Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
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Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; October 2006; v. 96; no. 5; p. 1597-1611; DOI: 10.1785/0120050051
© 2006 Seismological Society of America
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Average Slip Rate and Recurrence Interval of Large-Magnitude Earthquakes on the Western Segment of the Strike-Slip Kunlun Fault, Northern Tibet

Aiming Lin1,2, Jianming Guo2, Ken-ichi Kano1 and Yasuo Awata3

1 Institute of Geosciences
Faculty of Science, Shizuoka University
Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan
 (A.L., K.K.)
2 Graduate School of Science and Technology
Shizuoka University
Shizuoka 422-8529, Japan
 (A.L., J.G.)
3 Active Fault Research Center
AIST
Tsukuba 305-8567, Japan
 (Y.A.)

Interpretations of satellite remote sensing images, field and trench excavation investigations, and radiocarbon dates constrain the Holocene slip rate and average recurrence interval of large earthquakes on the western segment of the strike- slip Kunlun fault related with the 2001 Mw 7.8 Central Kunlun earthquake, northern Tibet. Streams and gullies developed on the alluvial fans having an average 14C age of ~7000 years are sinistrally offset by up to 115 m along the Kunlun fault. This constrains a slip rate of 16.4 mm/yr for the past ~7000 years. Trenches and 14C ages reveal that at least four seismic faulting events occurred in the past 6200 years and that the penultimate event prior to the 2001 Mw 7.8 earthquake occurred during the past 400 years with an average left-lateral offset of 4–5 m. Coupling the slip rate of 16.4 mm/yr with the average offset of 4–5 m produced by individual large earthquakes, it is estimated that the average recurrence interval of large earthquakes is 300–400 years on the western segment of the Kunlun fault. Our results confirm that the Kunlun fault plays an important role as a major strike-slip fault in accommodating the horizontal eastward extrusion of Tibet.






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