The 2001 Southern Qinghai Earthquake: Tectonic Setting and Event Details

On November 14, 2001, at 09:26 UTC, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck southern Qinghai Province in China. The event occurred at a focal depth of 10.0 km and was centered in a remote, high-altitude region of the Tibetan Plateau. This earthquake remains one of the strongest recorded in the area since 2000 and exemplifies the ongoing seismic hazard associated with the India-Eurasia continental collision.

Southern Qinghai lies within the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, where the Indian Plate continues to converge northward with the Eurasian Plate at rates of approximately 4–5 cm per year. This convergence has produced extensive crustal shortening, uplift, and lateral extrusion of material along major strike-slip fault systems. The Kunlun Fault, a left-lateral strike-slip structure extending more than 1,200 km across the plateau, accommodates a significant portion of this deformation. The 2001 rupture propagated along a previously identified segment of this fault in the Hoh Xil region, generating surface offsets exceeding 5 m in places and a rupture length of roughly 400 km.

Geological studies of the plateau indicate that the crust beneath southern Qinghai reaches thicknesses of 60–70 km, contributing to elevated topography averaging above 4,500 m. The region experiences frequent moderate seismicity, with large events occurring along both strike-slip and thrust faults. Historical records document earlier large earthquakes on the Kunlun Fault system, including events in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, underscoring the fault’s long-term slip rate of several millimeters per year.

The 2001 earthquake released strain accumulated over centuries along the fault. Its shallow depth facilitated extensive surface rupture and triggered numerous aftershocks, though the remote setting limited direct impacts on populated areas. Post-event investigations using satellite imagery and field surveys confirmed the predominantly strike-slip mechanism consistent with regional tectonics.

Seismic monitoring since 2000 has recorded this event as the sole magnitude 7.8 or greater earthquake in the immediate vicinity, highlighting its significance within the contemporary record of plateau seismicity. Continued monitoring and paleoseismic research remain essential for assessing future hazard along the Kunlun Fault.

References

USGS Earthquake Catalog
Global CMT Project
Tectonic summaries from the China Earthquake Administration