Source Parameter Inversion of Moderate to Strong Earthquakes and Its Comparison with Earthquake Catalogs in Tibetan Plateau Based on InSAR Observations

MAO Hongfei; XIE Lei; JIANG Kun; SUN Kai; WANG Jiageng; XU Wenbin

doi:10.13203/j.whugis20240124

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Source Parameter Inversion of Moderate to Strong Earthquakes and Its Comparison with Earthquake Catalogs in Tibetan Plateau Based on InSAR Observations

更新时间：2026-11-05

- Source Parameter Inversion of Moderate to Strong Earthquakes and Its Comparison with Earthquake Catalogs in Tibetan Plateau Based on InSAR Observations
- Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University Vol. 51, Issue 2, Pages: 260-274(2026)
- 作者机构：
  
  中南大学地球科学与信息物理学院，湖南长沙，410083
- 作者简介：
- 基金信息：
- DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240124
  CLC： P315
- Received：15 April 2025，
  
  Published：05 February 2026
- 稿件说明：
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毛鸿飞,谢磊,江坤，等.青藏高原中强地震InSAR震源参数反演及其与地震目录的比较[J].武汉大学学报（信息科学版）,2026,51(2):260-274.

MAO Hongfei,XIE Lei,JIANG Kun,et al.Source Parameter Inversion of Moderate to Strong Earthquakes and Its Comparison with Earthquake Catalogs in Tibetan Plateau Based on InSAR Observations[J].Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University,2026,51(2):260-274.
毛鸿飞,谢磊,江坤，等.青藏高原中强地震InSAR震源参数反演及其与地震目录的比较[J].武汉大学学报（信息科学版）,2026,51(2):260-274. DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240124

MAO Hongfei,XIE Lei,JIANG Kun,et al.Source Parameter Inversion of Moderate to Strong Earthquakes and Its Comparison with Earthquake Catalogs in Tibetan Plateau Based on InSAR Observations[J].Geomatics and Information Science of Wuhan University,2026,51(2):260-274. DOI：10.13203/j.whugis20240124

摘要

合成孔径雷达干涉测量（interferometric synthetic aperture radar

InSAR）技术具有高空间分辨率和高形变监测精度的特点，为研究浅源中强震级地震的震源机制提供了有力约束。采用InSAR相位堆叠和贝叶斯反演方法，构建了2014年10月至2022年10月发生在青藏高原的42次中强震级（Mw 4.8~6.6）地震的震源参数目录，探讨其与地震目录的差异。结果显示，与通用地震目录确定的地震质心深度相比，InSAR深度定位结果更浅；全球质心矩张量目录的震中位置存在系统性偏差；InSAR反演结果能够更精细地表达断层的几何形态。研究结果可更新和完善青藏高原的地震目录，为改进区域经验标度关系提供了重要依据，可服务于区域地震危险性评估。

Abstract

Objectives

Source parameters in earthquake catalogs are commonly derived from inversions of seismic-wave observations

but their reliability is often limited by the number and spatial distribution of local seismic stations and uncertainties in crustal velocity models.Interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) provides high-spatial-resolution

centimeter-level coseismic deformation measurements

offering an effective way to better constrain the source parameters of shallow earthquakes. However

the most existing InSAR-based studies have focused on larger events (Mw>6.0)

whereas moderate earthquakes

which occur more frequently

remain comparatively underexplored

and a comprehensive

systematic InSAR earthquake catalog has not yet been established. The Tibetan Plateau is an ideal region for developing an InSAR earthquake catalog

given its limited seismic-station density

commonly low seismic signal-to-noise ratios

and generally good InSAR coherence for coseismic deformation monitoring. Here

we develop and analyze an InSAR-based catalog of moderate earthquakes across the Tibetan Plateau and evaluate its differences from conventional earthquake catalogs.

Methods

We constructed a catalog of source parameters for 42 moderate-to-strong shallow earthquakes (Mw 4.8⁃6.6) on the Tibetan Plateau from October 2014 to October 2022. We first assessed the quality of coseismic Sentinel-1 interferograms available from the Alaska Satellite Facility (ASF) platform. Depending on interferogram quality

we applied two processing strategies.For high-quality events

we utilize generic atmospheric correction online service for InSAR (GACOS) assisted differential InSAR (D-InSAR) approach. For low-quality events

we adopted a phase-stacking strategy. These procedures yielded coseismic deformation fields for all 42 earthquakes

which were then used to invert earthquake source parameters within a Bayesian framework.

Results

The inverted events comprise 13 thrust

10 normal

and 19 strike earthquakes. Overall

the model fits are good

with root mean square (RMS) misfits below 2 cm for the majority of events. Parameter reliability and uncertainty were further evaluated through comparisons with published studies and by examining the posterior credible intervals from the Bayesian inversions. Compare to conventional earthquake catalogs

the InSAR-derived catalog provides more accurate centroid depths and horizontal locations. Depth discrepancies reported in conventional catalogs can reach 4⁃11 km. Among the existing catalogs

the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) solutions show higher horizontal location accuracy than United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT)

with a mean offset of 7.4 km

whereas the GCMT locations exhibit a 11.9 km systematic bias and a distinct spatial pattern that correlates with topography

trending from high-elevation regions toward lower elevations. In contrast

fault-geometry parameters reported by conventional catalogs are broadly consistent with the InSAR solutions. The absolute differences are 10°⁃11° in dip and 9°⁃10° in strike. This study further integrates the InSAR-based catalog with previously published source datasets to derive empirical scale relationships for earthquakes over a broader magnitude range (Mw 4.8⁃8.03) on the Tibetan Plateau.

Conclusions

The study shows that the InSAR-derived catalog significantly supplements the existing global catalog and can improve empirical scale relationships

facilitating scientific reference for regional seismic risk assessment.

关键词

Keywords

references

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