FEATURES OF EARTHQUAKE CLUSTERING FROM CALCULATION OF COULOMB STRESS AROUND THE BAYAN HAR BLOCK,TIBETAN PLATEAU |
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| Authors: | CHENG Jia XU Xi-wei |
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| Institution: | 1. China Earthquake Networks Center, Beijing 100045, China;
2. Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Volcano, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China |
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| Abstract: | Since 1997, several major earthquakes occurred around the Bayan Har block in the Tibetan plateau, providing an opportunity to further understanding the mechanism of intraplate earthquakes. What is the effect of interactions among these events on the earthquake occurrence pattern is an issue to be addressed. In this article, we use the visco-elastic Coulomb stress changes model to calculate the stress interactions among the historical events close to or large than MS7.0 since 1893 in the Bayan Har block. We apply the relationships between the slip rate and stress accumulation rate to transform the Coulomb stress changes into the influenced time. Then we remove such influence time from the occurrence years, and analyze the effects of the earthquake interactions on the clustering patterns of the historical earthquakes in the Bayan Har block. The results show that the major earthquakes in the Bayan Har block are characterized by a quasi-period of about 16 years from 1893 to 1973 and a clustering occurrence time period from 1997 to present following a relatively long quiescence period. The Bayan Har block is still in the active period with high probabilities of major quakes. We calculate the conditional probabilities of the rupture segments that did not rupture since 1893 of the boundary faults of the Bayan Har block in the next 30 years. The following faults or fault sections seem to be of major risk:The Maqin segment and the Maqu fault of the East Kunlun fault zone, the Awanang fault, the Luocha segment of the Tazhong fault, the Moxi segment of the Xianshuihe fault, and the Dangjiang fault. Other Fault segments in the Bayan Har block without seismic events since 1893 probably also have hazard of MS7 earthquakes in the future. |
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| Keywords: | Bayan Har block Clustering earthquake Coulomb stress change Earthquake hazard Intraplate earthquakes |
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