Mechanism and implications of the post-seismic deformation following the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo (Tibet) earthquake

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Fei Chen
  • Faqi Diao
  • Mahmud Haghshenas Haghighi
  • Yuebing Wang
  • Yage Zhu
  • Rongjiang Wang
  • Xiong Xiong

External Research Organisations

  • China University of Geosciences
  • China Earthquake Administration (CEA)
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)203-216
Number of pages14
JournalGeophysical journal international
Volume237
Issue number1
Early online date24 Jan 2024
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2024

Abstract

A major earthquake shook the Chinese county of Maduo, located in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane on the Tibetan Plateau, on 21 May 2021. Here, we investigate the post-seismic deformation process of this event, with the aim to understand the fault geometry, friction behaviour and regional rheology. To keep the self-consistency between co- and post-seismic deformation models, we first constrain the fault geometry and coseismic slip model of this event, which are directly used in modelling the post-seismic deformation. The coseimsic slip model reveals that the majority of coseismic slip is confined at the middle (3–15 km) of the brittle layer, leading to significant shallow slip deficit. Secondly, we obtain the post-seismic deformation in the first 450 d following the 2021 Maduo earthquake using the GPS and InSAR displacement time-series data. Thirdly, a combined model incorporating afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation is built to explain the observed post-seismic deformation. Our results suggest that the viscoelastic relaxation effect should be considered in the observation period, in order to avoid the unphysical deep afterslip in the ductile lower crustal layer. Combined analysis on viscosities inferred from this study and previous studies suggests a weak lower crust with steady-state viscosity of 1018–1019 Pa s beneath the Songpan-Ganzi terrane, which may give rise to the distributed shear deformation and the development of subparallel secondary faults within the terrane. Besides, the inferred afterslip on uppermost patches of the middle fault segment suggests a rate-strengthening frictional behaviour that may be related to the coseismic slip deficit and rupture arrest of the Maduo earthquake.

Keywords

    friction of fault zones, Numerical modelling, Rheology, Satellite geodesy, Time-series analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Mechanism and implications of the post-seismic deformation following the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo (Tibet) earthquake. / Chen, Fei; Diao, Faqi; Haghighi, Mahmud Haghshenas et al.
In: Geophysical journal international, Vol. 237, No. 1, 04.2024, p. 203-216.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Chen F, Diao F, Haghighi MH, Wang Y, Zhu Y, Wang R et al. Mechanism and implications of the post-seismic deformation following the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo (Tibet) earthquake. Geophysical journal international. 2024 Apr;237(1):203-216. Epub 2024 Jan 24. doi: 10.1093/gji/ggae034
Chen, Fei ; Diao, Faqi ; Haghighi, Mahmud Haghshenas et al. / Mechanism and implications of the post-seismic deformation following the 2021 Mw 7.4 Maduo (Tibet) earthquake. In: Geophysical journal international. 2024 ; Vol. 237, No. 1. pp. 203-216.
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abstract = "A major earthquake shook the Chinese county of Maduo, located in the Songpan-Ganzi terrane on the Tibetan Plateau, on 21 May 2021. Here, we investigate the post-seismic deformation process of this event, with the aim to understand the fault geometry, friction behaviour and regional rheology. To keep the self-consistency between co- and post-seismic deformation models, we first constrain the fault geometry and coseismic slip model of this event, which are directly used in modelling the post-seismic deformation. The coseimsic slip model reveals that the majority of coseismic slip is confined at the middle (3–15 km) of the brittle layer, leading to significant shallow slip deficit. Secondly, we obtain the post-seismic deformation in the first 450 d following the 2021 Maduo earthquake using the GPS and InSAR displacement time-series data. Thirdly, a combined model incorporating afterslip and viscoelastic relaxation is built to explain the observed post-seismic deformation. Our results suggest that the viscoelastic relaxation effect should be considered in the observation period, in order to avoid the unphysical deep afterslip in the ductile lower crustal layer. Combined analysis on viscosities inferred from this study and previous studies suggests a weak lower crust with steady-state viscosity of 1018–1019 Pa s beneath the Songpan-Ganzi terrane, which may give rise to the distributed shear deformation and the development of subparallel secondary faults within the terrane. Besides, the inferred afterslip on uppermost patches of the middle fault segment suggests a rate-strengthening frictional behaviour that may be related to the coseismic slip deficit and rupture arrest of the Maduo earthquake.",
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AU - Chen, Fei

AU - Diao, Faqi

AU - Haghighi, Mahmud Haghshenas

AU - Wang, Yuebing

AU - Zhu, Yage

AU - Wang, Rongjiang

AU - Xiong, Xiong

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