The 2022 Mw 6.7 Menyuan Earthquake on the Northeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau, China: Complex Surface Ruptures and Large Slip

ABSTRACT On 8 January 2022, the Mw 6.7 Menyuan earthquake occurred near the stepover of the Lenglongling (LLLF) and Tuolaishan (TLSF) faults of the Qilian–Haiyuan fault zone in the middle of the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Field investigations and unmanned aerial vehicle-based photogrammetry revealed that the earthquake generated five surface rupture zones with different strikes and kinematic properties. Two large rupture zones, R1 (∼22.8 km long) and R2 (∼3.9 km long), occurred along the northern branch of the western LLLF and the eastern segment of TLSF, respectively, and featured left-lateral strike slips. Among the three small rupture zones, the left-lateral strike-slip-type R3 (0.6 km long) was located in the extension direction of R2, whereas the thrust-type R4 (∼3.3 km long) and R5 (∼1.1 km long) zones were located north of the central section of R1. These complex multifault ruptures were caused mainly by the rupture of strike-slip faults on both sides of the stepover structure. A small amount of compressive shortening strain was released during the earthquake due to regional oblique compression. The total length of the rupture zone was ∼31.7 km; the maximum left-lateral and vertical offsets were 3.5 ± 0.3 and 0.47 ± 0.04 m, respectively. Compared with the relationship observed between coseismic slips and magnitudes in historical and modern earthquakes in western China, the 2022 Menyuan earthquake produced a large coseismic slip in relation to its magnitude. The distribution characteristics of the aftershock belts and their relationship with rupture zones showed that the seismogenic fault of the earthquake was nearly east–west-striking TLSF, which may have triggered the rupture of the northern branch of the western LLLF. In addition, only a small segment of TLSF was ruptured, indicating that the accumulated strain could not be released completely during the earthquake and that this remains the most likely area for the occurrence of large earthquakes in the future.