section_path: Occurrence/Rupture dynamics/Supershear earthquakes
section_name: Supershear earthquakes
paragraph_text: Supershear earthquakes
  
  Supershear earthquake ruptures are known to have propagated at speeds greater than the S-wave velocity. These have so far all been observed during large strike-slip events. The unusually wide zone of damage caused by the 2001 Kunlun earthquake has been attributed to the effects of the sonic boom developed in such earthquakes.