Guoyan Jiang

Deformation and Source Parameters of the 2015 Mw 6.5 Earthquake in Pishan, Western China, from Sentinel-1A and ALOS-2 Data

In this study, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) was used to determine the seismogenic fault and slip distribution of the 3 July 2015 Pishan earthquake in the Tarim Basin, western China. We obtained a coseismic deformation map from the ascending and descending Sentinel-1A satellite Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans (TOPS) mode and the ascending Advanced Land Observation Satellite-2 (ALOS-2) satellite Fine mode InSAR data. The maximum ground uplift and subsidence were approximately 13.6 cm and 3.2 cm, respectively. Our InSAR observations associated with focal mechanics indicate that the source fault dips to southwest (SW). Further nonlinear inversions show that the dip angle of the seimogenic fault is approximate 24°, with a strike of 114°, which is similar with the strike of the southeastern Pishan fault. However, this fault segment responsible for the Pishan event has not been mapped before. Our finite fault model reveals that the peak slip of 0.89 m occurred at a depth of 11.6 km, with substantial slip at a depth of 9–14 km and a near-uniform slip of 0.2 m at a depth of 0–7 km. The estimated moment magnitude was approximately Mw 6.5, consistent with seismological results.

Joint analysis of the 2014 Kangding, southwest China, earthquake sequence with seismicity relocation and InSAR inversion

Over 1000 earthquakes struck the northwest of Kangding on the Xianshuihe fault in southwest China between 22 and 29 November 2014, including two largest events of Mw 5.9 and Mw 5.6. The hypocenters of 799 relocated earthquakes suggest that two independent main shock-aftershock subsequences occurred on the Selaha and Zheduotang branches of the Xianshuihe fault, respectively. Fault slip inversion results from one interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) interferogram (26 September 2014 to 5 December 2014) show that the Mw 5.9 main shock produced a maximum slip of ~0.47 m at the depth of ~9 km. However, there is no distinct slip associated with the Mw 5.6 main shock. The InSAR determined moment is 2.36 × 1018 Nm with a rigidity of 30 GPa, equivalent to Mw 6.2, which is about twofold the total seismic moment of all the recorded earthquakes during the InSAR time span. This large discrepancy between geodetic and seismic moment estimates indicates that there was probably rapid aseismic afterslip in the 2 weeks following the Mw 5.9 main shock. The released seismic energy of this earthquake sequence is far less than the accumulated strain energy since the 1955 M 712 earthquake on the same fault branch, which implies that the seismic risk on the Selaha-Kangding segment of the Xianshuihe fault remains high.

Geodetic imaging of potential seismogenic asperities on the Xianshuihe-Anninghe-Zemuhe fault system, southwest China, with a new 3-D viscoelastic interseismic coupling model

We use GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) measurements to image the spatial variation of interseismic coupling on the Xianshuihe-Anninghe-Zemuhe (XAZ) fault system. A new 3-D viscoelastic interseismic deformation model is developed to infer the rotation and strain rates of blocks, postseismic viscoelastic relaxation, and interseismic slip deficit on the fault surface discretized with triangular dislocation patches. The inversions of synthetic data show that the optimal weight ratio and smoothing factor are both 1. The successive joint inversions of geodetic data with different viscosities reveal six potential fully coupled asperities on the XAZ fault system. Among them, the potential asperity between Shimian and Mianning, which does not exist in the case of 1019 Pa s, is confirmed by the published microearthquake depth profile. Besides, there is another potential partially coupled asperity between Daofu and Kangding with a length scale up to 140 km. All these asperity sizes are larger than the minimum resolvable wavelength. The minimum and maximum slip deficit rates near the Moxi town are 7.0 and 12.7 mm/yr, respectively. Different viscosities have little influence on the roughness of the slip deficit rate distribution and the fitting residuals, which probably suggests that our observations cannot provide a good constraint on the viscosity of the middle lower crust. The calculation of seismic moment accumulation on each segment indicates that the Songlinkou-Selaha (S4), Shimian-Mianning (S7), and Mianning-Xichang (S8) segments are very close to the rupture of characteristic earthquakes. However, the confidence level is confined by sparse near-fault observations.

Slip Model for the 25 November 2016 Mw 6.6 Aketao Earthquake, Western China, Revealed by Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 Observations

On 25 November 2016 (UTC 14:24:30), an Mw 6.6 dextral strike-slip earthquake ruptured Aketao county in the northwestern portion of the Kongur Shan extensional system, western China. We extracted surface deformation maps and investigated the distribution of the coseismic slip of the 2016 Aketao earthquake by exploiting the Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data imaged by the Sentinel-1 satellites of the European Space Agency and the ALOS-2 satellite of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. Assuming the crust of the earth is an elastic half-space homogeneous medium, the best fitting slip model suggests a dip angle of 78° for the seismogenic fault. The rupture of the 2016 Aketao earthquake may have consisted of two sub-events that occurred in rapid succession within a few seconds, resulting in two large discrete asperities with maximum slip of ~0.85 m, which were separated by a ~6 km-wide small slip gap. The maximum slip for the sub-event near the epicenter was mainly concentrated at a depth of ~10 km and that of the other at a depth of ~5 km. The estimated total seismic moment from the optimal slip model is 1.58 × 1019 N•m, corresponding to an event with a moment magnitude of 6.74. More than 65% of the aftershocks occurred in the areas of increased Coulomb failure stress, in which the stress was estimated to have been increased by at least 0.1 bar. Matching the potential barrier on the fault with the depth distribution of aftershocks implies that friction on the causative fault was heterogeneous, which may play a primary role in controlling the active behavior of the Muji fault.

Postseismic deformation after 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

Abstract Apparent postseismic deformation was observed after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China. The displacement in the direction normal to the fault decays to nearly zero after 2013, but the significant dextral movement did not decay obviously during our observation of up to May 2013. It indicates that the stress paralleled to the fault in the southern part of the rupture zone was not relaxed during the coseismic slip. The unrelaxed stress transfers northward after the earthquake and continues after 2013. The postseismic deformation may be dominated by afterslip or stress readjustment, but the effects of the viscoelastic relaxation also cannot be ignored. The low velocity zone under the Bayan Har block, which is velocity strengthening, may greatly affect the postseismic deformation and makes it possible that the lower crust ductile flow and the shortening of the crust both contribute to the uplift of the Longmen Shan. The viscoelastic coefficients of the low velocity zone and the lower crust should be larger than 3×1018 Pa.s which is optimised with our observations by using the single viscoelastic relaxation model.

Stability analyses and numerical simulations of the single degree of freedom spring-slider system obeying the revised rate- and state-dependent friction law

The linear and nonlinear stabilities of the single degree of freedom spring-slider system which accords to the revised rate- and state-dependent friction law (RSF) (Nagata et al. J Geophys Res 117 (B2):B2314, 2012) are analyzed. The revised ageing law obtained by Nagata et al. (J Geophys Res 117 (B2):B2314, 2012) incorporates the effects of changes in shear stress. Numerical simulations on the cyclic stick–slip motions of the system are developed and compared with the results of the systems according to the original ageing law or the slip law. From the insight of the stability analyses and numerical simulations, it is found that the revised ageing law integrates the “healing effect” feature of the original ageing law and the dynamic slip features of the slip law. In the stick–slip cycles, the velocity decreases with non-constant states during the dynamic overshoot for the revised ageing law, which is different from both the original ageing law and the slip law. Although the revised ageing law concluded from the low velocity friction experiments cannot account for the earthquake-like high velocity friction experiments, it can be used in earthquake nucleation with low velocity. The stability analyses and the results of numerical simulations are helpful to understanding the implications of the revised ageing law.