Initiation, Propagation and Healing of the 2001 Great Kunlun Mountain Pass Earthquake

摘要

By means of the kinematical and geometrical image of the source obtained by inverting the high signal-to-noise-ratio P-waveform data of vertical components from 20 stations with epicentral distances less than 90° all over the world, the initiation-propagation-healing process of the 14 November 2001 Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake (KMPE) is presented, and the rupture and healing velocities involved are estimated. According to the kinematical and geometrical image, three sub-events are recognized in general for the KMPE. The three sub-events initiate at different locations and at different times, propagate with different velocities in different manners, and heal with different velocities in different manners. During the earthquake process, there exist the rupture fusions of different sub-events, which make it hard or even impossible to have healing velocities estimated. However, the initiations, propagations and healings of the three sub-events are clearly evident.