Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; June 2004; v. 94; no. 3; p. 1159-1165; DOI: 10.1785/0120030185
© 2004 Seismological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bufe, C. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Short Note

Comparing the November 2002 Denali and November 2001 Kunlun Earthquakes

Charles G. Bufe

U.S. Geological Survey
Geologic Hazards
Box 25046, MS 966
Denver, CO 80225
cbufe{at}usgs.gov

Major strike-slip earthquakes recently occurred in Alaska on the central Denali fault (M 7.9) on 3 November 2002, and in Tibet on the central Kunlun fault (M 7.8) on 14 November 2001. Both earthquakes generated large surface waves with MS [U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)] of 8.5 (Denali) and 8.0 (Kunlun). Each event occurred on an east–west-trending strike-slip fault situated near the northern boundary of an intense deformation zone that is characterized by lateral extrusion and rotation of crustal blocks. Each earthquake produced east-directed nearly unilateral ruptures that propagated 300 to 400 km. Maximum lateral surface offsets and maximum moment release occurred well beyond 100 km from the rupture initiation, with the events exhibiting by far the largest separations of USGS hypocenter and Harvard Moment Tensor Centroid (CMT) for strike-slip earthquakes in the 27-year CMT catalog. In each sequence, the largest aftershock was more than two orders of magnitude smaller than the mainshock. Regional moment release had been accelerating prior to the main shocks. The close proximity in space and time of the 1964 Prince William Sound and 2002 Denali earthquakes, relative to their rupture lengths and estimated return times, suggests that these events may be part of a recurrent cluster in the vicinity of a complex plate boundary.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2004 by the Seismological Society of America.