【摘要】 2008年5月12日汶川地震让中国地学界强烈感受到深入研究地震地质与构造变形的重要性和肩负防震减灾巨大的社会责任。本文作者从构造地质学家的角度对中国大陆地震分布、成因规律以及发展趋势做了一些讨论。按地震分布,中国大陆可以粗分为两个区域,其交界是一条过渡带。该过渡带的东界是郯庐断裂及其和海南岛的连线,西界是齐齐哈尔—北京—邯郸—郑州—宜昌—贵阳—(越南)河内连成的线,后者其实就是松辽盆地的西界(大兴安岭的东界、太行山的东界、大娄山的东界)。我们不妨将上述两线所夹过渡带称之为"地震区分界线"。分界线以西的广大地区,活动断裂、活动褶皱、活动盆地都与印度板块楔入欧亚大陆造成的青藏高原隆升、快速侧向扩展、亚洲大陆逃逸构造活动有关。流变性较好的造山带(如青藏高原和天山)和流变性较差的古老地块(如塔里木、准噶尔、阿拉善、鄂尔多斯、四川盆地等)在其边界强烈对抗,形成强震。地震区分界线以东的中国沿海地区受太平洋和菲律宾海板块运动的影响也会发生地震,但其强度和频度与该线以西的青藏高原周边、天山、鄂尔多斯地块周缘以及张家口-渤海断裂带上地震低得多。由太平洋板块在日本海沟向西深俯冲形成的地震在中国仅分布在吉林省珲春—汪清一带,这些深源地震对地面工程建筑破坏性不大。处于欧亚、菲律宾海和南海3个板块的交汇部位的我国台湾地震不断。受我国台湾地震的影响,闽粤沿海NW和NE向断裂往往被激活,形成地震。总之,虽然中国大陆的现代地震受太平洋、欧亚、印度和菲律宾海四大板块联合作用控制,但最主要、最直接、影响最大的还是印度板块楔入欧亚大陆造成的青藏高原隆升、快速侧向扩展和大陆逃逸。因此,对中国的地震研究不能仅局限于某区域或某条断裂,而应把整个亚洲大陆逃逸构造作为整体的、统一的"一盘棋"看待。更多还原

【Abstract】 The 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (MS=8.0) ruptured the Longmen Shan range between the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin, killed at least 87,165 people, and damaged 32.38 million homes. The scientific workforce of the nation should be immediately built to advance our understanding of continental earthquake’s formation and spatial and temporal distributions through detailed and comprehensive studies of active faults. The tectonic model of continental extrusion proposed by Paul Tapponnier and his coworkers is as revolutionary as was sea-floor spreading some four decades ago. The uplift and lateral growth of the Tibetan Plateau and resulting northeastward continental extrusion, induced by the northward penetration of India into Asia, are the main cause of seismicity in the Chinese continental crust west of the Tanlu fault zone and its prolongation to the Hainan Island. This paper provides a new overview of how viably the model of continental extrusion explains the active faulting and seismicity in the Chinese continent.更多还原