Aftershock sequence of the 2017 Mw 6.5 Jiuzhaigou, China earthquake monitored by an AsA network and its implication to fault structures and strength

Abstract

SUMMARY We deployed a seismic network near the source region of the 2017 Mw 6.5 Jiuzhaigou earthquake to monitor aftershock activity and to investigate the local fault structure. An aftershock deployment of Array of small Arrays (AsA) and a Geometric Mean Envelop (GME) algorithm are adopted to enhance detection performance. We also adopt a set of association, relocation and matched-filter techniques to obtain a detailed regional catalogue. 16 742 events are detected and relocated, including 1279 aftershocks following the Mw 4.8 aftershock. We develop a joint inversion algorithm utilizing locations of event clusters and focal mechanisms to determine the geometry of planar faults. Six segments were finally determined, in which three segments are related to the Huya fault reflecting a change in fault dip direction near the main shock hypocentre, while the other segments reflect branches showing orthogonal and conjugate geometries with the Huya fault. Aftershocks were active on branching faults between the Huya and Minjiang faults indicating that the main shock may have ruptured both major faults. We also resolve a fault portion with ‘weak strength’ near the main shock hypocentre, which is characterized by limited coseismic slips, concentrated afterslip, low aftershock activities, high b-value and high sensitivity to stress changes. These phenomena can be explained by fault frictional properties at conditional stable sliding status, which may be related to the localized high pore-fluid pressure produced by the fluid intrusion.