地震强震动的工程特征．结果显示,竖向地震动峰值在近场和中场区域明显高于水平向地震动,竖向地震动峰值随距离衰减更快;55．6级地震动峰值在近场和中场明显大于必;5．7级地震动,但地震动峰值衰减速度也较快;与其他研究结果比较表明,这两次地震的峰值总体上偏低．尽管两次地震绝大多数台站的场地为土层场地,但其平均规准谱在中长周期段的谱值明显低于规范设计谱．     

Intrinsic differences in the growth rate of early nerve fibres related to target distance

Target field innervation in the developing vertebrate nervous system coincides with the onset of important trophic interactions. Two factors that determine the timing of this event are the distance axons have to grow to reach their targets, which are known to vary, and the rate at which they grow. There have been few studies of axonal growth rate at this stage of development and no comparative study of the relationship between growth rate and target distance. Embryonic chick cranial sensory neurons are located in discrete ganglia and the distance axons have to grow to reach their targets is different for each ganglion, ranging from several hundred to several thousand microns. Here, I show that these neurons differ in their in vivo growth rates; neurons with more distant targets growing faster. In vitro, single isolated neurons from each of these populations grow at a similar rate to that observed in vivo, indicating that growth rate is an intrinsically determined property of neurons before they reach their targets.     

黄昏时段颜色对驾驶人空间判识距离的影响规律

随机选取了32名驾驶人,在黄昏时段获得了驾驶人对红色与绿色障碍物的判识距离,分析了环境照度对判识距离的影响规律,建立了不同深度距离下环境照度与判识距离的数学模型,定量比较了红色与绿色障碍物判识距离的差异。分析结果表明:随着外界环境照度的下降,判识距离逐渐增大;绿色与红色障碍物相比,距离判识差异显著,绿色障碍物判识距离大于红色障碍物判识距离;判识距离与照度的对数可用一元三次函数拟合,拟合度大于0.9。     

Predicting the endpoints of earthquake ruptures

The active fault traces on which earthquakes occur are generally not continuous, and are commonly composed of segments that are separated by discontinuities that appear as steps in map-view. Stress concentrations resulting from slip at such discontinuities may slow or stop rupture propagation and hence play a controlling role in limiting the length of earthquake rupture. Here I examine the mapped surface rupture traces of 22 historical strike-slip earthquakes with rupture lengths ranging between 10 and 420 km. I show that about two-thirds of the endpoints of strike-slip earthquake ruptures are associated with fault steps or the termini of active fault traces, and that there exists a limiting dimension of fault step (3-4 km) above which earthquake ruptures do not propagate and below which rupture propagation ceases only about 40 per cent of the time. The results are of practical importance to seismic hazard analysis where effort is spent attempting to place limits on the probable length of future earthquakes on mapped active faults. Physical insight to the dynamics of the earthquake rupture process is further gained with the observation that the limiting dimension appears to be largely independent of the earthquake rupture length. It follows that the magnitude of stress changes and the volume affected by those stress changes at the driving edge of laterally propagating ruptures are largely similar and invariable during the rupture process regardless of the distance an event has propagated or will propagate.     

Influence of the March 11, 2011 M w 9.0 Tohoku-oki earthquake on regional volcanic activities

Two days after the March 11,2011,Mw 9.0 Tohoku-oki earthquake,Shinmoedake volcano,located on the Japanese island of Honshu,erupted.Was this eruption triggered by the Tohoku-oki earthquake?Could Mount Fuji and Changbaishan volcanoes also be triggered to erupt?By calculating changes in the regional stress-strain field that resulted from the earthquake,we find that Mount Fuji,Shinmoedake and Changbaishan volcanoes are all located in regions of volumetric expansion.The volumetric expan-sions at a depth of 10 km are up to～220 nano-strain,～8 nano-strain,and～14 nano-strain,respectively,for the three volcanoes. The strain changes inferred from GPS co-seismic displacements also suggest that these three volcanoes are located in regions with surface areal expansion.Considering that the expansional stress may cause the opening of magma channels,exsolution of CO2 gases stored in magma,and a series of positive feedback effects,the Tohoku-oki earthquake may result in an increase in the activ-ity of these volcanoes.Attention should be paid to potential triggering of volcanic eruptions by stress changes induced by the Tohoku-oki earthquake.