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On November 8 1997 a M_w 7.6 earthquake occurred in the Manyi region of northern Tibet, near the western end of the Kunlun Fault. Over 7 m of left-lateral slip occurred on a 200-km-long fault. Here we use InSAR observations of post-seismic surface deformation following the Manyi earthquake to investigate possible causal mechanisms. Time-series of deformation are constructed from 26 interferograms, covering the entire length of the fault for nearly 4 yr after the earthquake. Three different modelling approaches are used to try and understand the observed variations in surface displacement. First order poroelastic models predict displacement fields which do not match those observed. Modelling of viscoelastic stress relaxation in a half-space with standard linear solid rheology beneath an elastic lid provides a reasonable fit to the observations, and demonstrates that two relaxation times are needed to …