The Tsetserleg earthquake is believed to be a strike-slip rupture of a branch of the Bolnai Fault, extending about 190 km.

The fault displacement during the earthquake was greater than 5 m,[3] and the duration is estimated at one minute.

[2] However, this interpretation is contested; field surveys after the earthquake show a complex rupture not necessarily characteristic of a strike-slip mechanism.

However, rockslides were reported in the nearby mountains, and supposedly "two lakes, each of eight acres in size, disappeared".

[6] Lasting damage to the landscape from the earthquake can be seen in the season 3 Mongolia special of the Amazon Prime motoring show The Grand Tour.