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EARTHQUAKE ›› 2018, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (2): 127-136.

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Effect of the Earth Rotation Deceleration on the Occurrence of the 2008 Wenchuan MS8.0 Earthquake

CHEN Xue-zhong1, WANG Heng-xin2, WANG Sheng-wen2, WEI Yong-gang1, GUO Xiang-yun1, CHEN Li-juan3, LI Yan-e1   

  1. 1.Institute of Geophysics, CEA, Beijing 100081, China;
    2.First Crust Monitoring Center, CEA, Tianjin 300180, China;
    3.Chongqing Earthquake Administration, Chongqing 401147, China
  • Received:2018-01-08 Published:2019-08-15

Abstract: Stress changes produced by the earth are obtained with a spherically symmetrical and elastic sphere of uniformly-distributed mass and rotating in constant angular rate .The stress changes caused by the earth rotating in constant angular rate on the focal fault plane of the 2008 Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake are calculated. The effect of changes of the earth’s rotation rate on the focal fault plane of the Wenchuan earthquake is discussed. The result shows that deceleration of the earth rotation could promote the initiation of the Wenchuan earthquake. On the other hand, if the deceleration of the earth rotation played a positive role in the Wenchuan earthquake occurrence, there could exist some small deceleration of the earth rotation-triggering earthquakes around the epicenter area of the Wenchuan earthquake. Our analysis shows that earthquakes of ML2.7 around the epicenter area of the Wenchuan earthquake could be triggered by the deceleration of the earth rotation. It provides another evidence for the positive role of the deceleration of the earth rotation in the initiation of the Wenchuan earthquake.

Key words: Triggering effect, Earth rotation, the 2008 Wenchuan MS8.0 earthquake

CLC Number: