1955 Zheduotang earthquake

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Not to be confused with the 1955 Yuzha earthquake which affected Sichuan in September.
1955 Zheduotang earthquake
1955 Zheduotang earthquake is located in Sichuan
1955 Zheduotang earthquake
UTC time1955-04-14 01:29:04
ISC event889422
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateApril 14, 1955
Local time09:29:02 CST
Magnitude7.0 Mw 
7.1 Ms
Depth10 km
Epicenter29°57′25″N 101°45′32″E / 29.957°N 101.759°E / 29.957; 101.759
FaultXianshuihe fault system
TypeStrike-slip
Areas affectedSichuan, China
Max. intensityMMI IX (Violent)

CSIS X
LandslidesYes
Casualties70 dead

The 1955 Zheduotang earthquake, also known as the Kangding earthquake occurred on April 14 at 09:29:02 local time near the city of Kangding in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. The earthquake had a moment magnitude of 7.0 and a surface wave magnitude of 7.1 and struck at a depth of 10 km.[1] Severe damage occurred in Kangding with the loss of 70 lives.

Tectonic setting

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Western Sichuan is situated at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau in a vast zone of complex continental deformation caused by the collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. As the thrusting of the Indian Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate along the Himalayas continues, the continental crust within the Eurasian Plate is actively uplifted and thickened, forming the Tibetan Plateau. As there are no active thrust structures within the plateau, compression is accommodated by strike-slip motion along large structures including the Altyn Tagh Fault, Kunlun Fault, Haiyuan Fault and Xianshuihe fault system. Left-lateral strike-slip motion squeezes the crustal blocks of the Tibetan Plateau outwards, forcing it to move eastwards. Meanwhile, the strike-slip motion also results in east-west extension of the plateau, causing normal faults to break within the thickened crust.[2][3]

The Xianshuihe fault system is a 1,400-km-long active left-lateral strike-slip fault that accommodate the strike-slip motion in the Tibetan Plateau. The fault is one of the largest active intracontinental geological structure in the world. Beginning in 1893, at least 350 km of the fault length has ruptured in large successive earthquakes with magnitudes 6.5 or larger.[4] Going back to the year 1700 to present-day, the fault has ruptured its entire 1,400 km length during large earthquakes.[5]

Earthquake

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The earthquake specifically ruptured the Zheduotang Fault; a segment of the Xianshuihe fault system. The left-lateral strike-slip rupture mechanism is consistent with movement along the fault system. A 43-km-long surface rupture is associated with the mainshock. In a November 2020 study published in the academic journal Geological Journal, the moment magnitude of the mainshock was evaluated at 7.0 Mw . Previous studies have placed the surface wave and moment magnitudes at 7.5.[6]

Coulomb stress transfer after the 1955 earthquake increased seismic strain on the adjacent Selaha Fault, also part of the Xianshuihe fault system. In 2014, an earthquake measuring magnitudes 5.9 ruptured the Selaha Fault, releasing some of the strain.[7] Since the 1955 quake, the Zheduotang Fault has accumulated enough strain to generate a magnitude 6.5–6.8 earthquake with the potential to cause severe destruction.[8]

Damage

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Many landslides were triggered and the ground fissured. Natural springs erupted water intensely or dried up. Spring water discolored after the quake. A total of 624 homes and temples were destroyed and 1,083 were damaged in Kangding. At least 70 people died and 217 were injured.[9] Walls around the city toppled. Approximately 90% of the city's wooden-frame or adobe-constructed structures were destroyed. There were more than 30 landslides recorded, many of which blocked roads. In Luding County, shabby homes collapsed. Bridges, dams and ravines were seriously damaged or collapsed.[10] Landslides affected an area of 4,416 km2.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "M 7.1 - 19 km WSW of Kangding, China". earthquake.usgs.gov. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  2. ^ Elliott, J. R.; Walters, R. J.; England, P. C.; Jackson, J. A.; Li, Z.; Parsons, B. (2010). "Extension on the Tibetan plateau: recent normal faulting measured by InSAR and body wave seismology". Geophysical Journal International. 183 (2): 503–535. Bibcode:2010GeoJI.183..503E. doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2010.04754.x. S2CID 134590278.
  3. ^ Weijun Gan; Peizhen Zhang; Zheng-Kang Shen; Zhijun Niu; Min Wang; Yongge Wan; Demin Zhou; Jia Cheng (2007). "Present-day crustal motion within the Tibetan Plateau inferred from GPS measurements". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 112 (B8). American Geophysical Union. Bibcode:2007JGRB..112.8416G. doi:10.1029/2005JB004120.
  4. ^ Eleftheria Papadimitriou; Xueze Wen; Vassilios Karakostas; Xueshen Jin (2004). "Earthquake Triggering along the Xianshuihe Fault Zone of Western Sichuan, China". Pure and Applied Geophysics. 161 (8): 1683–1707. Bibcode:2004PApGe.161.1683P. doi:10.1007/s00024-003-2471-4. S2CID 129325246.
  5. ^ Mingkun Bai; Marie-Luce Chevalier; Jiawei Pan; Anne Replumaz; Philippe Hervé Leloup; Marianne Métois; Haibing Li (2018). "Southeastward increase of the late Quaternary slip-rate of the Xianshuihe fault, eastern Tibet. Geodynamic and seismic hazard implications". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 485: 19–31. Bibcode:2018E&PSL.485...19B. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2017.12.045.
  6. ^ Bing Yan; Maomao Wang; Dong Jia; Jian Cui (2020). "Investigation and magnitude re-evaluation of the 1955 Zheduotang earthquake, eastern Tibetan Plateau, China". Geological Journal. 55 (11, Special Issue: Neotectonics: Active Tectonics and Paleo-environmental Change in Western China). Wiley Online Library: 7272–7284. Bibcode:2020GeolJ..55.7272Y. doi:10.1002/gj.3628. S2CID 202921614.
  7. ^ Bing Yan; Shinji Toda; Aiming Lin (2018). "Coulomb Stress Evolution History as Implication on the Pattern of Strong Earthquakes along the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang Fault System, China". Journal of Earth Science. 29 (2): 427–440. Bibcode:2018JEaSc..29..427Y. doi:10.1007/s12583-018-0840-2. ISSN 1674-487X. S2CID 134947507.
  8. ^ Marie-Luce Chevalier; Mingkun Bai; Shiguang Wang; Jiawei Pan; Philippe Hervé Leloup; Anne Replumaz; Kaiyu Li; Qiong Wu; Fucai Liu; Haibing Li; Jinjiang Zhang (2021). "Late Quaternary slip-rates along the Moxi and Zheduotang segments of the SE Xianshuihe fault, eastern Tibet, and geodynamic implications". Ess Open Archive ePrints. 105. ESSOAr. Bibcode:2021esoar.10505744C. doi:10.1002/essoar.10505744.1. S2CID 234134468.
  9. ^ "大灾无情！盘点历史上四川发生的10余次7级以上地震" [The catastrophe is merciless! Inventory of more than 10 earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above that occurred in Sichuan in history]. chengdumingxiao.com (in Chinese). 10 August 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Significant Earthquake Information". ngdc.noaa.gov. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
  11. ^ X. L. Chen; Q. Zhou; H. Ran; R. Dong (2012). "Earthquake-triggered landslides in southwest China". Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 12 (2): 351–363. Bibcode:2012NHESS..12..351C. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.838.9836. doi:10.5194/nhess-12-351-2012.
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