The research on the activity history of seismogenic faults is the basis for the research and prevention of natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides. Dating has always been the focus and difficulty of the research on the activity history of fault. However, it is difficult to carry out geochronological surveys for faults and landslides evolution in the carbonated areas due to the lack of suitable dating materials, such as the region of south-eastern Tibet where the main lithology is carbonate bedrock. The exposure dating of cosmogenic nuclides is the main method to determine the activity history of fault. But the cosmic nuclides  36Cl and ¹⁴C dating methods still have some limitations, such as the complex generation mode of  36Cl being caused by fission under the action of cosmic rays, neutron capture and meson action, the yield of  36Cl being changed with chemical composition change of dating mineral(the range of 2-171atom/g·a), and so on. More importantly, the rapid rock weathering in the carbonate bedrock area is a big problem. Once exposed, the bedrock will start rapid weathering and erosion and dissolution. Therefore, it is necessary to find new dating materials or dating methods in carbonate bedrock areas, especially in areas with little or no quaternary sediments. When a large landslide moves on the sliding surface of carbonate bedrock, heat is often generated due to high-speed friction, and then the dynamic metamorphism can occur easily on the sliding surface to form recrystallized carbonate, which can be used to determine the active time of faults.

Carbonate is one of the main materials for ESR dating. As early as the 1970s, Ikeya made the first electron spin resonance(ESR)dating study of carbonates using stalactite calcite. After that, many researches on the ESR signal characteristics of carbonate(such as coral, shell, aragonite, stalagmite and etc)were carried out, and the carbonate ESR dating then became one of the main methods in Quaternary chronology and had been widely used. The recrystallized carbonate on the fault friction surface and the sliding surface of the landslide is a newly discovered dating material. Although its main component is calcium carbonate, its origin is different from the carbonate materials commonly used in ESR dating(such as stalagmite, stalactite, etc.), so it is necessary to study its characteristics of ESR dating.

The characteristics of recrystallized carbonate collected from the fault friction surface of Jianchuan section on Lijiang-Xiaojinhe Fault(Yin et al., 2021)and the sliding surface of Qiaojia landslide which is located at the intersection of Xiaojiang Fault and Zemuhe Fault(Liu et al., 2023)have been studied, including microstructure, thermal annealing characteristics, sunlight bleaching characteristics, and compared with the previous dating results of AMS ¹⁴C and OSL on sediments. Yin et al.(2021)and Liu et al.(2023)analyzed and demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of the recrystallized carbonate ESR dating method used in the analysis of bedrock fault and landslide activity in the carbonate bedrock area, and established the recrystallized carbonate ESR dating technology.

Therefore, the ESR dating of recrystallized carbonate is an effective dating technology and can be used widely for the studying of activity history of faults and landslides in carbonate bedrock areas. This paper introduced the latest research progress of recrystallized carbonate ESR dating in the Carbonate rock area of southwest China by Yin et al.(2021)and Liu et al.(2023). In this paper, the requirements for sample collection and the range of dating were proposed which provide technical support for dating of key geological samples for research on fault and landslide activity history, engineering exploration, active structure, and seismic risk assessment in Carbonate rock bedrock area.

The traditional surface wave tomography method is a ray-theoretic travel-time tomography based on the high-frequency approximation, and adopts the regularization method with model smoothing parameters, which is likely to produce false anomalies. The current eikonal tomography is a geometrical ray theoretic method that can obtain the travel time gradient of the wave field by tracking the propagation of the wave front, and then get the slowness vector of wave field gradient. This method has the advantages of high efficiency and high resolution. But both surface wave travel-time tomography and traditional eikonal tomography need to extract dispersion curve. For example, the extraction of dispersion curve with auto frequency-time analysis method usually requires a manual extraction again, which may increase systematic error or human error. The multichannel cross-correlation surface wave eikonal tomography for earthquakes developed in recent years does not need to extract the dispersion curve, but automatically measures the relative phase delay between nearby stations based on waveform cross-correlations by using the far field condition of wave equation, and then inverts the two-dimensional surface wave phase velocity distribution with eikonal tomography method. This method can suppress the random incoherent noise and reduce bias caused by strong multipath scattering.

In this paper, we collected the one-year three-channel continuous waveform data from 676 temporary stations under the project China Array II and calculated the surface wave empirical Green’s function of ambient noise through noise cross-correlation from January to December 2015. The multichannel cross-correlation surface wave eikonal tomography was firstly applied to ambient noise tomography. The first step was to calculate the relative phase delay using the multi-channel cross-correlation, and at the second step, we inverted the Rayleigh wave apparent phase velocity at 8~40s periods based on eikonal equation for the whole study area, with the high resolution of about 40km in the major regions. At last, we compared our results with other results and discussed the tectonic deformation and dynamic process of the study area. The results are as follows:

(1)In contrast to traditional eikonal tomography method in which the dispersion has to be extracted based on frequency analysis, our results can reduce the bias resulting from multi-path scattering wave and low signal-to-noise ratio, and improve the stability of inversion results. Moreover, our results of long-period surface waves have higher accuracy and stability because our method reduces short-wavelength heterogeneity.

(2)There are obvious low-velocity anomalies in the upper crust of Hetao-Jilantai Basin at 18s period, and a weak low-velocity zone in the lower crust and upper mantle, which is associated with the upwelling of hot asthenosphere mantle materials in the “big mantle wedge”.

(3)A weak layer with low S-wave velocity exists in the middle and lower crust of the northeastern Songpan-Garzê block and the western Qilian orogenic belt. Receiver function results indicate that there is high Poisson’s ratio(0.28)and low P wave velocity(less than 6.3km/s)in the northeastern Songpan-Garzê block, which may suggest partial melting in the middle and lower crust of the northeastern Songpan-Garzê block; The radial anisotropy from ambient noise tomography in the western Qilian orogenic belt shows negative radial anisotropy characteristics, which may be associated with the crustal shortening, thickening and coupling under the compression from the north and south blocks.

Many of the large earthquakes in the continental crust nucleate at the bottom of the seismogenic zone in depths between 10 and 20km which is related to the broad so-called ‘brittle-to-plastic or brittle-to-ductile’ transition region. From the field studies and seismic data, we could know that the dominant deformation mechanism at the base of seismogenic zone is likely to be semi-brittle flow of fault rocks. The physical and chemical processes acting in the ‘brittle-to-plastic’ transition are of great interest for a better understanding of fault rheology, tectonic deformation of the continental lithosphere and the generation of strong earthquakes. So it’s of great significance to know more about this transition. Despite the importance of semi-brittle flow, only few experimental studies are relevant to semi-brittle flow in natural rocks. In order to study the semi-brittle deformation and rheological characteristics of granite, we performed a series of transient creep experiments on fine-grained granite collected from the representative rock of Pengguan Complex in Wenchuan earthquake fault area using a solid-medium triaxial deformation apparatus(a modified Griggs rig). The conditions of the experiments are under the temperatures of 190~490℃and the confining pressures of 250~750MPa with a strain rate of 5×10^-4s^-1. The temperature and pressure simulate the in-situ conditions of the Wenchuan earthquake fault zone at the corresponding depths of 10~30km. We observe the microstructures of the experimentally deformed samples under the scanning electron microscope(SEM). The mechanical data, microstructures and deformation mechanism analysis demonstrate that deformation of the samples with experimental conditions could be covered by three regimes: 1)Brittle fracture to semi-brittle flow regime. We could see the strain and stress curves of the samples characterizing with strain hardening behavior and without definite yield point under low temperatures and pressures, which correspond to the depths of 10~15km; 2)Brittle-ductile transition regime. The strain and stress curves of the samples tend to be in a steady state with definite yield point under temperature and pressure at the depths of 15~20km. The main deformation mechanism is cataclasis, and dynamic recrystallization and dislocation creep are activated; and 3)Ductile flow regime which is at depths of 20~30km. The strength of granite increases with depth and reaches to the ultimate at the depth of 15~20km, and then decreases with depth at 20~30km. Based on the analysis of strength of granite, microstructures and deformation mechanism, we conclude that the granitic samples deformed with the characteristics of transient creep, and the strength of Longmenshan fault zone reaches maximum at the depths of 15~20km where it is in the brittle-to-plastic regime. Based on the Mohr circle analysis, the rupture limit at depths of 15~20km is close to the limit of friction, and at the same time, this depth range is also consistent with the focal depth of Wenchuan earthquake. Therefore, it implicates that the deformation and strength of Pengguan complex granitic rocks should control the nucleation and generation of the Wenchuan earthquake.

The Xiaojiang fault zone is located in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau, the boundary faults of Sichuan-Yunnan block and South China block. The largest historical earthquake in Yunnan Province, with magnitude 8 occurred on the western branch of the Xiaojiang Fault in Songming County, 1833. Research on the Late Quaternary surface deformation and strong earthquake rupture behavior on the Xiaojiang Fault is crucial to understand the future seismic risk of the fault zone and the Sichuan-Yunnan region, even crucial for the study of tectonic evolution of the southeastern margin of Tibetan plateau. We have some new understanding through several large trenches excavated on the western branch of the Xiaojiang fault zone. We excavated a large trench at Caohaizi and identified six paleoseismic events, named U through Z from the oldest to the youngest. Ages of these six events are constrained at 40000-36300BC, 35400-24800BC, 9500BC-500AD, 390-720AD, 1120-1620AD and 1750AD-present. The Ganhaizi trench revealed three paleoearthquakes, named GHZ-E1 to GHZ-E3 from the oldest to the youngest. Ages of the three events are constrained at 3300BC-400AD, 770-1120AD, 1460AD-present. The Dafendi trench revealed three paleoearthquakes, named E1 to E3 from the oldest to the youngest, and their ages are constrained at 22300-19600BC, 18820-18400BC, and 18250-present. Caohaizi and Ganhaizi trenches are excavated on the western branch of the Xiaojiang Fault, the distance between them is 400m. We constrained four late Holocene paleoearthquakes with progressive constraining method, which are respectively at 500-720AD, 770-1120AD, AD 1460-1620 and 1833AD, with an average recurrence interval of 370~440a. Large earthquake recurrence in the late Holocene is less than the recurrence interval of~900a as proposed in the previous studies. Thus, the seismic hazard on the Xiaojiang Fault should be reevaluated. We excavated a large trench at Dafendi, about 30km away south of Caohaizi trench. Combining with previous paleoseismological research, it is found that the western branch of Xiaojiang Fault was likely to be dominated by segmented rupturing in the period from late of Late Pleistocene to early and middle Holocene, while it was characterized by large earthquakes clustering and whole segment rupturing since late Holocene.

As one of the rhombic blocks in North China, Kaifeng depression is on the south of the northern Huabei depression and in the north of the southern Huabei depression, bounded by Xinxiang-Shangqiu Fault and Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault, respectively. So far, the activity of Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault during Kainozoic era and the relationship between Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault and Xinxiang-Shangqiu Fault is still unknown. We interpreted several deep seismic profiles across Taikang uplift and Kaifeng depression on the basis of the strata sequence exposed by the 8 drill holes in the related area. The outcomes indicate that the Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault strikes EW on the whole, presenting undulating feature in plain, with a length about 154km. The profiles show the dip angle of the fault is steeper in the shallow than that in the deep, with an obvious "L-shaped" turning point. In Paleogene, the fault was a normal fault. In its hanging wall, the Kaifeng depression, there deposited hundreds of meters of Eogene. After middle Himalayan movement, Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault converted to a strike-slip fault, the dip angle became steeper, but the activity became weaker. The Zhengzhou-Kaifeng Fault ended its activity before Quaternary. As a response to the compression in the footwall caused by the sustained sinistral shearing, there developed a series of NW-trending, en echelon wide and gentle folds. Then, the activity in Kaifeng depression shifted to its north boundary.

In this paper, we use seismic waveform data of 90 seismic stations in Ningxia and its adjacent areas recorded between January 2012 and December 2013 to obtain the Rayleigh surface wave group velocity dispersion of the study area according to the noise imaging method and the 3-D S-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle in Ningxia and its adjacent regions. The results show that within the depth range of 10~40km in Yinchuan graben and Liupanshan fault belt there exists a slow anomaly body, and with the increase of the depth this slow anomaly becomes an abnormal slow zone surrounding Lanzhou Basin between the massif arcuate structure of northeastern margin of Tibet Plateau and Alxa block. The 3-D S-wave velocity structure of the crust and upper mantle of the study area presents obvious lateral inhomogeneity. These results have important significance for the study of the dynamics of active tectonic zones and mechanism of strong earthquakes in Ningxia and its adjacent areas.

On the basis of dividing and comparison of the Neogene strata and their bottoms revealed by 7 drill holes in Taikang area, we completed 101 seismic profiles with a total length of 4991km. Seismic data were compared and interpreted. The results indicate that Xinzheng-Taikang Fault, as a blind fault extending from Xinzheng to Taikang, which was considered as an EW striking fault from Xuchang to Taikang before, is the boundary of Taikang uplift and Zhoukou depression, controlling the sedimentation since Neogene Period. So we named the fault the Xinzheng-Taikang Fault, which is composed of two branches, mainly, the east and west branches. The west branch strikes northwest, dipping northeast with steep angles, and the fault plane extending more than 140km in length. As revealed on the seismic profiles, the eastern segment of the west branch is normal fault, while the west segment of the branch shows characteristics of strike-slip fault. The east branch trends NW-NEE, dipping SW-SSE with the length of about 50km. Two branches form a minus flower structure, indicating the strike slip-extension tectonic background. The bottom of Neogene strata is offset about 120m by the east branch, 20m by the west branch, and the bottom of Quaternary is probably offset too. Meanwhile, latest studies suggest that the composite strip of the two branches of Xinzheng-Taikang Fault, which is a tectonic transfer zone, is the subduction zone between the two strike-slip faults. The tectonic stress tends to be released by the east-west branch fault, and the zone should be the seismogenic structure for the recent seismicity in Taikang area. In 2010, the latest earthquake ofM_S4.7 occurred in this area, causing 12 people wounded. The seismogenic structure was considered to be the Xinzheng-Taikang Fault. So locating the fault exactly is of great importance to disaster prevention.

Existing achievements about Baotou Fault demonstrate it as a buried eastern boundary of the Baiyanhua Basin in Hetao active fault subsidence zone,striking NE.More data is needed to assess its activity.Located in the relay ramp between Wulashan Fault and Daqingshan Fault,Baotou Fault's activity is of great importance to discuss the linkage mode and the response to the earthquake of the adjacent fault.Also it is necessary to the knowledge of the characteristic of the seismic tectonic in local area.Recently it is prevalent to combine shallow seismic profile and composite drilling section to study the activity of the buried fault.Shallow seismic profile indicates that Baotou Fault is a normal fault,inclining to NW.The displacement of the Tg at 75m underground is 25m.Composite drilling section indicates that it is a growth fault,the up-break point of which is 45.6m underground and ends in brownish red clay strata of early Pleistocene.In comparison,the upper Late Pleistocene strata are out of the influences of the tectonic subsidence zone.Baotou Fault's activity is limited to the early Pleistocene.

Active fault is one of potential geohazards in cities. Locating and dating buried active faults in urban areas have been a difficult issue in active fault exploration. In this paper, we take the detection of the buried active fault performed at Hehuan Road in the north of Suqian city as an example. We preliminarily mapped the fault through field investigation and shallow seismic reflection survey technique. Furthermore, based on the principle of doubling section method, we conducted multiple drilling to constrain the upper faulted point which is located in a range of 5m in horizon and 4.4~6.1m in depth. Finally, we determined the exact location and latest activity of the fault by trenching. Obviously, good results have been acquired on the accurate location and activity of the Suqian segment of Anqiu-Juxian Fault using multi-level and multi-means detection method. Besides, we observed from the detection at the Hehuan Road site that at least four paleoseismic events occurred during the past 80000 yrs, and the result indicates that the latest faulting event on the fault is younger than(5.9±0.3)ka BP and the buried active fault at the Hehuan Road is a Holocene active fault. The result of buried active fault detection at the Hehuan Road site provides quantitative parameters for evaluation of seismic hazards and planning the width of safety distance in Suqian City.

In general,the displacement produced by a magnitude 6～7 earthquake is relatively small,even does not reach the surface,so it is difficult to be preserved in geological records. On the other hand,the seismogenic fault of such earthquakes is easy to be considered incorrectly as a non-active fault since Holocene,consequently overlooking the real seismic hazard in the future. To solve this problem,we propose a type of faults that are capable of generating M6～7 earthquakes,but with weak surface activity and cannot produce conspicuous surface displacement. To recognize such faults from geological records,which have no visible evidence of activity since middle-late Pleistocene,is the key to intermediate-and long-term earthquake prediction. The specific procedures of the technology are as follows: First,we determine the seismotectonic setting of the tectonic system in which the target fault lies. Second,we establish the relation between the target fault and other active faults in the same tectonic system,which have records of historical earthquakes or paleoearthquakes. Then we compare varied seismogenic units in the same-order structure,same tectonic system,and varied stages in the same tectonic process. The case studies demonstrate that this is an effective method for intermediate-and long-term earthquake prediction. The cases studied include the Puduhe-Xishan Fault in Kunming City,Hanzhong Basin in the north section of the Longmen Shan Fault zone,Dachuan-Shuangshi Fault in the south section of the Longmen Shan Fault zone,and the Guguan-Guoshun Fault of the Longxian-Baoji Fault zone. These faults all show weak activities on the surface and have potential for earthquakes with estimated magnitude 6.5～7.0.In addition,by estimation using this method,the Taoyuan-Guichuan Fault of the Longxian-Baoji Fault zone has a seismic risk of M6.0～6.5 earthquake,and the Longxian-Qima-Mazhao Fault is capable of producing an earthquake about M7.5.

Lingqiu Basin is located in the northeast of the Shanxi graben system,where a M_S 7.0 earthquake occurred in 1626.The achievement of active fault research in this basin could contribute not only to the study of the seismogenic structure of the earthquake in 1626,but also to the research of the types of large earthquakes in Shanxi graben system. Much work has been conducted here,laying the foundation for the active fault study in this area. However,the spatial distribution and activity of several major faults,and the seismogenic structure of the earthquake in 1626 are still in discussion. This paper analyzes the geomorphologic characteristics in the whole basin via interpreting SPOT5 images,SRTM3 and fieldwork,and acquires some new knowledge of the major faults in combination with trenching. The activity of the main segment of the piedmont fault of Taibaiwei Mountains is limited to the late Pleistocene; The NEE-striking Shuijian-Luoshuihe Fault has obvious geomorphic features to the west of Lingqiu County,and the geomorphic feature of the fault is not remarkable to the east of the county. Its latest event left a 1m-high fault scarp on the surface. The NW-striking Huashanhe Fault behaves as a hinge fault. In the northern basin,the fault dips west,producing a height difference of about 10m in terrace T1 of the Huashanhe River. In the southern basin,the fault dips east. Profiles and geomorphic features show the south segment of the fault is an active strike-slip fault with a high angle. Thus,we consider the earthquake in 1626 resulted from the conjugated action of the NEE-striking Shuijian-Luoshuihe Fault and the NW-striking Huashanhe Fault.

With the advances in simulation techniques and understanding of geodynamic processes,numerical simulation is likely to play an increasingly important role in the research of seismic hazard analysis and earthquake prediction.In this paper,on the basis of the paper "A preliminary study on the application of numerical simulation methods to earthquake prediction research(Ⅰ)",the possible application of uncoordinated deformation analysis,Coulomb stress changes and earthquake probability modeling to the study of earthquake prediction is further discussed.When rock deforms from the elastic into the yield stage,the system is in a critical unstable state,the rock movement may deviate from the normal track and become complicated.The study results show that,before Wenan earthquake(M_S 5.1)on July 4,2006,GPS velocity was well consistent with the numerical simulation speed in most areas of North China,while there were some differences in some regions,especially in the northeast of the North China Plain block,where big inconsistency in movement characteristics occurred,resulting perhaps from the preparation of Wenan earthquake.Research on earthquakes triggered by Coulomb stress change is a focus problem now.Numerical simulation may play an important role in the analysis of Coulomb stress changes.By constructing three-dimensional dynamic model,the effect of various factors on the value and distribution of Coulomb stress change can be simulated,and more realistic results can be obtained.By numerical simulation of Coulomb stress changes to seismic activities beneath Sichuan Zipingpu reservoirs,it is found that with the increase of reservoir water storage time,the pore pressure diffusion in the effective additional stress field will be gradually expanded to the range of more than 10km underground.The regional effective additional stress field and seismic activities show different characteristics in several typical regions.The United States Southern California Earthquake Center has tried to study the earthquake probability as research objectives.It is worthy of referencing in China's earthquake research.Computer simulation of synthetic earthquake catalog is an effective way to solve the lack of data.The future direction of development should be a more realistic three-dimensional dynamic model,taking into account the multi-field coupling between heat,fluid and etc. ,improving hardware and software conditions and shortening the calculation time step,obtaining more complete information on fault movement,and simulating the fault activities.

Earthquake preparation and occurrence is a complex physical process.Although the earthquake abnormalities are varied,the strain energy accumulation is requisite before an earthquake.Earthquake prediction analysis must consider the strain energy accumulation process.As hard to go into the Earth's interior,direct measurement of stress and strain in deep focus is very difficulty.The use of numerical analysis,which constructs three-dimensional dynamic models of the crust and upper mantle to simulate the rock deformation process,is currently one of the most effective methods to study the crustal energy transfer and accumulation.The simulation result of current crustal deformation is consistent with the existing GPS data around the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis and its surrounding areas,in that the crustal horizontal displacement field of the eastern Tibetan Plateau rotates clockwise around the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis.Current effective stress concentration areas mainly distribute along the block boundary fault belts around the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis,especially along the southeast section of Jiali Fault,Moto Fault,Apalong Fault,India-Myanmar subduction zone and the Sichuan-Yunnan border region.It should be noted the risk of future strong earthquakes in these areas.In the adjacent interconnected tectonic areas,the blocks and faults are interrelated and interacted each other.When an earthquake occurs in a region,the rapid displacement and deformation of rock will inevitably lead to displacement and deformation of the associated blocks and faults; strain energy will transfer from one region to others.The numerical simulation results of deformation process in the Capital area from 1989 to 1998 clearly show that the high strain energy concentration region shifted from Datong area where 1989 earthquake(M_S 5.8)occurred to Zhangbei area where 1998 earthquake happened.It illustrates that the application of numerical simulation analysis method may help us predict the possible strain energy transfer process,thus,providing the reference target regions for earthquake monitoring.

The spatial-temporal variations of atmospheric water vapor in western Sichuan Province and its vicinity during the mid-and long-term earthquake preparation process are studied.The M_S 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008,the Songpan-Pingwu earthquake sequence in 1976 and the Yushu M_S 7.1 earthquake in 2010 are selected as cases of the study regions.The result shows the frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies will decrease at first, then increase quickly during the mid-and long-term process of strong earthquake.The decreasing of the frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies begins relatively early,mostly over 10 years before earthquake and will last more than 9 years,which is considered as mid-and long-term precursor.The rapid increase appears 4 years before earthquake,as a kind of mid-and short-term precursor.The frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies over epicentral region of Wenchuan earthquake began to decline slowly 18 years before the earthquake and continued for 15 years, then increased rapidly 2 years before the earthquake.The atmospheric water vapor anomalies in the epicenter area changed from lowest frequency to high frequency 1 year before the earthquake,then the event occurred.It continued to increase until 2009 then resumed to normal state.14 years before Songpan-Pingwu earthquake,the frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies over the epicenter region began declining and it continued for 9 years,and then increased 4 years before the event.The anomalies in the epicenter region changed from lowest frequency in 1971 to high frequency in 1973,and reached the highest in 1976,and then the main shock happened.After the earthquake,it resumed to normal state.Similarly to the above two cases,there had been atmospheric water vapor anomalies before the M_S 7.1 Yushu earthquake in 2010,the frequency of anomalies declined from 1997 to 2008 when the lowest value was reached.It increased quickly in 2009 till the event occurred in 2010.The atmospheric water vapor anomalies over epicentral region may be due to the opening-closing movement of pores and fractures in the rock layer before the earthquake,resulting in the migration of underground fluid and underground heat energy,and then causing the change of the surface temperature and surface latent heat flux.During the mid-and long-term process of earthquake preparation,the rate of latent heat exchange decreases due to the reduction of the hot water vapor from underground caused by the closing of pore and fracture when the crustal rocks undergo compression deformation,so the frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies begins to decline.While during the mid-and short-term process of earthquake preparation,the accelerating of the crustal rocks deformation and the expanding of micro fractures will lead to increasing the hot water vapor from underground,accelerating the latent heat exchange,and quickly increasing the frequency of atmospheric water vapor anomalies.Analyses of the above three cases prove preliminarily that this assumption is reasonable.

The relationship between the satellite thermal infrared brightness temperature and ground elevation is very important information that can reflect the thermal state of earth surface.It is also one of the main factors which influence the analysis of satellite thermal infrared anomalies before earthquakes.Previous study is not enough and comprehensive and it needs a deep research.In this paper,the decreasing infrared brightness temperature per 100m increase of the ground elevation is defined as brightness temperature gradient.The mainland of China is divided into 6 regions for separate research:the Northwest,the Qinghai-Tibet,the Sichuan-Yunnan,the Northeast China,the North China and the South China.This paper selects remote sensing data at midnight in order to reduce the influence of solar radiation and preprocesses thermal infrared remote sensing images systematically including cloud and noise removing and so on.On the basis of filtering and processing the satellite thermal infrared remote sensing data,this paper analyses the relationship between the satellite infrared brightness temperature and ground elevation in the 6 regions with the method of regression analysis.Studying on the 6 regions separately,some abecedarian results are developed:1)the general trends of brightness temperature gradient are similar between different areas,but there are some differences in details;2)the brightness temperature gradient of the 6 regions are all less than the air temperature lapse rate(0.64℃/(100m))calculated on the basis of air temperature data,also less than 0.4℃/(100m),from 0.15℃/(100m)to 0.35℃/(100m)in most situations;3)except the Qinghai-Tibet area,the brightness temperature gradient of the other five regions is generally greater in summer than in winter.On the whole,the brightness temperature gradient increases from January to September,reaches the maximum around September,decreases subsequently and gets to the minimum around January.It is considered as the result of the effect of the cold air in winter,the absorption of the atmosphere to ground radiation and the diversity of different geographical environments are the key factors that influence the temporal and spatial variation of brightness temperature gradient.

The neotectonic movement and characteristics of fault activity in the Anqing-Ma'anshan section of the Changjiang River valley are analyzed on the basis of data obtained from field investigation,shallow seismic prospecting and drilling. The results show that during neotectonic time this river valley section and its both sides as a whole was dominated by weak and intermittent uplift movement. As a consequence,owing to the effect of the activity of NE-and NNE-trending faults,relatively strong vertical differential movement occurred in Wuwei-Anqing area during Paleogene-Neogene,and had continued to early and middle Pleistocene. The NE-NNE-trending and NW-trending faults were developed in the bed rocks of the valley and its both sides. The former was formed during Indo-Chinese epoch,while the later was formed during Yanshan epoch. The most recent active period of the larger faults controlling the development of Cenozoic Basins is middle Pleistocene,while the newest activity of the relatively small faults developed within pre-Cenozoic group is pre-Quaternary. The Quaternary system in the valley is \{10～\}50m thick,consisting mainly of Pleistocene-Holocene deposits. The isopach of these deposits is smoothly distributed,indicating normal valley deposition. Seismic activity along the valley and its both sides is relatively weak,and historically only 4 destructive earthquakes have been recorded. Among these events,the largest one is the M5(3/4) earthquake occurring at Chaohu in 1585,and the other events including one with M5(1/4) and two with M4(3/4). Since the beginning of instrumental records in 1970,the largest magnitude that has been recorded so far is ML 3.7. All these results may provide better constraints on the assessment of the crustal stability for this river valley section.

The Yaoan M_S 6.5 earthquake on Jan.15,2000 and Mani M_S 7.5 earthquake on Nov.8,1997 are taken as cases to study the temporal process of the satellite infrared anomalies on the active faults near the epicenter.The inside-outside temperature relation analysis method(IOTRAM)was used in the middle segment of the Red River Fault.The result shows that the inside temperature is about 0～1.5℃ higher than the outside temperature in the normal periods.But the brightness temperature inside the Red River Fault is 2～3℃ higher than that outside the fault 15 days before the Yaoan M_S 6.5 earthquake on Jan.15,2000.The Mani M_S 7.5 earthquake occurred on Nov.8,1997 in northern Qingzang-Tibetan plateau.Curves of the average brightness temperature in the east section of the Margaichaca fault belt and the difference inside and outside the region of the fault belt in 1996,1997 and 1998 were contrasted.The result shows that temperature difference in Oct.and Nov.in 1997 was2～3℃ higher than that in 1996 and 1998,though the inside temperature in the same term in 1997 was the lowest in the three years because of a heavy snow.It returned to normal after earthquake.IOTRAM was used to study the active faults in Huabei and Chuandian regions where less earthquakes have occurred recently and no infrared anomalies appeared.

The results of image processing of aeromagnetic data in North China are introduced, including pseudocolor enhancement, stereo shaded relief, convolution filtering, expon-tial filtering and local adoptive histogram equalization images. Based upon the information reflected by these images a comprehensive study of both the geological entities and their evolution and also the related tectonic lineaments has been made. Thus is established the seismotectonic framework of North China subplate. A model of block rotation in the strike-slip setting has been adopted to explore the mechanism of the tectonic deformation and seismic activity of the region.

Geological and structural features from Archaean to neotectonics along the Geosci-ence Transect corridor from Baotou to Mandula have been accounted. Particular attention has been paid to the middle Proterozoic Chartai aulacogen and Bayan Obo geocline. Both of them were folded during the Seerteng movement about 1400 Ma ago and became the latest consolidated part of the North China platform basement. The Caledonian and Variscan fold belts of the northern marginal tracts have also been discussed