Advances in Earth Science ›› 2011, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (5): 548-555. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2011.05.0548

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The Temporal and Spatial Distribution Pattern of Earthquake Disaster in Chinese Mainland

Yang Gege 1,2, Yang Yanzhao 1, You Zhen 1, Zhang Xiaoyong 3   

  1. 1.Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing100101, China;2.College of Resource  Environment and Tourist, Capital Normal University, Beijing100048,China;3.National Earthquake Response Support Service, Beijing100049,China
  • Received:2010-06-13 Revised:2011-02-24 Online:2011-05-10 Published:2011-05-10

Yang Gege, Yang Yanzhao, You Zhen, Zhang Xiaoyong. The Temporal and Spatial Distribution Pattern of Earthquake Disaster in Chinese Mainland[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2011, 26(5): 548-555.

This paper comprehensively analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution pattern of earthquake disaster in Mainland China over sixty years from various time and space scales. Based on the investigation of 1679 records of earthquakes with Ms above 5.0 within China from 1949 to 2009, earthquake disaster database of Mainland China has been created, and a series of geographic maps of earthquake disaster have also been compiled. The results show that decadal variation has notable fluctuations, and the Seventies of last century  is the period when earthquake disasters happened most frequently. Annual variation is obviously periodically alternating between the active and quiet, and 1950,1966,1976,1988 and 2008 are the active years in the meanwhile. To the spatial distribution of earthquakes, the difference between East and West China is very clear. Among those sixty years, the earthquake disasters happened 1 547 times in the western part of China, which takes 92.14% of the total number. In addition, the differences among provinces are also eminents. The earthquakes mainly happened in Tibet, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces. The epicenters of earthquakes with Ms above 5.0 in each decade all locate in Qinghai province in the region with longitude of 90~99°E and latitude of 33°~36° N, which indicates that migration rates of the epicenters are small.

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