Co- and post-seismic vertical displacements of Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake near Beichuan

Abstract

Co- and post-seismic vertical displacements of the Wenchuan earthquake derived from two measurements in 2008 and 2010 along two partly-damaged leveling lines near the epicenter show the following features: Co-seismic displacement at Beichuan-Yingxiu fault was as large as 4.711 m near Beichuan, where the maximum observed fault offset was 5.1 m. In contrast, the observed co-seismic offset of the Qingchuan fault in Pingwu County was only 0.064 m. During 2008–2010, the post-seismic displacement rate was 5–27 mm/a near Beichuan-Yingxiu fault in Beichuan area, 20.6 mm/a at Jiangyou-Guangyuan fault near Dakang, and only 0.2–1.3 mm/a at Qingchuan fault near Gucheng.

Keywords

• Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake
• post-seismic vertical displacement
• leveling
• Beichuan aera