MICROSTRUCTURAL FEATURES AND IMPLICATIONS OF FAULT GOUGE FROM THE FAULTS OF BEDROCK REGION IN THE CENTRAL-NORTHERN JIANGXI PROVINCE,CHINA |
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| Authors: | HAN Zhu-jun ZHANG Bing-liang ZENG Xin-fu LU Fu-shui GUO Peng |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China;2.Institute of Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Engineering of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang 330039, China |
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| Abstract: | How to survey fault activity and determine seismogenic structures in a relatively stable and bedrock-distributed region is a challenging research work. Ruichang-Tonggu Fault and Yifeng-Jingdezhen Fault, distributed mainly at the pre-Cenozoic bedrock region, show the geological evidences of activity in the Quaternary and they are two important tectonic belts for the occurrence of moderate earthquakes in the central-northern Jiangxi Province. Fault gouge stripes can be found on the outcrop sections of the two faults. The imageries of the microstructures of fault gouge show abundant phenomena about the structural deformation, and it is clear that the fault gouge was formed by structural activity. As to the deformation modes, there are not only the Y-shears and R1-shears, which represent the localized-brittle deformation, but also the P-foliations, which reflect the ductile deformation in the microstructures of fault gouge. These features demonstrate that the micro-scale rapid deformation can exist in the seismogenic structure at the near-surface in the occurrence process of moderate earthquakes very possibly. The microstructures of soft material from the fault outcrop section at the southern segment of Hukou-Xingan Fault, which is inactive in the Quaternary, reflects that the soft material from the fault zone can also be the products of rainwater leaching and filling, or weathering in the later periods. Based on the macroscopic observation in the field, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the differences of structurally-formed or non-structurally formed soft gunk in the fault zones, however, their differences in the microstructure on the slices grinded indoor are obvious. The relatively stable bedrock areas in South China often are not only favorable for the siting of major projects, such as nuclear power plant in China, but also the economically-developed, densely populated, urban agglomeration areas. The study of microstructure of fault gouge provides a technical reference approach for the identification of fault activity and the determination of seismogenic structure of moderate-strong earthquakes in assessing the seismotectonic environment in these regions. |
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| Keywords: | central-northern Jiangxi Province fault at bedrock region fault gouge microstructure moderate earthquake |
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