The 2025 MW7.0 Dingri Earthquake: Conjugate Normal Faulting of a Graben Structure in the Southern Xainza-Dinggye Rift

The 2025 $M_W$7.0 Dingri earthquake, which struck southern Tibet on 7 January 2025, provides kinematic insights into extensional tectonics in the region. We use Sentinel-1 and Lutan-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data sets to analyze the coseismic displacement fields of this event. Our analysis reveals that this event ruptured two conjugate normal faults, likely two boundary faults of a graben structure in the extensional rift. Our best-fitting slip model includes a large west-dipping fault and a secondary east-dipping fault, both characterized by dominant normal slip but with distinct slip amplitude. Relocated aftershocks also reveal that the slip along the secondary east-dipping fault occurred coseismically rather than postseismically. Fault geometry, kinematics and geomorphology jointly imply the young, immature graben in the southern Xainza-Dinggye rift. Boundary faults accommodate extensional strain jointly, which is likely the common mode of strain accommodation in the region.