Overview of the Wenchuan Fault Scientific Drilling Project in China

After the Wenchuan Ms 8.0 earthquake in May 2008, the Wenchuan Fault Scientific Drilling (WFSD) project was conducted in the Longmenshan fault zone, which is located in the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Six boreholes were drilled along the co-seismic surface ruptures of the Yingxiu–Beichuan and Guanxian–Anxian faults, which are the main faults in the Longmenshan fault zone. The WFSD project aimed to understand the mineral composition, geological structure, and tectonic settings of the fault zone at deep depths, and the rupture processes of the seismogenic faults during the Wenchuan earthquake. To achieve these aims, the WFSD project observed and analyzed the physical and chemical behaviors of the faults and their energy states. This paper introduces the research activities to explore the key scientific problems arising from the Wenchuan earthquake and important research results from the scientific drilling.