title: Observation of long supershear rupture during the magnitude 8.1 Kunlunshan earthquake.
abstract: The 2001 Kunlunshan earthquake was an extraordinary event that produced a 400-km-long surface rupture. Regional broadband recordings of this event provide an opportunity to accurately observe the speed at which a fault ruptures during an earthquake, which has important implications for seismic risk and for understanding earthquake physics. We determined that rupture propagated on the 400-km-long fault at an average speed of 3.7 to 3.9 km/s, which exceeds the shear velocity of the brittle part of the crust. Rupture started at sub-Rayleigh wave velocity and became supershear, probably approaching 5 km/s, after about 100 km of propagation.
authors.affiliation: Université Joseph Fourier and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique, Boîte postale 53, 38041 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bouchon
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vallée