Abstract
On 12 May 2008, the devastating Wenchuan earthquake struck the Longmenshan fault zone, which comprised the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, and this fault zone was predominantly a convergent boundary with a right-lateral strike-slip component. After such a large-magnitude earthquake, it was crucial to analyze the influences of the earthquake on the surrounding faults and the potential seismic activity. In this paper, a complex viscoelastic model of western Sichuan and eastern Tibet regions was constructed including the topography. Based on the findings of co-seismic static slip distribution, we calculated the stress change caused by the Wenchuan earthquake with the post-seismic relaxation into consideration. Our preliminary results indicated that: (1) The tectonic stressing rate was relatively high in Kunlun mountain pass-Jiangcuo, Ganzi-Yushu, Xianshuihe and Zemuhe faults; while in the east Kunlun and Longriba was medium; also the value was less in the Minjiang, Longmenshan, Anninghe and Huya faults. As to the Longmenshan fault, the value was 0.28×10−3 MPa/a to 0.35×10−3 MPa/a, which is coincident with the previous long recurrence interval of Wenchuan earthquake; (2) The Wenchuan earthquake not only caused the Coulomb stress decrease in the source region, but also the stress increase in the two terminals, especially the northeastern segment, which is comparatively consistent with the aftershock distribution. Meanwhile, the high concentration areas of the static slip distribution were corresponding to the Coulomb stress reductions; (3) The Coulomb stress change caused by Wenchuan earthquake showed significant increase on five major faults, which were northwestern segment of Xianshuihe fault, eastern Kunlun fault, Longriba fault, Minjiang fault and Huya fault respectively; also the Coulomb stress on the fault plane of the Yushu earthquake was faintly increased; (4) We defined the recurrence interval as the time needed to accumulate the magnitude of the stress drop, and the recurrence interval of Wenchuan earthquake was estimated about 1 714 a to 2 143 a correspondingly.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Burchfiel B C, Royden L H, vander Hilst R D, Hager B H, Chen Z, King R W, Li C, Lü J, Yao H and Kirby E (2008). AA geological and geophysical context for the Wenchuan earthquake of 12 May 2008, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China. GSA Today118 (7): 4–11, doi:10.1130/GSATG18A.1.
Chen L W, Zhang P Z, Lu Y Z, Chen H R, Ma H S, Li L and Li H (2008). Numerical simulation of loading/uploading effect on Coulomb failure stress among strong earthquakes in Sichuan-Yunnan area. Chinese J Geophys51(5): 1 411–1 421 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Densmore A L, Ellis M A, Li Y, Zhou R J, Hancock G S and Richardson N (2007). Active tectonics of the Beichuan and Pengguan faults at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Tectonics26: TC4005, doi:10.1029/2006TC001987.
Gomberg J and Felzer K (2008). A model of earthquake triggering probabilities and application to dynamic deformation constrained by ground motion observations. J Geophys Res113: B10317, doi:10.1029/2007JB005184.
Harris R A (1998). Introduction to special section, stress triggers, stress shadows, and implication for seismic hazard. J Geophys Res103: 24 347–24 358.
Huang Z X, Su W, Peng Y J, Zheng Y J and Li H Y (2003). Rayleigh wave tomography of China and adjacent regions. J Geophys Res108(B2): 2073, doi:10.1029/2001JB001696.
Ji C and Hayes G (2008). Preliminary result of the May 12, 2008 MW7.9 eastern Sichuan, China earthquake. [2008-07-20]. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/eqinthenews/2008/us2008ryan/finite_fault.php.
Kan R J, Zhang S C, Yan F T and Yu L S (1977). Present tectonic stress field and its relation to the characteristics of recent tectonic activity in Southwestern China. Chinese J Geophys20(2): 96–109 (in Chinese with English abstract).
King G C P, Stein R S and Lin J (1994). Static stress changes and the triggering of earthquakes. Bull Seismol Soc Am84(3): 935–953.
Molnar P and Deng Q (1984). Faulting associated with large earthquakes and the average rate of deformation in central and eastern Asia. J Geophys Res89: 6 203–6 228.
Nishimura N and Yagi Y (2008). Rupture process for May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake (Ver.2). [2008-06-12]. http://www.geol.tsukuba.ac.jp/~nisimura/20080512.
Nur A and Mavko G (1974). Postseismic viscoelastic rebound. Science183: 204–206.
Okada Y (1982). Internal deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space. Bull Seismol Soc Am82: 1 018–1 040.
Parsons T, Ji C and Kirby E (2008). Stress changes from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and increased hazard in the Sichuan basin. Nature454: 509–510, doi:10.1038/nature07177.
Ran Y K, Chen L C, Chen G H, Yin J H, Chen J, Gong H L, Shi X and Li C X (2008). Primary analyses of in-situ recurrence of large earthquake along seismogenic fault of the MS8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. Seismology and Geology30(3): 630–642 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Ran Y K, Chen L C, Chen J, Wang H, Chen G H, Yin J H, Shi X, Li C X and Xu X W (2010). Paleoseismic evidence and repeat time of large earthquake at three sites along the Longmenshan fault zone. Tectonophysics491: 141–153, doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2010.01.009.
Ren J J, Zhang S M, Ma B Q and Tian Q J (2009). Characteristics and recurrence intervals of large earthquakes along the middle-northern segment of the Longmenshan fault zone. Acta Seismologica Sinica31(2): 160–171 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Rice J R (1992). Fault stress state, pore pressure distributions and the weakness of the San Andreas fault. In: Evans B and Wong T-F eds. Fault Mechanics and Transport Properties of Rock. Academic, San Diego, Calif, 475–503.
Shan B, Xiong X, Zheng Y and Diao F Q (2009). Stress changes on major faults caused by MW7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, May 12, 2008. Science in China (Series D) 39(5): 537–545 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Shen Z K, Sun J B, Zhang P Z, Wan Y G, Wang M, Bürgmann R, Zeng Y H, Gan W J, Liao H and Wang Q L (2009). Slip maxima at fault junctions and rupturing of barriers during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Nature Geoscience2: 718–724, doi:10.1038/ngeo636.
Shi Y L and Cao J L (2008). Effective viscosity of China continental lithosphere. Earth Science Frontiers15(3): 82–95 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Stein R S (1999). The role of stress transfer in earthquake occurrence. Nature402: 605–609.
Toda S, Lin J, Meghraoui M and Stein R S (2008). 12 May 2008 M=7.9 Wenchuan, China, earthquake calculated to increase failure stress and seismicity rate on three major fault systems. Geophys Res Lett35: L17305, doi:10.1029/2008GL034903.
Wan Y G and Shen Z K (2010). Static Coulomb stress changes on faults caused by the 2008 MW 7.9 Wenchuan, China earthquake. Tectonophysics491: 105–118.
Wang C Y, Han W B, Wu J P, Lou H and Chan W W(2007). Crustal structure beneath the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and its tectonic implications. J Geophys Res112: B07307, doi:10.1029/2005JB003873.
Wu J, Wang H and Cao J L (2011). Influence of crustal inhomogeneity on seismicity in North China. Chinese J Geophys54(8): 2 023–2 033 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Xie F R, Zhang Y Q and Zhang X L (2008). Estimation of Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake recurrence interval. Technology for Earthquake Disaster Prevention3(4): 337–344 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Xu XW, Wen X Z, Chen G H and Yu G H (2008). Discovery of the Longriba fault in eastern of the Bayan Har block and its tectonic implications. Science in China (Series D) 38(5): 529–542 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Yamashina K (1978). Induced earthquakes in the Izu Peninsula by the Izu-Hanto-Oki earthquake of 1974, Japan. Tectonophysics51: 139–154.
Zhang C J, Cao J L and Shi Y L (2008a). Viscosity of Tibet plateau in lower crust deduced from the postseismic deformation. Science in China (Series D) 38(10): 1 250–1 257 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhang C J, Shi Y L and Ma L (2009). Numerical simulation of crust rheological property reflected by post-seismic deformation of Kunlun large earthquake. Rock and Soil Mechanics30(9): 2 552–2 558 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhang P Z, Xu X W, Wen X Z and Ran Y K (2008b). Slip rates and recurrence intervals of the Longmen Shan active fault zone, and tectonic implications for the mechanism of the May 12 Wenchuan earthquake, 2008, Sichuan, China. Chinese J Geophys51(4): 1 066–1 073 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zheng WJ, Li C Y, Wang WT, Yin J H and Wei Z Y (2008). Trench logs of earthquake scarp of the MS8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in the segment north of Beichuan. Seismology and Geology30(3): 697–709 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhu J S (2008). The Wenchuan earthquake occurrence background in deep structure and dynamics of lithosphere. Journal of Chengdu University of Technology (Science and Technology Edition) 35(4): 348–356 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Zhu S B and Zhang P Z (2009). A study on the dynamical mechanisms of the Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake. Chinese J Geophys52(2): 418–427 (in Chinese with English abstract).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Li, Y., Chen, L. & Lu, Y. Numerical simulation on the influences of Wenchuan earthquake on the surrounding faults. Earthq Sci 25, 143–150 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11589-012-0841-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11589-012-0841-7
Key words
- Longmenshan fault zone
- Wenchuan earthquake
- Coulomb failure stress
- tectonic stressing rate
- numerical simulation