Longmenshan Fault

[1] Motion on this fault is responsible for the uplift of the mountains relative to the lowlands of the Sichuan Basin to the east.

The recent Ms 8.0 earthquake occurred on the Yingxiu-Beichuan fracture, as a result of Longmenshan thrust pushing southeastward combined with clockwise shears.

[5]" The American Geophysical Union publication Tectonics describes the 5 km high escarpment thus: "In the Longmen Shan region, however, the topographic margin of the Tibetan Plateau is one of the world's most remarkable continental escarpments.

Elevations rise from circa 600 m in the southern Sichuan Basin to peaks exceeding 6500 m over a horizontal distance of less than 50 km.

Regional topographic gradients typically exceed 10% along this mountain front and rival any other margin of the plateau.