Coseismic Stress Change and Viscoelastic Relaxation after the 2008 Great Sichuan Earthquake
Source abstract
Abstract
Long-term stress accumulation influenced by coseismic stress changes and postseismic viscoelastic relaxation is considered critical to triggering giant earthquakes. Nevertheless, how the stress increase is interrupted by aftershocks and how it influences the megaseismic cycle remain enigmatic. In this study, based on the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion at the nucleated segments of the 2008 great Sichuan earthquake, the stress variation associated with four M > 6 aftershocks was calculated for the period from 2010 to 2017. The results show that (1) the spatial distribution of coseismic stress change is correlated with the rupture pattern of large events and has a fundamental impact on triggering subsequent earthquakes and (2) postseismic viscoelastic relaxation leads to increased Coulomb stress accumulation at the northern and southern edges of the seismogenic Longmenshan fault, which results in enhanced fault instability and the potential for future large events.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: earthquake and tectonic studies · Earthquake Detection and Analysis · High-pressure geophysics and materials
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Geophysics Department, School of Earth Sciences, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Funding
National Natural Science Foundation of China · Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program · State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics · CAS Pioneer Hundred Talents Program
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