Seismogenic Structures of the 2006 ML4.0 Dangan Island Earthquake Offshore Hong Kong  

作　　者：XIA Shaohong CAO Jinghe SUN Jinlong LV Jinshui XU Huilong ZHANG Xiang WAN Kuiyuan FAN Chaoyan ZHOU Pengxiang 

机构地区：[1]CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology,South China Sea Institute of Oceanology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Guangzhou 510301,China [2]Seismological Bureau of Guangdong Province,Guangzhou 510070,China [3]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China

出　　处：《Journal of Ocean University of China》2018年第1期169-176,共8页中国海洋大学学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDA13010101);the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 91328 206, 41576041, 41506046); the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2017A030311015); Special Project of Guangdong Province

摘　　要：The northern margin of the South China Sea, as a typical extensional continental margin, has relatively strong intraplate seismicity. Compared with the active zones of Nanao Island, Yangjiang, and Heyuan, seismicity in the Pearl River Estuary is relatively low. However, a ML4.0 earthquake in 2006 occurred near Dangan Island(DI) offshore Hong Kong, and this site was adjacent to the source of the historical M5.8 earthquake in 1874. To reveal the seismogenic mechanism of intraplate earthquakes in DI, we systematically analyzed the structural characteristics in the source area of the 2006 DI earthquake using integrated 24-channel seismic profiles, onshore–offshore wide-angle seismic tomography, and natural earthquake parameters. We ascertained the locations of NW-and NE-trending faults in the DI sea and found that the NE-trending DI fault mainly dipped southeast at a high angle and cut through the crust with an obvious low-velocity anomaly. The NW-trending fault dipped southwest with a similar high angle. The 2006 DI earthquake was adjacent to the intersection of the NE-and NW-trending faults, which suggested that the intersection of the two faults with different strikes could provide a favorable condition for the generation and triggering of intraplate earthquakes. Crustal velocity model showed that the high-velocity anomaly was imaged in the west of DI, but a distinct entity with low-velocity anomaly in the upper crust and high-velocity anomaly in the lower crust was found in the south of DI. Both the 1874 and 2006 DI earthquakes occurred along the edge of the distinct entity. Two vertical cross-sections nearly perpendicular to the strikes of the intersecting faults revealed good spatial correlations between the 2006 DI earthquake and the low to high speed transition in the distinct entity. This result indicated that the transitional zone might be a weakly structural body that can store strain energy and release it as a brittle failure, resulting in an earthquake-prone area.The northern margin of the South China Sea, as a typical extensional continental margin, has relatively strong intraplate seismicity. Compared with the active zones of Nanao Island, Yangjiang, and Heyuan, seismicity in the Pearl River Estuary is relatively low. However, a ML4.0 earthquake in 2006 occurred near Dangan Island(DI) offshore Hong Kong, and this site was adjacent to the source of the historical M5.8 earthquake in 1874. To reveal the seismogenic mechanism of intraplate earthquakes in DI, we systematically analyzed the structural characteristics in the source area of the 2006 DI earthquake using integrated 24-channel seismic profiles, onshore–offshore wide-angle seismic tomography, and natural earthquake parameters. We ascertained the locations of NW-and NE-trending faults in the DI sea and found that the NE-trending DI fault mainly dipped southeast at a high angle and cut through the crust with an obvious low-velocity anomaly. The NW-trending fault dipped southwest with a similar high angle. The 2006 DI earthquake was adjacent to the intersection of the NE-and NW-trending faults, which suggested that the intersection of the two faults with different strikes could provide a favorable condition for the generation and triggering of intraplate earthquakes. Crustal velocity model showed that the high-velocity anomaly was imaged in the west of DI, but a distinct entity with low-velocity anomaly in the upper crust and high-velocity anomaly in the lower crust was found in the south of DI. Both the 1874 and 2006 DI earthquakes occurred along the edge of the distinct entity. Two vertical cross-sections nearly perpendicular to the strikes of the intersecting faults revealed good spatial correlations between the 2006 DI earthquake and the low to high speed transition in the distinct entity. This result indicated that the transitional zone might be a weakly structural body that can store strain energy and release it as a brittle failure, resulting in an earthquake-prone area.

关 键 词：Dangan ISLAND INTRAPLATE SEISMICITY South China Sea CRUSTAL velocity model SEISMOGENIC structure 

分 类 号：P7[天文地球—海洋科学]