Reevaluation of surface rupture parameters and faulting segmentation of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (Mw7.8), northern Tibetan Plateau, China

Xu, Xiwei; Yu, Guihua; Klinger, Yann; Tapponnier, Paul; Woerd, J. van der

doi:10.1029/2004jb003488

Cited by 88 publications

(127 citation statements)

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“…Splay faults are particularly important for dynamic fault segment interactions and earthquake rupture path selectivity. There are examples in recent earthquakes that ruptures branched off into splay faults from primary faults from the evidence of surface rupture traces such as the 1992 Landers earthquake (Sowers et al 1994), the 2001 Kunlun Earthquake (Xu et al 2006) and the 2002 Denali Earthquake (Eberhart-Phillips et al 2003). A difference in a rupture path leads to differences in seismic hazards and, further, splay fault ruptures may cause disastrous damage; e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Natural Fault Geometry: Statistics of Splay Fault Angles

Ando¹,

Shaw²,

Scholz³

2009

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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We propose a new approach to quantifying fault system geometry, using an objective fit of the fault geometry to a test function, specifically here a fault branch. Fitting a "Y" shaped object using a cost function to dextral faults in California, we find a number of significant results arising from using a systematic, objective, quantitative approach. (1) The largest angle of the branch structure is generally very close to 180°, implying the branch is a splay fault off the primary throughgoing fault. (2) The distribution of the smallest angle, the splay angle, has a peak near ± 17°, symmetric about the primary fault. (3) These features appear independent of scale. These results are not yet explained by any theory, and pose new questions and constraints for the physics of fault system formation and behavior.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying Natural Fault Geometry: Statistics of Splay Fault Angles

Ando¹,

Shaw²,

Scholz³

2009

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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“…The Mw = 9.2 earthquake of 2004 generated a tsunami that devastated the coastline within this region reach 1,000 km in length and 200-300 km in downdip extent. In contrast, continental strike-slip faults typically extend to a depth of only 15-30 km, and the longest mapped extent of a continental fault rupture is about 430 km (2001 Kunlun Shan, China;Xu et al, 2006). The larger area of subduction zone mega-thrust faults means that their earthquakes may have moment magnitudes in excess of Mw = 9, whereas continental earthquakes rarely exceed Mw = 8.0.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Recent Developments in Earthquake Hazards Studies

Mooney

White

2009

New Frontiers in Integrated Solid Earth Sciences

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In recent years, there has been great progress understanding the underlying causes of earthquakes, as well as forecasting their occurrence and preparing communities for their damaging effects. Plate tectonic theory explains the occurrence of earthquakes at discrete plate boundaries, such as subduction zones and transform faults, but diffuse plate boundaries are also common. Seismic hazards are distributed over a broad region within diffuse plate boundaries. Intraplate earthquakes occur in otherwise stable crust located far away from any plate boundary, and can cause great loss of life and property. These earthquakes cannot be explained by classical plate tectonics, and as such, are a topic of great scientific debate. Earthquake hazards are determined by a number of factors, among which the earthquake magnitude is only one factor. Other critical factors include population density, the potential for secondary hazards, such as fire, landslides and tsunamis, and the vulnerability of man-made structures to severe strong ground motion. In order to reduce earthquake hazards, engineers and scientists are taking advantage of new technologies to advance the fields of earthquake forecasting and mitigation. Seismicity is effectively monitored in many regions with regional networks, and world seismicity is monitored by the Global Seismic Network that consists of more than 150 high-quality, broadband seismic stations using satellite telemetry systems. Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems monitor crustal strain in tectonically active and intraplate regions. A relatively recent technology, Interferometric

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“…Field investigations, interpretation of Ikonos images, and the inversion of GPS observation data have shown that the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake surface rupture zone consists of several basic surface break units, including N45º-50ºE trending tensional break, N60º-75ºE trending transtensional break, N100ºE trending strike-slip break, mole track at right stepover and tensional gash at left stepover, and is a pure left-lateral strike-slip rupture zone with a general strike of N100°±10°E [7,[16][17][18] . The surface rupture zone starts at the eastern shore of the Kushui Lake at 90.257°E in the west, and ends at 94.795°E to the east of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway.…”

Section: Basic Characteristics Of the Earthquake Surface Rupture Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be divided into three relatively independent earthquake surface rupture sections: the western section is about 26 km long (A), the middle section is about 18 km long (B) and the eastern section is about 350 km long (C) (Figure 1). The maximum coseismic left-lateral displacement for these three sections is 4.5, 1.5, and 7.6 m, respectively [18] .…”

Section: Basic Characteristics Of the Earthquake Surface Rupture Zonementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The earthquake is called the Kunlunshan earthquake or Kusaihu earthquake [7] . Discussions on the distribution of the earthquake surface rupture zone, coseismic displacement, post-seismic creep, and temporal and spatial earthquake faulting process of the earthquake have been made by many researchers [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] . Although deformation is concentrated toward in a narrow main break zone have been made in a rock under brittle/brittle-ductile conditions [1,19,20] , however, the discussion on the problem about whether deformation localization exists on the earthquake surface rupture zone has rarely been reported in the past [21,22] .…”

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Rupture behavior and deformation localization of the Kunlunshan earthquake (M w 7.8) and their tectonic implications

Tao

et al. 2008

Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci.

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Earthquake surface rupture is the result of transformation from crustal elastic strain accumulation to permanent tectonic deformation. The surface rupture zone produced by the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (M w 7.8) on the Kusaihu segment of the Kunlun fault extends over 426 km. It consists of three relatively independent surface rupture sections: the western strike-slip section, the middle transtensional section and the eastern strike-slip section. Hence this implies that the Kunlunshan earthquake is composed of three earthquake rupturing events, i.e. the M w =6.8, M w =6.2 and M w ≤7.8 events, respectively. The M w ≤7.8 earthquake, along the eastern section, is the main shock of the Kunlunshan earthquake, further decomposed into four rupturing subevents. Field measurements indicate that the width of a single surface break on different sections ranges from several meters to 15 m, with a maximum value of less than 30 m. The width of the surface rupture zone that consists of en echelon breaks depends on its geometric structures, especially the stepover width of the secondary surface rupture zones in en echelon, displaying a basic feature of deformation localization. Consistency between the Quaternary geologic slip rate, the GPS-monitored strain rate and the localization of the surface ruptures of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake may indicate that the tectonic deformation between the Bayan Har block and Qilian-Qaidam block in the northern Tibetan Plateau is characterized by strike-slip faulting along the limited width of the Kunlun fault, while the blocks themselves on both sides of the Kunlun fault are characterized by block motion. The localization of earthquake surface rupture zone is of great significance to determine the width of the fault-surface-rupture hazard zone, along which direct destruction will be caused by co-seismic surface rupturing along a strike-slip fault, that should be considered before the major engineering project, residental buildings and life line construction.Tibetan Plateau, Kunlunshan earthquake, earthquake surface rupture zone, deformation localization, rupture behaviorThe earthquake surface rupture behavior is the key linkage to understand transformation from elastic strain accumulation to permanent tectonic deformation in the crust. It contains basic information about the deformation pattern, amplitude of motion, movement state and earthquake faulting process in the continental crust [1][2][3] . Various empirical relationships between parameter of earthquake surface rupture zone in different faulting environments, such as the rupture length, rupture area, or coseismic displacement, and the earthquake moment magnitude, have been derived by many previous researchers on the basis of the basic parameters of earthquake surface rupture zones collected from earthquake rupture observation all over the world, in order to reach an insight into an inherence relation between the surface fault dislocation and earthquake focal rupturing [4][5][6] .

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Reevaluation of surface rupture parameters and faulting segmentation of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (M_w7.8), northern Tibetan Plateau, China

Cited by 88 publications

References 24 publications

Quantifying Natural Fault Geometry: Statistics of Splay Fault Angles

Quantifying Natural Fault Geometry: Statistics of Splay Fault Angles

Recent Developments in Earthquake Hazards Studies

Rupture behavior and deformation localization of the Kunlunshan earthquake (M w 7.8) and their tectonic implications

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