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Reactivation of basement faults by deep fluids during the 2017 Changdao earthquake swarm, Eastern China
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  • Published: 28 January 2026

Reactivation of basement faults by deep fluids during the 2017 Changdao earthquake swarm, Eastern China

  • Peng Wang  ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0003-2573-85381,
  • Baoshan Wang  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7203-97032,3,
  • Zhigang Peng4 &
  • …
  • Xinglin Lei  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2088-63235 

Communications Earth & Environment , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Geophysics
  • Natural hazards
  • Seismology

Abstract

Ancient basement faults within plate interiors may be reactivated by external forces, generating intraplate seismicity. However, the driving mechanisms remain unclear. The 2017 Changdao earthquake swarm in the Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China, provides an opportunity to investigate such processes. A high-resolution earthquake catalog, constructed using matched filter detection and waveform-based relocation, reveals that the swarm occurred at 7-13 km depth along an X-shaped fault network, with migration following sqrt(t) diffusion (D = 0.08 – 1.2 m² s-1). High b-values and external forcing rate, and substantial isotropic components (13-38%) in the moment tensors indicate fluid involvement. Combined with low VP/VS ratios and proximity to CO2-rich hydrocarbon fields, we propose a fault-valve model where highly compressible fluids episodically breach fault intersections, triggering transient crack opening and swarm migration. This study reveals how deep fluids reactivate ancient basement faults in intraplate regions, and provides new insights for seismic hazard assessment in hydrocarbon-bearing basins.

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Data availability

Three-component (3-C) waveform data from 12 seismic stations are available from the China Earthquake Network Center (CENC) Data Sharing Service (login required): https://data.earthquake.cn/datashare/login.jsp. The datasets supporting this study are deposited on Figshare (DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.30944375), including the detected earthquake catalog (Supplementary Data 1), the relocated earthquake catalog (Supplementary Data 2), and the focal-mechanism catalog (Supplementary Data 3). The Figshare files are under embargo until 24 January 2026, after which they will be publicly accessible44.

Code availability

ETAS modeling was implemented using GeoTaos60 (https://bemlar.ism.ac.jp/lxl/). The MFT code41 is also available from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the CEE editors Dr. Luca Dal Zilio and Dr. Joe Aslin, reviewers Dr. Debi Kilb and another anonymous reviewer for their help in improving the manuscript, Dr. Hongfeng Yang for sharing his modified double difference location program, Drs Jianchang Zheng, Jinxi Hou, Bo Zhang for their suggestions on the focal source mechanisms, the matched-filter, and earthquake locations, respectively. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42430103), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (Grant No. YSBR-020), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (Grant No. ZR2024MD093), the Natural Science Foundation of Dongying city (Grant No. 2024ZR032), the Scientific Research Startup Foundation of Shandong Institute of Petroleum and Chemical Technology, and the Science Development Foundation of Dongying city, China (Grant No. DJB2022015). Z. P. is partially supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant No. RISE-2425889). Seismic waveforms and catalog are provided by the China Earthquake Networks Center. Figures are constructed with the Generic Mapping Tools108.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Institute of Petroleum and Chemical Technology, Dongying, China

    Peng Wang

  2. Mengcheng National Geophysical Observatory, University of Science and Technology of China, Mengcheng, China

    Baoshan Wang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Precision Geodesy, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Baoshan Wang

  4. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Zhigang Peng

  5. National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Geological Survey of Japan, Tsukuba, Japan

    Xinglin Lei

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P.W. and B.W. conceived and initiated the study. P.W. processed the data and drafted the manuscript. Z.P. provided the matched-filter detection code. B.W., Z.P., and X.L. contributed to interpretation of the results and revised the manuscript. P.W. prepared the figures and movie, with input and modifications suggested by Z.P., B.W., and X.L. The supplementary Movie was edited and refined by Z.P. All authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Baoshan Wang.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Communications Earth and Environment thanks Debi Kilb and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editors: Luca Dal Zilio and Joseph Aslin. [A peer review file is available].

Additional information

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Supplementary information

Transparent peer review file

supplementary information

Description of Additional Supplementary File

Suuplementary Data1 - Detected catalog

Supplementary Data2 - Relocated catalog

Supplementary Data3 -Focal mechanism Catalog

Supplementary Movie S1

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Wang, P., Wang, B., Peng, Z. et al. Reactivation of basement faults by deep fluids during the 2017 Changdao earthquake swarm, Eastern China. Commun Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03228-1

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  • Received: 06 May 2025

  • Accepted: 16 January 2026

  • Published: 28 January 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03228-1

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