Jerome Van Der Woerd

High-Resolution Satellite Imagery Mapping of the Surface Rupture and Slip Distribution of the Mw 7.8, 14 November 2001 Kokoxili Earthquake, Kunlun Fault, Northern Tibet, China

The Mw 7.8 Kokoxili earthquake of 14 November 2001, which ruptured a 450-km-long stretch of the sinistral Kunlun strike-slip fault, at the northeastern edge of the Tibet plateau, China, ranks as the largest strike-slip event ever recorded instrumentally in Asia. Newly available high-resolution satellite HRS images (pixel size 1 m) acquired in the months following the earthquake proved a powerful tool to complement field investigations and to produce the most accurate map to date of the coseismic displacements along the central Kusai Hu segment of the rupture. The coseismic rupture geometry south and west of Buka Daban Feng, near the earthquake epicenter, was also investigated in detail. Along the Kusai Hu segment, slip parti- tioning is for the first time observed to occur simultaneously during a single event, with two parallel strands, 2 km apart, localizing almost pure strike-slip and normal faulting. In all, 83 new HRS coseismic offset measurements, some of which calibrated by field work, show large, well-constrained variations (100%) of the slip function over distances of only25 km. Tension cracks opening ahead of the shear dislocation and later offset by the upward propagating strike-slip rupture were observed, dem- onstrating that the rupture front propagated faster at depth than near the surface. The triple junction between the central Kusai Hu segment, the Kunlun Pass fault, where the rupture ended, and the Xidatan-Dongdatan segment, which could be the next segment to fail along the main Kunlun fault, acted as a strong barrier, implying that direct triggering of earthquake rupture on the Xidatan-Dongdatan segment by Kokoxili-type earthquakes may not be the rule.

Long‐term slip rate of the southern San Andreas Fault from 10Be‐26Al surface exposure dating of an offset alluvial fan

We determine the long-term slip rate of the southern San Andreas Fault in the southeastern Indio Hills using ^(10)Be and ^(26)Al isotopes to date an offset alluvial fan surface. Field mapping complemented with topographic data, air photos and satellite images allows precise determination of piercing points across the fault zone that are used to measure an offset of 565 ± 80 m. A total of 26 quartz-rich cobbles from three different fan surfaces were collected and dated. The tight cluster of nuclide concentrations from 19 samples out of 20 from the offset fan surface implies a simple exposure history, negligible prior exposure and erosion, and yields an age of 35.5 ± 2.5 ka. The long-term slip rate of the San Andreas Fault south of Biskra Palms is thus 15.9 ± 3.4 mm/yr. This rate is about 10 mm/yr slower than geological (0–14 ka) and short-term geodetic estimates for this part of the San Andreas Fault, implying changes in slip rate or in faulting behavior. This result puts new constraints on the slip rate of the San Jacinto and on the Eastern California Shear Zone for the last 35 kyr. Our study shows that more sites along the major faults of southern California need to be targeted to better constrain the slip rates over different timescales.

Reevaluation of surface rupture parameters and faulting segmentation of the 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake (Mw7.8), northern Tibetan Plateau, China

The 14 November 2001, M w = 7.8 Kunlunshan earthquake ruptured the westernmost part of the Kunlun Fault, northern Tibetan Plateau. The main segment affected by this event was the Kusaihu segment. Field investigations allowed us to constrain the length, the width, and the coseismic horizontal displacement distribution of the Kunlunshan earthquake rupture zone. The mapped surface rupture zone starts from 90.257°E in the west and ends at 94.795°E in the east with a total length of 426 km. It consists of three main sections, the western strike-slip section, the transtensional section, and the eastern strike-slip section. The rupture zone is oriented N100° ± 10°E on average. The distribution of the coseismic horizontal displacements is characterized by multiple peaks departing clearly from a general bell-shaped distribution. Reassessment of the maximum coseismic horizontal left-lateral displacement yields a value of 7.6 ± 0.4 m at the site (35.767°N, 93.323°E) consistent with independent measurements derived from interferometric synthetic aperture radar and seismology. From this site the horizontal displacement decreases unevenly to both the west and east. Coseismic vertical (reverse) displacement is also noted at the eastern end of the rupture but it remains much smaller than the horizontal component. The width of the rupture zone varies from site to site from several meters to few kilometers. The maximum width measured reaches 8 km along the Yuxi Feng subsection where a large number of shaking related cracks were well developed.

Long-term slip rates and characteristic slip: keys to active fault behaviour and earthquake hazard

Over periods of thousands of years, active faults tend to slip at constant rates. Pioneer studies of large Asian faults show that cosmogenic radionuclides ( 10 Be, 26 Al) provide an unparalleled tool to date surface features, whose offsets yield the longest records of recent cumulative movement. The technique is thus uniquely suited to determine long-term (10-100 ka) slip rates. Such rates, combined with coseismic slip-amounts, can give access to recurrence times of earthquakes of similar sizes. Landform dating - morphochronology - is therefore essential to understand fault-behaviour, evaluate seismic hazard, and build physical earthquake models. It is irreplaceable because long-term slip- rates on interacting faults need not coincide with GPS-derived, interseismic rates, and can be difficult to obtain from paleo-seismological trenching.  2001 Academie des sciences / Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS

Long-term evolution of the North Anatolian Fault: new constraints from its eastern termination

Abstract The deformation and 40Ar–39Ar dating of recent volcanism, that remarkably sits across the North Anatolian Fault eastern termination in Turkey, together with previous studies, put strong constraints on the long-term evolution of the fault. We argue that after a first phase of 10 Ma, characterized by a slip rate of about 3 mm/a, and during which most of the trace was established, the slip rate jumped to about 20 mm/a on average over the last 2.5 Ma, without substantial increase of the fault length. The transition correlates with a change in the geometry at the junction with the East Anatolian Fault that makes the extrusion process more efficient.

Giant, ∼M8 earthquake-triggered ice avalanches in the eastern Kunlun Shan, northern Tibet: Characteristics, nature and dynamics

Several giant ice avalanches were initiated by slope failure from ice caps due to strong ground motion during the 14 November 2001 M w = 7.9 Kokoxili earthquake on the Kunlun fault. Four ice avalanches were identified on the north slope of the Burhan Budai Shan several kilometers east of the Kunlun Pass, and two were identified on the south slope of the eastern Yuxi Feng, which is ∼50 km west of the Kunlun Pass. These ice avalanches originated from steep-sided ice caps and progressed over and past the termini of outlet valley glaciers. In the Burhan Budai Shan, the ice avalanches comprised ice and snow that reached 2-3 km down valley beyond the snouts of the contemporary glaciers. Detailed study of the largest ice avalanche (B2) shows that the initial movement over the contemporary glacier was turbulent in nature, having a velocity >35 ms - 1 . Beyond the contemporary glacier, the ice avalanche was confined within steep valley walls and entrenched paraglacial fans. Before coming to rest, this ice avalanche moved as a Bingham plastic flow at a velocity of ≤21 ms - 1 . These ice avalanches transported little rock debris, and it is thus unlikely that they are important in contributing to the landscape evolution of this region. Yet, given the appropriate geologic and climatic conditions, ice avalanching may be an important process in the landscape evolution of high mountainous terrains. The frequency of such events is unknown, but such phenomena may become more common in the future as a consequence of increased glacier and slope instability caused by human-induced climate change. Ice avalanches, therefore, likely constitute a significant geologic hazard in the near future.

Late Quaternary slip-rate along the central Bangong-Chaxikang segment of the Karakorum fault, western Tibet

Insight into the spatial and temporal changes of slip-rate is essential to understand the kinematic role of large strike-slip faults in continental collision zones. Geodetic and geologic rates from present to several million years ago along the Karakorum fault range from 0 to 11 mm/yr. Here, we determine the first late Quaternary slip-rate at the southern end of the linear Bangong-Chaxikang segment of the Karakorum fault, using cumulative offsets (20–200 m) of fans and terraces at three sites, as well as 74 new 10 Be surface-exposure ages to constrain the age of these offset geomorphic markers. The rate is >3 mm/yr at sites Gun and Chaxikang, and it is >1.7–2.2 mm/yr at the Gar fan site. Together with rates obtained along the southernmost Menshi-Kailas segment, the Karakorum fault slip-rate seems to increase southeastward from south of Bangong Lake to Kailas (from >3 to >8 mm/yr). These Karakorum fault slip-rate data (>3–8 mm/yr), together with the total length of the fault (>1000 km) and its initiation age (>13–23 Ma), confirm that the Karakorum fault is the major fault accommodating dextral strike-slip motion NE of the western Himalayas. The dextral Karakorum fault in the south and the conjugate left-lateral Longmu Co–Altyn Tagh fault system in the north are thus the major strike-slip faults of western Tibet, which contribute to eastward extrusion of Tibet.

High-resolution mapping based on an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to capture paleoseismic offsets along the Altyn-Tagh fault, China

The recent dramatic increase in millimeter- to centimeter- resolution topographic datasets obtained via multi-view photogrammetry raises the possibility of mapping detailed offset geomorphology and constraining the spatial characteristics of active faults. Here, for the first time, we applied this new method to acquire high-resolution imagery and generate topographic data along the Altyn Tagh fault, which is located in a remote high elevation area and shows preserved ancient earthquake surface ruptures. A digital elevation model (DEM) with a resolution of 0.065 m and an orthophoto with a resolution of 0.016 m were generated from these images. We identified piercing markers and reconstructed offsets based on both the orthoimage and the topography. The high-resolution UAV data were used to accurately measure the recent seismic offset. We obtained the recent offset of 7 ± 1 m. Combined with the high resolution satellite image, we measured cumulative offsets of 15 ± 2 m, 20 ± 2 m, 30 ± 2 m, which may be due to multiple paleo-earthquakes. Therefore, UAV mapping can provide fine-scale data for the assessment of the seismic hazards.

Kinematics of active deformation across the Western Kunlun mountain range (Xinjiang, China), and potential seismic hazards within the southern Tarim Basin: Kinematics of deformation of the WKR

The Western Kunlun mountain range is a slowly converging intracontinental orogen where deformation rates are too low to be properly quantified from geodetic techniques. This region has recorded little seismicity, but the recent July 2015 (Mw 6.4) Pishan earthquake shows that this mountain range remains seismic. To quantify the rate of active deformation and the potential for major earthquakes in this region, we combine a structural and quantitative morphological analysis of the Yecheng–Pishan fold, along the topographic mountain front in the epicentral area. Using a seismic profile, we derive a structural cross section in which we identify the fault that broke during the Pishan earthquake, an 8–12 km deep blind ramp beneath the Yecheng–Pishan fold. Combining satellite images and DEMs, we achieve a detailed morphological analysis of the Yecheng–Pishan fold, where we find nine levels of incised fluvial terraces and alluvial fans. From their incision pattern and using age constraints retrieved on some of these terraces from field sampling, we quantify the slip rate on the underlying blind ramp to 0.5 to 2.5 mm/yr, with a most probable long-term value of 2 to 2.5 mm/yr. The evolution of the Yecheng–Pishan fold is proposed by combining all structural, morphological, and chronological observations. Finally, we compare the seismotectonic context of theWestern Kunlun to what has been proposed for the Himalayas of Central Nepal. This allows for discussing the possibility of M ≥ 8 earthquakes if the whole decollement across the southern Tarim Basin is seismically locked and ruptures in one single event.