Abstract: On 14 November 2001, an extraordinarily large earthquake occurred on the Hoh Sai Hu segment of the Eastern Kunlun Fault, northern Tibetan Plateau. This event, named as Hoh Sai Hu (Kunlanshan) Earthquake, is the largest earthquake occurred in China continent for the past 50 years. The moment magnitude of this earthquake reaches 7.7 to 7.9 (USGS National Earthquake Information Center, 2001; Harvard CMT Catalog, 2001) and the surface wave magnitude reaches 8.1 (China Digital Seismic Network, 2001). Field investigation indicates that the surface rupture zone produced by this earthquake is striking N80°±10°W with a length of 350 km, which initiates from 91°E in the west nearby the east of Buka Daban Feng, a snow-capped summit with an altitude of 6 800m, extends eastwards along the fault traces of the Hoh Sai Hu segment, and terminates at the 94.8°E in the east. The surface ruptures of this earthquake consist of shear fractures, transtensional fractures, tension gashes and mole tracks arranged in en echelon. The shear fractures are N80°～90°W trending and dominated by left-lateral slip. Transtenssional fractures are several to tens meters long, the strike of which varies from N62°E to N65°E or from N70°E to N75°E, and are dominated by left-lateral slip with a component of tensile opening, the width of which decreases with depth. The shear and/or transtensional fractures are arranged in left-stepping or right-stepping to form releasing or restraining steps, on which tension gashes or mole tracks are developed. Tension gashes strike N45°～50°E and are developed at a releasing step to connect with the boundary shear or transtensional fractures which constrain the step in most cases. The tension gashes may also be arranged in en echelon pattern along the surface rupture zone, and especially at the termination of the surface ruptures. The mole tracks of 1.5 to 3 m height are trending 295°to 330°, which are well developed at the right-steps of the shear and/or transtensional fractures of different scales along the surface rupture zone. This surface rupture pattern appears to be purely strike-slip characterized by several meters of left-lateral offset. The maximum left-lateral offset we observed reaches 6 m at a site (93°05.384’E, 35°47.623’N), where a shallow channel bed was left-laterally offset by a single pure shear fracture. The macroscopic epicenter of the Hoh Sai Hu (Kunlunshan) earthquake is then inferred to be located at the piedmont area to the northeast of Hoh Sai Hu Lake, about 80 to 90km west of Kunlunshan Pass, in terms of the features of surface ruptures. It is postulated that this earthquake may trigger the occurrence of future large earthquake on the Dongdatan-Xidatan segment to the east of the Hoh Sai Hu segment of the Eastern Kunlunshan Fault,reflecting the eastward motion or flowing of the Tibetan Plateau along the fault.

Key words: Earthquake surface ruptures, Seismic fault, Seismogenic structure, Hoh Sai Hu earthquake, Kunlunshan

摘要： 震后野外考察表明,2001年11月14日昆仑山库赛湖地震(M_S8.1)发生在青藏高原北部东昆仑断裂带库赛湖段上,发震断层具有高速率左旋滑动的基本特征,晚更新世晚期以来的平均滑动速率达(14.8±2.4)mm/a;地震地表破裂带沿库赛湖段西起布喀达板峰东缘(91°08′E),向东经库赛湖北缘、青藏公路2894里程碑、玉珠峰南麓,东止于青藏公路东70km附近(94°48′E),地震地表破裂带沿N70°～90°W走向线状展布,全长约350km,由一系列走向N45°～50°E拉开状张裂缝、走向N60°～75°E张剪切裂缝、走向N80°W剪切裂缝以及隆起鼓包或开裂陷坑等斜列状组合而成,显示出纯剪切走滑的破裂特征,最大左旋水平位移6m;宏观震中位于昆仑山口西80～90km附近的库赛湖东北角山麓地带,地震地表破裂带宽度300m,在库赛湖北岸至山麓地带的地震地表破裂带和由地震动或重力效应引起的次生破裂带总宽度可达2km.库赛湖地震地表破裂的左旋走滑特征表明,青藏高原物质确实存在着向东的滑移或流动,东昆仑断裂带东部与库赛湖段斜列的东大滩-西大滩段极有可能是未来发生大地震的危险地段.

关键词: 地震地表破裂, 地震断层, 发震构造, 库赛湖地震, 昆仑山