Abstract:
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An earthquake of Ms 8 struck Wenchuan County,western Sichuan,China,on May 12th, 2008 and resulted in long surface ruptures (>300 km).The first-hand observations about the surface ruptures produced by the earthquake in the worst-hit areas of Yingxiu,Beichuan and Qingchuan, ascertained that the causative structure of the earthquake was in the central fault zones of the Longmenshan tectonic belt.Average co-seismic vertical displacements along the individual fault of the Yingxiu-Beichuan rupture zone reach 2.5-4m and the cumulative vertical displacements across the central and frontal Longmenshan fault belt is about 5-6 m.The surface rupture strength was reduced from north of Beichuan to Qingchuan County and shows 2-3 m dextral strike-slip component.The Wenchuan thrust-faulting earthquake is a manifestation of eastward growth of the Tibetan Plateau under the action of continuous convergence of the Indian and Eurasian continents.
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