What’s New
Dr. Hao et al.'s paper on GRL was on the top 5 lists of weekly most downloaded articles and Highlighted by AGU(2009-06-21)
Dr. Hao et al.’s paper entitled “Coseismic surface-ruptures and crustal deformations of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, Mw 7.9, China”, was published on June 4, 2009, on the Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), which was the top-cited geosciences journal of the past 10 years (see http://scientific.thomson.com/press/2007/8402215/). According to the GRL statistical data on June 21, the paper was on the top 5 lists of the Top Weekly Downloads, popularly read by professional scientists and people related.Moreover, the figures from the paper were selected as the feature of the coming magazine cover of GRL Vol.36 No.11, where the satellite observation was on the dark-green background and photos of coseismic ruptured-faults were toped on it.
The attractive cover has been carried on both website and magazine. Furthermore, the paper was selected as the AGU Journal Highlights and the GRL Editors’ Highlight.
Synopsis of "Editors Highlight"
New data reveal details of fault movement during 2008 Wenchuan earthquake
The magnitude 7.9 earthquake on 12 May 2008 in Wenchuan, China, killed over 87,000 people, injured 370,000, and caused extensive damage. Because some areas in the fault zone were inaccessible, scientists did not immediately have a detailed understanding of the fault movement during this event. To learn more, Hao et al. (2009) combined field investigations of the Longmen Shan fault zone with satellite observations to obtain details of the crustal deformation over the entire fault zone. They also created a model to simulate the motion of the fault zone. The model showed that thrust fault slips were dominant along the segment of the Yingxiu-Beichuan fault near the epicenter, while dextral fault slips dominated along the northeast segment of that fault. On the basis of observations and simulations, the authors concluded that the simultaneous ruptures of the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Guanxian-Anxian faults caused the Wenchuan earthquake. The results should improve scientists’ understanding of the motion of the Longmen Shan fault zone during this disastrous earthquake.
For further details
For the paper
Hao, K. X., H. Si, H. Fujiwara, and T. Ozawa (2009), Coseismic surface-ruptures and crustal deformations of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake Mw7.9, China, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L11303, doi:10.1029/2009GL037971.
※An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright(2009) American Geophysical Union.