Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Late Quaternary sinistral slip rate along the Altyn Tagh fault and its structural transformation model

  • Published:
Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on technical processing of high-resolution SPOT images and aerophotos, detailed mapping of offset landforms in combination with field examination and displacement measurement, and dating of offset geomorphic surfaces by using carbon fourteen (14C), cosmogenic nuclides (10Be+26Al) and thermoluminescence (TL) methods, the Holocene sinistral slip rates on different segments of the Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) are obtained. The slip rates reach 17.5±2 mm/a on the central and western segments west of Aksay Town, 11±3.5 mm/a on the Subei-Shibaocheng segment, 4.8±1.0 mm/a on the Sulehe segment and only 2.2±0.2 mm/a on the Kuantanshan segment, an easternmost segment of the ATF. The sudden change points for loss of sinistral slip rates are located at the Subei, Shibaocheng and Shulehe triple junctions where NW-trending active thrust faults splay from the ATF and propagate southeastward. Slip vector analyses indicate that the loss of the sinistral slip rates from west to east across a triple junction has structurally transformed into local crustal shortening perpendicular to the active thrust faults and strong uplifting of the thrust sheets to form the NW-trending Danghe Nanshan, Daxueshan and Qilianshan Ranges. Therefore, the eastward extrusion of the northern Qing-hai-ibetan Plateau is limited and this is in accord with “the imbricated thrusting transforma-tion-limited extrusion model”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Ma X., Atlas of Lithospheric Dynamics of China (in Chinese), Beijing: China Cartography and Mapping Publishing House, 1989, 1–68.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Sun, H. L., Enigma of the Roof of the World-Research on Environmental Change in Formation and Evolution of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Its Ecological System (in Chinese), Changsha: Hunan Science and Technology Publishing House, 1996, 1–181.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ding G. Y., Introduction to Lithospheric Dynamics of China (in Chinese), Beijing: Seismological Press, 1991, 1–600.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ding G. Y., Paleoearthquakes and segmentation of active Altun fault, Quaternary Science (in Chinese with English abstract), 1995, (2): 97–106.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Xu X. W., Deng Q. D., Nonlinear characteristics of paleoseismicity in China, J. Geophys Res., 1996, 101(B3): 6209–6231.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wittlinger G., Tapponnier P., Poupinet, G. et al., Tomographic evidence for localized lithospheric shear along the Altyn Tagh fault, Science, 1998, 282: 74–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Molnar, P., Burchfiel, B. C., Liang, K. et al., Geomorphic evidence for active faulting in the Altyn Tagh and northern Tibet and quantitative estimates of its contribution to the convergence of India and Eurasia, Geology, 1987, 15: 249–253.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Tapponnier, P., Molnar, P., Slipline field theory and large-scale continental tectonics, Nature, 1976, 264: 319–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Tapponnier, P., Peltzer, G., Le Dam, A. Y. et al., Propagating extrusion tectonics in Asia: New insights from simple experiments with plasticine, Geology, 1982, 10: 611–617.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Avouac, J. P., Tapponnier, P., Kinematic model of active deformation in central Asia, Geophys. Res. Lett., 1993, 20(10): 895–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Meyer, B., Tapponnier, P., Bourjot, L. et al., Crustal thickening in Gansu-Qinghai, lithospheric mantle subduction, and oblique strike-slip controlled growth of the Tibetan Plateau, Geophys. J. Int., 1998, 135: 1–47.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Peltzer, G., Tapponnier, P., Armijo, R., Magnitude of left-lateral displacement along the north edge of Tibet, Science, 1989, 246: 1285–1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Meyer, B., Tapponnier, P., Gaudemer, Y. et al., Rate of left-lateral movement along the easternmost segment of the Altyn Tagh fault, east of 96 (China), Geophys. J. Int., 1996, 124: 29–44.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Research Group on Altun Fault Zone, State Seismological Bureau, The Altun Fault Zone (in Chinese), Beijing: Seismological Press, 1992, 1–319.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Zheng, J., Significance of the Altun fault zone of China, Episodes, 1991, 14: 307–312.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Guo, S., Xiang H., Zhang, W. et al., Latest observation on the late-Quaternary movement behaviors of Aksay-Hongliuxia segment of Altun fault zone, Research on Active Faults (in Chinese): Theory and Applications, 2001, (8): 159-168.

  17. Wang, Y., A review of main points of Tapponnier’s kinematic model for Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Research on the Crust and Upper Mantle (in Chinese) (ed. Science & Technology Department of Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources of China), Beijing: China Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources Information Press, 1995, 1–5.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Chen, Z., Zhang, Y., Chen, X. et al., Late Cenozoic sedimentary process and its response to the slip history of the Central Altyn Tagh fault, NW China. Science in China, Swe. D, 2001, 44(supp.): 103–111.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Porter S. C., An Z. S., Zheng H., Cyclic Quaternary alluviation and terracing in a nonglaciated drainage basin on the north flank of Qinlingshan, Central China, Quaternary Research, 1992, 38: 157–169.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Xu X. W., Yonekura N., Suzuki Y. et al., Geomorphic study of late Quaternary irregular faulting on the northern piedmont of Liulengshan Range, Shanxi Province, Seismology and Geology (in Chinese with English abstract), 1996, 18(2): 167–180.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Anderson, R. S., Repka, J. L., Dick, G. S., Explicit treatment of inheritance in dating depositional surface using in situ 10Be and 26Al, Geology, 1996, 24(1): 47–51.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Van der Woerd, J., Xu, X. W., Li, H. et al., Rapid active thrusting along the northwestern range front of the Tanghe Nan Shan (western Gansu, China), J. Geophys. Res., 2001, 106(B12): 30475–30504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Peltzer, G., Tapponnier, P., Gaudemer, Y., Offsets of late Quaternary morphology, rate of slip and recurrence of large earthquakes on the Changma fault (Gansu, China), J. Geophy. Res., 1988, 93(B7): 7793–7812.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Institute of Geology, State Seismological Bureau, Lanzhou Institute of seismology, State Seismological Bureau, Qilianshan-Hexi Corridor Active Fault System (in Chinese), Beijing: Seismological Press, 1993, 1–340.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Tapponnier, P., Meyer, B., Avouac, J. P. et al., Active thrusting and folding in the Qilian Shan, and decoupling between upper crust and mantle in northeastern Tibet, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 1990, 97: 382–403.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Xu, X. W., Wen, X. Z., Zheng, R. Z. et al., Pattern of latest tectonic motion and its dynamics for active block in Sichuan-Yunnan region, China, Science in China, Ser. D, 2003, 46(2): 210–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. DengQ. D., Zhang P. Z., Ran Y. K. et al., Basic characteristics of active tectonics of China. Science in China, Ser. D, 2003, 46(4): 356–373.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, 100029, Beijing, China

    Xiwei Xu, Feng Wang, Rongzhang Zheng, Wenbin Chen, Wentao Ma, Guihua Yu & Guihua Chen

  2. Laboratoire de Tectonique, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France

    P. Tapponnier, J. Van Der Woerd & A. S. Meriaux

  3. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Livermore, IGPP, 94550, CA, USA

    F. J. Ryerson

Authors
  1. Xiwei Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Feng Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rongzhang Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wenbin Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Wentao Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guihua Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Guihua Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. P. Tapponnier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. J. Van Der Woerd
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. A. S. Meriaux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. F. J. Ryerson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiwei Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Xu, X., Wang, F., Zheng, R. et al. Late Quaternary sinistral slip rate along the Altyn Tagh fault and its structural transformation model. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 48, 384–397 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0436

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0436

Keywords

Search

Navigation