ANALYSIS OF EVOLUTION OF THE RIYUESHAN FAULT SINCE LATE PLEISTOCENE USING STRUCTURAL GEOMORPHOLOGY |
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| Authors: | LI Zhi-min LI Wen-qiao YIN Xiang HUANG Shuai-tang ZHANG Jun-long |
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| Institution: | 1. Qinghai Earthquake Agency, Xining 810001, China;
2. Shenzhen Academy of Disaster Prevention and Reduction, Shenzhen 518003, China;
3. Earthquake Agency of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830011, China;
4. Key Laboratory of Earthquake Predication, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100036, China |
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| Abstract: | The northeastern margin of Tibetan plateau is an active block controlled by the eastern Kunlun fault zone, the Qilian Shan-Haiyuan fault zone, and the Altyn Tagh fault zone. It is the frontier and the sensitive area of neotectonic activity since the Cenozoic. There are widespread folds, thrust faults and stike-slip faults in the northeastern Tibetan plateau produced by the intensive tectonic deformation, indicating that this area is suffering the crustal shortening, left-lateral shear and vertical uplift. The Riyueshan Fault is one of the major faults in the dextral strike-slip faults systems, which lies between the two major large-scale left-lateral strike-slip faults, the Qilian-Haiyuan Fault and the eastern Kunlun Fault. In the process of growing and expanding of the entire Tibetan plateau, the dextral strike-slip faults play an important role in regulating the deformation and transformation between the secondary blocks. In the early Quaternary, because of the northeastward expansion of the northeastern Tibetan plateau, tectonic deformations such as NE-direction extrusion shortening, clockwise rotation, and SEE-direction extrusion occurred in the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau, which lead to the left-lateral slip movement of the NWW-trending major regional boundary faults. As the result, the NNW-trending faults which lie between these NWW direction faults are developed. The main geomorphic units developed within the research area are controlled by the Riyueshan Fault, formed due to the northeastward motion of the Tibet block. These geomorphic units could be classified as:Qinghai Lake Basin, Haiyan Basin, Datonghe Basin, Dezhou Basin, and the mountains developed between the basins such as the Datongshan and the Riyueshan. Paleo basins, alluvial fans, multiple levels of terraces are developed at mountain fronts. The climate variation caused the formation of the geomorphic units during the expansion period of the lakes within the northeastern Tibetan plateau. There are two levels of alluvial fans and three levels of fluvial terrace developed in the study area, the sediments of the alluvial fans and fluvial terraces formed by different sources are developed in the same period. The Riyueshan Fault connects with the NNW-trending left-lateral strike-slip north marginal Tuoleshan fault in the north, and obliquely connects with the Lajishan thrust fault in the south. The fault extends for about 180km from north to south, passing through Datonghe, Reshui coal mine, Chaka River, Tuole, Ketu and Xicha, and connecting with the Lajishan thrusts near the Kesuer Basin. The Riyueshan Fault consists of five discontinuous right-step en-echelon sub-fault segments, with a spacing of 2~3km, and pull-apart basins are formed in the stepovers.
The Riyueshan Fault is a secondary fault located in the Qaidam-Qilian active block which is controlled by the major boundary faults, such as the East Kunlun Fault and the Qilian-Haiyuan Fault. Its activity characteristics provide information of the outward expansion of the northeastern margin of Tibet. Tectonic landforms are developed along the Riyueshan Fault. Focusing on the distinct geomorphic deformation since late Pleistocene, the paper obtains the vertical displacement along the fault strike by RTK measurement method. Based on the fault growth-linkage theory, the evolution of the Riyueshan Fault and the related kinetic background are discussed. The following three conclusions are obtained:1)According to the characteristics of development of the three-stage 200km-long steep fault scarp developed in the landforms of the late Pleistocene alluvial fans and terraces, the Riyueshan Fault is divided into five segments, with the most important segment located in the third stepover(CD-3); 2)The three-stage displacement distribution pattern of the Riyueshan Fault reveals that the fault was formed by the growths and connections of multiple secondary faults and is in the second stage of fault growth and connection. With CD-3 as the boundary, the faults on the NW side continue to grow and connect; the fault activity time on the SE side is shorter, and the activity intensity is weaker; 3)The extreme value of the fault displacement distribution curve indicates the location of strain concentration and stress accumulation. With the stepover CD-3 as the boundary, the stress and strain on NW side are mainly concentrated in the middle and fault stepovers. The long-term accumulation range of stress on the SE side is relatively dispersed. The stress state may be related to the counterclockwise rotation inside the block under the compression of regional tectonic stress. |
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| Keywords: | Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Riyueshan Fault Late Pleistocene geometric segmentation fault growth |
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