Introduction to the recently published treatise entitled A Guidebook to Earthquake Scientific Investigation

Scienctific expedition of earthquake plays a crucial role in acquiring various data related to earthquake cycle processes and lays a fundamental foundation for further understanding earthquake preparation,seismic disaster, policy-making for earthquake disaster mitigation etc.

China is an earthquake-prone country due to its seismically active environment, therefore Chinese government has been paying great attention to earthquake scientific investigation.Over the past halfcentury, lots of earthquake scientific investigations have been organized by multiple scientific agencies, particularly by China Earthquake Administration (CEA) (Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, 2022).A wealth of first-hand observational data, field samples, and natural phenomena closely related to earthquakes are acquired through earthquake scientific investigations immediately following typical earthquakes.The systematical studies on the nine large earthquakes that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s brought an excellent reputation domestically and internationally for earthquake science (Ma et al., 1982).After the 2001MS8.1 Kunlun earthquake (Ren et al., 2005) and the 2008MS8.0 Wenchuan earthquake (Wang et al.,2011; Wan et al., 2017; Diao et al., 2018), CEA organized large-scale systematic scientific investigations to the two large earthquakes.After the twoMS≥ 8.0 earthquakes, CEA also organized scientific investigations to the more than tenM≥ 6.0 earthquakes, including the 2010 Yushu (M7.1) earthquake (Meng et al., 2013), 2013 Lushan (M7.0)earthquake, 2014 Ludian (M6.5) earthquake (Jiang et al., 2015), 2015 Pishan (M6.5) earthquake, 2017 Jinghe(M6.6) earthquake, 2017 Jiuzhaigou (M7.0) earthquake, 2019 Changning (M6.0) earthquake, 2021 Yangbi (M6.4) earthquake, Madoi (M7.4) earthquake (Li et al., 2021;Wang et al., 2021; Hong et al., 2022), Luxian(M6.0) earthquake, 2022 Menyuan (M6.9) earthquake and Luding (M6.8) (Wang et al., 2022).These earthquake scientific investigations have made great advancements to earthquake science and seismic disaster mitigation.

Lots of practical experiences have been accumulated from the previous scientific investigations; nevertheless, some problems and shortcomings associated with the investigations have been found, such as too extensive objectives, nonstandard observations etc.(Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, 2022).Thus it is quickly necessary to summarize previous earthquake scientific investigations extract practical experiences and formulate standard investigation contents, work procedures, observation approaches, data sharing, and archival to benefit future earthquake investigations and earthquake prevention and mitigation.

Under the auspices of Scientific and Technological Innovation on Pilot Action Plan for Modernization of Earthquake Disaster Prevention and Mitigating in the New Era (2020 –2022), a special commission is formed involving more than 30 multi-disciplinary scientists to collectively compile the treatise entitled A Guidebook to Earthquake Scientific Investigation.This commission spent more than two years collecting various reports, papers and other documents related to previous earthquake scientific investigations, writing and revising multiple interim versions for this treatise and working out the final version which covers all the currently involved components of earthquake scientific investigation.This treatise includes 17 chapters, covering earthquake investigation procedures and 15 topics related to frequently employed approaches for earthquake investigations.The 15 topics involve seismogeology investigation, seismic disaster remote sensing comparative investigation and acquisition, crustal deformation measurement,geochemical analysis, seismic source rupture process and seismic tectonic mechanism research,artificial seismic sounding,gravity detection,mobile gravity observation, magnetotelluric sounding, deep seismic reflection sounding, mobile seismologic station array observation, mobile geomagnetic observation, strong ground motion and engineering earthquake damage investigation, seismic sequence analysis, and data collection and sharing services (Institute of Earthquake Forecasting,China Earthquake Administration, 2022).

In the course of compiling this treatise, the commission has referred to lots of national standards, industrial technical specifications, and previous seismic schemes and reports of scientific research,summarized the experience and deficiency of previous seismic scientific investigations, and conducted full discussion and extensive consultation,comprehensively considering the scientific characteristics and operability of the guidebook on earthquake investigation.The treatise will hopefully provide guidance and reference for the development of seismic scientific investigation and will continue to improve with more and more practices of future scientific investigations.The treatise could be used as a reference book for earthquake scientists and the administrators of earthquake monitoring and forecasting and used as a textbook for postgraduate and graduate students majoring in geosciences and civil engineering.

Appendix A.Supplementary data

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eqrea.2023.100242.