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Correlation Between Earth Tides and the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake Sequence


Affiliations
1 Geophysics Department, School of Resources and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
2 Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
3 Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Resource Utilization, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China
 

This study examines the possibility of tidal triggering in the aftershock sequence of the MS 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008. Two methods, the Schuster spectrum and KORRECT (correlation with a rectangular pulse) methods, were used to explore the periodicities of the aftershock sequence. Firstly, we detected the latent periodicities through the Schuster spectrum method; then, we used the KORRECT method to verify and confirm these periodicities. Moreover, the aftershock catalogue was divided into two subsets using 16 km focal depth to discuss the impact of focal depth on tidal triggering. Results show that the aftershocks in the first few days following the mainshock were mainly triggered by semidiurnal and diurnal tides. In the Longmen Shan Thrust Belt, shallow earthquakes were triggered by diurnal tides and deep earthquakes were triggered by semidiurnal tides.

Keywords

Aftershock, Earth Tides, KORRECT Method, Schuster Spectrum, 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake.
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  • Correlation Between Earth Tides and the 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake Sequence

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Authors

Ruyu Yan
Geophysics Department, School of Resources and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Chaodi Xie
Geophysics Department, School of Resources and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Xinglin Lei
Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
Han Zhang
Geophysics Department, School of Resources and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Rui Jia
Geophysics Department, School of Resources and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China
Jianping Liao
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Shale Gas Resource Utilization, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan 411201, China

Abstract


This study examines the possibility of tidal triggering in the aftershock sequence of the MS 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake on 12 May 2008. Two methods, the Schuster spectrum and KORRECT (correlation with a rectangular pulse) methods, were used to explore the periodicities of the aftershock sequence. Firstly, we detected the latent periodicities through the Schuster spectrum method; then, we used the KORRECT method to verify and confirm these periodicities. Moreover, the aftershock catalogue was divided into two subsets using 16 km focal depth to discuss the impact of focal depth on tidal triggering. Results show that the aftershocks in the first few days following the mainshock were mainly triggered by semidiurnal and diurnal tides. In the Longmen Shan Thrust Belt, shallow earthquakes were triggered by diurnal tides and deep earthquakes were triggered by semidiurnal tides.

Keywords


Aftershock, Earth Tides, KORRECT Method, Schuster Spectrum, 2008 Ms8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi8%2F1286-1292