Seminar

In terms of geologic time scale, the island of Taiwan is very young and active. Its present-day configuration is the manifestation of the collision between the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plates. The relative motion between these plates is approximately 80mm/yr in WNW-ESE direction. 465,465 relocated seismic events during the period from 1990.01.01 to 2013.12.31 are two- and three-dimensionally plotted using GMT software. A northward subduction slab, which terminates at approximately 121.5° longitude, is clearly revealed. Through a lot of animations, a better understanding on how the Eurasian and the Philippine Sea plates meet in and around Taiwan is further shown. Also, seismic hazard assessment in Taiwan is going to present. At the final aim of evaluating seismic hazard of a highly populated seismic zone, like Taiwan, it is vital to know and study its seismic history. The accumulation of instrumental seismic data over the last hundred years is inadequate in studying possible Taiwan earthquake cycle. With the abundance of historical data, we attempt to show the relation between the elastic strain and Taiwan earthquake cycle.