Constraints on rupture speed of the 2001 M S 8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake by co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements based on the slip-weakening mechanism with frictional undershoot involved

With co-seismic surface rupture slip displacements provided by the field observation for the 2001 M _S8.1 West Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake, this paper estimates the rupture speed on the main faulting segment with a long straight fault trace on the surface based on a simple slip-weakening rupture model, in which the frictional overshoot or undershoot are involved in consideration of energy partition during the earthquake faulting. In contrast to the study of Bouchon and Vallée, in which the rupture propagation along the main fault could exceed the local shear-wave speed, perhaps reach the P-wave speed on a certain section of fault, our results show that, under a slip-weakening assumption combined with a frictional undershoot (partial stress drop model), average rupture speed should be equal to or less than the Rayleigh wave speed with a high seismic radiation efficiency, which is consistent with the result derived by waveform inversion and the result estimated from source stress field. Associated with the surface rupture mechanism, such as partial stress drop (frictional undershoot) associated with the apparent stress, an alternative rupture mechanism based on the slip-weakening model has also been discussed. Foundation item: National Natural Science Foundation of China (40574022), the Central Public Affair Program Award for the Specific Academic Research (ZDJ2007-1) and One-Hundred Individual Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (99T3004WAZ).