Table Of ContentAiming Lin
Zhikun Ren
The Great Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008: A Photographic Atlas of
Surface Rupture and Related Disaster
Aiming Lin
Zhikun Ren
The Great Wenchuan Earthquake
of 2008: A Photographic Atlas
of Surface Rupture and Related
Disaster
with 121 figures
Authors
Prof. Aiming Lin Dr. Zhikun Ren
Graduate School of Science & Technology Graduate School of Science & Technology
Shizuoka University Shizuoka University
836 Ohya 836 Ohya
Suruga-ku Suruga-ku
Shizuoka Shizuoka
422-8529 Japan 422-8529 Japan
ISBN 978-7-040-15128-2
Higher Education Press, Beijing
ISBN 978-3-642-03758-0 e-ISBN 978-3-642-03759-7
Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932898
© Higher Education Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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(cid:3)
Preface
The magnitude M 8.0 (M 7.9) Wenchuan earthquake occurred on 12 May 2008 in the Longmen
s w
Shan region of China—the topographical boundary between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan
Basin—resulting in extensive damage throughout central and western China. To understand the
seismic faulting mechanism and surface deformation features associated with the Wenchuan
earthquake, including rupture length, geometric characteristics, and slip distribution of co-seismic
surface rupture, our survey group traveled to the epicentral area 2 days after the earthquake and
undertook 10 days of fieldwork, during which time we collected fundamental data related to
rupture structures and the spatial distribution of offset along faults. Based on the results of this
preliminary fieldwork, we carried out additional detailed fieldwork along the co-seismic surface
rupture over the following year.
This photographic atlas shows the main deformation characteristics of co-seismic surface
rupture and the nature of the earthquake disaster and subsequent relief operations, based on
photographs taken during our field investigations. This atlas is intended not only for geologists,
seismologists, and engineers as a means of furthering their understanding of the seismic
mechanisms and surface rupture deformation characteristics of large intracontinental earthquakes,
but also for advanced undergraduates and graduate students as a textbook.
We are grateful to the many organizations and individuals who helped to make this book
possible. Thanks are also due to Professor Dong Jia and Dr. Xiaojun Wu of the Nanjing
University for their assistance in the field.
Aiming Lin
Zhikun Ren
Shizuoka May 2009
Contents
1. Tectonic Setting of the Wenchuan Earthquake ···························································1
2. Outline of Earthquake and Focal Mechanisms ·························································7
3. Outline of Co-seismic Surface Rupture ····································································11
3.1 Distribution of co-seismic surface rupture ························································11
3.2 Slip distribution of co-seismic fault ·····································································13
4. Deformation Characteristics of Co-seismic Surface Rupture ·································17
4.1 Co-seismic fault scarp ··························································································18
4.2 Co-seismic flexure-slip fold structure ·································································40
5. Relationship Between Surface Rupture and Pre-existing Active Faults ················51
6. Relationship Between Surface Rupture and Damage to Infrastructure ················57
7. Co-seismic Landsliding and Liquefaction ································································65
8. Earthquake Disaster ···································································································79
9. Relief Operations ······································································································103
References ······················································································································115
Index of Figures ·············································································································117
(cid:3)
1. Tectonic Setting of the Wenchuan Earthquake
The Longmen Shan region is characterized by high elevations of up to 4 500 m on average above
sea level and topographic relief of more than 5 km over distances of less than 50 km, representing
one of the steepest mountain fronts along any margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This eastern margin
of the plateau is bound by the Longmen Shan Thrust Belt, which strikes northeast–southwest
over a distance of ~500 km. The basement of the thrust belt is dominated by strongly folded and
deformed pre-Mesozoic rocks. The Longmen Shan Thrust Belt is dominated by four major thrust
faults: the Wenchuan–Maowen, Yingxiu–Beichuan, Guanxian–Anxian, and Qingchuan faults.
Seismicity is generally restricted to small events in the area around the belt.
The historic record of earthquakes in this region over the past 1 400 years reveals only four
earthquakes of M>6 (M 6.5 in 1657, M 6.2 in 1958, 1970, and 1972), indicating a remarkable
lack of large earthquakes of M>6.5 along he belt. However, our trenching surveys and field
investigations carried out after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake reveal a great Tang-Song Dynasty
(~AD 800—1000) earthquake that ruptured a >200-km-long thrust fault within the Longmen
Shan Thrust Belt, along which co-seismic surface ruptures developed in association with the
2008 Wenchuan earthquake. These observations constrain a millennial recurrence interval for
magnitude ~8 earthquakes in this region. Geologic and paleoseismic data demonstrate that the
major thrusts of the Longmen Shan Thrust Belt are currently active as the source faults of large
earthquakes during the late Holocene.
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