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1.
《Journal of Structural Geology》2004,26(6-7):1127-1136
The mesozonal environment for mineralisation (∼10±5 km depth) occurs towards the base of the seismogenic zone in the upper continental crust which, in areas of strong fluid release, acts as a stressed elastic lid containing overpressured hydrothermal fluids derived from metamorphic dehydration at depth. Au–quartz lodes in this environment are hosted by fault–fracture meshes comprising dilatant extensional and extensional-shear fractures interlinked by low-displacement faults. They form in a range of tectonic regimes but are most extensively developed in compressional/transpressional settings. A brittle failure mode plot contrasting compressional and extensional stress regimes demonstrates that: (i) high fluid overpressures are easier to sustain in compressional regimes that also allow the highest amplitude fluid-pressure cycling; (ii) dilatant mesh structures serve as high-permeability conduits only under high fluid-pressure and low differential stress in the absence of through-going cohesionless faults that are well-oriented for reactivation; and, (iii) the critical interdependence of differential stress and sustainable overpressure ensures that changes in stress state are accompanied by fluid redistribution. The specialised circumstances allowing high-flux flow of overpressured fluids are generally short-lived and are terminated by the formation of through-going, favourably oriented faults. 相似文献
2.
Late Pliocene–Pleistocene tectonic evolution of the Apennines is driven by progressive eastward migration of extensional downfaulting superposed onto the Late Miocene–Early Pliocene compressional thrust belt. This process has led to distinct structural domains that show decreasing transcrustal permeability from conditions of pervasive mixing between deep and surface fluids in the hinterland (west) to conditions of restricted fluid circulation and overpressuring in the foreland (east). At present, the highest rates of normal faulting and the strongest seismicity occur in the area bounded by stretched, highly permeable crust to the west and thick, poorly permeable crust to the east. In this area, the seismogenic sources of the largest earthquakes (5<Ms<7) are potentially related to mature normal faults that deeply penetrate thick brittle upper crust, and act as transient high-permeability channels during seismic activity. In this framework, it is plausible that domains of overpressuring govern progressive inception of normal faulting and fluid redistribution in the crust, leading to eastward migration of the belt of maximum seismicity with time. 相似文献
3.
断层带中超压流体及其在地震和成矿中的作用 总被引：14，自引：0，他引：14
地震断层带中的局部存在对其力学和化学过程有着重要影响的超压流体，对这种超压流本的证据。超压机制及其在地震活动和成矿中的作用等进行了探讨。流体超压是在断层带中渗透性的构造发生强烈时空变化的前提下产生的，其主要原因是构造加压及深源高压流体的注入，当流体压力升至一临界值时，断层发生灾难性破裂，即地震，增加断层的渗透性，超压流体快速向低压带（室或域）流动，同时因减压流体所携载水溶物各（包括成矿物质）大量沉淀析出，降低断层带的渗透性，地震泵吸和流体超压机制的交替作用使得这一过程得以周期性地进行。 相似文献
4.
龙山门断裂带活动特征与工程区域地壳稳定性评价理论 总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3
2008年5月12日发生的里氏8.0级汶川地震处于龙门山造山带与四川盆地的构造边界上。350km长的地表破裂带呈右行左阶雁行排列在具有逆冲和右行走滑性质的汶川茂县青川、映秀北川和江油都江堰3条断层带上。下地壳的韧性流动伴随中地壳韧-脆性剪切带应力和应变的积累,产生上地壳脆性发震断层,并控制地表破裂带和滑坡的分布。震源出现在上地壳脆性断层与中地壳脆-韧性剪切带的交汇部位。〖KG2〗以汶川地震为例,结合板内地震基本特征,提出引入大陆动力学理论完善工程区域稳定性理论基础,构建基于板块学说、地质力学和大陆动力学理论的相互补充的工程区域稳定性评价体系;对活断层与地震活动性预测提出见解,强调仅仅从活断层的存在及其活动强度来预测地震活动性与强度是远远不够甚至是错误的,必须将下地壳、中地壳和上地壳结构作为一个整体加以研究和判别;提出工程区域地壳稳定性评价指标体系,指出了大陆内部安全岛划分应采用的核心指标。 相似文献
5.
The role of hydrothermal fluids in assisting the activity of strike-slip faults is investigated using a range of new geological, geophysical, and geochemical data obtained on the Argentat fault, Massif Central, France. This fault zone, 180-km-long and 6 to 8 km-width, has experienced coeval intense channeling of hydrothermal fluids and brittle deformation during a short time span (300–295 Ma). According to seismic data, the fault core is a 4-km-wide, vertical zone of high fracture density that rooted in the middle crust (~ 13 km) and that involved fluids in its deeper parts (9–13 km depth). If stress analyses in the fault core and strain analyses in the damage zone both support a left-lateral movement along the fault zone, it is inferred that hydrothermal fluids have strongly influenced fault development, and the resulting fault has influenced fluid flow. Fluid pressure made easier fracturing and faulting in zones of competent rocks units and along rheological boundaries. Repeated cycles of increase of fault-fracture permeability then overpressure of hydrothermal fluids at fault extremity favored strong and fast development of the crustal-scale strike-slip fault. The high permeability obtained along the fault zone permitted a decrease of coupling across the weak fault core. Connections between shallower and lower crustal fluids reservoirs precipitate the decrease of fault activity by quartz precipitation and sulfides deposition. The zones of intense hydrothermal alteration at shallows crustal levels and the zones of fluid overpressure at the base of the upper crust both controlled the final geometry of the crustal-scale fault zone. 相似文献
6.
Fluid flow patterns have been determined using oxygen isotope isopleths in the Val-d’Or orogenic gold district. 3D numerical modelling of fluid flow and oxygen isotope exchange in the vein field shows that the fluid flow patterns can be reproduced if the lower boundary of the model is permeable, which represents middle or lower crustal rocks that are infiltrated by a metamorphic fluid generated at deeper levels. This boundary condition implies that the major crustal faults so conspicuous in vein fields do not act as the only major channel for upward fluid flow. The upper model boundary is impermeable except along the trace of major crustal faults where fluids are allowed to drain out of the vein field. This upper impermeable boundary condition represents a low-permeability layer in the crust that separates the overpressured fluid from the overlying hydrostatic fluid pressure regime. We propose that the role of major crustal faults in overpressured vein fields, independent of tectonic setting, is to drain hydrothermal fluids out of the vein field along a breach across an impermeable layer higher in the crust and above the vein field. This breach is crucial to allow flow out of the vein field and accumulation of metals in the fractures, and this breach has major implications for exploration for mineral resources. We propose that tectonic events that cause episodic metamorphic dehydration create a short-lived pulse of metamorphic fluid to rise along zones of transient permeability. This results in a fluid wave that propagates upward carrying metals to the mineralized area. Earthquakes along crustal shear zones cause dilation near jogs that draw fluids and deposit metals in an interconnected network of subsidiary shear zones. Fluid flow is arrested by an impermeable barrier separating the hydrostatic and lithostatic fluid pressure regimes. Fluids flow through the evolving and interconnected network of shear zones and by advection through the rock matrix. Episodic breaches in the impermeable barrier along the crustal shear zones allow fluid flow out of the vein field. 相似文献
7.
The Jinding Zn–Pb deposit occurs in Cretaceous and Paleocene siliciclastic rocks (mainly sandstones) in the Meso-Cenozoic Lanping basin, western Yunnan, China. With a reserve of approximately 200 Mt of ore containing 6.1% Zn and 1.3% Pb, Jinding is the largest sandstone-hosted Zn–Pb deposit in the world. Most previous studies assumed that the mineralizing fluids were derived from within the basin (including meteoric recharge), and the fluid flow was driven by topographic relief under a hydrostatic regime. In contrast, we propose that the mineralizing system was strongly overpressured based on observations of hydraulic fractures and fluid inclusion data. Numerical modeling results indicate that the overpressures could not have been produced by normal sediment compaction. Thrust faulting and input of mantle-derived fluids are likely responsible for the building-up of the high overpressures. The special hydrodynamic regime and potential contribution of mantle-derived fluids to the mineralizing system distinguish Jinding from other known sedimentary basin-related Pb–Zn deposits. 相似文献
8.
The Luziânia gold deposits in southern Goiás lie within the Late Proterozoic Brasília fold belt. The rocks that host the gold mineralization are a monotonous series of hydrothermally altered phyllites that have been subject to low grade regional metamorphism. The major controls on the gold mineralization are northeast trending and gently northwest dipping ductile-brittle, dextral-reverse shear zones associated with regional thin-skinned thrusting of the Canastra Group. From a preliminary fluid inclusion study it is deduced that low salinity, 7 eq. wt% NaCl, moderately dense, H2O-CO2 ± CH4 ore fluids deposited gold at temperatures of 300 ± 75°C and pressures of 1.5 to 3 kb in the filling stage of the vein formation. Post-filling stage gold deposition probably occured by mixing of fluids at higher crustal levels (1.5–2 kb). During thrusting, prograde metamorphism released pore water which penetrated along thrust planes that acted as high permeability zones for the ponding and release, by hydraulic fracturing, of overpressured fluids. Later in the tectonic evolution and at shallower crustal levels, there was likely an incursion of near suface water into the fault zone. 相似文献
9.
We summarize seismogenic structures in four regions of active convergence, each at a different stage of the collision process, with particular emphases on unusual, deep-seated seismogenic zones that were recently discovered. Along the eastern Hellenic arc near Crete, an additional seismogenic zone seems to occur below the seismogenic portion of the interplate thrust zone—a configuration found in several other oblique subduction zones that terminate laterally against collision belts. The unusual earthquakes show lateral compression, probably reflecting convergence between the subducting lithosphere's flank and the collision zone nearby. Along oblique zones of recent collision, the equivalence between space and time reveals the transition from subduction to full collision. In particular, intense seismicity beneath western Taiwan indicates that along the incipient zone of arc–continent collision, major earthquakes occur along high-angle reverse faults that reach deep into the crust or even the uppermost mantle. The seismogenic structures are likely to be reactivated normal faults on the passive continental margin of southeastern China. Since high-angle faults are ineffective in accommodating horizontal motion, it is not surprising that in the developed portion of the central Taiwan orogen (<5 Ma), seismogenic faulting occurs mainly along moderate-dipping (20–30°) thrusts. This is probably the only well-documented case of concurrent earthquake faulting on two major thrust faults, with the second seismogenic zone reaching down to depths of 30 km. Furthermore, the dual thrusts are out-of-sequence, being active in the hinterland of the deformation front. Along the mature Himalayan collision zone, where collision initiated about 50 Ma ago, current data are insufficient to distinguish whether most earthquakes occurred along multiple, out-of-sequence thrusts or along a major ramp thrust. Intriguingly, a very active seismic zone, including a large (Mw=6.7) earthquake in 1988, occurs at depths near 50 km beneath the foreland. Such a configuration may indicate the onset of a crustal nappe, involving the entire cratonic crust. In all cases of collision discussed here, the basal decollement, a key feature in the critical taper model of mountain building, appears to be aseismic. It seems that right at the onset of collision, earthquakes reflect reactivation of high-angle faults. For mature collision belts, earthquake faulting on moderate-dipping thrust accommodates a significant portion of convergence—a process involving the bulk of crust and possibly the uppermost mantle. 相似文献
10.
Out-of-sequence thrusts (OSTs) exposed in ancient accretionary prisms are considered as fossil analogs of present-day megasplay faults in subduction margins and can provide direct information about the conditions of deformation during thrust activity. In modern as well as in ancient accretionary prisms, first-order megasplay faults or OSTs truncate or merge with faults of lesser importance called second-order OSTs. Structural analysis of the Makinokuchi fault, a branch of an Oligocene to lower Miocene second-order OST in the Tertiary Shimanto Belt of central Kyushu, SW Japan, brings information about the conditions of deformation at the time of thrusting. The studied exposure shows that the fault footwall and, to a much lesser extent, the fault hanging-wall, consist of quartz-cemented syntectonic dilatant hydraulic breccias testifying to pore fluid pressures larger than the least principal stress component. The footwall sandstones are crossed by several centimeters thick quartz veins that merge with the footwall breccias. The continuity between the veins and the breccias suggest that the veins acted as conduits which likely collected fluids from the footwall side sandstones upward and toward the fault. Fluid inclusions indicate that the quartz cementing the breccias and that filling the feeder veins crystallized from similar fluids and under similar pressure and temperature conditions (245–285 °C and 5–8 km depth). These similarities suggest that the fluids responsible for syn-tectonic hydraulic brecciation were collected from the footwall through the conduits. The fluid inclusion trapping temperatures are close to the temperatures expected to be reached along the seismogenic zone. Our analysis shows that fluid overpressures can play a key role in the growth and activity of second-order OSTs in accretionary prisms and suggests that fluids collected along second-order OSTs or splay faults may flow upward along first-order OSTs or megasplay faults. 相似文献
11.
Hiroshi Sato Naoshi Hirata Takaya Iwasaki Makoto Matsubara Takeshi Ikawa 《Tectonophysics》2002,355(1-4)
Knowledge of the crustal structure, especially the geometry of seismogenic faults, is key to understanding active tectonic processes and assessing the size and frequency of future earthquakes. To reveal the relationship between crustal structure and earthquake activity in northern Honshu Island, common midpoint (CMP) deep reflection profiling and earthquake observations by densely deployed seismic stations were carried out across the active reverse faults that bound the Ou Backbone range. The 40-km-long CMP profiles portray a relatively simple fault geometry within the seismogenic layer. The reverse faults merge at a midcrustal detachment just below the base of the seismogenic layer, producing a pop-up structure that forms the Ou Backbone range. The top of the reflective middle to lower crust (4.5 s in travel time (TWT)) nearly coincides with the bottom of seismogenic layer. The P-wave velocity structure and surface geology suggest that the bounding faults are Miocene normal faults that have been reactivated as reverse faults. 相似文献
12.
A low-angle extensional fault system affecting the non metamorphic rocks of the carbonate dominated Tuscan succession is exposed in the Lima valley (Northern Apennines, Italy). This fault system affects the right-side-up limb of a kilometric-scale recumbent isoclinal anticline and is, in turn, affected by superimposed folding and late-tectonic high-angle extensional faulting.The architecture of the low-angle fault system has been investigated through detailed structural mapping and damage zone characterization. Pressure-depth conditions and paleofluid evolution of the fault system have been studied through microstructural, mineralogical, petrographic, fluid inclusion and stable isotope analyses. Our results show that the low-angle fault system was active during exhumation of the Tuscan succession at about 180°C and 5 km depth, with the involvement of low-salinity fluids. Within this temperature - depth framework, the fault zone architecture shows important differences related to the different lithologies involved in the fault system and to the role played by the fluids during deformation. In places, footwall overpressuring influenced active deformation mechanisms and favored shear strain localization.Our observations indicate that extensional structures affected the central sector of the Northern Apennines thrust wedge during the orogenic contractional history, modifying the fluid circulation through the upper crust and influencing its mechanical behavior. 相似文献
13.
What can strike‐slip fault spacing tell us about the plate boundary of western North America? 
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下载免费PDF全文 The spacing of parallel continental strike‐slip faults can constrain the mechanical properties of the faults and fault‐bounded crust. In the western US, evenly spaced strike‐slip fault domains are observed in the San Andreas (SA) and Walker Lane (WL) fault systems. Comparison of fault spacing (S) vs. seismogenic zone thickness (L) relationships of the SA and WL systems indicates that the SA has a higher S/L ratio (~8 vs. 1, respectively). If a stress‐shadow mechanism guides parallel fault formation, the S/L ratio should be controlled by fault strength, crustal strength, and/or regional stress. This suggests that the SA‐related strike‐slip faults are relatively weaker, with lower fault friction: 0.13–0.19 for the SA vs. 0.20 for WL. The observed mechanical differences between the San Andreas and Walker Lane fault systems may be attributed to variations in the local geology of the fault‐hosting crust and/or the regional boundary conditions (e.g. geothermal gradient or strain rate). 相似文献
14.
克拉通边缘岩石圈金属再富集与金-钼-稀土元素成矿作用 总被引：11，自引：6，他引：5
克拉通是大规模成矿的重要构造环境,其边缘产出了众多世界级规模的金、钼、稀土元素矿床。然而,克拉通如何控制巨型矿床的形成与分布尚不十分清楚。文章基于作者和前人的研究成果,探讨了扬子和华北克拉通岩石圈早期金属富集与后期金属活化问题。在全球范围,多数克拉通在其形成之后长期保持稳定,但部分克拉通(如华北、扬子)在克拉通化之后又经历了早期(元古代)增生与晚期(中生代—新生代)改造。在克拉通化及其之后,处于克拉通边缘的大洋岩石圈或克拉通块体间的有限洋盆发生板片俯冲,释放出含金属组分(REE、Cu、Au)的富CO2流体,交代亏损的大陆岩石圈地幔(SCLM),并使之发生交代和金属再富集。俯冲诱发的弧岩浆在大陆下地壳底侵可形成新生下地壳,伴随着少量硫化物的堆积而发生金属(Au、Cu)再富集。由于克拉通相对稳定,新生下地壳在进变质脱水过程中仍能保存部分金属,释放的(含Au)变质流体很可能被封存或固结在地壳的某个部位。在克拉通破坏改造期,软流圈上涌改变克拉通SCLM热结构并诱发其部分熔融,产生富REE的碳酸岩熔体和富水的基性岩浆(如煌斑岩)。前者在浅部地壳侵位并出溶成矿流体,形成碳酸岩型REE矿床;后者在深部地壳脱挥发分(H2O+CO2),诱发新生下地壳重熔和含Au硫化物(和/或含Au流体囊)活化,形成富Au岩浆系统或流体系统。这些深地壳熔/流体沿克拉通边界或岩石圈不连续运移至上部地壳,岩浆系统直接出溶成矿流体,形成以斑岩体为中心的斑岩型Au矿,含Au富CO2流体流沿断裂网络系统活动并沉淀金属,形成石英脉型和蚀变岩型Au矿。伴随克拉通破坏改造,克拉通边界断裂或基底断裂重新活化,并诱发古老下地壳熔融,产生含Mo岩浆系统。这个理论框架不同于已有的造山带成矿理论模式,它解释了克拉通边缘异常富集Au、Mo、REE矿床及其成矿规律,可用于类似克拉通地区的成矿预测。 相似文献
15.
We compared the cutoff depth of seismicity in and around the Nojima fault broken by the 1995 Kobe earthquake occurring in intraplate Japan with the brittle–ductile transition depth of the widely accepted strength profile model of the crust. We successfully determined the temperature profile from borehole measurements, since almost the same geothermal gradients were observed at two boreholes located about 4 km apart from each other, and the thermal conductivity and heat production were also measured by taking numerous core samples. We found that the cutoff depth was much deeper than the transition depth under the assumption that wet granite is deformed at a strain rate of 3×10−15 s−1. This small strain rate implies, however, that plastic flow is uniformly distributed below the seismogenic region. When the strain rate is assumed to be greater than 10−13 s−1, the cutoff depth can be attributed to the transition depth. This suggests that deformation is localized in a narrow fault zone below the seismogenic region, even in the intraplate region. 相似文献
16.
Metasomatism and fluid flow in ductile fault zones 总被引：8，自引：0，他引：8
Observed major element metasomatism in 5 amphibolite facies ductile fault zones can be explained as the inevitable consequence of aqueous fluid flow along normal temperature gradients under conditions of local chemical equilibrium. The metasomatism does not require the infiltration of chemically exotic fluids. Calculations suggest that metasomatized ductile fault zones are typically infiltrated by 105 moles H2O/cm2, fluid flow is in the direction of decreasing temperature, and fluids contain about 1.0 molal total chloride. Where available, stable isotopic alteration data confirm both flow direction and fluid fluxes calculated from major element metasomatism. The fluid fluxes inferred from metasomatism do not require large-scale fluid recirculation or mantle sources if significant lateral fluid flow occurs in the deep crust. Time-integrated fluid fluxes are combined with estimates of flow duration to constrain average flow rates and average permeabilities. Rocks in ductile fault zones are probably much more permeable during metasomatism (average permeabilities of 10-17 to 10-15 m2) than rocks normally are during regional metamorphism (10-21 to 10-18 m2). Estimated average fluid flow rates (3.5×10-3 to 0.35 m/yr) are insufficient, however, to significantly elevate ambient temperatures within ductile faults. Fluid flow in the direction of decreasing temperature may increase the ductility of silicate rocks by adding K to the rocks and thereby driving mica-forming reactions. 相似文献
17.
沂沭断裂带及其近区的地震成因岩石新认识 总被引：7，自引：1，他引：6
将沂沭断裂带及其附近地区的地震成因岩石划分为四种类型,它们是具有地震成因构造的震积岩、震断层构造岩、震火山岩及隐爆地震角砾岩.前两类是构造地震的记录,而后两类是火山地震及隐爆火山地震的记录.由于震断层构造岩沿长期活动性断层分布,大多遭受了若干期强地震活动的改造,所以不易确定其最初的形成时期.因此,笔者重点对分布于沂沭断裂地震带及附近的其它三类地震成因岩石(包括震积岩、震火山岩和隐爆地震角砾岩)作了研究,论述了三类地震成因岩石的特征、时空分布、反映的地震作用机理及意义.认为:地震成因岩石不仅是强地震事件和激烈构造活动的记录;而且,因为由强地震形成的不同等级断层和裂隙构成了一个高渗透性的能够沟通不同深度石油和成矿流体的网络,所以深入研究地震成因岩石有助于完善大断裂地震带及近区的石油聚集与成矿理论. 相似文献
18.
The evolution of the seismogenic process associated with the Ms 5.8 Sangro Valley earthquake of May 1984 (Abruzzo, central Italy) is closely controlled by the Quaternary extensional tectonic pattern of the area. This pattern is characterised by normal faults mainly NNW striking, whose length is controlled by pre-existing Mio–Pliocene N100±10° left-lateral strike-slip fault zones. These are partly re-activated as right-lateral normal-oblique faults under the Quaternary extensional regime and behave as transfer faults.Integration of re-located aftershocks, focal mechanisms and structural features are used to explain the divergence between the alignment of aftershocks (WSW–ENE) and the direction of seismogenic fault planes defined by the focal mechanisms (NNW–SSE) of the main shock and of the largest aftershock (Ms=5.3).The faults that appear to be involved in the seismogenic process are the NNW–SSE Barrea fault and the E–W M. Greco fault. There is field evidence of finite Quaternary deformation indicating that the normal Barrea fault re-activates the M. Greco fault as right-lateral transfer fault. No surface faulting was observed during the seismic sequence. The apparently incongruent divergence between aftershocks and nodal planes may be explained by interpreting the M. Greco fault as a barrier to the propagation of earthquake rupturing. The rupture would have nucleated on the Barrea fault, migrating along-strike towards NNW. The sharp variation in direction from the Barrea to the M. Greco fault segments would have represented a structural complexity sufficient to halt the rupture and subsequent concentration of post-seismic deformation as aftershocks around the line of intersection between the two fault planes.Fault complexities, similar to those observed in the Sangro Valley, are common features of the seismic zone of the Apennines. We suggest that the zones of interaction between NW–SE and NNW–SSE Plio-Quaternary faults and nearly E–W transfer faults, extending for several kilometres in the same way as M. Greco does, might act as barriers to the along-strike propagation of rupture processes during normal faulting earthquakes. This might have strong implications on seismic hazard, especially for the extent of the maximum magnitude expected on active faults during single rupture episodes. 相似文献
19.
莺歌海盆地天然气成藏动力学 总被引：5，自引：1，他引：4
采用地质与地球化学、宏观与微观相结合的研究方法, 探讨莺歌海盆地的成藏动力学过程, 具体表现在: 通过成藏流体非均质性剖析揭示了底辟浅层气田多源混合-幕式充注的成藏特点, 流体活动的地球物理特征和地球化学资料显示底辟断裂为深成天然气向上运移提供了良好的通道, 而异常高压是流体压裂运移的关键动力, 并驱使梅山-三亚组烃源岩生成的天然气向上运移、聚集和散失.由于中央坳陷带气源丰富, 存在供大于散的物质基础, 尤其是“幕式”集中运移具有高的排烃效率, 因此, 莺歌海盆地底辟带浅层构造在距今1.2~ 0.1Ma如此短暂的时间里天然气依然能够聚集成藏. 相似文献
20.
《Gondwana Research》2014,25(3-4):946-957
In addition to crustal thickening, distinctly different mechanisms have been suggested to accommodate the huge convergences caused by the continental collision between India and Eurasia. As the transition zone between the two grand tectonic domains of Asia, the Tethys and the Pacific, east Tibet and its surrounding regions are the ideal places to study continental deformation. Pervasive rock deformation may produce anisotropy on the scale of seismic wavelengths; thus, seismic anisotropy provides insight into the deformation of the crust and mantle beneath tectonically active domains. In this study, we calculated receiver function pairs of radial- and transverse-components at 98 stations located in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, China. We selected 7423 pairs with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and unambiguous Moho converted Ps phases (Pms) to measure the Pms splitting owing to the crustal anisotropy. Both the crustal thickness and the average crustal Vp/Vs ratio were calculated simultaneously by the H–k stacking method. The geodynamic implications were also investigated in relation to surface geological features, GPS velocities, absolute plate motion (APM), SKS/SKKS splitting, and other seismological observations. In addition to the fast polarization directions (FPDs) of the crustal anisotropy, we observed a conspicuous sharper clockwise rotation around the eastern Himalayan syntaxis than was revealed by GPS velocities. The distributed FPDs within and near the main active fault zones also favored the directions parallel to the faults. This implied that the deformation of a continuous medium revealed by GPS motions is a proxy for the deformation of the brittle shallow crust only, while the main active faults and the deep crustal interiors both play important roles in the deep deformation. Our results suggest that the deformation between the crust and upper mantle within the northernmost section of the Indochina block is decoupled due to the large difference in the directions between the observations related to the crust (GPS and crustal anisotropy) and mantle (APM and mantle anisotropy). Focusing on the transition zone between the plateau and the South China and Indochina blocks, we suggest that the motion of the Central Yunnan sub-block is a southeastward extrusion by way of tectonic escape. There is less deformation in the deep crust and the motion is controlled by the active boundary faults of the Ailaoshan–Red River shear zone to the west and the Xianshuihe–Xiaojiang fault to the east; the lower crustal flow within the plateau southeastward reached the Lijiang–Xiaojinhe fault, but further south it was obstructed by the Central Yunnan sub-block. 相似文献