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Terr. Atmos. Ocean. Sci., Vol. 30, No. 3, 1-14, June 2019 doi: 10.3319/TAO.2018.09.28.01 Investigating the structure of the Milun Fault from surface ruptures of the 2018 Hualien Earthquake Yi-Chun Hsu1, *, Chung-Pai Chang1, 3, Jiun-Yee Yen 2, Hao Kuo-Chen1, 4, and Chun-Chin Wang1 1 Department of Earth Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan 2 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, National Dong Hwa University, Hualien City, Taiwan 3 Center for Space and Remote Sensing Research, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan 4 Earthquake-Disaster & Risk Evaluation and Management Center (E-DREaM), National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan ABSTRACT Article history: Received 31 July 2018 A deadly Mw 6.4 earthquake occurred in the Hualien area of eastern Taiwan Revised 27 September 2018 on 6 February 2018. It caused severe damage to infrastructure and creating surface Accepted 28 September 2018 ruptures in several areas mostly near the Milun Fault in Hualien City. In this study, we investigated the distribution of co-seismic surface ruptures by measuring the ori- Keywords: entations of the ruptures, classifying the fracture patterns, and measuring the fracture 2018 Hualien Earthquake, Milun geometries to calculate the principal displacement zone (PDZ) and the regional stress Fault, Surface ruptures, Riedel shear directions. As a result, local PDZ is observed to rotate anti-clockwise along the Milun model Fault from north to south. Considering the deformation behaviors of the fractures and Citation: their relative positions along the Milun Fault, the shear zone in Qixingtan area is a Hsu, Y.-C., C.-P. Chang, J.-Y. Yen, horsetail structure derived from the right side of the end of the left-lateral strike-slip H. Kuo-Chen, and C.-C. Wang, 2019: fault. In addition, the 170° trending fault splay in the middle segment and the fault Investigating the structure of the branch corresponding to the Beipu Fault are elements of the Riedel shear structure Milun Fault from surface ruptures of associated with the left-lateral moving Milun Fault. Our results show that Riedel the 2018 Hualien Earthquake. Terr. shear structures are common within co-seismic surface rupture zones in this area, Atmos. Ocean. Sci., 30, 1-14, doi: 10.3319/TAO.2018.09.28.01 and the variations in the orientations of Riedel structures reflect the influence of the pre-existing Milun Fault. We can also determine the most recent geometry, kinemat- ics, and displacement characteristics of the Milun Fault through co-seismic surface Earlyruptures and macro-scale Release Riedel shear structure analysis. This study provides a good example of understanding the relationship between the outcrop scale and the macro- scale of the Riedel shear model. 1. INTRODUCTION The Mw 6.4 Hualien Earthquake occurred on 6 Febru- tive faults on the surface. However, it may be related to a ary 2018, along the northeastern offshore of Hualien City at shallow structure located in the offshore area. 6.3-km depth (Fig. 1). Maximum shaking intensity of 7 is ob- In most cases, shallow large earthquakes result in surface served in Hualien City and the Nanao area in Ilan City. Ac- ruptures related to their corresponding active fault systems. cording to the seismic moment tensor solution and the distri- However, many previous studies have shown that occasion- bution of aftershocks (according to Central Weather Bureau, ally, co-seismic deformation and surface ruptures not only hereby CWB), this earthquake is dominated by strike-slip reflect the surface trace of the fault, but also provide an indi- motion along on a fault striking NE-SW and dipping to NW, cation of the structural characteristics of the fault in depth, in with the compression axis oriented along NNW-SSE (Fig. 1; addition to being related to a pre-existing tectonic environ- data from CWB’s February earthquake catalog). From the ment (e.g., King 1986; Lin et al. 2001, 2003, 2009a, 2011). In map view, this mainshock is barely linked to any known ac- this study, despite the unknown offshore seismogenic struc- ture, we observe surface ruptures onshore. We propose that the surface ruptures associated with the 2018 Hualien Earth- * Corresponding author quake could be affected by the pre-existing active fault—the E-mail: [email protected] Milun Fault—the geometry of which is not compatible with 2 Hsu et al. that of the main shock. This study is a good opportunity to cient Meilun lake sediments (Hualien Formation) between observe the effects of the stress generated by earthquakes on the terraces (Milun Formation) are the youngest sediments pre-existing structures, and the degree of influence of pre- in the Milun Tableland. The Milunshan conglomerate is dis- existing structures on co-seismic surface ruptures. tributed in the Meilun Hill and consists of gravel and sand Another focus of this study is the outcrop-scale co- (Fig. 2d; Lin 1962; Chung et al. 2004; Lin et al. 2009b). seismic structural features. From field investigations, the The northernmost end of Milun Fault can be traced distribution of the surface rupture areas is mostly located from the Qixingtan coast (Fig. 2b). The fault trace close- along the Milun Fault and the northernmost part of the ly follows the western edge of the Milun Tableland with Lingding fault (Fig. 2c). Most of the co-seismic surface a northeastern strike, further extending southwards into the ruptures occurred on artificial infrastructure (e.g., asphalt Hualien City (Chung et al. 2004; Chang et al. 2014a, b). layer). Among them, we can identify the conjugate Riedel The surface of the Milun Fault is approximately 8 km long. shear structures caused by the left-lateral strike-slip move- It is a left-lateral strike-slip active fault with reverse compo- ment of the Milun Fault (Hsu et al. 2018). The 2018 Hualien nent (Hsu 1955, Fig. 2d). According to the shallow reflec- Earthquake provides a good opportunity to study the form- tion seismic data, the Milun Fault is steeply east-dipping ing mechanism and kinematics of co-seismic Riedel shear (Liau 2006). Previous research shows that the activity in the structures, to further investigate the rupturing behavior Milun Fault was intermittent. When a large earthquake oc- based on the mechanical properties of the Milun Fault, as curs, the hanging wall of the Milun Fault uplifts violently well as clarifying the geometry, kinematics, and displace- with a significant horizontal displacement (Lu 2009; Yen ment characteristics of the Milun Fault. et al. 2011). This fault historically ruptured during the 1951 Hualien Earthquake (ML 7.3), revealing co-seismic defor- mation with an offset of 1.2 and 2 m for its vertical and 2. TECTONIC SETTING left-lateral strike-slip components, respectively (Tang 1952; The 2018 Hualien Earthquake occurred at the junc- Hsu 1955, 1962; Lin 1962; Yu et al. 1997). The study of an tion of the plate boundary between the Philippine Sea plate elastic dislocation model from the GPS data (Yu et al. 1990) and the Eurasian plate. The Philippine Sea plate subducts suggested that the Milun Fault had a significant left-lateral towards the northwest beneath the Eurasian plate along the and reverse slip during the 1986 Hualien earthquake (ML Ryukyu trench, while the coastal range on the Philippine 6.8). During the interseismic period, the Milun Fault slipped Sea plate collides with the Eurasian plate along the Longitu- sinistrally at a rate of 3 - 8 mm y-1, while the central-south- dinal Valley (Fig. 2a). Hualien City is located at the transi- ern segment (5 - 8 mm y-1) moves slightly more rapidly than tion zone between the subduction and the collision (Chen the northern segment (3 mm y-1) (Chen et al. 2014a). The et al. 2014a). This zone is one of the most seismically ac- uplift rate of the hanging wall is generally very low (1 mm tive regions in Taiwan. GPS observations show the velocity y-1, Chen et al. 2014b). field changes from the northwestEarly direction in the Longitu - ReleaseIn addition, there are two minor faults, the Beipu Fault dinal Valley to the north in Hualien City (Fig. 2b; Yu et al. and the Mingyi Fault, related to the Milun Fault. The Beipu 1997; Chen et al. 2014a). The focal mechanism solutions Fault is located on the northwest side of Hualien City. The of background seismicity indicate that the compression axis length of this fault is approximately 2.3 km. The terrain on along the northwest-southeast direction changes to north- the western side of Beipu fault is slightly tilted towards the east-southwest in this area (Fig. 2b; Wu et al. 2009). These northeast, while the Meilun River along the fault developed results show that the stress field of the main shock area is abnormal geomorphic features (Fig. 2b), which is believed very complicated. to be related to the long-term movement of the Beipu Fault The distribution of aftershocks ranges from the north- (Shih et al. 1983). According to the results of the PSInSAR eastern offshore of Hualien City to the south of Hualien analysis from Envisat radar images, the Beipu Fault showed City, on either side of the Milun Fault, with the aftershock intermittent activity from 2004 to 2008. An uplift event oc- sequence further extending southward to the northernmost curred on the east side of the Beipu Fault, which can be re- segment of the Longitudinal Valley, also called the Lingding lated to the 2005 earthquake events. The relative maximum fault (Yu and Kuo 2001; Chen et al. 2007; Fig. 1). The co- displacement reaches approximately 16 mm (Chang et al. seismic surface ruptures are mainly distributed on both sides 2006; Yen et al.