THE M_S8.0 WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE SURFACE RUPTURES AND ITS SEISMOGENIC STRUCTURE

Field investigations show that the MS8.0 Wenchuan earthquake of 12th May 2008 ruptured two NW-dipping imbricate reverse faults along the Longmenshan Fault zone at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.This earthquake generated a 240km long surface rupture along the Beichuan-Yingxiu Fault characterized by right-lateral oblique faulting and a 90km long surface rupture along the Guanxian-Jiangyou Fault characterized by dip-slip reverse faulting.Maximum vertical and horizontal dispacements of 6.2m and 4.9m,respectively,were observed along the Beichuan-Yingxiu Fault,whereas a maximum vertical displacement of 3.5m occurred along the Guanxian-jiangyou Fault.This co-seismic surface rupture pattern,involving multiple structures,is among the most complicated of recent great earthquakes.Its surface rupture length is the longest among the co-seismic surface rupture zones for reverse faulting events ever reported.Aftershocks recorded by local network clearly outline the hanging wall of the Beichuan-Yingxiu Fault and indicate that the fault dips about 47° to the west.Industry seismic lines,in addition to surface ruptures and aftershocks,allow us to build a 3D model for the rupture geometry that shows crustal shortening is the dominant process along the Longmen Shan to accommodate long-term deformation.Oblique thrusting accomplished by the earthquake indicates that the east-southeastward extrusion of Tibet Plateau accommodates,in part,the continuing penetration of the Indian plate into the Eurasian plate,and this extrusion is transformed at the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau into crustal thickening and shortening along the Longmenshan Fault zone that is responsible for the growth of high topography in the region.