Near-surface earth resistivity and underground water level anomalies were recorded at Qingdao seismic observatory of Shandong Province before and after the MS8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake of May 12,2008.The observed data of earth resistivity at the observatory revealed that the underground water level dropped and the resistivity increased.It is postulated that in the special tectonic setting at Qingdao observatory,the variation of stress and strain caused the change of water level beneath the station,thus,leading to the variation of earth resistivity.The relationship between the variation of stress field and the change of earth resistivity before earthquake is analyzed.
The alternating electromagnetic(EM) field is one of the most sensitive physical fields related to earthquakes. There have been a number of publications reporting EM anomalies associated with earthquakes. With increasing applications and research of artificial-source extremely low frequency EM and satellite EM technologies in earthquake studies, the amount of observed data from the alternating EM method increases rapidly and exponentially, so it is imperative to develop suitable and effective methods for processing and analyzing the influx of big data. This paper presents research on the self-adaptive filter and wavelet techniques and their applications to analyzing EM data obtained from ground measurements and satellite observations, respectively. Analysis results show that the self-adaptive filter method can identify both natural- and artificial-source EM signals, and enhance the ratio between signal and noise of EM field spectra, apparent resistivity, and others. The wavelet analysis is capable of detecting possible correlation between EM anomalies and seismic events. These techniques are effective in processing and analyzing massive data obtained from EM observations.
Magnetotelluric measurements were carried out along two profiles across the middle and southwestern sections of the Longmenshan fault zone(LMSf)from 2009 to 2011,after the 2008 Wenchuan MW7.9 earthquake.The former profile crosses the Wenchuan event epicenter and the latter one crosses 2013 Lushan MS7.0 event epicenter.The data were analyzed using advanced processing techniques,including phase tensor and two-dimensional inversion methods,in order to obtain reliable 2-D profiles of the electrical structure in the vicinity of the two earthquakes.A comparison of the two profiles indicates both similarities and differences in the deep crustal structure of the LMSf.West of the southwestern section,a crustal high conductivity layer(HCL)is present at about 10 km depth below the Songpan-Garzêblock;this is about 10 km shallower than that under the middle section of the LMSf.A high resistivity body(HRB)is observed beneath the southwestern section,extending from the near surface to the top of upper mantle.It has a smaller size than the HRB observed below the middle section.In the middle section,there is a local area of decreased resistivity within the HRB but there is absence of this area.The 2013 Lushan earthquake occurred close to the eastern boundary of HRB and the Shuangshi-Dachuan fault,of which the seismogenic context has both common and different features in comparison with the 2008 Wenchuan event.On a large scale,the 2013 Lushan earthquake is associated with the HCL and deformation in the crust including HCL of the eastern Tibetan Plateau.In order to assess seismic risk,it is important to consider both the stress state and the detailed crustal structure in different parts of the LMSf.
