Abstract
Direction and structure characteristics of 58 tectonic stress tensors have been determined in 41 surveyed areas (points) in the southwestern district of China through a calculation method for inversion of tectonic stress tensors from sliding direction of faults, and, in combination with seismic mechanism solution andin-situ stress measurements, the following characteristics of the recent tectonic stress fields in the southwestern district of China have been defined: (1) the stress fields in this district have remained stable since the end of early to mid-Pleistocene; (2) the effect of such tectonic stresses is mainly horizontal; (3) the orientation of the maximum principal stress axis shows a trend of regular rotation from north to south, i. e. from NEE-SWW in northern Songpan and Longmen Shan areas to sub-EW in the central part of western Sichuan, and further to NNW-SWW or sub-SN in Yunnan; (4) the regional tectonic stress fields are of distinct division character; (5) there is well concordance between the main direction and type of stress structures in the stress tate both in deep and shallow parts of the crust. In addition, studies of staged tectonic stress tensors preliminarily show that in early Quaternary the southwestern district was mainly affected by lateral compression of Indian plate, under which the regional tectonic stress fields mainly display NE-sub-EW compression.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angelier, J., 1979. Determination of the mean principal direction of stresses for a given fault population.Tectonophysics,56, 17–26.
Angelier, J., 1984, Tectonic analysis of fault slip data sets.J. Geophys. Res.,89, B7, 5835–5848.
Bott, M. H. P., 1959. The mechanism of obilique slip faulting.Geological Magazine,96, 109–117.
Carey, E. 1979. Recherche des directions principales de contraintes associe es au jeu d’une population de failles.Rev. Geogr. Phys. Geol. Dyn.,21, 57–66.
DONG, Y. S., 1985.In-situ stress measurement in Xianshui He fault zone and adjacent areas.Collected Works of The Meeting About Seismological Discussion On Xianshui He Fault Zone, The Seismological Press, Beijing, China, 231–137 (in Chinese).
DING, G. Y., 1988. Some problem on active tectonics in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,Northwestern Seismological Journal,10, Supplement, 1–11 (in Chinese).
Etchecopar, A., Vasseur, G. and Daignieres, M., 1981. An inverse problem in microtectonics for the determination of stress tensors from fault striation analysis.J. Struct. Geol.,3, 1, 51–55.
Institute of Geology, SSB and Seismological Bureau of Ningxiahui Autonomous Region, 1990.Haiyuan fault zone, The seismological Press, Beijing, China, 147–151 (in Chinese).
Kan, R. J., Zhang, S. C., Yan, F. T. and Yu, L. S., 1977. Present tectonic stress field and its relation to the characteristics of recent tectonic activity in southwestern China.Acta Geophysica,20, 1, 96–108 (in Chinese).
LI, F. Q. and LIU, G. X., 1986. The present state of stress in China and related problem.Acta Seismologica Sinica,8, 156–171 (in Chinese).
LIU, G. X., LI, F. Q. and LI, G. R., 1986. Active tectonics and state of stress in seismic region of north-west Yunnan province, China.Seismology and Geology,8, No. 1, 1–14 (in Chinese).
Molnar, P. and Tapponnier, P., 1975. Cenozoic tectonics of Asia: Effects of a Continental Collision,Science,189, 419–425.
XU, Z. H., WANG, S. Y., HUANG, Y. R., GAO, A. J. and JIN, X. F., 1987. Dsirections of mean stress axes in southwestern China deduced from microearthquake data.Acta Geophysica Sinica,30, 476–486 (in Chinese).
XIE, F. R. and LIU, G. X., 1989. Analysis of neotectonic stress field in area of the central segment of Altun fault zone, China.Earthquake Research in China,5, No. 3, 26–36 (in Chinese).
XIE, F. R., LIU, G. X. and LIANG, H. Q., 1993. Recent tectonic stress field in and near northwestern Yunnan, China.Seismology and Geology, (will publish). (in Chinese).
YAN, J. Q., SHI, Z. L., WANG, S. Y. and HUAN, W. L., 1979. Some features of the recent tectonic stress field of China and environs,Acta Seismologica Sinica,1, 9–24 (in Chinese).
ZHAO, G. G., 1965. Preliminary observation of Cenozoic stratigraphy and tectonics in the Dali-Lijiang area of northwestern Yunnan, China,Geological Review,23, 345–355 (in Chinese).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The Chinese version of this paper appeared in the Chinese edition ofActa Seismologica Sinica,15, 407–417, 1993.
About this article
Cite this article
Xie, FR., Zhu, JZ., Liang, HQ. et al. Basic characteristics of recent tectonic stress field in southwest China. Acta Seismologica Sinica 6, 843–855 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02651820
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02651820