MOMENT DEFICITS ON THE MAJOR FAULTS AND EARTHQUAKE HAZARD ASSESSMENT IN THE EASTERN HIMALAYAN SYNTAXIS |
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| Authors: | TIAN Zhen YANG Zhi-qiang WANG Shi-di |
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| Institution: | 1. School of Geology and Geomatics, Chang'an University, Xi'an 710054, China;
2. Shaanxi Earthquake Agency, Xi'an 710068, China |
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| Abstract: | The Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis(EHS)is a critical region for studying the tectonic evolution of Tibetan plateau, which was affected by the intense seismic activities. We use the theory of moment balance, GPS velocities and historical earthquake records to analyze the moment deficits in the EHS, assess the future seismicity and further to predict the recurrence interval of the 1950 Chayu MS8.6 earthquake.
We first collected multiple sets of GPS velocity fields and combined them to reduce the systematic bias. Then a micro-blocks model, constrained by GPS velocities, was built by TDEFNODE software to simultaneously invert the fault elastic strain parameters and rigid motion parameters based on the grid research and simulated annealing methods. The long-term slip rates on the faults were further estimated by the differential motions between the neighboring blocks. The results show that the nearly NS dextral strike-slip faults, Naga Fault and Sagaing Fault, slip with the average rates of ~10.6 and ~16.6mm/a, which are consistent with the lateral extrusion in the Tibetan plateau. However, the Main Frontal Thrust shows a distinguished sinistral strike-slip feature(6~10mm/a), possibly caused by the NNE pushing from the Indian plate to the Eurasian plate. On the other hand, because the EHS is located in frontal area of the collision between Indian and Eurasian plate, most faults show thrusting feature. The most obvious one is the Mishimi Fault, slipping with the rate of 23.3mm/a, implying that the convergence rate of the Indo-European plates is largely absorbed by this fault. The moment accumulation rate in the EHS is higher than the average rate in the Tibetan plateau and the total moment accumulation is(1.15±0.03)×1022 N·m in the last 200a. About 59.7% and 21.6% of the moment accumulation rate concentrate on the Main Frontal Thrust and Mishimi Fault.
Second, we selected the earthquake records occurring on the upper crust since 1800AD to analyze the moment release in the EHS based on the data from the International Seismological Centre, United States Geological Survey, and catalogue of historical strong earthquakes in China and some other previous studies. In addition, the Global Centroid Moment Tensor Project and linear regression method were adopted to estimate the relationship between body wave magnitude(mb), surface wave magnitude(MS), local magnitude(ML)and the moment(M0). Then we further estimated the total fault moment release in the EHS, (5.50±2.54)×1021N·m, which is significantly lower than the total moment accumulation. About 79.2% of the moment release occurs on the Mishimi Fault, this is because the 1950 MS8.6 Chayu earthquake is assumed to have ruptured on this fault.
Finally, the present-day moment deficits on the faults in the EHS were calculated by the differences between the moment accumulation and release, which represent the possibility to produce earthquakes on the upper crust faults in the future. The largest moment deficit was found on the Main Frontal Thrust near Bhutan, which is able to rupture with MW8.1+. Similarly, earthquakes with MW7.5+ and MW7.3+ have the potentials to occur on the Naga Fault and the Jiali Fault near Tongmai. However, the future earthquake scales may be less than MW7.1 on the remaining faults. Moderate minor earthquakes are the main activity in the area near the Yarlung Zangbo Suture zone and the southern Sagaing Fault. Although the Chayu MS8.6 earthquake occurred near the Mishimi Fault and the eastern MFT, the earthquake risk on those two faults cannot be ignored. Meanwhile, no matter which fault produced the Chayu earthquake, its recurrence will likely be 660a to 1 030a. |
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| Keywords: | GPS fault slip rates moments deficit earthquake recurrence period Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis |
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