Early aftershocks of the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake in China on 2008/05/12

Abstract

On 2008/05/12, the disastrous Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake ruptured ~250 km along the Longmenshan thrust belt along the Longmenshan thrust belt that bounds the Tibetan plateau and the Sichuan basin [Burchfiel et al., GSA, 2008; Xu et al., Geology, 2009]. This earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks were recorded continuously by many permanent and temporary broadband seismometers in Sichuan and elsewhere in the world. The following example is generated by the seismogram recorded at a nearby station CB.CD2. The mainshock signal is clipped, but most of the early aftershock signals are not. Many of them were not listed in the standard earthquake catalog. Author will be working with scientists at China Earthquake Administration (CEA) to detect and locate these missing early aftershocks, and use them to better understand the physics of aftershock triggering.