Dextral‐Slip Thrust Faulting and Seismic Events of the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan Earthquake, Longmenshan Mountains, Eastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Abstract:Dextral‐slip thrust movement of the Songpan‐Garzê terrain over the Sichuan block caused the Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake of May 12, 2008 and offset the Central Longmenshan Fault (CLF) along a distance of ∼250 km. Displacement along the CLF changes from Yingxiu to Qingchuan. The total oblique slip of up to 7.6 m in Yingxiu near the epicenter of the earthquake, decreases northeastward to 5.3 m, 6.6 m, 4.4 m, 2.5 m and 1.1 m in Hongkou, Beichuan, Pingtong, Nanba and Qingchuan, respectively. This offset apparently occurred during a sequence of four reported seismic events, EQ1–EQ4, which were identified by seismic inversion of the source mechanism. These events occurred in rapid succession as the fault break propagated northeastward during the earthquake. Variations in the plunge of slickensides along the CLF appear to match these events. The Mw 7.5 EQ1 event occurred during the first 0–10 s along the Yingxiu‐Hongkou section of the CLF and is characterized by 1.7 m vertical slip and vertical slickensides. The Mw 8.0 EQ2 event, which occurred during the next 10–42 s along the Yingxiu‐Yanziyan section of the CLF, is marked by major dextral‐slip with minor thrust and slickensides plunging 25°–35° southwestward. The Mw 7.5 EQ3 event occurred during the following 42–60 s and resulted in dextral‐slip and slickensides plunging 10° southwestward in Beichuan and plunging 73° southwestward in Hongkou. The Mw 7.7 EQ4 event, which occurred during the final 60–95 s along the Beichuan‐Qingchuan section of the CLF, is characterized by nearly equal values of dextral and vertical slips with slickensides plunging 45°–50° southwestward. These seismic events match and evidently controlled the concentrations of landslide dams caused by the Wenchuan earthquake in Longmenshan Mountains.