Seismic Hazard Studies in the U.K.: Source Specification Problems of Intraplate Seismicity     

R. M. W. Musson 《Natural Hazards》1997,15(2-3):105-119

Although the U.K. is in an area of only low to moderate seismicity, the seismic hazard is sufficient to pose a threat to sensitive structures such as chemical plants and nuclear facilities. In quantifying the level of hazard by conventional probabilistic methodology, however, some problems arise in attempting to interpret earthquake data in terms of geological structure and faults. In the U.K., not only is it impossible to identify any demonstrably active faults, but also it is extremely difficult to discern any relationship between the pattern of seismicity and local or regional geological structure.This study discusses the use of two zonation approaches which complement each other in such a way that the general character and trend of seismicity is preserved. In one approach, the zonation is informed by the structural geology, where possible; geological zonation is avoided if it produces sources with heterogeneous seismicity. In the other approach, the record of past earthquakes is divided up into very small zones around individual epicentres or groups of epicentres, the size of each zone usually being proportional to the uncertainty in the epicentral determination of the appropriate event. This zonation preserves an observed tendency of some British earthquakes to repeat themselves. It is suggested that, in intraplate areas such as the U.K., it is often inappropriate to attempt to model individual fault sources. No faults in the U.K. are provably active. Because an earthquake of moderate size can occur on a very short fault segment, it is impractical to restrict fault modelling to major features. Even the two largest U.K. faults, suspected to be active, pose problems in attributing historical seismicity to them as distinct features.  相似文献   

Microseismicity and active deformation of Messinia,SW Greece     

J. Papoulia  J. Makris 《Journal of Seismology》2004,8(4):439-451

By deploying a 30 3-component digital seismic array in the Messiniakos gulf and the surrounding region, we recorded for a period of 45 days the microseismic activity. With a minimum of six records per event, we located 1121 earthquakes corresponding to an average of 20 events per day. For the hypocenter location we used a local velocity model adopted to two controlled source seismic experiments. Within the array, traveltime residuals were within ± 0.2 s and the epicentral accuracy in the order of ± 2 km, while the hypocentral one is twice this value. Correlation of the seismicity with the tectonic elements indicated that most of the NW-SE oriented faults are active with strike-slip movement along this orientation and extension perpendicular to it. The neogene basins of Messini, Meligalas and Megalopolis are seismically very active and their eastern flanks are delineated by higher seismic activity than their western ones. This indicates that the basins are asymmetric with master faults defining their eastern-northeastern flanks. This hypothesis is supported by the asymmetric structure mapped at the offshore Messiniakos basin as densely spaced high resolution reflection seismic profiles have revealed. The western margins of the basins are less deformed and the seismic activity is dispersed over several minor NW-SE faults. Since the NW-SE striking faults onshore are truncated by major NE-SW oriented ones, their overall length is shortened, reducing their seismic potential and capacity to store large stresses that could produce events above Ms6.1. Offshore western Messinia, in the Ionian Sea, the size and activity of the faults is significantly larger and prone to develop events of larger magnitudes. Subcrustal seismicity indicates a deepening of the foci to the east-northeast.Part of this work was presented at the CIESM Conference, Monaco, 2001, and in the EGS General Assembly, Nice, 2001.  相似文献   

Investigation of upper crust anisotropy in Ghaen-Birjand region, east-central Iran     

Mohammad-Reza Gheitanchi  Zoya Zarifii 《地震学报(英文版)》2004,17(5):518-525

IntroductionWhenpropagatingthroughananisotropicmedium,ashearwavesplitsintotwo(quasi)shearwaveswithdifferentpropagationspeedsandpolarizedorthogonally.Owingtotherecentdevel-opmentofseismicobservationsystem,detectionofshearwavessplittingwithverysmalldelaytimesbetweenfasterandslowershearwavesbecameavailableandprovidedpowerfulapproachfordetectionofcrustalanisotropy.Crampin(1978)emphasizedtheroleofalignedmicrocracksasacauseofcrustalanisotropyandpointedoutthatforverticallyalignedmicrocracksthedirecti…  相似文献   

莺歌海盆地断裂活动与地质灾害分析     

詹文欢  孙宗勋  朱俊江  孙龙涛 《水文地质工程地质》2004,31(4):41-44

莺歌海盆地是南海西北部海域地质灾害类型较齐全的地区之一。根据野外调查资料,本文简要地分析了该区的活动断裂和地质灾害类型。区内活动断裂主要走向呈NW向,该方向的活动断裂主要有红河断裂带、中央拗陷东部断裂带和中央拗陷西部断裂带。红河断裂带在地震资料上显示为一倾向SW的正断层,表现为明显的重力梯级带和磁异常分界带,NE向断裂带分布于盆地中部,在重磁异常上表现为明显的异常带,在北部表现为被NW向的断裂切割。莺歌海盆地地质灾害类型主要有地震活动、泥底辟构造、滑坡与崩塌等。同时,还对该区地质灾害基本特征和分布规律进行了初步分析。  相似文献   

L'accident du Toulourenc : une limite tectonique entre la plate-forme provençale et le Bassin vocontien à l'Aptien–Albien (SE France)     

Christian Montenat  Marie-Christine Janin  Pascal Barrier 《Comptes Rendus Geoscience》2004,336(14):1301-1310

The WNW–ESE trending Toulourenc Fault Zone (TFZ) is the western segment of the major Ventoux–Lure Fault Zone, which separates the Provençal platform from the Baronnies Vocontian Basin. The TFZ was subject to polyphased Mid-Cretaceous movements, during the Early Aptian and Middle–Late Albian times. The latter faulting episode generated conglomerates and olistoliths resulting from dismantled faultscarps cutting Barremian–Bedoulian limestones. The deformation is related to compressional wrench faulting (NE–SW sinistral faults; dextral component for the TFZ). It induced the uplift of the northwestern corner of the platform, as indicated by a mid-Cretaceous hiatus (Early Aptian pro parte to Early Albian) narrowly delimited in space. The opening of submeridian grabens within the platform favoured the northward transit of channelised coarse-grained Albian sands originating from a southern area. To cite this article: C. Montenat et al., C. R. Geoscience 336 (2004).  相似文献   

A new interpretation of terraces in the Taranto Gulf: the role of extensional faulting     

M. Bentivenga  M. Coltorti  G. Prosser  E. Tavarnelli 《Geomorphology》2004,60(3-4):383-402

The Taranto Gulf of southern Italy provides an excellent case where it is possible to document the importance of normal faults in displacing terraced deposits. The study area is located at the front of the southern Apennines, that is a fold-and-thrust belt developed following the closure of the Mesozoic Tethys Ocean, and the deformation of the Adriatic passive margin during Tertiary and Quaternary times. The outer, eastern parts of the belt were structured in Quaternary, i.e. up to Middle Pleistocene times.The front of the chain is partially sealed by Pliocene–Pleistocene foredeep deposits, which represent the infill of the Bradanic Trough. The upper portion of the middle Pleistocene succession consists of marine sands and conglomerates that in the previous literature have been arranged in several orders of terraces. Analysis of aerial photographs and geomorphological mapping has shown the occurrence of prominent geomorphic lineaments, which appear to control the local drainage pattern. Some of these structures coincide with the map trace of normal faults that produce vertical offsets of the marine terrace surfaces in the order of ca. 10 m each. Many of the fault escarpments reduce their elevation and terminate laterally. In other cases fault escarpments are laterally continuous and can be traced for up to 3–4 km. Scarp height is between 2 and 10 m. Their mean trend ranges from NNE–SSW to ENE–WSW and defines an arcuate pattern that mimics the present coastline.An accurate geomorphological, sedimentological and stratigraphic analysis has been carried out in a selected area of the Bradanic Trough (Pisticci transect) to investigate in detail the relationships between normal faults and the development of the terraces. This analysis allowed us to recognise five facies associations related to the upper and lower beachface and to the neritic clays which represent the substratum of the terraces. More importantly, we observed that all the terraced deposits in the Pisticci transect could be referred to a single sedimentary body displaced by faults. The terraced deposits are related to an event of beach progradation, of Middle Pleistocene age, which has been documented in other areas of the Italian peninsula. These results outline an intimate relationship between the arcuate trend of the recognised fault set and the present coastline pattern. The development of the normal faults can be related to large-scale gravitational processes developed after the general tilting towards the SE of the Bradanic Trough.  相似文献   

Image processing of 2D resistivity data for imaging faults   总被引：6，自引：0，他引：6  

F. Nguyen  S. Garambois  D. Jongmans  E. Pirard  M.H. Loke   《Journal of Applied Geophysics》2005,57(4):260-277

A methodology to locate automatically limits or boundaries between different geological bodies in 2D electrical tomography is proposed, using a crest line extraction process in gradient images. This method is applied on several synthetic models and on field data set acquired on three experimental sites during the European project PALEOSIS where trenches were dug. The results presented in this work are valid for electrical tomographies data collected with a Wenner-alpha array and computed with an l₁ norm (blocky inversion) as optimization method. For the synthetic cases, three geometric contexts are modelled: a vertical and a dipping fault juxtaposing two different geological formations and a step-like structure. A superficial layer can cover each geological structure. In these three situations, the method locates the synthetic faults and layer boundaries, and determines fault displacement but with several limitations. The estimated fault positions correlate exactly with the synthetic ones if a conductive (or no superficial) layer overlies the studied structure. When a resistive layer with a thickness of 6 m covers the model, faults are positioned with a maximum error of 1 m. Moreover, when a resistive and/or a thick top layer is present, the resolution significantly decreases for the fault displacement estimation (error up to 150%). The tests with the synthetic models for surveys using the Wenner-alpha array indicate that the proposed methodology is best suited to vertical and horizontal contacts. Application of the methodology to real data sets shows that a lateral resistivity contrast of 1:5–1:10 leads to exact faults location. A fault contact with a resistivity contrast of 1:0.75 and overlaid by a resistive layer with a thickness of 1 m gives an error location ranging from 1 to 3 m. Moreover, no result is obtained for a contact with very low contrasts (1:0.85) overlaid by a resistive soil. The method shows poor results when vertical gradients are greater than horizontal ones. This kind of image processing technique should be systematically used for improving the objectiveness of tomography interpretation when looking for limits between geological objects.  相似文献   

Onset of small-scale instabilities at the base of the lithosphere: scaling laws and role of pre-existing lithospheric structures     

Caroline Dumoulin  Marie-Pierre Doin  Diane Arcay  Luce Fleitout 《Geophysical Journal International》2005,160(1):345-357

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Seismic refraction evidence for steep faults cutting highly attenuated continental basement in the central Transverse ranges, California   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Zhimei Yan  Robert W. Clayton  Jason Saleeby 《Geophysical Journal International》2005,160(2):651-666

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Estimate of differential stress in the upper crust from variations in topography and strike along the San Andreas fault   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Yuri Fialko  Luis Rivera  Hiroo Kanamori 《Geophysical Journal International》2005,160(2):527-532

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