High-resolution structure-from-motion models covering 160 km-long surface ruptures of the 2021 MW 7.4 Madoi earthquake in northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

The 22 May 2021 M_W 7.4 Madoi, Qinghai, China earthquake presented a rare opportunity to apply the modern unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) photography method in extreme altitude and weather conditions to image surface ruptures and near-field effects of earthquake-related surface deformations in the remote Tibet. High-resolution aerial photographs were acquired in the days immediately following the mainshock. The complex surface rupture patterns associated with this event were covered comprehensively at 3–6 cm resolution. This effort represents the first time that an earthquake rupture in the interior of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau has been fully and systematically captured by such high-resolution imagery, with an unprecedented level of detail, over its entire length. The dataset has proven valuable in documenting subtle and transient rupture features, such as the significant mole-tracks and opening fissures, which were ubiquitous coseismically but degraded during the subsequent summer storm season. Such high-quality imagery also helps to document with high fidelity the fractures of the surface rupture zone (supplements of this paper), the pattern related to how the faults ruptured to the ground surface, and the distribution of off-fault damage. In combination with other ground-based mapping efforts, the data will be analyzed in the following months to better understand the mechanics of earthquake rupture related to the fault zone rheology, rupture dynamics, and frictional properties along with the fault interface.     

Constraints on the late Quaternary glaciations in Tibet from cosmogenic exposure ages of moraine surfaces

This contribution provides new constraints on the timing of Tibetan glacial recessions recorded by the abandonment of moraines. We present cosmogenic radionuclide ¹⁰Be inventories at 17 sites in southern and western Tibet (32 crests, 249 samples) and infer the range of permissible emplacement ages based on these analyses. Individual large embedded rock and boulder samples were collected from the crests of moraine surfaces and analyzed for ¹⁰Be abundance. We consider two scenarios to interpret the age of glacial recession leading to the moraine surface formation from these sample exposure ages: 1) Erosion of the moraine surface is insignificant and so the emplacement age of the moraines is reflected by the mean sample age; and 2) Erosion progressively exposes large boulders with little prior exposure, and so the oldest sample age records the minimum moraine emplacement age. We found that depending on the scenario chosen, the moraine emplacement age can vary by > 50% for ～100 ka-old samples. We consider two scaling models for estimating the production rates of ¹⁰Be in Tibet, which has an important, although lesser, effect on inferred moraine ages. While the data presented herein effectively increase the database of sample exposure ages from Tibet by ～20%, we find that uncertainties related to the interpretation of the ¹⁰Be abundance within individual samples in terms of moraine emplacement ages are sufficient to accommodate either a view in which glacial advances are associated with temperature minima or precipitation maxima that are recorded by independent paleoclimate proxies. A reanalysis of published data from moraines throughout Tibet shows that the variation we observe is not unique to our dataset but rather is a robust feature of the Tibetan moraine age database. Thus, when viewed in a similar way with other samples collected from this area, uncertainties within moraine exposure ages obscure attribution of Tibetan glacial advances to temperature minima or precipitation maxima. Our work suggests that more reliable chronologies of Tibetan glaciations will come from improvements in production rate models for this portion of the world, as well as a better understanding of the processes that form and modify these geomorphic surfaces.     

Paleoseismologic record of earthquakes along the Wuzunxiaoer section of the Altyn Tagh fault and its implication for cascade rupture behavior

The Altyn Tagh fault is one of the few great active strike-slip faults in the world. The recurrence characteristics of paleoearthquakes on this fault are still poorly understood due to the lack of paleoseismic records recorded in high-resolution strata. We document a paleoseismic record in a pull-apart basin along the Wuzunxiaoer section of the central Altyn Tagh fault.The high-resolution strata recorded abundant seismic deformations and their sedimentary responses. Four earthquakes are identified based on event evidence in the form of open fissures, thickened strata, angular unconformities, and folds. The occurrence times of the four events were constrained using radiocarbon dating. Event W1 occurred at AD1220–1773, events W2 and W3 occurred between 407 and 215 BC, and event W4 occurred slightly earlier at 1608–1462 BC, indicating clustered recurrence characteristics. A comparison of the earthquake records along the Wuzunxiaoer section with other records along the Xorkoli section suggests that both sections ruptured during the most recent event.     

Spatio-temporal variation in rock exhumation linked to large-scale shear zones in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau

Crustal-scale shear zones are believed to have played an important role in the tectonic and landscape evolution of orogens. However, the variation of long-term rock exhumation between the interior of shear zones and adjacent regions has not been documented in detail. In this study, we obtained new zircon U-Pb, biotite ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar, zircon and apatite(U-Th)/He data, and conducted inverse thermal history modeling from two age-elevation profiles(the Pianma and Tu'er profiles) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Our goal is to constrain the exhumation history of the Gaoligong and Chongshan shear zones and adjacent regions, so as to explore the effect of the shear zones on exhumation and their thermal effect on cooling that should not be ignored. Our results suggest that during the interval of 18–11 Ma the exhumation rates of rocks within the Gaoligong shear zone are anomalously high compared with those outside of. The rapid cooling during 18–11 Ma appears to be restricted to the shear zone, likely due to localized thermal effects of shearing and exhumation. After 11 Ma, both the areas within and outside of the shear zones experienced a similar two-stage exhumation history: slower cooling until the early Pliocene, and then a rapid increase in cooling rate since the early Pliocene. Our results indicate a synchronized exhumation but with spatially varied exhumation rates. Our study also highlights the important role of large-scale shear zones in exposing rocks, and thus the importance of the structural context when interpreting thermochronological data in the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.     

Detailed mapping of the surface rupture of the 12 February 2014 Yutian Ms7.3 earthquake,Altyn Tagh fault,Xinjiang, China

Large-scale detailed mapping plays a key role in revealing the rupture characteristics and mechanisms of strong earthquakes.Relatively few studies have been performed on the surface ruptures of large earthquakes in central and western Tibet due to its remote nature and high elevation.Based on high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)photography,we mapped the coseismic surface rupture of the 2014 Yutian M_s7.3 earthquake.Along the western Altyn Tagh fault system,the earthquake produced~37 km of surface rupture along the South Xor Kol fault(southern section S1),Xor Kol fault(central section S2)and Ashikule fault(northern section S3).Section S1 has a 16-km-long surface rupture with an average sinistral offset of 52±25 cm and a maximum offset of~90 cm,while section S3 has a 14.2-km-long surface rupture with an average sinistral offset of 36±21 cm and a maximum offset of~84 cm.A compilation of 5308 cracks yields an average crack width along the southern section of 85±71 cm and a maximum width of~700 cm;the average width along the central section is 39±21 cm,and the maximum width is 243 cm;and the average width along the northern section is 61±44 cm with a maximum of~340 cm.In addition,the average cumulative opening across rupture zone is 3.4±2.9 m along the southern section,with a maximum of~17 m;4.3±3.6 m along the central section,with a maximum of~13 m;and 1.7±1.6 m along the northern section,with a maximum of~6 m.Evidently,the average crack width and cumulative opening decrease towards bends and steps along the fault.A global synthesis of surface rupture distributions corresponding to strike-slip earthquakes indicates that the rupture zone is wider near the complex parts of fault geometries(such as bends,steps and fault bifurcations)than along straight sections,suggesting that the fault geometry has an obvious control on the surface rupture width.The widespread cracks at the intersection between the Xor Kol and South Xor Kol faults may indicate that an extensional regime is more likely to produce distributed offfault deformation,which provides an observational constraint for the numerical simulation of dynamic rupture on a fault.In addition to coseismic surface rupture,the Yutian earthquake also produced a large number of gravity-driven slides on alluvial fans with gentle slopes.The friction efficiency of the water-bearing salt layer beneath fans could decrease the sliding threshold and trigger instability under surface shaking.These distributed deformations and gravity-driven slides reflect the coupling between the rupture propagation and fault geometry and indicate that the rupture may have propagated in two directions along the Ashikule fault after passing through a step.Therefore,the investigation of coseismic surface rupture provides important observational constraints on the dynamic rupture process.     

Assessing non-steady-state erosion processes using paired 10Be–26Al in southeastern Tibet

Quantifying erosion rates over various spatial and temporal scales across the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding mountains is crucial to understanding the topographic evolution of the orogen. In this work, we report a new dataset of ¹⁰Be-derived basin-wide erosion rates from the main tributaries and streams draining the eastern Himalayan syntaxis. The 22 basin-wide erosion rates ranged from 78 ± 7 m Myear⁻¹ to 3,490 ± 612 m Myear⁻¹ across the study area. ²⁶Al was contemporarily measured to evaluate the impact of sediment storage and non-steady-state erosion processes in the syntaxis region. The paired study of ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al reveals that several samples violated the steady-state erosion assumption and were compatible with the scenario of perturbation of reworked sediments or deeply sourced materials introduced by landslides. For most samples, deep-sourced materials with higher ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratios were no longer perturbing the ¹⁰Be signals in river sediments. It is possible that the deep-sourced materials had been wiped out of the basins before the collection of samples in this work. However, the perturbation of reworked sediments was observed over a range of basin scales, limiting the use of a single sediment sample as a representative erosion product for upstream basins. Compared with tectonically stable regions, the incorporation of reworked fluvial sediments, deeply sourced materials or sub-glacial eroded materials into sampled sediments led to the decoupling between basin-wide erosion rates and topographic or climatic indices. Caution should be taken when deriving erosion rates from rapidly eroding regions with old, deeply buried sediments such as the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, where calculated erosion rates may be highly overestimated.