Kunlun Fault Explained

The Kunlun Fault is a major active left-lateral strike-slip fault to the north side of Tibet. Slippage along the 1500adj=midNaNadj=mid fault has occurred at a constant rate for the last 40,000 years. This has resulted in a cumulative offset of more than .^[1] The fault is seismically active, most recently causing the magnitude 7.8 2001 Kunlun earthquake.^[2] It forms the northeastern boundary of the elongate wedge of the Tibetan Plateau known as the Bayan Har block.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Kunlun Fault . Earth Observatory . . 2000-10-10 . 2010-04-15.
2. Klinger. Y. . Xu X. . Taponnier P. . Vand der Woierd J. . Lasserre C. . King G. . 2005. High-Resolution Satellite Imagery Mapping of the Surface Rupture and Slip Distribution of the Mw ~7.8, 14 November 2001 Kokoxili Earthquake, Kunlun Fault, Northern Tibet, China. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. 95. 5. 1970–1987. 10.1785/0120040233. 15 June 2010. 2005BuSSA..95.1970K .
3. Xu . X.W. . Wen . X.Z. . Chen . G.H. . Yu . G.H. . 2008 . Discovery of the Longriba Fault Zone in Eastern Bayan Har Block, China and its tectonic implication . Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences . 51 . 9 . 1209–1223. 10.1007/s11430-008-0097-1 .