Rupture process of the 2015 Pishan earthquake from joint inversion of InSAR, teleseismic data and GPS

Abstract

An earthquake of M w6.4 occurred in Pishan County in Xinjiang Province, northwestern Tibetan Plateau, on July 3, 2015. The epicenter was located on an active blind thrust system located at the northern margin of the Western Kunlun Mountain Orogenic Belt southwest of the Tarim Basin. We constructed a shovel-shaped fault model based on the layered-crust model with reference to the seismic reflection profile, and obtained the rupture process of the earthquake from the joint inversion of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) measurements, far-field waveform data, and Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The results show that the seismic fault dips southward with a strike of 109°, and the rupture direction was essentially northward. The fault plane rupture distribution is concentrated, with a maximum recorded slip of 73 cm. The main features of the fault are as follows: low inclination angle (25°–10°), thrust slip at a depth of 9–13 km, rupture propagation time of about 12 s, no significant slip in soft or hard sedimentary layers at 0–4 km depth and propagation from the initial rupture point to the surrounding area with no obvious directionality. The InSAR time-series analysis method is used to determine the deformation rate in the source region within 2 years after the earthquake, and the maximum value is ~17 mm yr−1 in the radar line-of-sight direction. Obvious post-earthquake deformation is evident in the hanging wall, with a similar trend to the coseismic displacement field. These results suggest that the Pishan earthquake has not completely released the accumulated energy of the region, given that the multilayer fold structure above the blind fault is still in a process of slow uplift since the earthquake. Post-earthquake adjustment models and aftershock risk analysis require further study using more independent data.