Abstract: More than 80 percent of strong earthquakes(M≥7.0)occur in active-tectonic block boundaries in mainland China, and 95 percent of strong earthquake disasters also occur in these boundaries. In recent years, all strong earthquakes(M≥7.0)happened in active-tectonic block boundaries. For instance, 8 strong earthquakes(M≥7.0)occurred on the eastern, western, southern and northern boundaries of the Bayan Har block since 1997. In order to carry out the earthquake prediction research better, especially for the long-term earthquake prediction, the active-tectonic block boundaries have gradually become the key research objects of seismo-geology, geophysics, geodesy and other disciplines. This paper reviews the research results related to seismic activities in mainland China, as well as the main existing recognitions and problems as follows: 1)Most studies on seismic activities in active-tectonic block boundaries still remain at the statistical analysis level at present. However, the analysis of their working foundations or actual working conditions can help investigate deeply the seismic activities in the active-tectonic block boundaries; 2)Seismic strain release rates are determined by tectonic movement rates in active-tectonic block boundaries. Analysis of relations between seismic strain release rates and tectonic movement rates in mainland China shows that the tectonic movement rates in active-tectonic block boundaries of the eastern region are relatively slow, and the seismic strain release rates are with the smaller values too; the tectonic movement rates in active-tectonic block boundaries of the western region reveal higher values, and their seismic strain rates are larger than that of the eastern region. Earthquake recurrence periods of all 26 active-tectonic block boundaries are presented, and the reciprocals of recurrence periods represent high and low frequency of seismic activities. The research results point out that the tectonic movement rates and the reciprocals of recurrence periods for most faults in active-tectonic block boundaries exhibit linear relations. But due to the complexities of fault systems in active tectonic block boundaries, several faults obviously deviate from the linear relationship, and the relations between average earthquake recurrence periods and tectonic movement rates show larger uncertainties. The major reason is attributed to the differences existing in the results of the current earthquake recurrence studies. Furthermore, faults in active-tectonic boundaries exhibit complexities in many aspects, including different movement rates among various segments of the same fault and a certain active-tectonic block boundary contains some parallel faults with the same earthquake magnitude level. Consequently, complexities of these fault systems need to be further explored; 3)seismic activity processes in active-tectonic block boundaries present obvious regional characteristics. Active-tectonic block boundaries of the eastern mainland China except the western edge of Ordos block possess clustering features which indicate that due to the relatively low rate of crustal deformation in these areas, a long-time span is needed for fault stress-strain accumulation to show earthquake cluster activities. In addition, active-tectonic block boundaries in specific areas with low fault stress-strain accumulation rates also show seismic clustering properties, such as the clustering characteristics of strong seismic activities in Longmenshan fault zone, where a series of strong earthquakes have occurred successively, including the 2008 M8.0 Wenchuan, the 2013 M7.0 Lushan and the 2017 M7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquakes. The north central regions of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, regarded as the second-grade active-tectonic block boundaries, are the concentration areas of large-scale strike-slip faults in mainland China, and most of seismicity sequences show quasi-period features. Besides, most regions around the first-grade active-tectonic block boundary of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau display Poisson seismic processes. On one hand, it is still necessary to investigate the physical mechanisms and dynamics of regional structures, on the other hand, most of the active-tectonic block boundaries can be considered as fault systems. However, seismic activities involved in fault systems have the characteristic of in situ recurrence of strong earthquakes in main fault segments, the possibilities of cascading rupturing for adjacent fault segments, and space-time evolution characteristics of strong earthquakes in fault systems. 4)The dynamic environment of strong earthquakes in mainland China is characterized by “layering vertically and blocking horizontally”. With the progresses in the studies of geophysics, geochemistry, geodesy, seismology and geology, the physical models of different time/space scales have guiding significance for the interpretations of preparation and occurrence of continental strong earthquakes under the active-tectonic block frame. However, since the movement and deformation of the active-tectonic blocks contain not only the rigid motion and the horizontal differences of physical properties of crust-mantle medium are universal, there is still need for improving the understanding of the dynamic processes of continental strong earthquakes. So it is necessary to conduct in-depth studies on the physical mechanism of strong earthquake preparation process under the framework of active-tectonic block theory and establish various foundation models which are similar to seismic source physical models in California of the United States, and then provide technological scientific support for earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation. Through all kinds of studies of the physical mechanisms for space-time evolution of continental strong earthquakes, it can not only promote the transition of the study of seismic activities from statistics to physics, but also persistently push the development of active-tectonic block theory.

Key words: active-tectonic block, active-tectonic block boundary, seismic activity

摘要： 中国大陆80%以上超过7级的强震发生在活动地块边界带上, 活动地块边界带已逐渐成为地震地质、 地球物理、 大地测量等学科重点研究的对象。 文中回顾了与中国大陆活动地块边界带地震活动相关的研究结果, 已有的主要认识和存在的问题包括: 1)目前, 在活动地块边界带地震活动领域的大部分研究工作仍然停留在统计分析层面, 针对其工作基础或实际工作条件开展分析有助于深入研究中国活动地块边界带的地震活动; 2)活动地块边界带的构造运动速率决定了地震应变释放速率, 但由于边界带内活动断层的复杂性, 活动地块边界带的平均复发周期与构造运动速率之间的关系存在较大的不确定性, 需要对这些断层系统的复杂性进行深入探讨; 3)中国大陆活动地块边界带的强震时间过程呈现出区域特征, 如中国大陆东部活动地块边界带多为丛集型, 青藏高原中北部地区的走滑型活动地块边界带多为准周期型, 但仍需要深入研究其区域构造和区域动力学的物理机制; 4)中国大陆强震孕育发生的动力学环境整体上呈“纵向分层、 横向分块”的特征, 尽管随着地球物理、 地球化学、 大地测量、 地震地质等研究的不断深入, 不同时空尺度的物理模型对解释活动地块框架下大陆强震的孕育发生具有指导意义, 但由于活动地块运动与变形并非只有刚性运动, 壳幔介质物性的横向差异比较普遍, 故对大陆型强震动力学过程的认识尚需完善, 需要在活动地块理论框架下系统开展深入的研究, 建立与震源物理相关的各类基础模型。

关键词: 活动地块, 活动地块边界带, 地震活动