Systematic search for repeating earthquakes along the Haiyuan fault
system in Northeastern Tibet
Abstract
Repeating earthquakes have been found at many faults around the world,
and they provide valuable information on diverse faulting behavior at
seismogenic depth. The Haiyuan fault is a major left-lateral strike-slip
fault along the northeastern (NE) boundary of the Tibetan Plateau. Two
great earthquakes (1920 Haiyuan, 1927 Gulang) have occurred on this
fault system, but the section between the ruptures of the two
earthquakes, also known as the Tianzhu seismic gap, remains unbroken.
Shallow creep has been observed from geodetic data at the eastern end of
the seismic gap. However, the driving mechanism and depth extent of
shallow creep are not clear. Here we conduct a systematic search for
repeating earthquakes in NE Tibet based on seismic data recorded by
permanent stations in ten years (2009-2018). Based on waveform
cross-correlations and subsequent relocations, we find several repeating
earthquake clusters at Laohushan section. This is consistent with the
shallow creep inferred from the geodetic data, indicating repeating
earthquakes can be driven by nearby aseismic slip. ~300
repeaters were found within clusters of intense seismicity near the
rupture zones of the 1927 M8.0 Gulang and 2016 M6.4 Menyuan earthquakes.
Relocation of events in the cluster near the Gulang earthquake
delineates two possible unmapped faults orthogonal to the Haiyuan fault.
In addition, we also identify several repeating earthquakes generated by
mining activities with different waveforms and occurrence patterns. Our
study suggests that repeating earthquakes around the Haiyuan fault are
mostly driven by postseismic relaxation process associated with 1920
Haiyuan and 1927 Gulang earthquakes.