Abstract:

The East Kunlun Fault is a giant fault in northern Tibetan, extending eastward and a boundary between the Songpan-Ganzi block and the West Qinling orogenic zone. The East Kunlun Fault branches out into a horsetail structure which is formed by several branch faults. The 2017 Jiuzhaigou M_S7.0 earthquake occurred in the horsetail structure of the East Kunlun Fault and caused huge casualties. As one of several major faults that regulate the expansion of the Tibetan plateau, the complexity of the deep extension geometry of the East Kunlun Fault has also attracted a large number of geophysical exploration studies in this area, but only a few are across the Jiuzhaigou earthquake region. Changes in pressure or slip caused by the fluid can cause changes in fault activity. The presence of fluid can cause the conductivity of the rock mass inside the fault zone to increase significantly. MT method is the most sensitive geophysical method to reflect the conductivity of the rock mass. Thus MT is often used to study the segmented structure of active fault zones. In recent years MT exploration has been carried out in several earthquake regions and the results suggest that the location of main shock and aftershocks are controlled by the resistivity structure. In order to study the deep extension characteristics of the East Kunlun Fault and the distribution of the medium properties within the fault zone, we carried out a MT exploration study across the Tazang section of the East Kunlun Fault in 2016. The profile in this study crosses the Jiuzhaigou earthquake region. Other two MT profiles that cross the Maqu section of East Kunlun Fault performed by previous researches are also collected. Phase tensor decomposition is used in this paper to analyze the dimensionality and the change in resistivity with depth. The structure of Songpan-Ganzi block is simple from deep to shallow. The structure of West Qinlin orogenic zone is complex in the east and simple in the west. The structure near the East Kunlun Fault is complex. We use 3D inversion to image the three MT profiles and obtained 3D electrical structure along three profiles. The root-mean-square misfit of inversions is 2.60 and 2.70. Our results reveal that in the tightened northwest part of the horsetail structure, the East Kunlun Fault, the Bailongjiang Fault, and the Guanggaishan-Dieshan Fault are electrical boundaries that dip to the southwest. The three faults combine in the mid-lower crust to form a “flower structure”that expands from south to north. In the southeastward spreading part of the horsetail structure, the north section of the Huya Fault is an electrical boundary that extends deep. The Tazang Fault has obvious smaller scale than the Huya Fault. The Minjiang Fault is an electrical boundary in the upper crust. The Huya Fault and the Tazang Fault form a one-side flower structure. The Bailongjiang and the Guanggaishan-Dieshan Fault form a “flower structure”that expands from south to north too. The two “flower structures”combine in the high conductivity layer of mid-lower crust. In Songpan-Ganzi block, there is a three-layer structure where the second layer is a high conductivity layer. In the West Qinling orogenic zone, there is a similar structure with the Songpan-Ganzi block, but the high conductivity layer in the West Qinling orogenic zone is shallower than the high conductivity layer in the Songpan-Ganzi block. The hypocenter of 2017 M_S7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake is between the high and low resistivity bodies at the shallow northeastern boundary of the high conductivity layer. The low resistivity body is prone to move and deform. The high resistivity body blocked the movement of low resistivity body. Such a structure and the movement mode cause the uplift near the East Kunlun Fault. The electrical structure and rheological structure of Jiuzhaigou earthquake region suggest that the focal depth of the earthquake is less than 11km. The Huya Fault extends deeper than the Tazang Fault. The seismogenic fault of the 2017 Jiuzhaigou earthquake is the Huya Fault. The high conductivity layer is deep in the southwest and shallow in the northeast, which indicates that the northeast movement of Tibetan plateau is the cause of the 2017 Jiuzhaigou earthquake.

Key words: seismogenic environment, 2017 Jiuzhaigou M_S7.0 earthquake, 3D magnetotelluric imaging, eastern terminus fault system of the East Kunlun Fault

摘要：

东昆仑断裂带是青藏高原北部一条近EW走向的巨型断裂, 其东南尾端发生分叉形成了复杂的马尾状断裂系统, 2017年在该区域发生了九寨沟M_S7.0地震。 文中对跨过东昆仑断裂带东端和九寨沟地震区的3条剖面上的大地电磁探测数据进行处理分析, 采用三维电磁成像反演技术获取了三维深部电性结构图像。 所得结果表明, 东昆仑断裂带东端及周边区域内的东昆仑断裂、 白龙江断裂和光盖山-迭山断裂表现出向SW倾斜的电性差异带, 这些断裂向下延伸并合并于中下地壳的低阻层中, 共同组成了由南向北扩展的花状构造。 在马尾状构造中, 隐伏的虎牙断裂带(北段)在深部表现为明显的低阻边界带; 塔藏断裂的规模明显小于虎牙断裂(北段), 并与虎牙断裂(北段)组成单侧花状结构; 白龙江断裂和光盖山-迭山断裂依然表现为由南向北扩展的花状构造, 2组花状结构在深部衔接并统一归并于壳内的低阻层中。 2017年九寨沟7.0级地震的震源区位于高、 低阻交界区域, 处于松潘-甘孜地块壳内低阻层向NE涌动的端点附近, 根据震源区的电性结构和流变结构推测震源深度≤11km。 虎牙断裂(北段)的延伸深度和规模大于东侧的塔藏断裂, 是2017年九寨沟地震的发震断层。 松潘-甘孜地块北部中下地壳发育南西深、 北东浅的低阻层, 表明青藏高原向NE推挤的运动方式是2017年九寨沟地震的动力来源。

关键词: 孕震环境, 2017年九寨沟M_S7.0地震, 大地电磁三维成像, 昆仑-秦岭断裂系