On January 8th, 2022, an MS6.9 earthquake occurred around Menyuan County(37.77°N, 101.26°E), Qinghai Province. The epicenter is located in the northeastern part of the Tibetan plateau, where the western section of the Lenglongling Fault meets the eastern section of the Tolaishan Fault. In order to know the spatial distribution of coseismic surface rupture zone as soon as possible, and determine the seismogenic structure, the post-earthquake GF-7 remote sensing images of the Menyuan MS6.9 earthquake were analyzed. Moreover, combining the interpretation of the GF-7 images and the field investigation, the distribution of the co-seismic surface rupture was determined and the typical coseismic landforms, and the image recognition features of various co-seismic landforms are interpreted and summarized. The results show that the earthquake produced two major surface rupture zones with a left-stepped oblique spatial arrangement. The main northern branch rupture distributes on the west side of the Lenglongling Fault, with a length of about 22km and a strike of 100°N~120°E, the secondary rupture of the southern branch distributes along the eastern section of the Tuolaishan Fault, with a length of about 4km and a strike of N90°E. The total length of the two rupture zones is about 26km.
Along the rupture zones, a series of typical left-lateral strike-slip coseismic landforms were formed, such as tensional fractures, tensional-shear fractures, pressure ridges, pressure bulges, left-lateral strike-slip gullies, as well as left-lateral strike-slip roadbeds, etc. We divided the surface rupture into six segments to conduct detailed observation and analysis, that is, the west of Daohe segment, Liuhuanggou segment, Honggou segment, Yongan River segment and Yikeshugou segment, from west to east among the main rupture zone of the north branch, as well as the secondary rupture zone of the south branch. In general, each co-seismic landform has its distinctive image characteristics, and we obtained them from the interpretation and summarization of the GF-7 images. The shear fractures located at the two ends of the main rupture and in the areas where the surface rupture is weak are zigzaggy on the remote sensing images, while the shear fractures located in the areas where the surface rupture is intense are shown as dark, wide and continuously smooth stripes; thrust scarps are represented on remote sensing images as shaded, narrow and slightly curved strips; the pressure ridges and pressure bulges exhibit black elliptical feature on the images that are parallel or at a smaller angle to the main rupture; tensional-shear fractures are displayed as black strips arranged in en echelon with a 30°~45° intersection angle with the main shear rupture, and their linear features are not as straight as those of shear ruptures yet are still distinct; the coseismic scarps formed on the ice are manifested in the images as traction bend and texture change. Based on the GF-7 images, the cumulative dislocations of typical sinistral landforms along the co-seismic surface rupture on Lenglongling Fault are interpreted and futher compared with the previous study. This is the first time of application of GF-7 to the strong earthquake geohazards monitoring since it was officially launched in August 2020. From this study, it can be seen that with its high resolution, GF-7 can be used to accurately identify faulted features. Not only it could provide information of the geometric roughness, complexity and segmentation of the fracture, but also can record clear dislocations of the landforms. The study of the GF-7 images in the 2022 Menyuan earthquake has showed that the GF-7 images can provide strong data support for the geology and geological hazard studies.
Using quantitative geomorphic factors for regional active tectonic evolution is becoming more and more popular. Qilian Mountains-Hexi Corridor which locates in the northern edge of Qinghai-Tibet plateau is the most leading edge of the plateau's northward extension. The uplift rate of all segments and the intensity of influence from tectonic activity are the important evidences to understand the uplift and extension of the plateau. Heihe River Basin is located at the northern piedmont of the western segment of Qilian Mountains, the development of the rivers is influenced by the tectonic activity of the Qilian Mountains, and the unique river morphology is important carriers of the regional tectonic uplift. Geomorphologic indexes such as hypsometric integral, geomorphologic comentropy and river longitudinal profiles were extracted by GIS tools with free access to the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM)DEMs, and according to the different expression of the geomorphological indexes in the Heihe River Basin, we divided the drainage basin into two parts and further compared them to each other. Recent studies reveal that obvious differences exist in the landscape factors(hypsometric integral, geomorphology entropy and river profiles)in the east and west part of the Heihe Basin. The structural intensity of the west part is stronger than that of the east, for example, in areas above the main planation surface on the western part, the average HI value is 0.337 8, and on the eastern part the HI value is 0.355. Accordingly, areas under the main planation surface are just on the contrary, indicating different structural strength on both sides. Similar phenomenon exists in the whole drainage basins. Furthermore, by comparing the fitting river profiles with the real river profiles, differential uplift is derived, which indicates a difference between west and east(with 754m on the western part and 219m on the east). Comprehensive comparison and analysis show that the lithologic factors and precipitation conditions are less influencing on the geomorphic factors of the study area, and the tectonic activities, indicated by field investigation and GPS inversion, are the most important element for geomorphic evolution and development. The variation of the geomorphologic indexes indicates different tectonic strength derived from regional structures of the Qilian Shan.
An earthquake with MS 6.6 occurred near the border between Minxian and Zhangxian counties in southeastern Gansu Province on July 22, 2013. This earthquake caused serious personnel casualties and property damages. According to the field investigation, the intensity of the epicenter area is about Ⅷ, the causative structure is a branch fault of the eastern segment of Lintan-Dangchang active fault.The southeastern region of Gansu Province is located at the eastern boundary of Tibetan active block. A series of strike-slip faults with thrust components are developed and their combination is complicated and a series of strong or even large earthquakes occurred in this area in the history and present-days, and one of them is the Luqu earthquake occurring in 842 AD at the boundary of Han and Tibet area(now the southeastern area of Gansu Province). The earthquake caused seismic rupture, spring gushing, landslip in the Minshan Mountains and countercurrent of the Taohe River for three days. According to the detail textual research of historical references and field investigation, the epicenter area of this earthquake locates at the Guanggaishan-Dieshan mountain area, at the border area between Luqu County, Zhuoni County and Diebu County in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The date of the Luqu earthquake is possibly on the 24th day of the twelfth month of the second year of Huichang Reign in Tang Dynasty, that is, on January 31 or 27, 843 AD, and the magnitude of this earthquake is about 7~7 1/2 , the intensity near the epicenter area is about nine to ten. There are three late Quaternary active fault zones of thrust with left-lateral components, namely, Lintan-Dangcang Fault, Guanggaishan-Dieshan Fault and Diebu-Bailongjiang Fault. According to the comparative analysis of the field investigation of active faults in recent years and present seismic activity, we think that Luqu earthquake is the result of new activity of Guanggaishan-Dieshan Fault, the causative fault of this earthquake. This fault is an important branch fault of the eastern segment of northern boundary faults of Bayan Har block(Eastern Kunlun Fault zone), a main activity area of large earthquakes with magnitude larger than 7 in Chinese continent in the recent 10 years, and has the tectonic condition to generate M≥7 large earthquakes.