Based on the seismic data from temporary stations and regional stations in the northwestern area of Yunnan, the paper performs high-resolution detection and high-precision location on continuous waveforms recorded from February 25, 2018 to July 31, 2019 using waveform correlation methods and analyzes the seismicity characteristics of the Weixi-Qiaohou Fault in the northern section of the Red River fault zone. Studies have shown that the Weixi-Qiaohou Fault exhibits weak seismic activity currently, except for some special fault locations(such as terraces, intersections, etc.), but there may be a hidden steep-dip right-lateral strike-slip fault along the west side of the fault. Small earthquakes are frequent along the fault. The distribution of seismic activity and focal mechanism solutions indicate that this fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault with a steep dip. Statistical parameters, such as seismic frequency, energy release rate and b-value, indicate that the seismic activity in the Weixi-Qiaohou Fault and its surrounding areas is relatively stable, and the regional stress enhancement is not obvious. The b-value is relatively high in most areas, and low b-value areas are mainly distributed in some special fault locations(such as terraces, intersections, etc.), but the scale is generally small. The statistical results of the ETAS model show that more than 40% of seismic activity may be affected by external factors such as deep fluid disturbance and remote strong earthquake triggering. This shows that the role of external trigger mechanisms in seismic activity cannot be ignored. The external triggering seismic activity factors are related to the disturbance of deep fluid activity and the dynamic triggering of long-distance strong earthquakes. Therefore, we believe that the Weixi-Qiaohou Fault is currently not active, but on the hidden branch fault to its west, small earthquake activity is clustering and has a tendency to increase. So, when assessing the seismic risk of the fault, comprehensive analysis shall be made on the activity of the main fault and the branch fault to its west.

Based on the seismic data collected from regional permanent stations and 6 temporal stations, we analyzed the seismic activity from October 2008 to July 2011 in Rongchang area. On the basis of HypoDD relocated results, we used Match&Locate method to detect and located the micro-earthquakes. We obtained the focal mechanism solutions of some earthquakes with M_L ≥ 3.5 by using CAP method. Then we analyzed the temporal-spatial distribution of earthquakes and discussed the characteristics of micro-seismicity before the M_L5.1 earthquake occurring on September 10, 2010. We totally detected 3 354 micro-earthquake events, which are nearly 5 times of the earthquakes in the seismic catalog issued by China Earthquake Networks Center. The magnitude of the detected events is mostly from M_L-1 to 1, and the focal depth is from 2 to 4km. The magnitude-frequency analysis shows that the catalog completeness is obviously improved after adding the detected earthquakes, with the lowest magnitude decreasing from M_L1.0 to 0.3. The earthquakes hypocenters are mainly clustered along faults or buried faults and in a dominant depth range consistent with the depth of injection wells, and also show a tendency of lateral extension from injection wells. The focal mechanism solutions of 9 earthquakes of M_L ≥ 3.5 presented reverse faulting, as the same as the preexisting faults, indicating that earthquakes were surely related to reactivation of the faults. The strike, dip and rate of the causative faults separated in wide ranges, which indicates not only obvious changes in structure and strike of preexisting faults but also the effect of increasing pore pressure on the local stress field. Before the M_L5.1 earthquake on September 10 of 2010, seismicity firstly showed clustering in time and covered the most part of the seismogenic fault in space. Then an obvious seismic quiescence occurred and lasted about 3 months. The phenomenon is consistent with the mechanism of creep sliding and resistance-uniformization along the fault zone, suggested on the basis of laboratory experiments, and it may be one of patterns of sub-instability along fault zone. However, such explanation needs to be further confirmed.