Tectonic Background of the Yutian Ms 7.3 Earthquake in 2014 and Its Relationship with the Yutian M_S 7.3 Earthquake in 2008

The regional tectonic background and characteristics of active faults of the Yutian MS7.3earthquake on February 12,2014 are discussed in this paper.After the analysis of the epicenter area of the MS7.3 earthquake in 2014 and the focal mechanisms of the former strong earthquakes around it,the authors deduced that the seismogenic fault of the MS7.3earthquake is the east branch of the Ashikule fault.The MS7.3 earthquake in 2014 and the MS7.3 earthquake in 2008 are two strong earthquake events on the different sections of the Altun Tagh fault,where the fault behavior changes from sinistral slip to normal faulting because of the extensional tail effects in the southern end of the Altun Tagh fault.It is concluded that the two MS7.3 earthquakes have the same dynamic source,and the MS7.3earthquake in 2008 promoted the occurrence of the MS7.3 earthquake in 2014.Finally,we calculate the Coulomb stress change to the seismogenic fault of the MS7.3 earthquake in2014 from the MS7.3 earthquake in 2008 using the layered crust model.The result also shows that the MS7.3 earthquake in 2008 accelerated the occurrence of the MS7.3earthquake in 2014.