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Future Earthquakes (future + earthquake)
Selected AbstractsA probabilistic approach for earthquake potential evaluation based on the load/unload response ratio methodCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 12 2010Huai-Zhong Yu Abstract Previous studies indicate that the occurrence of a large earthquake might be predicted by anomalous temporal increase of the load/unload response ratio (LURR), which was often defined as the ratio of Benioff strain of small earthquakes released during loading and unloading time periods, corresponding to earth tide-induced Coulomb failure stress change on optimally oriented faults. The conventional LURR anomalous evaluation usually sets a critical LURR value, above which an earthquake may occur. In this paper a probabilistic approach for the evaluation of earthquake potential based on the LURR method is developed. In the approach, the occurrence probability of a future earthquake is quantitatively evaluated by assessing the confidence level of LURR anomaly associated with its stochastic distribution. As retrospective studies, we apply the approach to investigate the time series of LURR prior to the 50M>6.3 earthquakes that occurred in the Chinese mainland and the 21M>6.0 earthquakes in southern California over the past 30 years, and find high correlation between the confidence level of the LURR anomalies and the occurrence of the large earthquakes. We then depict all the high peaks that appeared in the LURR time series, and evaluate the earthquake occurrence rate as a function of the confidence level. The research results show considerable promise that our probabilistic approach may provide a useful tool to evaluate quantitatively the occurrence possibilities of future earthquakes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Interactive editing of digital fault modelsCONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION: PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, Issue 12 2010Jordan Van Aalsburg Abstract We describe an application to interactively create and manipulate digital fault maps, either by tracing existing (paper) fault maps created from geological surveys, or by directly observing fault expressions and earthquake hypocenters in remote sensing data such as high-resolution (,100k × 100k elevation postings) digital elevation models with draped color imagery. Such fault maps serve as input data to finite-element-method simulations of fault interactions, and are crucial to understand regional tectonic processes causing earthquakes, and have tentatively been used to forecast future seismic events or to predict the shaking from likely future earthquakes. This fault editor is designed for immersive virtual reality environments such as CAVEs, and presents users with visualizations of scanned 2D fault maps and textured 3D terrain models, and a set of 3D editing tools to create or manipulate faults. We close with a case study performed by one of our geologist co-authors (Yikilmaz), which evaluates the use of our fault editor in creating a detailed digital fault model of the North Anatolian Fault in Turkey, one of the largest, seismically active strike-slip faults in the world. Yikilmaz, who was directly involved in program development, used our fault editor both in a CAVE and on a desktop computer, and compares it to the industry-standard software package ArcGIS. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Interseismic Plate coupling and strain partitioning in the Northeastern CaribbeanGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2008D. M. Manaker SUMMARY The northeastern Caribbean provides a natural laboratory to investigate strain partitioning, its causes and its consequences on the stress regime and tectonic evolution of a subduction plate boundary. Here, we use GPS and earthquake slip vector data to produce a present-day kinematic model that accounts for secular block rotation and elastic strain accumulation, with variable interplate coupling, on active faults. We confirm that the oblique convergence between Caribbean and North America in Hispaniola is partitioned between plate boundary parallel motion on the Septentrional and Enriquillo faults in the overriding plate and plate-boundary normal motion at the plate interface on the Northern Hispaniola Fault. To the east, the Caribbean/North America plate motion is accommodated by oblique slip on the faults bounding the Puerto Rico block to the north (Puerto Rico subduction) and to the south (Muertos thrust), with no evidence for partitioning. The spatial correlation between interplate coupling, strain partitioning and the subduction of buoyant oceanic asperities suggests that the latter enhance the transfer of interplate shear stresses to the overriding plate, facilitating strike-slip faulting in the overriding plate. The model slip rate deficit, together with the dates of large historical earthquakes, indicates the potential for a large (Mw7.5 or greater) earthquake on the Septentrional fault in the Dominican Republic. Similarly, the Enriquillo fault in Haiti is currently capable of a Mw7.2 earthquake if the entire elastic strain accumulated since the last major earthquake was released in a single event today. The model results show that the Puerto Rico/Lesser Antilles subduction thrust is only partially coupled, meaning that the plate interface is accumulating elastic strain at rates slower than the total plate motion. This does not preclude the existence of isolated locked patches accumulating elastic strain to be released in future earthquakes, but whose location and geometry are not resolvable with the present data distribution. Slip deficit on faults from this study are used in a companion paper to calculate interseismic stress loading and, together with stress changes due to historical earthquakes, derive the recent stress evolution in the NE Caribbean. [source] Co-seismic slip from the 1995 July 30 Mw= 8.1 Antofagasta, Chile, earthquake as constrained by InSAR and GPS observationsGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2002M. E. Pritchard Summary We analyse radar interferometric and GPS observations of the displacement field from the 1995 July 30 Mw= 8.1 Antofagasta, Chile, earthquake and invert for the distribution of slip along the co-seismic fault plane. Using a fixed fault geometry, we compare the use of singular-value decomposition and constrained linear inversion to invert for the slip distribution and find that the latter approach is better resolved and more physically reasonable. Separate inversions using only GPS data, only InSAR data from descending orbits, and InSAR data from both ascending and descending orbits without the GPS data illustrate the complimentary nature of GPS and the presently available InSAR data. The GPS data resolve slip near GPS benchmarks well, while the InSAR provides greater spatial sampling. The combination of ascending and descending InSAR data contributes greatly to the ability of InSAR to resolve the slip model, thereby emphasizing the need to acquire this data for future earthquakes. The rake, distribution of slip and seismic moment of our preferred model are generally consistent with previous seismic and geodetic inversions, although significant differences do exist. GPS data projected in the radar line-of-sight (LOS) and corresponding InSAR pixels have a root mean square (rms) difference of about 3 cm. Comparison of our predictions of vertical displacement and observed uplift from corraline algae have an rms of 10 cm. Our inversion and previous results reveal that the location of slip might be influenced by the 1987 Mw= 7.5 event. Our analysis further reveals that the 1995 slip distribution was affected by a 1988 Mw= 7.2 event, and might have influenced a 1998 Mw= 7.0 earthquake that occurred downdip of the 1995 rupture. Our slip inversion reveals a potential change in mechanism in the southern portion of the rupture, consistent with seismic results. Predictions of the satellite LOS displacement from a seismic inversion and a joint seismic/GPS inversion do not compare favourably with the InSAR observations. [source] Process Analysis of In-situ Strain during the Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake,Data from the Stress Monitoring Station at ShandanACTA GEOLOGICA SINICA (ENGLISH EDITION), Issue 4 2009Hua PENG Abstract: There were huge life and property losses during the Ms8.0 Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008. Strain fluctuation curves were completely recorded at stress observatory stations in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau and its surroundings in the process of the earthquake. This paper introduces the geological background of the Wenchuan earthquake and the profile of in-situ stress monitoring stations. In particular, data of 174 earthquakes (Ms4.0,Ms8.5) were processed and analyzed with various methods, which were recorded at the Shandan station from August 2007 to December 2008. The results were compared with other seismic data, and further analyses were done for the recoded strain seismic waves, co-seismic strain stepovers, pre-earthquake strain valleys, Earth's free oscillations before and after the earthquake and their physical implications. During the Wenchuan earthquake, the strainmeter recorded a huge extensional strain of 70 seconds, which shows that the Wenchuan earthquake is a rupture process predominated by thrusting. Significant precursory strain anomalies were detected 48 hours, 30 hours, 8 hours and 37 minutes before the earthquake. The anomalies are very high and their forms are very similar to that of the main shock. Similar anomalies can also be found in strain curves of other shocks greater than Ms7.0, indicating that such anomalies are prevalent before a great earthquake. In this paper, it is shown that medium aftershocks (Ms5.5,6.0) can also cause Earth's free oscillations. Study of free oscillations is of great significance to understand the internal structure of the Earth and focal mechanisms of earthquakes and to recognize slow shocks, thus providing a scientific basis for the prevention and treatment of geological disasters and the prediction of future earthquakes. [source] | ||||||||||