Taiwan is a young orogenic belt with complex spatial distributions of deformation and earthquakes. We have constructed a three-dimensional finite element model to explore how the interplays between lithospheric structure and plate boundary processes control the distribution of stress and strain rates in the Taiwan region. The model assumes a liberalized power-law rheology and incorporates main ...

Overpressure is widespread in the southern margin of the Junggar Basin, northwestern China. Pressure measurements in drillstem tests and repeated formation tests and estimates from wire-line logs indicate contrasting overpressure values between permeable sandstones and adjacent low-permeability mudrocks. In addition, excess pressure differs among anticlines with similar depth, lithologies, and ...

There is much practical need in obtaining independent information about earthquake-source dynamic properties directly from observable data. One such dynamic parameter, the peak slip velocity during earthquake rupture, can be calculated from the corner frequencies of the source spectra, on the assumption of the validity of the ω-source model. To obtain the source terms, observed Fourier spectra ...

Modeling of long-period body waves of the Ms = 7.3 Borah Peak, Idaho, earthquake suggests that the earthquake was a simple rupture that nucleated at a depth of about 16 km and propagated unilaterally northwestward toward the surface. The seismic moment tensor obtained from the inversion of teleseismic body wave amplitude data agrees well with the fault plane solution obtained from short-period ...

[1] Foreshock sequences have repeatedly been observed in the thrust faulting system of the Chengkung area in eastern Taiwan. Examinations of earthquakes since 1992 in this area show all six of the larger earthquakes (ML R 5) had foreshocks at a distance of only a few kilometres within just a few days before the main shocks. The largest earthquake (ML = 6.5) on December 10, 2003 was preceded by ...

The Persistent Scatterer Interferometry Wide Area Product (PSI-WAP) based on ERS1 & ERS2 radar data has been used in the seismic active area of Atalanti Faulting Zone (Central Greece) to spatially and temporally study the ground deformation for the period 1992-2003. The observed LOS velocity field, with values ranging between -0.5 to -5.0 mm/yr, combined with small standard deviation velocity v...

Dipping, arcuate bands of debris-rich ice outcropping near the margins of glaciers are often interpreted as thrust faults, assumed to originate in zones of longitudinal compression. Identification of thrusts is typically based either on the geometry and sedimentology of the debris bands or on the crystal fabric of surrounding ice, but the physical processes necessary to generate thrusts are rar...

Folding is a process in which bending is localized at sharp edges separated by almost undeformed elements. This process is rarely encountered in Nature, although some exceptions can be found in unusual layered rock formations (called 'chevrons') and seashell patterns (for instance Lopha cristagalli). In mechanics, the bending of a three-dimensional elastic solid is common (for example, in bulk ...

Both earthquake size-distributions and aftershock decay rates obey power laws. Recent studies have demonstrated the sensibility of their parameters to faulting properties such as focal mechanism, rupture speed or fault complexity. The faulting style dependence may be related to the magnitude of the differential stress, but no model so far has been able to reproduce this behaviour. Here we inves...

[1] The southwestern half of a 500 km long seismic gap in the central Kuril Island arc subduction zone experienced two great earthquakes with extensive preshock and aftershock sequences in late 2006 to early 2007. The nature of seismic coupling in the gap had been uncertain due to the limited historical record of prior large events and the presence of distinctive upper plate, trench and outer r...