Abstract
A sequence of Ms ≥ 5.0 earthquakes occurred in 2003 and 2004 in Bange County, Tibet, China, all with similar depths and focal mechanisms. However, the source parameters, kinematics and relationships between these earthquakes are poorly known because of their moderately-sized magnitude and the sparse distribution of seismic stations in the region. We utilize interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data from the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite to determine the location, fault geometry and slip distribution of three large events of the sequence that occurred on 7 July 2003 (Ms 6.0), 27 March 2004 (Ms 6.2), and 3 July 2004 (Ms 5.1). The modeling results indicate that the 7 July 2003 event was a normal-faulting event with a right-lateral slip component, the 27 March 2004 earthquake was associated with a normal fault striking northeast–southwest and dipping northwest with a moderately oblique right-lateral slip, and the 3 July 2004 event was caused by a normal fault. A calculation of the static stress changes on the fault planes demonstrates that the third earthquake may have been triggered by the previous ones.
Highlights
From July 2003 through July 2004, a complex earthquake sequence occurred in Bange County on the border between Qinghai province and Tibet, China (Figure 1)
Using the fault geometry determined in the uniform slip modeling, we extend the fault plane along the strike and down-dip by increasing its total length to 17 km and its down-dip width to 10 km
East–west extension in the central Tibetan Plateau is accommodated by normal faults and rift systems that trend north–south (e.g., [2,43]), which are active structures that rupture in some normal faulting earthquakes
Summary
From July 2003 through July 2004, a complex earthquake sequence occurred in Bange County on the border between Qinghai province and Tibet, China (Figure 1). Of of active faults within the Qiangtang block range from strike-slip to normal faulting of. Previous studies indicate that recently active faults (Ms) within the Qiangtang block range from. 6.0 strike-slip to 06:55 normal faulting kinematics [2]. With the location shown inthe the box with solid lineof marks areas covered in by interferograms the 7 July event
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