Characteristics of shear-wave splitting in the crust in Shanxi region

Based on the analysis of seismic waveform data recorded by the Shanxi Digital Seismic Network from June 2000 to December 2012, the dominant polarization directions of fast shear-waves at 18 stations are obtained by use of the systematic analysis method (SAM) of shear-wave splitting in this study. The results show that for the stations located on active faults, the dominant polarization directions of fast shear-waves are mainly consistent with the strike of active faults; for individual stations further away from active faults, the dominant polarization directions are completely consistent with focal mechanism solutions and directions of regional principal compressive strains inferred from GPS data. While for a few stations located at the junction of several faults, the polarization of fast shear-wave is inconsistent with both the strike of active faults and the direction of principal compressive strain from GPS, indicating that faulting background and distribution characteristics of regional stress field are complex in Shanxi region.