Identification of earthquake-prone areas (Ms ≥ 6.0) in Eastern Tibet and adjacent regions

This paper aims to identify the earthquake-prone areas (Ms ≥ 6.0) in eastern Tibet and adjacent regions. For this purpose, we first prepared a morphostructural map of eastern Tibet and adjacent regions by combining information from geological, tectonic and shaded-relief Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) maps. We then identified earthquake-prone areas in the region by means of the pattern recognition method. In total, 98 morphostructural nodes are mapped in eastern Tibet and adjacent regions, about two-thirds of them, 66 out of 98, are recognized to be potential earthquake-prone areas (D nodes). Most of these D nodes are located in the western and south-eastern portions of the region. The study also reveals that several D nodes are located in places where no strong earthquakes (Ms ≥ 6.0) have been reported in regional earthquake catalogues. The D nodes in general provide information to delineate potential source areas for seismic hazard assessment in this region.