Map prepared by U.S. Geological SurveyNational Earthquake Information Center24 March 2008Map not approved for release by Director USGS

EARTHQUAKE SUMMARY MAP XXXU.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIORU.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

DISCLAIMERBase map data, such as place names and politicalboundaries, are the best available but may not be current or may contain inaccuracies and thereforeshould not be regarded as having official significance.

H

I MA

L A Y A

K u n j u n M o u n t a i n s

TAJIKISTANCHINA

KYRGYZSTAN

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

Altyn Tagh Fault

Chandigarh

Simla

Islamabad

Kashi

Fergana Osh

Faisalabad Lahore Amritsar

Rawalpindi

Srinagar

2001

1997

19851974

1966

1955

1934

1924

1924

1911

1908

1905

1902

2005

90°

90°

88°

88°

86°

86°

84°

84°

82°

82°

78°

78°

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76°

74°

74°72°

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80°

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38°38°

36°36°

34°34°

32°32°

30°

HI M

AL A Y A

T i a n S h a n

A l t a y Mo u n t a i n s

Ku n j u n M o u n t a i n s

L. BalkashAra l Sea

40- 50mm/yr

Ganges Delta

Arabian SeaBay of Bengal

Jamuna R.

Ganges R.

Tibetan Plateau

Takla Makan Desert

Indus R.

CaspianSea

Deccan

Gobi Desert

EURASIA PLATE

INDIA PLATEOman IndiaMyanmarBangladesh

Russia

Thailand

Vietnam

Laos

BhutanNepal

Iran China

Pakistan

Afghanistan

Tajikistan

Azerbaijan

Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan

Kyrgyzstan

MongoliaKazakhstan

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100°

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20° 20°

M7.2 Xinjiang-Xizang Region Earthquake of 20 March 2008

0 200 400100Kilometers

Iran

IndiaMyanmarBangladesh

ThailandLaos

BhutanNepalIran

China

Pakistan

Afghanistan

Tajikistan

Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan

Kyrgyzstan

MongoliaKazakhstan

Dzhambul

Barisal

NewDelhi

MoulmeinPhitsanulokPegu

ChiangMai

Sittwe MagwayBhubaneshwar

TaunggyiGandhinagar

Agartala

Imphal

DubaiSharjah

MyitkyinaShillong KohimaBiratnagar

Bandar-E Abbas

Kathmandu

ZahedanLhasa

Quetta

Kerman

ChandigarhSimla

Kandahar

YazdIslamabad

Herat

SemnanSari

Mazar-ESharif

KonduzTermez Qurghonteppa

Ashgabat

Yinchuan

KarshiChardzhev KashiSamarkand

Bukhara

Turkmenbashi

Navoi Dzhizak FerganaGulistan

OshNamangan

UrgenchDashkhovuz

Shymkent

Nukus

KyzylordaTaldykorgan

Aizawl

Jalabad

RangoonPune

NagpurMandalayChittagongCalcuttaKhulnaAhmadabad Bhopal

Kunming

VaranasiHyderabadPatna

KanpurLucknowJaipur

Chengdu

FaisalabadLahoreAmritsar

RawalpindiSrinagar

Kabul

LanzhouMashhad XiningDushanbe

Baku

TashkentBishkek Almaty

Urumqi

Tehran

Bombay

Karachi

Delhi

110°

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20° 20°DATA SOURCESEARTHQUAKES AND SEISMIC HAZARD USGS, National Earthquake Information Center NOAA, National Geophysical Data Center IASPEI, Centennial Catalog (1900 - 1999) and extensions (Engdahl and Villaseñor, 2002) HDF (unpublished earthquake catalog) (Engdahl, 2003) Global Seismic Hazard Assessment ProgramPLATE TECTONICS AND FAULT MODEL PB2002 (Bird, 2003) Finite Fault Model, Chen Ji, UC Santa Barbara (2007)BASE MAP NIMA and ESRI, Digital Chart of the World USGS, EROS Data Center NOAA GEBCO and GLOBE Elevation Models

0 400 800 1,200 1,600200Kilometers

SCALE 1:20,000,000

Prepared in cooperation

with the Global Seismographic

Network

Tectonic Setting

Seismic Hazard

Epicentral Region

Xinjiang - Xizang Border Region 20 March 2008 22:33:00 UTC 35.445° N., 81.392° E.Depth 22.9 kmMw = 7.2 (USGS)An earthquake occurred 230 km (140 miles) SE of Hotan, Xinjiang or 3105 km (1930 miles) W of Beijing, China at 3:33 PM MST, Mar 20, 2008 (Mar 21 at 6:33 AM local time in China). No reports of damage or casualties have been received.

Tectonic SummaryThe Mw7.2 Xinjiang- Xiang border region earthquake of 20 March2008 occurred as a result of normal faulting in the tectonically complexregion of the northern Tibetan Plateau. This earthquake occurred severalhundred kilometers north of the convergent India- Eurasia plateboundary, where the India Plate is moving northwards with respect toEurasia at a rate of approximately 46 mm/yr. This convergence drivesthe uplift of the Himalaya Mountains, at a rate of approximately 10mm/yr, and the Tibetan Plateau, which is an extremely broad region ofthickened and uplifted crust sitting above 4.5- 5 km.The uplifted Tibetan Plateau is spreading to the east and, as a result, isan area of east-west extension and eastward crustal motion within alarger region of generally north- south convergence. The Xinjiang-Xizang earthquake likely reflects the interplay amongst these majortectonic forces, dominated in this location by east- west extension. Theeastward motion of Tibet, with respect to Eurasia further north, isaccommodated in part by the large intra- continental Altyn Tagh andKunlun strike-slip fault systems. This event is one of the largest knownearthquakes to have occurred in the northern Tibetan Plateau east of theKunlun Fault System. In 1996, an Mw6.8 earthquake occurredapproximately 300 km further east.

Seismic hazard is expressed as peakground acceleration (PGA) on firmrock, in meters/sec², expected to beexceeded in a 50-yr period with aprobability of 10 percent.

EXPLANATIONMain Shock

Mag ≥ 7.00 - 69 km70 - 299300 - 600

Plate BoundariesSubductionTransformDivergent

ConvergentVolcanoes

RELATIVE PLATE MOTIONSThe broad red vector represents the motion ofthe India Plate relative to the Eurasia Plate inthe region. The motion of the India Plate isgenerally 40 - 50 mm/yr northward withrespect to the Eurasia Plate.

0 400 800 1,200 1,600200Kilometers

SCALE 1:20,000,000

REFERENCESBird, P., 2003, An updated digital model of plate boundaries: Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., v. 4, no. 3, pp. 1027- 80.Engdahl, E.R. and Villaseñor, A., 2002, Global Seismicity: 1900 - 1999, chap. 41 of Lee, W.H.K., and others,eds., International Earthquake and Engineering Seismology, Part A: New York, N.Y., Elsevier Academeic Press, 932 p.Engdahl, E.R., Van der Hilst, R.D., and Buland, R.P., 1998, Global teleseismic earthquake relocation with improved trav- el times and procedures for depth determination: Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer., v. 88, p. 722-743.

1:5,000,000Scale

Significant Earthquakes Mag >= 7.0

Year Mon Day Time Lat Long Dep Mag1902 08 22 0300 40.000 77.000 0 7.71905 04 04 0050 33.000 76.000 0 7.81908 08 20 0953 32.000 89.000 60 7.01911 02 18 1841 40.000 73.000 0 7.21924 07 03 0440 36.632 83.903 35 7.11924 07 11 1944 36.791 83.958 35 7.11934 12 15 0157 31.013 89.080 35 7.11955 04 15 0340 39.816 74.640 35 7.11966 03 06 0215 31.453 80.469 41.1 7.01974 08 11 0113 39.377 73.799 2.5 7.11985 08 23 1241 39.445 75.248 20 7.01997 11 08 1002 35.135 87.403 24 7.52001 11 14 0926 35.918 90.543 10.8 7.8

Peak Ground Acceleration in m/sec**2

.2 .4 .8 1.6 2.4 3.2 4.0 4.8

EPICENTRAL REGION

EXPLANATIONMain Shock

AftershocksEarthquake Magnitude

4.00 - 5.996.00 - 6.997.00 - 7.998.00 - 8.99

9.00 - 9.99

Earthquake Depth0 - 6970 - 299300 - 700

EPICENTRAL REGION