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Science 14 June 2002:
Vol. 296. no. 5575, pp. 2015 - 2017
DOI: 10.1126/science.1070879
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Reports

Co-Seismic Strike-Slip and Rupture Length Produced by the 2001 Ms 8.1 Central Kunlun Earthquake

Aiming Lin,1* Bihong Fu,1 Jianming Guo,2 Qingli Zeng,3 Guangming Dang,4 Wengui He,5 Yue Zhao3

Field investigations show that the surface wave magnitude (Ms) 8.1 Central Kunlun earthquake (Tibetan plateau) of 14 November 2001 produced a nearly 400-kilometer-long surface rupture zone, with as much as 16.3 meters of left-lateral strike-slip along the active Kunlun fault in northern Tibet. The rupture length and maximum displacement are the largest among the co-seismic surface rupture zones reported on so far. The strike-slip motion and the large rupture length generated by the earthquake indicate that the Kunlun fault partitions its deformation into an eastward extrusion of Tibet to accommodate the continuing penetration of the Indian plate into the Eurasian plate.

1 Institute of Geosciences, Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University, 836 Ohya, Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan.
2 Lanzhou Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.
3 Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
4 Seismological Bureau of Qinghai Province, Xining, China.
5 Seismological Institute of Lanzhou, Lanzhou 730000, China.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: slin{at}ipc.shizuoka.ac.jp

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