Stress Interactions within the Strong Earthquake Sequence from 2001 to 2010 in the Bayankala Block of Eastern Tibet

A study of four major earthquakes (M s >7.0) occurring between 2001 and 2010 around the Bayankala block in eastern Tibet reveals that their occurrences were not due to triggering effects from preceding quakes. Instead, the earthquakes likely resulted from the southeastward movement of the Bayankala block, driven by the compression and penetration of the Indian–Australian Plate into the Eurasian Plate. The research integrated coseismic effects, viscoelastic relaxations, and stress interaction models (ETAS and stochastic declustering) to analyze Coulomb failure stress variations. Findings indicate weak stress interactions among the earthquakes, suggesting that their clustering was not caused by seismic triggering but rather by tectonic dynamics in the region.

Jia, K., Zhou, S., & Wang, R. (2012). Stress Interactions within the Strong Earthquake Sequence from 2001 to 2010 in the Bayankala Block of Eastern Tibet. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 102(5), 2157–2164. https://doi.org/10.1785/0120110333