On April 14, 2010, a devastating M_S7.1 earthquake happened in oft-com:office:smarttags" />Yushu County, Qinghai Province. Field geological investigation and remote sensing interpretation showed that the earthquake generated an inverse L-type surface rupture of about 50 km, with a maximum displacement of no less than 1.3 m. The seismogenic Yushu fault is dominated by strike-slip motion, with a small amount of reverse component. Differential movement between the southern Qiangtang block and northern Bayankala block caused the earthquake. Earthquake recurrence period is 185～108 a.oft-com:office:office" />