Search citation statements
Paper Sections
Citation Types
Year Published
Publication Types
Relationship
Authors
Journals
On 8 January 2022, a Ms 6.9 earthquake occurred in Menyuan, Qinghai, China. This event provided important geodetic data before and after the earthquake, facilitating the investigation of the slip balance along the seismogenic faults to understand seismogenic behavior and assess seismic risk. In this study, we obtained the interseismic (2016–2021) and coseismic deformation fields of the 2022 earthquake using Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and estimated the slip rate, fault locking, and coseismic slip of the seismogenic faults. The results indicated that the seismogenic fault of the 2022 Menyuan earthquake, i.e., the Tuolaishan–Lenglongling Fault, had shallow locked areas before the earthquake; its long-term slip rate could reach 6 ± 1.2 mm/yr. The earthquake ruptured a sinistral strike-slip fault with a high dip angle; the maximum slip magnitude reached 3.47 m, with a moment magnitude of 6.6. The area of coseismic slip > 1.5 m was equivalent to the range of the isoline, with a locking value of 0.6. The interseismic locking region can limit the approximate scope of the coseismic slip distribution. The 2022 Menyuan earthquake released energy that had accumulated over 482 years in the stepover region between the Lenglongling and Tuolaishan faults. The accumulated elastic strain power of the Tuolaishan Fault was equivalent to an Mw 6.79 earthquake. These circumstances in terms of the strain energy balance demonstrate that interseismic locking, as constrained from the geodetic data, and the elapsed time from the previous paleoseismic event are useful for earthquake location and energy predictions.
On 8 January 2022, a Ms 6.9 earthquake occurred in Menyuan, Qinghai, China. This event provided important geodetic data before and after the earthquake, facilitating the investigation of the slip balance along the seismogenic faults to understand seismogenic behavior and assess seismic risk. In this study, we obtained the interseismic (2016–2021) and coseismic deformation fields of the 2022 earthquake using Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images and estimated the slip rate, fault locking, and coseismic slip of the seismogenic faults. The results indicated that the seismogenic fault of the 2022 Menyuan earthquake, i.e., the Tuolaishan–Lenglongling Fault, had shallow locked areas before the earthquake; its long-term slip rate could reach 6 ± 1.2 mm/yr. The earthquake ruptured a sinistral strike-slip fault with a high dip angle; the maximum slip magnitude reached 3.47 m, with a moment magnitude of 6.6. The area of coseismic slip > 1.5 m was equivalent to the range of the isoline, with a locking value of 0.6. The interseismic locking region can limit the approximate scope of the coseismic slip distribution. The 2022 Menyuan earthquake released energy that had accumulated over 482 years in the stepover region between the Lenglongling and Tuolaishan faults. The accumulated elastic strain power of the Tuolaishan Fault was equivalent to an Mw 6.79 earthquake. These circumstances in terms of the strain energy balance demonstrate that interseismic locking, as constrained from the geodetic data, and the elapsed time from the previous paleoseismic event are useful for earthquake location and energy predictions.
As one of the large-scale block-bounding faults in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, the Qilian-Haiyuan fault system accommodates a large portion of north-eastward motion of the Tibetan Plateau. In 2016 and 2022, two strong earthquakes of Mw6.0 and Mw6.6 occurred in the Menyuan area near the Lenglongling fault (LLLF) at the western segment of the Qilian-Haiyuan fault. These two adjoining events, only 40 km apart, exhibited notable differences in focal mechanisms and rupture kinematics, indicating complex fault geometries and tectonic structures in the region, which are still poorly known. Here, we obtained an interseismic velocity map spanning 2014–2020 in the Menyuan region using Sentinel-1 InSAR data to probe strain accumulation across the LLLF. We obtained the coseismic deformation fields of the two Menyuan earthquakes using InSAR data and inverted out their slip distributions. We calculated the Coulomb stress changes to examine the interactions and triggering relationship between two ruptures and to access regional seismic potential. We found that the 2016 earthquake was a buried thrust event that occurred on the northern LLLF, whilst the 2022 earthquake was a left-lateral strike-slip event that occurred on the western end of the LLLF. We indicated there may be no direct triggering relationship between two spatiotemporally adjacent earthquakes. However, the 2022 earthquake caused a remarkable stress perturbation to the surrounding area. Particularly, a large area with notable stress increase stands out along the Tuolaishan fault and the LLLF, likely posing a high seismic hazard in the region.
On 8 January 2022, a Moment Magnitude (Mw) 6.7 earthquake occurred in Menyuan, China. The epicenter was located in the western segment of the Lenglongling fault of the Qilian-Haiyuan fault zone. In this area, the Mw 5.9 Menyuan earthquake on 26 August 1986 and the Mw 5.9 Menyuan earthquake on 21 January 2016 successively occurred. The seismogenic structures of the 1986 and 2016 earthquakes are on the Northern Lenglongling fault, which is a few kilometers away from the Lenglongling fault. After the 2022 Menyuan earthquake, we collected GF-7 and Sentinel-1 satellite images to measure the surface deformation of the earthquake sequence. Based on the elastic dislocation theory, the fault model and fault slip distribution of the 2016 and 2022 Mengyuan earthquakes were inverted using coseismic surface displacements. The results show that the 2016 event is a reverse event, with the maximum coseismic surface displacement on LOS reaching 8 cm. The strike, dip, and rake of the earthquake rupture were 139°, 41°, and 78°, with the maximum slip reaching 0.6 m at a depth of 8 km. The surface rupture of the 2022 Mw 6.7 earthquake ran in the WNW–ESE direction with a maximum displacement on LOS of 72 cm. The main seismogenic fault of the 2022 event was the western segment of the Lenglongling fault. The strike, dip, and rake of the rupture were 112°, 85°, and 3°, with the maximum slip reaching 4 m at a depth of 4 km. The Coulomb failure stress change shows that the earthquake sequence generated a considerable positive Coulomb failure stress of more than 2 bar. These observations suggest that the earthquake sequence around Menyuan is mainly governed by the activities of the Lenglongling fault around the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. In addition, their sequential occurrences could be related to earthquake-triggering mechanisms due to stress interaction on different deforming faults. Thus, the Lenglongling fault has received a great amount of attention regarding its potential earthquake hazards.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.