Dynamic triggering of shallow earthquakes near Beijing, China

Abstract

S U M M A R YWe perform a comprehensive analysis of dynamic triggering around the Babaoshan and Huangzhuang-Gaoliying faults near Beijing, China. The triggered earthquakes are identified as impulsive seismic arrivals with clear P and S waves in 5 Hz high-pass-filtered three-component velocity seismograms during the passage of large amplitude body and surface waves of large teleseismic earthquakes. We find that this region was repeatedly triggered by four earthquakes in East Asia, including the 2001 M w 7.8 Kunlun, 2003 M w 8.3 Tokachi-oki, 2004 M w 9.2 Sumatra and 2008 M w 7.9 Wenchuan earthquakes. In most instances, the microearthquakes coincide with the first few cycles of the Love waves, and more are triggered during the largeamplitude Rayleigh waves. Such an instantaneous triggering by both the Love and Rayleigh waves is similar to recent observations of remotely triggered 'non-volcanic' tremor along major plate-boundary faults, and can be explained by a simple Coulomb failure criterion. We are able to locate five of the earthquakes triggered by the Kunlun and Tokachi-oki earthquakes. These events occurred at shallow depth (<5 km) above the background seismicity near the boundary between NW-striking Babaoshan and Huangzhuang-Gaoliying faults and the Fangshan Pluton. We suggest that these triggered earthquakes occur near the transition between the velocity strengthening and weakening zones in the top few kilometres of the crust, and are likely driven by relatively large dynamic stresses on the order of few tens of KPa.

Long-term evolution of intraplate seismicity in stress shadows after a megathrust

“…The mechanical responses of the earth to the great earthquakes were investigated to understand the influence of the great earthquakes (West et al, 2005;Lei et al, 2011;Miyazawa, 2011;Gonzalez-Huizar et al, 2012;Lee and Hong, 2014). Dynamic triggering of microearthquakes was widely observed in active tectonic regions up to tens of thousands of kilometers (Hill et al, 1993;West et al, 2005;Durand et al, 2010;Peng and Gomberg, 2010;Lei et al, 2011;Miyazawa, 2011;Shelly et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2011;Gonzalez-Huizar et al, 2012). In addition, megathrusts accompany large regional stress changes, causing subsequent changes in seismicity properties.…”

Remote Triggering Not Evident Near Epicenters of Impending Great Earthquakes

“…Indeed, there are reports of triggering of remote activity for many of the recent great events. Examples include triggering in China by the 2003 M w 8.3 Tokachi-Oki and 2004 M w 9.0 Sumatra-Andaman earthquakes (Lei et al, 2011;Wu et al, 2011), triggering in Alaska and the continental United States by the 2004 M w 9.0 Sumatran-Andaman earthquake (West et al, 2005;Rubinstein et al, 2011), triggering in California by the 2010 M w 8.8 Maule-Chile earthquake (Peng et al, 2010), and triggering throughout the United States by the 2011 M w 9.0 Off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku earthquake (Rubinstein et al, 2011). Dynamic triggering of remote events is no longer controversial.…”

Frequency dependence of delayed and instantaneous triggering on laboratory and simulated faults governed by rate‐state friction

“…Dynamic earthquake triggering, where earthquakes are set off by transient perturbations such as tides or passing seismic waves from other distant earthquakes, is a robustly observed phenomenon [ Brodsky et al ., ; Brodsky and Prejean , ; Cochran et al ., ; Fischer et al ., ; Gomberg and Davis , ; Gomberg and Johnson , ; Gomberg et al ., ; Hill and Prejean , ; Hill et al ., ; Husker and Brodsky , ; Métivier et al ., ; Peng et al ., ; Pollitz et al ., ; Prejean et al ., ; Rubinstein et al ., ; van der Elst and Brodsky , ; Velasco et al ., ; Wu et al ., ]. Earthquake triggering is more prevalent in certain regions, such as volcanic and geothermal areas, but is demonstrably a global phenomenon [ Velasco et al ., ].…”