Detecting repeating aftershocks in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, Central China

Abstract

SUMMARY Slippage on a deep fault, which cannot be directly measured, can be inferred from repeating earthquakes. Here, we use a matched filter technique (MFT) to detect missing earthquakes near the Xiannvshan fault in the Three Gorges Reservoir region of Central China. We detected 13 repeating aftershock sequences (RASs) containing 107 events after a Ms 4.4 local earthquake that occurred on 26 March 2014. The RASs occurred in the vicinity of the Ms 4.4 main shock hypocentre and were concentrated within a depth range of 4–7 km. The short-term slip rates estimated from these RASs varied from ∼0.001 to 0.31 mm d–1. The slip rates of the RASs followed an approximately logarithmic decay with RAS duration, suggesting that the deep Xiannvshan fault behaviour tended to follow the logarithmic velocity-strengthening friction law. Relatively high-stress RAS events seemed to influence the occurrence of other RAS events whereas we found no evidence that high-stress nearby events, including a Ms 4.6 local earthquake that occurred on 29 March 2014, triggered the RAS events. We suggest that the fault stress change caused by the Ms 4.4 main shock played a role in triggering the RAS events. Our results demonstrate that the MFT can effectively help identify repeating aftershocks, which could help decipher fault zone rheology.