Journals
  Publication Years
  Keywords
Search within results Open Search
Please wait a minute...
For Selected: Toggle Thumbnails
THE CHARACTERISTICS AND SEISMOGENIC STRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF THE 2021 YANGBI MS6.4 EARTHQUAKE SEQUENCE, YUNNAN
ZHANG Ke, WANG Xin, YANG Hong-ying, WANG Yue, XU Yan, LI Jing
SEISMOLOGY AND GEOLOGY    2023, 45 (1): 231-251.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4967.2023.01.013
Abstract396)   HTML20)    PDF(pc) (9299KB)(176)       Save

An MS6.4 earthquake occurred in Yangbi county, Dali Prefecture, Yunnan on May 21, 2021. It is the biggest earthquake in the region during past 40 years, and its epicenter is located in the southwest boundary of the Sichuan-Yunnan rhomboid block. The type of this earthquake is of a typical “fore-main-residual” type, and cause no surface rupture, its aftershock sequence was not distributed along any known fault in the vicinity. There have been several research results which are on the seismogenic structure of this earthquake that occurred in Yangbi county, but it is also necessary to use a different type and source of data, methods and perspectives thinking angles to verify these results and supply new understandings. In this paper, based on the Yangbi sequence(ML≥2.0)digital waveform recording and its earthquake phase data recorded by Yunnan Seismic Network between May 18, 2021 and June 13, 2021, the Yangbi sequence is relocated by HypoDD double-difference method and the spatiotemporal Yangbi sequence is also analyzed. The focal mechanism solution and centroid depth of the larger earthquakes in the sequence is obtained by the Cut & Paste(CAP)method. The results indicate that the Yangbi earthquake is distributed along the NW-SE direction as a whole, and its extension length is about 34km. The foreshock sequence has an obvious spatiotemporal migration and has round-trip activity characteristics, while the aftershock sequence has irregular spatiotemporal migration characteristics. The depth range of the aftershocks is mainly between 4km and 13km, and there were a few aftershocks whose depth are below 4km, which is reflecting that this series of earthquakes occurred in the shallow layer of the upper crust, and the rupture of the main earthquake may not extend to the surface. The trend of the belt of the aftershock is generally from the direction NW to SE, which has the obvious spatial segmentation: the aftershocks, which are located in the northwest of the main earthquake epicenter, are rare and relatively concentrated, while the aftershocks, which are located in the southeast, are dense and the width of the aftershock zone becomes larger; The foreshock sequence occurred in the southeast side of the epicenter of the main earthquake, which basically overlapped with the location of the dense segment of aftershocks, indicating that the sparse aftershocks in the northwest side of the main earthquake should belong to the triggering type, while the main earthquake rupture may belong to the unilateral rupture type extending from the epicenter to the SE direction. Besides, its fracture length is about 37km and its downdip width is about 16km. The depth cross-section of the foreshock sequence indicates that the focal depth of the sequence earthquake is generally deep in the southwest and shallow in the northeast, and the fault rupture surface is inclined to SW, with a large dip angle. While the depth cross-section of the aftershock zone shows that the main earthquake rupture is obviously segmented: the NW segment of the sequence has a simple structure, which is there existed one earthquake cluster, while the SE segment is relatively complex, which is there probably composed of two high-dip faults with SW inclination. The centroid depth of the 29 MS≥3.0 events in the Yangbi sequence, mainly range from 3km to 13km, and their focal mechanism solutions are mostly of right-handed strike-slip type with a nodal plane of high dip Angle in NW-SE direction, and possess a certain normal fault component. In the NW segment of the sequence, the focal properties are mainly dextral strike-slip, and a few earthquakes which have positive fault components shows that there is a NW trending earthquake cluster with a SW inclination. Although the SE segment is still dominated by strike-slip faults, there are more positive faults, of which are two NW trending faults with the SW inclination. This difference reflects that the SE segment is likely to bifurcate and develop into two faults. The main shock is a right-handed strike-slip rupture, the source parameters of fault plane Ⅰ are strike 139°, dip 78° and slip angle -164°, and the source parameters of fault plane Ⅱ are strike 45°, dip 74°, and slip angle -12°. The centroid depth of this main shock is 5.2km, which is close to the predominant focal depth of 8.9km obtained by repositioning, indicating that the earthquake occurred in the upper crust, and the depth of seismic activity in the earthquake area is shallow. According to the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of relocated sequence, combined with the focal mechanism solutions of theYangbi series in Yunnan in May 2021, it is indicated that both the Yangbi earthquake sequence and the source fault plane Ⅰ of main shock are NW-SE trending, which is in good agreement with the middle section of the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan fault(the closest to the epicentre). In addition, the focal mechanism solution of the sequence earthquakes is consistent with the properties of the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan fault, both of which are right-lateral strike-slip type. We conclude that the seismogenic structure of the Yangbi earthquake may be correlated with the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan fault, but the epicentre distribution of the sequence earthquakes is different from that of the Weixi-Qiaohou-Weishan fault. It is confirmed that in this fault, the seismogenic structure of this earthquake is a right-lateral strike-slip secondary fault with a steep dip toward SW on the west side of the southern section. Besides, in this fault, there is another NW trending branch fault in the SE section. In addition, combined with the results of the existing regional tectonic stress field in the focal area, it is believed that the earthquake should be caused by a right-handed strike-slip activity in the focal area which is under the force of NNW-SSE direction.

Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics
3D P-WAVE VELOCITY STRUCTURE AT THE NORTHEASTERN MARGIN OF ORDOS BLOCK
HAN Xiao-ming, Liu Fang, ZHANG Fan, CHEN Li-feng, LI Juan, LI Shuan-hu, YANG Hong-ying
SEISMOLOGY AND GEOLOGY    2018, 40 (1): 215-231.   DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4967.2018.01.016
Abstract644)   HTML    PDF(pc) (7278KB)(304)       Save
Using the 7 100 absolute first arrivals of P waves and 91 513 relative P arrival times of 726 events at the northeastern margin of the Ordos block since 2009, the 3D fine structure of P wave velocity within the depth of 15km in the crust was inverted by the double difference seismic tomography method. The results show that there exist obvious high-speed continuous bodies in the northwest of the study area, and their lateral areas increase gradually with depth, while the velocity of east and south is relatively low. The velocity inhomogeneity exists and differs at different depths. The lateral differences of velocity are related to seismicity and faults. The 5~15km depth profile shows that earthquakes tend to occur in the area with relatively high velocity or high speed transition zones, which to some extent reflects the fragility of regional crustal media and the strong differential movement of faults in vertical and horizontal directions where the crust body is easy to absorb and store strain energy and generate major earthquakes. A "Y"-shape low-velocity channel is present in the lower crust around Liangcheng, corresponding to the NW-trending Heilaoyao-Shahukou fault set, which may reveal the migration path of the Late Tertiary-Quaternary basalt eruption. The Helingeer M6.2 earthquake in 1976 was related to the formation of the locking section of the thermal welding in this area. The three-dimensional fine structure of P wave velocity presented in this paper provides intuitive seismological evidence for physical and chemical properties of crustal media and the deep tectonic environment of earthquake preparation.
Reference | Related Articles | Metrics