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Numerical simulation of fault deformation and seismic activity in the southern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

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Abstract 

The moderate-strong (M ≥ 5, since 1976; or M ≥ 6.5, overall) earthquakes of the north to south trending (NS-trending) faults and their vicinity in the southern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau exhibit prominent spatial concentration distribution characteristics. However, research on the southern Tibet faults is limited. Hence, this study used a two-dimensional viscoelastic finite element model to simulate crustal movement in southern Tibet based on 1991–2015 GPS velocity data. The current deformation field, tectonic stress field, fault slip, and stress accumulation rates distribution were obtained to analyze the relationship between fault activity and earthquake distribution. The results revealed that the simultaneous effected by of the NE-trending compression and uneven EW-trending tension on the study area. Crustal deformation exhibited simultaneous NS-trending compression and EW-trending stretching. The EW- and NWW-trending faults and the NS-trending faults differed in their mechanical properties and movement modes. The NS faults were primarily subjected to extensional stress with normal motion. The remarkable heterogeneity of the fault segments influenced the distribution of moderate-strong earthquakes and types of earthquake ruptures. The concentrated distribution of moderate-strong earthquakes on the NS-trending normal fault and its vicinity depended largely on the high slip rate, strong tensile stress, and geometric strike of the fault segment. This study aids in understanding the heterogeneity in normal fault activity in southern Tibet and is the basis for seismic hazard assessment.

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The data underlying this article are available in the article and in its online supplementary material.

Abbreviations

GPS:

Global Navigation Satellite System

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Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Zheng Gang for sharing GPS data for this study. The ANSYS software used in this article is a large-scale general-purpose finite element analysis software purchased by the Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration. I would like to express my gratitude to the research and development company—ANSYS Corporation of the United States. Some figures of this study were plotted using the Generic Mapping Tools (GMT) software; we express our gratitude to Wessel and Smith. And we would like to thank Editage (www.editage.cn) for English language editing.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1503305) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42174125).

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Author notes

  1. Xia Liu and Mikhail Rodkin contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100029, China

    Yuan Li

  2. The First Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Tianjin, 300180, China

    Yuan Li, Xia Liu & Yajin Pang

  3. Institute of Earthquake Predication Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    Mikhail Rodkin

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  1. Yuan Li
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Contributions

Yuan Li and Xia Liu wrote the main manuscript text, Yajin Pang prepared Figs. 1–3, and Mikhail Rodkin revised the manuscript and made suggestions. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuan Li.

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Li, Y., Liu, X., Rodkin, M. et al. Numerical simulation of fault deformation and seismic activity in the southern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. J Seismol 26, 1295–1308 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-022-10116-6

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