Differentiated Rift Rupture and Apparent Northward Earthquake Ordering in Southern Tibet Revealed by the 2025 Mw 7.0 Dingri Earthquake and Its Preceding Events

Abstract

North–south‐trending rifts in southern Tibet accommodate active east–west extension, but how normal‐faulting rupture varies with rift development remains unclear. Here we use Synthetic Aperture Radar observations to investigate the 2025 Mw 7.0 Dingri earthquake in the southern Xainza–Dinggye rift. Our rupture model shows that the 2025 earthquake ruptured multiple segments and likely triggered three meter‐scale slope failures within surface‐rupture gaps at the rift margin. Together with preceding Dingri events, our results reveal contrasting along‐rift coseismic rupture behavior: larger, shallower, and more complex slip in the higher‐elevation, narrower northern Dengmo Co rift, but smaller, deeper slip in the lower, wider southern half‐graben. Combined with other geodetically constrained normal‐faulting sequences across southern Tibet, these observations show an apparent northward ordering along certain rift segments. Our study provides new insight into the relationship between long‐term rift development and earthquake rupture behavior in the southern Tibetan rift system.