M 6.5 - 168 km SW of Mawu, China
- 2017-08-08 13:19:49 (UTC)
- 33.193°N 103.855°E
- 9.0 km depth
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- Magnitude
- 6.5 mww
- Depth
- 9.0 km
- Time
- 2017-08-08 13:19:49 UTC
Moment Tensor Fault Plane Solution View Nearby Seismicity - Time Range
± Three Weeks - Search Radius
250.0 km - Magnitude Range
≥ 3.0
Contributors US
USGS National Earthquake Information Center, PDE
Tectonic Summary
The August 8, 2017, M 6.5 earthquake in northern Sichuan, China, occurred as the result of shallow strike-slip faulting in the interior of the Eurasia plate. Focal mechanism solutions indicate the event occurred on either a southeast striking left-lateral fault or on a southwest striking right-lateral fault.
This earthquake occurred several hundred kilometers to the northeast of the convergent India:Eurasia plate boundary, where the India plate is moving northward with respect to Eurasia at a rate of approximately 46 mm/yr. This convergence drives the uplift of the Himalaya Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau, a broad region of thickened and uplifted crust, at a rate of approximately 10 mm/yr. The uplifted Tibetan Plateau is spreading to the east and, as a result, is an area of east-west extension and eastward crustal motion within a larger region of generally north-south convergence. At the edge of the plateau to the east of this earthquake, Tibetan crust is converging with the strong crust underlying the Sichuan Basin and southeastern China. The August 8th earthquake likely reflects the interplay among these major tectonic forces.
The region within 250 km of the August 8, 2017, earthquake has experienced 12 events of M6+ over the past century. Most notable in the recent past was the May 12, 2008 M 7.9 Chengdu or Sichuan earthquake, just under 250 km to the south of the August 8, 2017 event. That 2008 earthquake resulted in over 69,000 fatalities and close to 400,000 injuries, destroying over 5 million buildings and affecting over 45 million people across western China. The 2008 earthquake and its prominent aftershock sequence occurred on the Longmenshan fault zone, a prominent structure along the range front to the south and southeast of the 2017 earthquake. In August 1976, three large earthquakes of M 6.9, M 6.4 and M 6.7 struck the region around 50 km to the southeast of today’s earthquake. Perhaps due to the relative remoteness of this region, the 1976 earthquakes are not known to have caused any damage or fatalities.