Transient deformation excited by the 2021 M7.4 Maduo (China) earthquake:
Evidence of a deep shear zone
Abstract
The 2021 M7.4 Maduo (China) earthquake ruptured a 170 km-long
left-lateral fault within the Bayan Har tectonic block in the northeast
Tibetan Plateau. We use Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 Interferometric Synthetic
Aperture Radar, and Global Navigation Satellite System data to
investigate the mechanisms of coseismic and postseismic deformation due
to the Maduo earthquake. We present a refined coseismic slip model that
features variations in both strike and dip angles, constrained by the
rupture trace and precisely located aftershocks. The postseismic
displacements are discontinuous along the fault trace, indicating
shallow afterslip and velocity-strengthening friction in the top 2-3 km
of the upper crust. Postseismic displacements that have the same sense
as the coseismic ones are also observed at larger (> 50 km)
distances away from the fault trace. The observed surface deformation is
qualitatively consistent with either deep afterslip or viscoelastic
relaxation, but does not exhibit obvious features that could be
attributed to poroelastic effects. We developed a fully coupled model
that accounts for both stress-driven creep on a deep localized shear
zone and viscoelastic relaxation in the bulk of the lower crust. The
mid- to near-field data can be reasonably well explained by either deep
afterslip or non-Maxwellian visco-elasticity. However, a good fit to
both the near and far-field (> 150 km) GNSS data cannot be
achieved assuming the bulk viscoelastic relaxation alone, and requires a
contribution of deep afterlip and/or a localized shear zone extending
through much of the lower crust.