Four-component borehole strainmeter (FCBS) is one kind of high-precision borehole strain observation instruments invented in China. As a kind of near-surface deformation observation instrument, FCBS is also easily disturbed by the external environment factors. As a common factor, pumping has significant influence on FCBS observation. Existing studies mostly identify the pumping interference from the perspective of observation curve morphology, relatively few studies focus on its interference mechanism. In order to truly capture earthquake precursor information, it is necessary to study the interference mechanism. In recent years, RZB-3 type FCBS at Tai'an seismic station has been seriously affected by pumping, so it is necessary and also feasible to study the interference mechanism of pumping. Since the influence of pumping interference on borehole strainmeter is common, this work would be very practical and be used for reference by other borehole strain observation stations.
We find that the original observation curves and observed surface strain, shear strain from RZB-3 type FCBS at Tai'an seismic station have the characteristics of synchronous change with the borehole water level, in which the linear correlation coefficient between the two observed shear strain curves and borehole water level reached 0.70 and 0.82 respectively. We further find that the principal strain direction of borehole and borehole water level after normalization meet the nonlinear function as y=1.217arctan(x)^0.224-0.284. The above phenomenon indicates that the observation of RZB-3 type FCBS at Tai'an seismic station is significantly affected by the borehole water level, and the influence is more obvious and the gradient is larger at the stage of low water level. Pumping interference often appears in low water level stage and changes the rock pore pressure state. Statistics show that pumping interference affects the borehole strain state.
To investigate the interference mechanism of pumping to RZB-3 type FCBS at Tai'an seismic station, we take a known pumping as an example, in which we study the principal strain state of the borehole in three periods of normal pumping, interruption of pumping and resuming pumping respectively. During each period, we solve 3 parameters of the principal plane strain state, i.e. the maximum principal strain rate, the minimum principal strain rate and the maximum principal strain direction from four observation equations of FCBS by nonlinear iterative least squares algorithm. On the other hand, concentrated load model (CLM) is used to simulate the mechanical mechanism of pumping. Firstly, the depth of FCBS relative to pumping source and the concentrated load at pumping source are inversed, then, the strain state surrounding the pumping well, including the state at RZB-3 borehole, is simulated by forward modeling. By comparing these results, we find that:
(1)The concentrated load at pumping source inversed by CLM during periods of normal pumping and resuming pumping are both located at or near the bottom of the pumping well, which is consistent with the actual situation, indicating that mechanism and degree of the influence of pumping on borehole strain are well simulated by CLM.
(2)The observed strain state is consistent with the simulation result of pumping interference by forward modeling, indicating that the principal strain state of borehole calculated based on observation of FCBS reflects the true strain state of borehole under different pumping states.(3)The inversed concentrated load at pumping source during pumping periods is significant greater than the load of the pumped water, indicating that the pumping process has more significant influence on the pore pressure of rocks than the load of the pumped water.
Even though CLM is an approximate simulation since it's based on some elastic assumptions, the interference mechanism of pumping on RZB-3 type FCBS at Tai'an seismic station is well explained, which is maybe very helpful for studying the influence of pumping interference on other deformation instruments, locating the unknown pumping source and studying the characteristics of pore pressure of rocks.

Following the 11 March 2011 Japan M_W9.0 earthquake, frequent moderate and small events occurred on the Yishu fault zone and its either side. Using continuous GPS data and a sliding block model, this work studies the relationship between the energy release of these shocks and the block relative motion of either side of the Yishu fault zone. The results show that(1)the equivalent magnitude M from released energy and the two blocks' relative motion are well correlated when earthquakes are selected in a retrieval circle(whose center is the midpoint of the Yishu fault zone)with a radius of 250~500km and using a sliding time window of 3~10 months. The best correlation coefficient between M and the two blocks' relative motion is 0.74 and the T test shows a significant linear correlation between them.(2)Spatial distribution of the correlation coefficients shows that the relative motion of the blocks on both sides affects the energy release in the area from the north part of Yishu fault zone to the Jiaodong Peninsula area and southwest Shandong-Henan border area obviously.(3)Since June 2014, the relative motion of the two blocks on both sides of the Yishu fault zone presents a wave of change, which may be an expression of the accumulation of seismic strain energy in the Yishu fault zone and its two sides. The linear relationship between the equivalent magnitude M from released energy and two blocks' relative motion V can be fitted by linear equation M=0.51*V+3.9, showing that strain energy accumulation could be released by the moderate and small earthquakes in a timely manner, which may favorable to delay the seismic risk in the study area. It also shows, on the other hand, that earthquake energy was not released so completely in the study area since the end of 2015 to 2016, which is likely associated with the Changdao earthquake swarm in 2017.

Almost all the destructive earthquakes, so called tectonic earthquake, are produced by tectonic movement. The tectonic movement will cause resistivity changes in the earth. It's valuable for strong earthquake forecast to study the relationship between the resistivity change and tectonic movement. According to magnetotelluric sounding method, we establish a robust estimate method to calculate the long-term apparent resistivity from seismic station monitoring data. We first use 1D layered earth models to test the sensitivity of this method. Then we process the continually observed long term electromagnetic data in 4 years (from 2011 to 2014) from Anqiu seismic station which is very close to the north section of Yishu fault zone. The apparent resistivity curves and the apparent resistivity time series for different frequencies are obtained. The time series show the resistivity increase in the selected 4 years, which is in good agreement with the GPS baseline data. This also satisfies the results from rock mechanics experiments on deep rocks (upper mantle) that the resistivity will increase with improved stress in a high temperature and pressure environment. The method is valuable for studying electromagnetic precursor of strong earthquakes and strong earthquake prediction.