Geodynamic background of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake based on 3D visco-elastic numerical modelling

The 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (Mw7.9) occurred in the Longmen Shan fault zone. The stress change and crustal deformation during the accumulation period is computed using 3D finite element modelling assuming visco-elastic rheology. Our results support that the eastward movement of the Tibetan Plateau resulting from the India-Eurasia collision is obstructed at the Longmen Shan fault zone by the strong Yangtze craton. In response, the Tibetan ductile crust thickens and accumulates at the contact between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. This process implies a strong uplift with the rate of about 1.8 mm/a of the upper crust and induces a stress concentration nearly at the bottom of the Longmen Shan fault zone. We believe that the stress concentration in the Longmen Shan fault zone provides a very important geodynamic background of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Using numerical experiments we find that the key factor controlling this stress concentration process is the large viscosity contrast in the middle and lower crusts between the Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. The results show that large viscosity contrast in the middle and lower crusts accelerates the stress concentration in the Longmen Shan fault zone. Fast moving lower crustal flow accelerates this stress accumulation process. During the inter-seismic period, spatially the maximum stress accumulation rate of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is located nearly at the bottom of the brittle upper crust of the Longmen Shan fault zone. The spatial distribution of the stress accumulation along the strike of the Longmen Shan fault zone is as follows: the normal stress decreases while the shear stress increases from southwest to northeast along the Longmen Shan fault zone. This stress distribution explains the thrust motion in the SW and strike-slip motion in the NE during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.