A proposed method for locating the critical region of a future earthquake using the critical earthquake concept

Using the critical point concept and extending Bowman's idea of critical ea rthquake, we develop an intersecting circle method to locate the critical r egion. A simulation check shows that this method is effective in finding a given critical region. We selected several real cases from New Zealand and China and used this method to find the critical regions before the occurren ce of large earthquakes. The result shows that this method is valid for det ecting a critical region and the epicenter of mainshock might be in the cri tical region.