Preliminary analysis on characteristics of coseismic deformation associated with M S=8.1 western Kunlunshan Pass earthquake in 2001

Based on the analysis of coseismic deformation in the macroscopic epicentral region extracted by Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (D-InSAR), and combined with the seismic activity, focal mechanism solutions of the earthquake and field investigation, the characteristic of coseismic deformation of M _S=8.1 western Kunlunshan Pass earthquake in 2001 was researched. The study shows that its epicenter lies in the northeast side of Hoh Sai Hu; and the seismogenic fault in the macroscopic epicentral region can be divided into two central deformation fields: the west and east segments with the lengths of 42 km and 48 km, respectively. The whole fault extends about 90 km. From the distribution of interferometry fringes, the characteristic of sinistral strike slip of seismogenic fault can be identified clearly. The deformations on both sides of the fault are different with an obviously higher value on the south side. In the vicinity of macroscopic epicenter, the maximum displacement in look direction is about 288.4 cm and the minimum is 224.0 cm; the maximum sinistral horizontal dislocation of seismogenic fault near the macroscopic epicenter is 738.1 cm and the minimum is 551.8 cm. Foundation item: National Natural Science Foundation of China (40374013) and “Researching on the Disaster Earthquake” (2003) of Public Welfare Research Item, Ministry of Science and Technology of China.