CHARACTERISTICS OF SEGMENTS OF SURFACE RUPTURES OF STRONG EARTHQUAKES ALONG THE EAST KUNLUN ACTIVE FAULT ZONE

The East Kunlun active fault zone is an up to 1000 km long active fault zone in the interior of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Four strong earthquakes of M_S ≥ 7.0 have occurred along the fault zone during the past 100 years.The latest one was the Kunlun Mountain Pass earthquake of M_S=8.1 in 2001.The paper discusses the characteristics of segments of surface ruptures due to strong earthquakes along the fault zone and the stability or instability of the obstacles at the ends of the surface ruptures of strong earthquakes based on the geometric distribution,rates of activities and distribution of surface ruptures of historical strong earthquakes and paleo-earthquakes along the fault zone and by an integrated analysis of previous data.It is emphasized that the coincidence and difference between the geometrical distribution of the fault zone and present segmentation of the surface ruptures should be understood from the process of evolution of the zone.In addition,the future dangerous segments of ruptures due to strong earthquakes along the zone are discussed.