Research reveals that the Myanmar fault had ideal geometry to produce a supershear earthquake in 2025

Sin Pan Ward, Mandalay seen after it caught fire due to the earthquake. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Kovohtt, CC BY 4.0

A team of scientists led by UCLA has discovered how the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar in March 2025 produced one of the longest and fastest fissures ever recorded on Earth.

The study, published in the journal Science, shows that the quake ruptured about 530 kilometers of the Sagaing Fault, with a 450-kilometre-long section accelerating faster than the speed of seismic shear waves — a rare phenomenon known as supershear rupture. These “Mach-like” ruptures generate shock waves that can dramatically worsen ground shaking and damage.

“Supershear earthquakes are like breaking the sound barrier, but in rocks,” said Lingsen Ming, professor of geophysics in the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences at UCLA and senior author of the study. “They create seismic shock fronts that can double the intensity of shaking, even hundreds of kilometers away.”

Supershear earthquakes occur when faults beneath the surface rupture faster than shear waves — seismic waves that shake the ground back and forth — can move through the rock. This effect mobilizes energy which is then violently released; The effect can be compared to a sonic boom. Supershear earthquakes can therefore produce greater, and potentially more destructive, shaking than other earthquakes of the same size.

Using an integrated approach that combines global seismic data, satellite radar (InSAR), and optical imagery, researchers reconstructed the rupture in Myanmar in unprecedented detail. The results showed that the southern branch of the Sagaing Fault experienced extreme shear velocities of up to 5 kilometers per second, while the northern branch propagated more slowly.

The team attributes the extreme speed of rupture to several key geological factors: the straight and smooth geometry of the fault, long-term stress buildup since the last major earthquake in 1839, and contrasting rock properties across the fault interface. Together, these conditions created an ideal environment for rupture to accelerate and maintain supershear velocities over hundreds of kilometers.

The earthquake caused widespread destruction across central Myanmar, including building collapses and soil liquefaction that could be seen from space. Because field surveys were limited by the ongoing civil conflict, the researchers used satellite-based “surrogate damage maps” to assess the extent of the destruction from a distance.

“This event reminds us that even well-studied continental rifts can behave in unexpected and dangerous ways,” Meng said. “Understanding the physical conditions that allow rupture to reach these velocities will help us better estimate future earthquake risks — especially on fault systems close to major cities.”

The research highlights the need to reassess seismic risk in other continental regions with similar fault geometry, such as parts of Asia and California, where long linear faults and contrasting rock layers coexist.

UCLA doctoral student Liuwei Xu led the seismic imaging analysis. Co-authors include researchers from Nanjing University, Central South University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of California at Santa Barbara.

More information: Liuwei Xu et al, Binary material effect and favorable energy ratio enabled supershear rupture in the 2025 Mandalay earthquake, Science (2025). doi: 10.1126/science.ady6100. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ady6100

Provided by the University of California, Los Angeles

Citation: Myanmar Fault had ideal geometry to produce 2025 supershear earthquake, research reveals (2025, October 30) Retrieved October 30, 2025 from https://phys.org/news/2025-10-myanmar-fault-ideal-geometry-supershear.html

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