RESEARCH OF SEISMOGENIC STRUCTURE OF THE MENYUAN MS6.4 EARTHQUAKE ON JANUARY 21, 2016 IN LENGLONGLING AREA OF NE TIBETAN PLATEAU

On January 21 2016, an earthquake of M_S6.4 hit the Lenglongling fault zone(LLLFZ)in the NE Tibetan plateau, which has a contrary focal mechanism solution to the Ms 6.4 earthquake occurring in 1986. Fault behaviors of both earthquakes in 1986 and 2016 are also quite different from the left-lateral strike-slip pattern of the Lenglongling fault zone. In order to find out the seismogenic structure of both earthquakes and figure out relationships among the two earthquakes and the LLLFZ, InSAR co-seismic deformation map is constructed by Sentinel -1A data. Moreover, the geological map, remote sensing images, relocation of aftershocks and GPS data are also combined in the research. The InSAR results indicate that the co-seismic deformation fields are distributed on both sides of the branch fault(F₂)on the northwest of the Lenglongling main fault(F₁), where the Earth's surface uplifts like a tent during the 2016 earthquake. The 2016 and 1986 earthquakes occurred on the eastern and western bending segments of the F₂ respectively, where the two parts of the F₂ bend gradually and finally join with the F₁. The intersections between the F₁ and F₂ compose the right-order and left-order alignments in the planar geometry, which lead to the restraining bend and releasing bend because of the left-lateral strike-slip movement, respectively. Therefore, the thrust and normal faults are formed in the two bending positions. In consequence, the focal mechanism solutions of the 2016 and 1986 earthquakes mainly present the compression and tensional behaviors, respectively, both of which also behave as slight strike-slip motion. All results indicate that seismic activity and tectonic deformation of the LLLFZ play important parts in the Qilian-Haiyuan tectonic zone, as well as in the NE Tibetan plateau. The complicated tectonic deformation of NE Tibetan plateau results from the collisions from three different directions between the north Eurasian plate, the east Pacific plate and the southwest Indian plate. The intensive tectonic movement leads to a series of left-lateral strike-slip faults in this region and the tectonic deformation direction rotates clockwise gradually to the east along the Qilian-Haiyuan tectonic zone. The Menyuan earthquake makes it very important to reevaluate the earthquake risk of this region.