Rapid Identification and Emergency Investigation of Surface Ruptures and Geohazards Induced by the M_s 7.1 Yushu Earthquake

The rapid identification based on InSAR technology was proved to be effective in our emergency investigation of surface ruptures and geohazards induced by the Yushu earthquake.The earthquake-generating fault of the Yushu earthquake is the Yushu section of the Garze-Yushu faults zone.It strikes NWW-NW,23 km long near the Yushu County seat,dominated by left-lateral strike slip,and appearing as a surface rupture zone.The macroscopic epicenter is positioned at Guo-yang-yan -song-duo of Gyegu Town（33°03＇11＂N,96°51＇26＂E）,where the co-seismic horizontal offset measured is 1.75 m.Geohazards induced by the Yushu earthquake are mainly rockfalls,landslides,debris flows, and unstable slopes.They are controlled by the earthquake-generating fault and are mostly distributed along it.There are several geohazard chains having been established,such as earthquake,canal damage,soil liquefying,landslide-debris flow,earthquake,soil liquefying,roadbed deformation,etc.In order to prevent seismic hazards,generally,where there is a visible surface rupture induced by the Yushu earthquake,reconstruction should be at least beyond 20 m,on each side,from it.Sufficient attention should also be given to potential geohazards or geohazard chains induced by the earthquake.

Seismic relocation,focal mechanism and crustal seismic anisotropy associated with the 2010 Yushu M_S7.1 earthquake and its aftershocks

The 2010 Yushu MsT.1 earthquake occurred in Ganzi-Yushu fault, which is the south boundary of Bayan Har block. In this study, by using double difference algorithm, the locations of mainshock （33.13°N, 96.59°E, focal depth 10.22 km） and more than 600 aftershocks were obtained. The focal mechanisms of the mainshock and some aftershocks with Ms〉3.5 were estimated by jointly using broadband velocity waveforms from Global Seismic Network （GSN） and Qinghai Seismic Network as well. The focal mechanisms and relocation show that the strike of the fault plane is about 125° （WNW-ESE）, and the mainshock is left-laterally strikeslip. The parameters of shear-wave splitting were obtained at seismic stations of YUS and L6304 by systematic analysis method of shear-wave splitting （SAM） method. Based on the parameters of shear-wave splitting and focal mechanism, the characteristics of stress field in seismic source zone were analyzed. The directions of polarization at stations YUS and L6304 are different. It is concluded that after the mainshock and the Ms6.3 aftershock on April 14, the stress-field was changed.

Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd Isochron Ages of the Dongmozhazhua and Mohailaheng Pb-Zn Ore Deposits in the Yushu area, southern Qinghai and Their Geological Implications

Located on the northeast margin of the Qiangtang terrane between the Jinshajiang suture zone and Bangonghu-Nujiang suture zone,the Dongmozhazhua and Mohailaheng Pb-Zn deposits in the Yushu area of Qinghai Province are representative Pb-Zn deposits of the Pb-Zn-Cu polymetallic mineralization belt in the northern part of the Nujiang-Lancangjiang-Jinshajiang area,which are in the front belt of the Yushu thrust nappe system.The formed environments of these two deposits are different from those of sediment-hosted base metal deposits elsewhere in the world.The authors hold that they were formed during the Indian-Asian continental collision and developed within the fold-thrust belt combined with thrust and strike-slip-related Cenozoic basins in the interior of the collisional zone.Studying on the metallogenic epochs of these two deposits is helpful to the understanding of ore-forming regularity of the regional Pb-Zn-Cu mineralization belt and also to the search for new deposits in this region.The age of the Dongmozhazhua deposit has been determined by the Rb-Sr isochron method for sphalerite residues,whereas the age of the Mohailaheng deposit has been determined by the Rb-Sr isochron method for sphalerite residues and the Sm-Nd isochron method for fluorite.The age of the Dongmozhazhua deposit is 35.0-±0.0 Ma （（87Sr/86Sr）0=0.708807） for sphalerite residues.The age of the Mohailaheng deposit is 32.2±0.4 Ma （（87Sr/86Sr）o=0.708514） for sphalerite residues and 31.8±0.3 Ma （（143Nd/144Nd）o=0.512362） for fluorite with an average of 32.0 Ma.Together with the regional geological setting during mineralization,a possible tectonic model for metallogeny of the Dongmozhazhua and Mohailaheng Pb-Zn deposits has been established.These two ages are close to the ages of the Pb-Zn deposits in the Lanping and Tuotuohe basins,indicating that it is possible that the narrow 1000-kilometer-long belt controlled by a thrust nappe system on the eastern and northern margins of the Tibetan plateau could be a giant Pb-Zn mineralized belt.

Modeling of co- and post-seismic surface deformation and gravity changes of M W 6.9 Yushu, Qinghai,earthquake

Based on the elastic dislocation theory, multilayered crustal model, and rupture model obtained by seismic waveform inversion, we calculated the coand post-seismic surface deformation and gravity changes caused by the Yushu M W 6.9 earthquake occurred on April 14, 2010. The observed GPS velocity field and gravity field in Yushu areas are disturbed by the coand post-seismic effects induced by Yushu earthquake, thus the theoretical coand post-seismic deformation and gravity changes will provide important modification for the background tectonic movement of Yushu and surrounding regions. The time relaxation results show that the influences of Yushu earthquake on Yushu and surrounding areas will last as long as 30 to 50 years. The maximum horizontal displacement, vertical uplift and settlement are about 1.96, 0.27 and 0.16 m, respectively, the maximal positive and negative value of gravity changes are 8.892×10-7 m·s-2 and -4.861×10-7 m·s-2 , respectively. Significant spatial variations can be found on the coand post-seismic effects： The co-seismic effect mainly concentrates in the region near the rupture fault, while viscoelastic relaxation mostly acts on the far field. Therefore, when using the geodetic data to research tectonic motion, we should not only consider the effect of co-seismic caused by earthquake, but also pay attention to the effect of viscoelastic relaxation.

Gravity changes before and after the 2010 Ms7.1 Yushu earthquake

Absolute and relative gravity observations from 1998 -2010 from the China Crustal Movement Ob- servation Network, a major national scientific project, have been used to model the gravity field and its varia- tions associated with the April 14, 2010 Ms7.1 Yushu earthquake. The evolution of the regional gravity field and its relationship with seismicity before and after the Yushu earthquake are studied. The observed gravity changes are closely related to the active Ganzi-Yushu Fault, and gravity measurements can be used to observe the migration of material accompanying active faults and crustal tectonics. The dynamic variation of the gravity field reflects its evolution prior to and during the Yushu earthquake. The gravity measurements near its epicen- ter are as large as 80 × 10-s m/s2.and they show wave-like increases with time prior to the Yushu earth- quake.

Estimating Moho basement and faults using gravity inversion in Yushu-earthquake area,China

A gravity survey was conducted one month after the 2010 Yushu earthquake in the epicenter area. The cross-fauh survey line was 500 km long, from Langqian county to Qingshuihe county, in a transition zone between Bayan Har block and Qiangtang block, in an area of high elevation, large undulating terrain, and complex geological features. An interpretation of the data was carried out together with other kinds of data, such as seismic exploration and magnetic exploration. The result shows that gravity is sensitive to fault bounda- ry ; the geologic structure of the region is complex at middle and upper depths, and the density profile reveals an eastward-pushing fault movement.

Deformation of the Most Recent Co-seismic Surface Ruptures Along the Garzê–Yushu Fault Zone(Dangjiang Segment)and Tectonic Implications For the Tibetan Plateau

The Garzê–Yushu strike-slip fault in central Tibet is the locus of strong earthquakes（M 〉 7）. The deformation and geometry of the co-seismic surface ruptures are reflected in the surface morphology of the fault and depend on the structure of the upper crust as well as the pre-existing tectonics. Therefore, the most recent co-seismic surface ruptures along the Garzê–Yushu fault zone（Dangjiang segment） reveal the surface deformation of the central Tibetan Plateau. Remote sensing images and field investigations suggest a 85 km long surface rupture zone（striking NW-NWW）, less than 50 m wide, defined by discontinuous fault scarps, right-stepping en echelon tensional cracks and left-stepping mole tracks that point to a left-lateral strike-slip fault. The gullies that cross fault scarps record systematic left-lateral offsets of 1.8 m to 5.0 m owing to the most recent earthquake, with moment magnitude of about M 7.5, in the Dangjiang segment. Geological and geomorphological features suggest that the spatial distribution of the 1738 co-seismic surface rupture zone was controlled by the pre-existing active Garzê–Yushu fault zone（Dangjiang segment）. We confirm that the Garzê–Yushu fault zone, a boundary between the Bayan Har Block to the north and the Qiangtang Block to the south, accommodates the eastward extrusion of the Tibetan Plateau and generates strong earthquakes that release the strain energy owing to the relative motion between the Bayan Har and Qiangtang Blocks.

Fast inversion of rupture process of the 14 April 2010 Yushu,Qinghai,earthquake

Four results of the rupture process of 14 April 2010 Yushu, Qinghai, earthquake, obtained by inverting the broadband seismic data of Global Seismographic Network （GSN） based on the inversion method of earthquake rupture process, were compared and discussed. It is found that the Yushu earthquake has several basic characteristics as follows： 1 There exist two principal sub-events which correspond to two slip-concentrated patches being located near the hypocenter and to the southeast of the epicenter. The rupture of the slip-concentrated patch to the southeast of the epicenter broke though the ground surface; 2 The peak slip and peak slip-rate are about 2.1 m and 1.1 m/s, respectively, indicating that the Yushu earthquake is an event with large slip-rate on the fault plane; 3 Overall the Yushu earthquake is a unilateral rupture event with the rupture mainly propagating southeastward. The strong focusing of the seismic energy in the southeast of the epicenter due to the ＂seismic Doppler effect＂ reasonably accounts for the tremendous damage in the Yushu city.

Post-earthquake building damage assessment in Yushu using airborne SAR imagery

The synthetic aperture radar （SAR） plays an important role in earthquake emergency response because of its all-time and all-weather imaging capabilities. On April 14, 2010, an Ms7.1 earthquake occurred in Yushu county, Qinghai province of China, causing a lot of buildings collapsed. In this paper, the building damage in Yushu city due to the earthquake was assessed quantitatively using high-resolution X-band airborne SAR image. The features of the buildings with different damage levels （collapsed, partial collapsed, non-collapsed） in the SAR image were analyzed first. Based on these building features, we interpreted the individual building damage in Yushu city block by block and got the numbers of the collapsed, partial collapsed and non-collapsed buildings separately for each block, referring to pre-earthquake QuickBird image when necessary. Let the damage index of individual collapsed, partial collapsed, non-collapsed building be 1, 0.5, 0 respectively, the remote sensing damage index of each block was then calculated through remote sensing damage index equation. Finally, the preliminary quantitative relationship between the remote sensing damage index interpreted from the SAR image and that interpreted from the optical image was built up. It can be concluded that a desirable damage assessment result can be derived from high-resolution airborne SAR imagery.

Co-seismic deformation of the 2010 Mw6. 9 Yushu earthquake from InSAR images

Co-seismic ground-surface deformation of the Yushu earthquake on April 14, 2010 is studied on the basis of interferometry principle by using InSAR images from ALOS PALSAR and ENVISAT ASAR pairs. The observed maximum line-of-sight displacement is 54 cm, which is equivalent to a sinistral strike slip of 180 cm on the surface. The location of macro-epicenter is very close to the epicenter determined by in situ investigation, suggesting that InSAR is an ideal tool for quick identification of the macro-epicenter, and thus for timely disaster assessment after a destructive earthquake.

Joint inversion of gravity and seismic data along a profile across the seismogenic fault of 2010 Yushu Ms7. 1 earthquake

Yushu Ms7.1 earthquake occurred on the Ganzi-Yushu fault zone, across which we carried out a joint relative-gravity and seismic-reflection survey, and then performed a gravity inversion constrained by the seismic-reflection result. Based on the data of complete Bouguer gravity anomaly and seismic reflection, we obtained a layered interface structure in deep crust down to Moho. Our study showed that the inversion could reveal the interfaces of strata along the survey profile and the directions of regional faults in two-dimension. From the characteristics of the observed topography of the Moho basement, we tentatively confirmed that the uplift of eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibet plateau was caused by the subduetion of the Indian plate.

Analysis of Ecological Vulnerability of Grassland in Yushu of China Based on Landscape Pattern

[Purpose] It aims to study the situation of ecological vulnerability of grassland in Yushu.[Methods] Based on the field survey sampling spots on grassland of Yushu,interpretation has been conducted on grassland types on TM remote sensing image,and grassland degradation degree has been qualified.By using landscape indexes,ecological vulnerability analysis has been conducted on seven landscape types of natural grassland.[Result] The comprehensive index of ecological vulnerability of Yushu grassland is low,and moderately vulnerable area and above have taken up 99.91% of the total area.[Conclusion] Ecological vulnerability has been the largest hidden danger threatening ecological security of grasslands in the test area.

Timing and Spouting Height of Sand Boils Caused by Liquefaction during the 2010 Mw 6.9 Yushu Earthquake, Tibetan Plateau, China

The 2010 Mw 6.9 Yushu earthquake produced a ~33-km-long co-seismic surface rupture zone along the pre-existing active Yushu Fault on China’s central Tibetan Plateau. Sand boils occurred along the tension cracks of the co-seismic surface rupture zone, and locally spouted up above the ground to coat the top of limestone blocks that had slid down from an adjacent ~300-m-high mountain slope. Based on our observations, the relations between the arrival times of P- and S-waves at the sand-boil location and the seismic rupture velocity, we conclude that 1) the sand boils occurred at least 18.24 s after the main shock;2) it took at least 4.09 - 9.79 s after the formation of co-seismic surface rupture to generate liquefaction at the sand-boil location;3) the spouting height of sand boils was at least 65 cm. Our findings help to clarify the relationships between the timing of lique-faction and the spouting height of sand boils during a large-magnitude earthquake.

Yushu,Home to Tibetans

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Promoting East-West Interaction Exclusive interview with Dr.Cao Yushu,Deputy Director of the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development at the State Council

Economic growth and environmental "friendliness" are the dual missions of China's grand western development. In the past eight years,China has seen the gap between eastern and western regions still widening while also taking on the arduous task of protecting nature,ecology and environment in the western region. How has western development fared in the past eight years? What difficulties and challenges are being encountered? The development of the western region poses the single greatest difficulty facing China's regional economic development,but how can we advance along a "sound and fast" development path? The establishment of economic zones in Chengdu and Chongqing,Guanzhong and North Bay has opened up new possibilities and expectations for western China's economic development.

THE ROCK PAINTINGS IN YUSHU

Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is situated in the southwestern area of Qinghai Province,the central region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.It connects with Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to the north and Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to the east.

Rescue and Reconstruction in Quake-stricken Yushu

Yushu earthquake once again shocked China and the world! All Chinese people are soaked in great sorrow for the massive losses and damage of lives and properties brought about by the sudden disaster, but at the same time people feel relieved for the rapid rescue efforts conducted by the Chinese government. A total of 32 billion Yuan （4.68 billion U.S. dollars） will be spent on the reconstruction of areas hit by a magnitude-7.1 earthquake in April.

Tibetan Mastiffs in Yushu

A Tibetan Mastiff-Tanggya When I was a teenager,my family had a baby mastiff.Because a lock natural of white hair decorated the mastiff's chest,he was given the name"Tanggya".I remember Tanggya was a big dog when I was still a little girl. Whenever he stood on his hind legs,he seemed as tall as my father.When guests came to visit,he always jumped on them and barked constantly. Only my father could briefly calm him down,and nobody amongst our siblings dared to get close to him.Tanggya was never released u...

Sacrificial Fires and Horsemanship in Yushu

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