Active faulting along the Longmenshan fault zone after the 8.0 magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan

The overall trend and deformation of the regional crustal movements are examined on the basis of the velocity fields from the GPS monitoring stations along the Longmenshan fault zone in the years of 2009-2010, 2010-2011 and 2009-2011, respectively in combination with 2009-2011 GPS measurements after the 8.0 magnitude Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan. The measurements of the velocity fields with GPS show that compared with the regimes of movements before the Wenchuan earthquake, no distinctive differences are observed after that about the overall trend of the regional crustal movements; the regional crustal movements still display the patterns of clockwise rotation and dextral strike slip and compression. However, the velocities of movements are noticeably increasing. The regional equillibium of dynamics and kinematics has been destructed because of the influence of the Wenchuan earthquake. The low-velocity reverse movements occurred on the eastern side of the Longmenshan fault zone due to elastic inversion at the onset of the earthquake, while the western side of it has been in the extensional area with higher velocities of movements. The crustal movement and deformation are progressively reconstructed to the regional states before the earthquake in response to the stress-strain release in the study area.