On the basis of gap＇s temporal-spatial characteristics in and around source area before an earthquake, we propose a method to estimate characteristic parameters （characteristic distance and time） in the region-time-length （RTL） algorithm and introduce the method of correlation coefficient developed by some authors in 2006 to determine the characteristic parameters. The anomalous seismic activities before four moderately strong earthquakes occurred in the northwestern and southwestern China in recent years are studied by the two methods. The results show that the method to estimate characteristic parameters advanced in this paper is a simple one, which possesses a physical meaning and is well applicable to the four moderately strong earthquakes studied.
In the paper, we introduce Allegre＇s scaling-rule theory of rock fracture and the probability to develop a method for predicting earthquake occurrence time on its basis. As an example, we study the characteristics of seismological precursors （seismic spatial correlation length and coda Qc） associated with the earthquake （M=6.1） occurred in Shandan-Minle, Gansu Province. The results show an increasing trend of seismic spatial correlation length and coda Qc before the earthquake. And a power exponent relation is used to fit the increasing variation form of these two parameters. The study has provided a basis for creating a method and finding indexes to predict the earthquake occurrence time by using the monitored seismic spatial correlation length and coda Qc.
