Triggered slip on a back reverse fault in the Mw6.8 2013 Lushan, China earthquake revealed by joint inversion of local strong motion accelerograms and geodetic measurements

• We obtain a robust rupture process model of the 2013 Lushan earthquake by joint inversion of seismic and geodetic data.
• Our joint inversion best model involves the rupture of two opposing faults, a main fault and a secondary fault.
• Slip on the secondary fault segment was likely triggered by the coseismic slip on the main blind thrust fault.
• Our inferred coseismic slip model is consistent with strain accumulation models on the Longmenshan fault derived from GPS.

The 2013 Mw6.8 Lushan, China earthquake occurred in the southwestern end of the Longmenshan fault zone. We jointly invert local strong motion data and geodetic measurements of coseismic surface deformation, including GPS and InSAR, to obtain a robust model of the rupture process of the 2013 Lushan earthquake. Our joint inversion best model involves the rupture of two opposing faults during the Lushan earthquake, a main fault and a secondary fault. It is only when the secondary fault is included that both the GPS and InSAR measurements are fit along with the near-field strong motion. Over 75% of the computed moment was released in slip on the main fault segment, a northwest dipping, listric thrust fault, with buried thrust and dextral strike-slip at hypocenter depths, and with only minor slip closer to the surface. The secondary fault mainly involved oblique thrust slip or pure dextral strike-slip at shallower depths, and accounts for just under 24% of the moment released in the Lushan earthquake. Coulomb stress changes of about 0.5 MPa on the secondary fault segment at the time coseismic slip initiated on that fault indicate that slip was likely triggered by the coseismic slip on the main blind thrust fault. Our coseismic slip model is consistent with a sub-horizontal and east–west to southeast–northwest trending most compressive stress. Our inferred coseismic slip model is also consistent with previous GPS derived models of strain accumulation on the Longmenshan fault system.