Abstract
We conduct a systematic examination of the stress field environment surrounding the 4 March 2010 Jiahsian earthquake (MW 6.3) in southern Taiwan. First, we perform waveform inversion to determine the focal mechanisms of 318 earthquakes of magnitudes 3.5 ≤ ML ≤ 6.4 that occurred between January 1997 and December 2010 within 50 km of the Jiahsian epicenter. These focal mechanisms are then used to derive the orientations of the principle stress axes using a damped regional-scale stress inversion algorithm. Our results show that southern Taiwan is dominated by two types of stress environments: the overall northwest–southeast compression in the Western Foothills and the Longitudinal Valley resulting from the convergence of the Philippine Sea and Eurasian plates and the northeast–southwest extension due to the exhumation of the Central Range. Moderation by local conditions led to areas with distinct types of stress conditions: thrust in the Western Foothills and the Longitudinal Valley, strike-slip in the Central Range north of 23° N, normal in the southeastern Central Range, and mixed-type across the Chaochou Fault. Significant earthquakes, such as the 1999 Chi-Chi and the 2010 Jiahsian earthquakes, have a detectable influence on the regional stress field.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Angelier J (1979) Determination of the mean principal directions of stresses for a given fault population. Tectonophysics 56:T17–T26
Angelier J (1984) Tectonic analysis of fault slip data sets. J Geophys Res 89:5835–5848
Angelier J, Barrier E, Chu HT (1986) Plate collision and paleostress trajectories in a fold-thrust belt: the foothills of Taiwan. Tectonophysics 125:161–178
Bos AG, Spkman W, Nyst MCJ (2003) Surface deformation and tectonic setting of Taiwan inferred from GPS velocity field. J Geophys Res 108(B10):2458
Chang CP, Chang TY, Angelier J, Kao H, Lee JC, Yu SB (2003) Strain and stress field in Taiwan oblique convergent system: Constraints from GPS observations and tectonic data, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 214:115–127
Gephart JW, Forsyth DW (1984) An improved method for determining the regional stress tensor using earthquake focal mechanism data: application to the San Fernando earthquake sequence. J Geophys Res 89:9305–9320
Hardebeck JL, Michael AJ (2006) Damped regional-scale stress inversions: methodology and examples for southern California and the Coalinga aftershock sequence. J Geophys Res 111:B11310. https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB004144
Hsu YJ, Yu SB, Simons M, Kuo LC, Chen HY (2009) Interseismic crustal deformation in the Taiwan plate boundary zone revealed by GPS observations, seismicity, and earthquake focal mechanisms. Tectonophysics 479:4–18
Kao H, Jian PR, Ma KF, Huang BS, Liu CC (1998) Moment-tensor inversion for offshore earthquakes east of Taiwan and their implications to regional collision. Geophys Res Lett 25:3619–3622
Kao H, Jian PR (2001) Seismogenic patterns in the Taiwan region: insights from source parameter inversion of BATS data. Tectonophysics 333:179–198
McKenzie DP (1969) The relation between fault plane solutions for earthquakes and the directions of the principal stresses. Bull Seismol Soc Am 59:591–601
Michael AJ (1984) Determination of stress from slip data: faults and folds. J Geophys Res 89:11517–11526
Michael AJ (1987) Use of focal mechanisms to determine stress: a control study. J Geophys Res 92:357–368
Rau RJ, Wu FT (1998) Active tectonics of Taiwan orogeny from focal mechanisms of small-to-moderate-sized earthquakes. Terr Atmos Ocean Sci 9:755–778
Wessel P, Smith WHF (1998) New, improved version of the generic mapping tools released. EOS Trans AGU 79:579
Wu YM, Chang CH, Zhao L, Shyu JBH, Chen YG, Sieh K, Avouac J-P (2007) Seismic tomography of Taiwan: improved constraints from a dense network of strong-motion stations. J Geophys Res 112:B08312. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JB004983
Wu YM, Chen CC (2007) Seismic reversal pattern for the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Mw 7.6 earthquake. Tectonophysics 429:125–132
Wu YM, Hsu YJ, Chang CH, Teng SY, Nakamura M (2010) Temporal and spatial variation of stress field in Taiwan from 1991 to 2007: insights from comprehensive first motion focal mechanism catalog, Earth Planet. Sci Lett 298:306–316
Wu YM, Zhao L, Chang CH, Hsu YJ (2008) Focal-mechanism determination in Taiwan by genetic algorithm. Bull Seismol Soc Am 98:651–661
Yeh YH, Barrier E, Lin CH, Angelier J (1991) Stress tensor analysis in the Taiwan area from focal mechanisms of earthquakes. Tectonophysics 200:267–280
Yu SB, Chen HY, Kuo LC, Lallemand SE, Tsien HH (1997) Velocity field of GPS stations in the Taiwan area. Tectonophysics 274:41–59
Zhao LS, Helmberger DV (1994) Source estimation from broadband regional seismograms. Bull Seismol Soc Am 84:91–104
Zhu L, Helmberger DV (1996) Advancement in source estimation techniques using broadband regional seismograms. Bull Seismol Soc Am 86:1634–1641
Zhu L, Rivera LA (2002) A note on the dynamic and static displacement from a point source in multi-layered media. Geophys J Int 148:619–627
Acknowledgments
Broadband waveform records are obtained from the data management center of the Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. All figures were produced by the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) of Wessel and Smith [15].
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zhao, L., Lee, CY., Hung, SH. (2021). Earthquake Focal Mechanisms and Stress Environment in Southern Taiwan. In: Lo, CH., Xu, X., Chang, WY., Ando, M. (eds) Earthquake Geology and Tectonophysics around Eastern Tibet and Taiwan. Atmosphere, Earth, Ocean & Space. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6210-5_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6210-5_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-6209-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-6210-5
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)