The Kunlun fault is a strike slip fault to the north side of Tibet

Tibet

Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...

. Slippage along the 1500 kilometres (932.1 mi) long fault has occurred at a constant rate for the last 40,000 years. This has resulted in a cumulative offset of more than 400 metres (1,312.3 ft). The fault is seismically active, most recently causing the magnitude

Moment magnitude scale

The moment magnitude scale is used by seismologists to measure the size of earthquakes in terms of the energy released. The magnitude is based on the seismic moment of the earthquake, which is equal to the rigidity of the Earth multiplied by the average amount of slip on the fault and the size of...

 7.8 2001 Kunlun earthquake

2001 Kunlun earthquake

The 2001 Kunlun earthquake also known as the 2001 Kokoxili earthquake, occurred on 14 November 2001 at 09:26 UTC , with an epicenter near Kokoxili, close to the border between Qinghai and Xinjiang in a remote mountainous region. With a magnitude of 7.8 Mw it was the most powerful earthquake in...

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