The 2020 Mw6.0 Jiashi earthquake: Coinvolvement of thin-skinned
thrusting and basement-shortening in shaping the Keping-tage nappe
Abstract
The Keping-tage fold-thrust belt in southwest Tian Shan is seismically
active, yet most well-recorded earthquakes occurred south of the
mountain front, hindering our understanding of the orogenic process to
the north. The 2020 Mw6.0 Jiashi earthquake is an important event with
surface deformation in the nappe structure well illuminated by InSAR.
Here, we employ the surface deformation and relocated aftershocks to
investigate the fault slip distribution associated to this event.
Further added by an analysis of Coulomb stress changes, we derive a
fault model involving slips on a shallow low-angle
(~10º) north-dipping thrust fault as well as on a
left-lateral tear fault and a high-angle south-dipping reverse fault in
mid crust. Our results reflect the basement-involved shorterning
activated by a thin-skinned thrust faulting event with the surface
deformation implying the basin-ward orogenic process of the southwest
Tian Shan.