The tectonic structure of the Song Ma fault zone, Vietnam

•A well-built 1-D velocity model is important in developing seismological studies.•There exists a seismic cluster near the bending segment of Song Ma fault.•The Song Ma fault zone is still under deformation due to local tectonic stress.•The complete earthquake catalogue can be utilized of seismic hazard in the future.

Indochina area is a tectonic active region where creates complex topographies and tectonic structures. In particular, the Song Ma fault zone plays an important role in understanding the mechanism and revolution of the collision between the Indian plate and Eurasian plate. In order to have better understanding the seismotectonic structures of the Song Ma fault zone, a three-year project is proposed to study the seismotectonic structures of crust in this region. The main goal of this project is to deploy temporary broad-band seismic stations around/near the shear zone to record high quality microearthquakes. By using the data recorded by the temporary array and the local seismic network, we are able to conduct seismological studies which include using waveform inversion to obtain precise fault plane solutions of microearthquakes, one-dimensional (1-D) velocity structure of the crust in the region as well as the characteristics of seismogeneric zone. From the results of earthquake relocation and focal mechanisms, we find that the spatial distribution of events occurred in Song Ma fault zone forms in several distinct groups which are well correlated local geological structures and further use to gain insights on tectonic evolution.