Author(s)

Xudong Li¹, Wei Li^1,2*, Jiangtao Qiu¹, Bing Feng¹, Xiang Liu¹

¹The Second Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Xi’an, China.
²Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, China.

The Longmenshan-Longriba region is located on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, and is an ideal place to study the eastward extrusion and uplift mechanism of the plateau. Previous studies on this area mainly focused on tectonic activity and seismic hazard, with few studies giving its overall deformation characteristics and dynamic mechanism. This paper uses the latest dense GPS data, combined with precise Leveling data to analyze the kinematic characteristics and deformation mode of the Longmenshan fault zone (LMSF) and the Longriba fault zone (LRBF). The results show that both the Longmenshan fault zone and the Longriba fault zone have certain right-lateral strike-slip and thrusting, indicating that they play an important role in adjusting strain distribution and absorbing tectonic deformation; The strain-rate field on the Longriba fault zone is broadly distributed, suggesting that the deformation field is at least partially coupled; while the strain-rate field on the Longmenshan fault zone presents a non-uniform distribution, indicating different dynamic sources acting on segments. The high strain rate areas revealed in this study points us to the high-risk area for future earthquakes. The present-day vertical motion velocity field in the region obtained from Leveling and GPS data shows a mismatch between the regional deformation field and active tectonics, which can be explained by the incomplete coupling of deformation between the lower and upper crust.

Longmenshan Fault Zone, Longriba Fault Zone, GPS, Strain, Leveling

Li, X. , Li, W. , Qiu, J. , Feng, B. and Liu, X. (2023) Research on Deformation Mode of the Longmenshan-Longriba Region Using GPS and Leveling Data. International Journal of Geosciences, 14, 619-634. doi: 10.4236/ijg.2023.147033.