Seismological study of meta-instability of the Yangbi $M_S$ 6.4 earthquake in 2021

TL;DR

This study analyzes seismic data prior to the 2021 Yangbi earthquake to identify meta-instability indicators, revealing consistent trends with source mechanisms and proposing a method for early earthquake precursor detection.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel seismic analysis approach using apparent wave velocity and Poisson's ratio to identify meta-instability precursors of strike-slip earthquakes.

Findings

Trends in apparent wave velocity and Poisson's ratio correlate with source mechanisms.

Positive gradient divergence indicates energy release, negative indicates absorption.

Method can help identify meta-instability in strong strike-slip earthquakes.

Abstract

Meta-instability is an irreversible precursor of earthquakes. To identify the meta-instability precursor of the Yangbi $M_S$ 6.4 earthquake ($99.87^{\circ}\mathrm{E}$, $25.67^{\circ}\mathrm{N}$)that occurred on May 21, 2021, we selected seismic data from the pre-earthquake period between 1 and 21 May. We then calculated the apparent wave velocity ratio and the apparent Poisson\text{'}s ratio within the region of $98.5^{\circ} \mathrm{E}-101^{\circ}\mathrm{E}$, $24.6^{\circ}\mathrm{N}-27.1^{\circ}\mathrm{N}$ and interpolated these values. Our findings revealed that the trends of the fitted straight lines at the maximum and minimum points of the gradient divergences of the apparent wave velocity ratio and apparent Poisson\text{'}s ratio fields are consistent with the source mechanism solution for Sections 1 and 2, respectively. Similarly, the trend of the fitted straight lines at the minimum and maximum points of their values is also consistent with the source mechanism solution for Sections 1 and 2. Positive gradient divergence values indicate energy released, whereas negative values suggest energy absorption. The observed stress state matches the experimentally demonstrated meta-instable state. We propose that this method can be a reference for identifying the meta-instability of strike-slip strong earthquakes with a significant number of foreshocks. For seismically active regions, increasing the number of stations with rich data acquisition will facilitate more convenient stress field analysis.