FAULT ACTIVITY OF THE SOUTHWESTERN SEGMENT OF THE EASTERN BRANCH OF XINYI-LIANJIANG FAULT ZONE IN GUANGDONG PROVINCE |
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| Authors: | ZHANG Long-sheng ZHOU Ben-gang JI Feng-ju YANG Xiao-ping AN Yan-fen |
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| Institution: | Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Volcano, Institution of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China |
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| Abstract: | The NE-trending Xinyi-Lianjiang fault zone is a tectonic belt, located in the interior of the Yunkai uplift in the west of Guangdong Province, clamping the Lianjiang synclinorium and consisting of the eastern branch and the western branch. The southwestern segment of the eastern branch of Xinyi-Lianjiang fault zone, about 34km long, extends from the north of Guanqiao, through Lianjiang, to the north of Hengshan. However, it is still unclear about whether the segment extends to Jiuzhoujiang alluvial plain or not, which is in the southwest of Hengshan. If it does, what is about its fault activity? According to ‘Catalogue of the Modern Earthquakes of China’, two moderately strong earthquakes with magnitude 6.0 and 6.5 struck the Lianjiang region in 1605 AD. So it is necessary to acquire the knowledge about the activity of the segment fault, which is probably the corresponding seismogenic structure of the two destructive earthquakes. And the study on the fault activity of the segment can boost the research on seismotectonics of moderately strong earthquakes in Southeast China. In order to obtain the understanding of the existence of the buried fault of the southwestern segment, shallow seismic exploration profiles and composite borehole sections have been conducted. The results indicate its existence. Two shallow seismic exploration profiles show that buried depth of the upper breakpoints and vertical throw of the buried fault are 60m and 4~7m(L5-1 and L5-2 segment, the Hengshan section), 85m and 5~8m(L5-3 segment), 73m and 3~5m(Tiantouzai section), respectively and all of them suggest the buried fault has offset the base of the Quaternary strata. Two composite borehole sections reveal that the depth of the upper breakpoints and vertical throws of the buried segment are about 66m and 7.5m(Hengshan section) and 75m and 5m(Tiantouzai section), respectively. The drilling geological section in Hengshan reveals that the width of the fault could be up to 27m. Chronology data of Quaternary strata in the two drilling sections, obtained by means of electron spin resonance(ESR), suggest that the latest activity age of the buried fault of the southwestern segment is from late of early Pleistocene(Tiantouzai section) to early stage of middle Pleistocene(Hengshan section). Slip rates, obtained by Hengshan section and Tiantouzai section, are 0.1mm/a and 0.013mm/a, respectively. As shown by the fault profile located in a bedrock exposed region in Shajing, there are at least two stages of fault gouge and near-horizontal striation on the fault surface, indicating that the latest activity of the southwestern segment is characterized by strike-slip movement. Chronology data suggest that the age of the gouge formed in the later stage is(348±49) ka. |
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| Keywords: | the southwestern segment of the eastern branch of Xinyi-Lianjiang fault zone buried fault fault activity |
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