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Rupture Characteristics of the 25 November 2016 Aketao Earthquake (Mw 6.6) in Eastern Pamir Revealed by GPS and Teleseismic Data

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Abstract

The 25 November 2016 Aketao, Xinjiang earthquake occurred on the northeastern margin of the Pamir plateau, rupturing the Muji fault on the northern segment of the Kongur Extensional System. We collected coseismic offsets at 7 GPS sites, which show that the fault experienced significate dextral slip with a near-field geodetic displacement of up to 12 cm along the strike. The joint inversion of GPS data and teleseismic P waveforms suggests a complex rupture pattern characterized by the unilateral propagation slip from the epicenter to the southeast for 60 km with a total seismic moment of ~ 1.3 × 1019 Nm, corresponding to a magnitude of Mw 6.7 earthquake. Our model of slip distribution shows two major slip patches with a slip amplitude up to ~ 0.6 m, one located at shallow depths of 0–8 km close to the hypocenter with apparent surface breaks and the other, ~ 40 km to the southeast, buried at a greater depth of ~ 12 km. The rupture is dominated by a right-lateral strike slip with significant normal-slip components. The near-field GPS data enhances the spatial resolution of source model. Based on the preferred slip model, the static Coulomb Failure Stress change caused by 2016 Aketao earthquake suggests that the unzipped western and eastern ends of Muji fault and the northern segment of Kungai Fault are significantly promoted.

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Acknowledgements

The GPS data in Aketao were from the Engineering Research Center of the China Crust Movement Observation Network and Earthquake Agency of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Earthquake Administration of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Special thanks to surveyors who perform GPS observations in the Pamir plateau after Mw 6.6 Aketao earthquake. This study was sponsored partly by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2016063063, 41374030, 41574012, 41404016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earthquake Agency of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Earthquake Administration of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Jie Li, Xiaoqiang Wang, Daiqin Liu, Jianing Sun, Ailixiati Yushan, Sulitan Yusan & Wei Fang

  2. Key Laboratory of Earthquake Geodesy, Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Gang Liu, Xuejun Qiao & Wei Xiong

  3. Institute of Geophysics and Geomatics, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Qi Wang

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  1. Jie Li
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  3. Xuejun Qiao
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Correspondence to Gang Liu.

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Li, J., Liu, G., Qiao, X. et al. Rupture Characteristics of the 25 November 2016 Aketao Earthquake (Mw 6.6) in Eastern Pamir Revealed by GPS and Teleseismic Data. Pure Appl. Geophys. 175, 573–585 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-018-1798-9

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