DOCSLIB.ORG

Intracrustal Detachment Within Zones of Continental Deformation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Intracrustal Detachment Within Zones of Continental Deformation Intracrustal detachment within zones of continental deformation B. C. Burchfiel Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Deng Quidong State Seismology Bureau, Beijing, China Peter Molnar, Leigh Royden Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Wang Yipeng State Seismology Bureau, Beijing, China Zhang Peizhen Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Zhang Weiqi Ningxia Seismological Bureau, Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan, China ABSTRACT lated by active faults and fault-bounded basins. Geologic mapping of active to recently active geologic structures in Panamint Valley From our mapping in the Death Valley region (western United States) and in the Haiyuan region and northern Tibetan plateau (China) we infer that most of these fragments are proba- suggests detachment in the middle and lower crust on a scale of tens of kilometres to at least bly detached from the underlying uppermost several hundred kilometres. Detachment occurs similarly in predominantly extensional (Pana- mantle. This can be illustrated by examining the mint Valley) and in predominantly compressional (China) environments. It involves structures evolution and structure of the north-trending with displacements of more than 10 km and displacement rates of more than 3 mm/yr, perhaps Panamint and Saline valleys (Fig. 1), which more than 10 mm/yr. The steeply dipping strike-slip faults present in all three areas (Hunter formed contemporaneously during extension Mountain fault, Haiyuan fault, and Altyn Tagh fault zone) terminate in zones of extension or that began about 3-4 Ma and continues at pres- compression, and geometric relations indicate that all structures (including strike-slip faults) ent (Burchfiel et al., 1987; Sternlof, 1988). are thin-skinned and restricted to the upper crust. In Panamint Valley and in the Haiyuan Geometric and kinematic relations among the region deformation within these systems can be reconstructed in three dimensions. Displace- faults in the Panamint Valley/Saline Valley area ment on the strike-slip faults is absorbed by extension or compression occurring at the termina- indicate that the two valleys are pull-apart ba- tion of the faults, so strike-slip displacement is roughly equal to and in the same direction as sins connected by the right-slip N60°W striking shortening or extension. We propose that left slip on the Altyn Tagh fault zone in northern Hunter Mountain fault zone (Fig. 1) (Burchfiel Tibet is similarly absorbed by shortening southeast of the fault zone within the Qaidam basin et al., 1987; M.I.T. Field Geophysics Course and and the Nan Shan. Biehler, 1987). The geometry of faulting throughout this area INTRODUCTION to 600 °C, whereas the continental crust is is consistent with northwest-southeast-directed Regions of intracontinental deformation are thought to yield by ductile flow at much lower extension. Active faults along the east and west characterized by broad zones of deformation. temperatures. The presence of a weak zone in side of northern Panamint Valley strike between Within these zones the upper crust is broken the middle to lower continental crust suggests north and N30°W, and active faults in the valley into fragments that move relative to one another that the upper continental crust can be detached show both normal and right-slip components. and are internally deformed. This style of crustal from the uppermost mantle in areas with ele- Normal faults in Saline Valley generally strike fragmentation and the marked spatial and tem- vated geothermal gradients or thick crust. This N20°-25°E and continue northward through poral variability of deformation along fragment image of a weak zone of detachment in the the Saline Range. Most of the Saline Range is boundaries contrast markedly with the simple lower continental crust invites the obvious ques- topographically lower than the surrounding behavior of oceanic lithosphere, which is de- tion of how the deformation of the upper crust mountain ranges and forms part of the northern scribed so well by classic plate-tectonics con- and the underlying uppermost mantle are linked. segment of the pull-apart structure. cepts. Evidence from rock mechanics (e.g., Before that question can be answered satisfactor- Dextral displacement of 8-10 km has been Brace and Kohlstedt, 1980) and seismicity (e.g., ily, we must document the magnitudes and rates documented on the Hunter Mountain fault zone Chen and Molnar, 1983) suggests that the dif- of displacements within the upper crust, the (Burchfiel et al., 1987). Almost pure strike-slip ferent behavior of oceanic and continental litho- presence of detachment within the crust, and the displacement is indicated by geomorphic sur- sphere may be partly explained by different kinematic histories of upper crustal fragments. faces in unextended parts of the Darwin Plateau strength profiles. Between about 10 and 40 km and Hunter Mountain, which are at the same depth, the oceanic lithosphere consists of up- CRUSTAL EXTENSION: BASIN AND elevation on both sides of the fault zone. Because permost mantle material and the continental RANGE PROVINCE the Hunter Mountain fault zone does not extend lithosphere consists of continental crust. At these Most of the ranges of the Basin and Range beyond the limits of Panamint and Saline val- depths, mande material is thought to remain rel- province in the western United States appear to leys, right slip on the Hunter Mountain fault atively strong up to temperatures of about 500 be composed of separate crustal fragments iso- appears to be absorbed entirely by extension in 748 GEOLOGY, v. 17, p. 448-452, August 1989 Downloaded from https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-pdf/17/8/748/3511606/i0091-7613-17-8-748.pdf?casa_token=uFZiW3AzhDYAAAAA:D0A9zELztvjsPK3vhgL-XhReNdWNWp4vjZHevu1ntiFdYO3LIJxKXghVObcr_ig0q2ZYk4iU by California Geological Survey, 19774 on 20 July 2019 Figure 1. Generalized map of Tertiary fault systems in Death Valley extended area showing location of features mentioned in text. the valleys. Sternlofs (1988) palinspastic recon- Geophysics Course and Biehler (1987) because is supported by seismic reflection studies which struction across the Saline Range and ranges to of the shallow depth to basement inferred from show that the Garlock fault does not offset mid- the east yields about 8-10 km of extension in the geophysical data. crustal reflectors (Cheadle et al., 1986; Lemizski northern pull-apart structure. Geophysical stud- Because the faults beneath Saline and Pana- and Brown, 1988). A similar zone of detach- ies of Panamint Valley show a very shallow mint valleys appear to be detached at shallow ment between the upper and lower crust in the depth to pre-Tertiary basement and the apparent crustal levels, and because the Hunter Mountain southern Death Valley region is also suggested absence of the strongly magnetized volcanic fault zone merges east and west with these nor- by seismic reflection studies which indicate that rock that abounds on the sides of the valley. mal fault systems, we infer that the Hunter shallow crustal faults can be traced to depths of These data suggest extension of Panamint Valley Mountain fault zone merges at depth with the about 15 km where they merge or are truncated by 6 to 9 km (M.I.T. Geophysics Field Camp gently west dipping normal fault that bounds by a broad zone of subhorizontal reflectors and Biehler, 1987). Thus, it appears that the Panamint Valley and with the shallow detach- (Serpa et al., 1984). geometry of this paired pull-apart system can be ment surface inferred by Sternlof (1988) to un- reconstructed in three dimensions, even though derlie Saline Valley. If the crustal fragments CRUSTAL SHORTENING: structures beneath northern Panamint Valley adjacent to the Hunter Mountain fault are de- WESTERN CHINA cannot be observed directly. tached within the crust, then their relative In the Haiyuan area of north-central China, The narrow (12-15 km) widths of the basins displacements may not reflect directly the kine- concurrent slip has occurred on a system of and the large amount of extension in Panamint matics of the lower crust and upper mantle. strike-slip faults and thrust faults that marks the Valley and Saline Valley prohibit a geometry All the Cenozoic extensional structures in the northeastern corner of the Tibetan plateau (Fig. in which range-bounding faults pass steeply Death Valley region may be similarly detached 2). Both the strike-slip and thrust faults have through the crust into the mantle beneath the within the crust. For example, the Garlock fault changed orientation through time, requiring a basins. The palinspastic restoration of the Saline of the Death Valley region separates an area of complicated history of displacement between Range by Steralof (1988) indicates that the late Cenozoic extension to the north from a re- crustal fragments. The geometry of the fault sys- normal faults in this area are detached at a shal- gion to the south that did not extend in late tem and the rapidity with which rates and direc- low crustal level. Palinspastic restoration of Cenozoic time. Extension north of the Garlock tions of displacement have changed along it northern Panamint Valley cannot be made from fault occurs partly on low-angle normal faults, strongly suggest that upper crustal fragments in surface geology because the valley is covered by and the structural relations between the normal this area are decoupled from the deeper crust and alluvium, but offset of piercing points on the faults and the Garlock fault are similar to those mantle. Hunter Mountain fault zone constrains the in the Saline Valley area (Davis and Burchfiel, Detailed mapping shows that 11-15 km of geometry of a cross section through northern 1973). The direct linking of strike-slip (transfer) late Pliocene(?)-Quaternary left slip has oc- Panamint Valley (Burchfiel et al., 1987).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • High-Resolution Magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Huaitoutala Section
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters 258 (2007) 293–306 www.elsevier.com/locate/epsl High-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Huaitoutala section in the eastern Qaidam Basin on the NE Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province, China and its implication on tectonic uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau ⁎ Xiaomin Fang a,b, , Weilin Zhang a, Qingquan Meng b, Junping Gao b, Xiaoming Wang c, John King d, Chunhui Song b, Shuang Dai b, Yunfa Miao b a Center for Basin Resource and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beilin North Str. 18, Beijing 100085, China b Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education of China & College of Resources and Environment, Lanzhou University, Gansu 730000, China c Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA d Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, URI Bay Campus Box 52, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA Received 31 December 2006; received in revised form 23 March 2007; accepted 23 March 2007 Available online 31 March 2007 Editor: R.D. van der Hilst Abstract The closed inland Qaidam Basin in the NE Tibetan Plateau contains possibly the world's thickest (∼12,000 m) continuous sequence of Cenozoic fluviolacustrine sedimentary rocks. This sequence contains considerable information on the history of Tibetan uplift and associated climatic change. However, work within Qaidam Basin has been held back by a paucity of precise time constraints on this sequence. Here we report on a detailed paleomagnetic study of the well exposed 4570 m Huaitoutala section along the Keluke anticline in the northeastern Qaidam Basin, where three distinct faunas were recovered and identified from the middle Miocene through Pliocene.
    [Show full text]
  • Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010 THRUST B' Profiles of Earthquake and Volcanoes Are PAMIR Constructed from the Mapped Data
    U.S. Department of the Interior Open-File Report 2010–1083–J U.S. Geological Survey Hindu Kush Focus Inset Map Version 1.1, revised January 28, 2014 70° E 71° E 72° E 73° E 74° E 75° E 76° E 39° N 39° N DEPTH PROFILE EXPLANATION Seismicity of the Earth 1900–2010 THRUST B' Profiles of earthquake and volcanoes are PAMIR constructed from the mapped data. Locations Himalaya and Vicinity of the profile intersection with the surface are MAIN TAJIKISTAN CHINA drawn in the map and labeled to coincide 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 4 2 with the profile label. Box defines extent of Compiled by Bethan Turner, Jennifer Jenkins, Rebecca Turner, Amy L. Parker, Alison Sinclair, Sian Davies, Gaven P. Hayes, Antonio Villaseñor, Richard L. Dart, Arthur C. Tarr, Kevin P. Furlong, and Harley M. Benz earthquakes included in the profile. Length of the profile graphic is the same as in the map. 2013 Distance in kilometers from the trench axis is indicated in the X direction, depth in 68° 70° 72° 74° 76° 78° 80° 82° 84° 86° 88° 90° 92° 94° 96° 98° 100° 102° 104° 106° 108° 110° 38° N kilometers is indicated in the Y direction. Lake amir There is no vertical exaggeration. See 46° Yinchuan 38° N P Balkhash Urumqi Explanation color key. Not all earth layers, earthquake depths or magnitude, are visible obaoho on every profile. Chai W 36° B X Distance (km) X' KAZAKHSTAN -500 -400 -300 -200 -100 0 1911 1932 AFGHANISTAN TRENCH AXIS 0 A' KARAKORAM FAULT 44° Almaty 1920 1927 37° N -100 37° N -200 Dzhambul Bishkek HAIYUAN FAULT Ysk Köl Lake -300 TALAS-FERGHANA FAULT Xining Lanzhou
    [Show full text]
  • Co-Seismic and Cumulative Offsets of the Recent Earthquakes Along The
    Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault in western Tibet Haibing Li, Jerome van der Woerd, Zhiming Sun, Jialiang Si, Paul Tapponnier, Jiawei Pan, Dongliang Liu, Marie-Luce Chevalier To cite this version: Haibing Li, Jerome van der Woerd, Zhiming Sun, Jialiang Si, Paul Tapponnier, et al.. Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault inwestern Tibet. Gondwana Research, Elsevier, 2011, 21, pp.64-87. 10.1016/j.gr.2011.07.025. hal-00683742 HAL Id: hal-00683742 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00683742 Submitted on 29 Mar 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT Co-seismic and cumulative offsets of the recent earthquakes along the Karakax left-lateral strike-slip fault in western Tibet Haibing Li a,b,*, Jérôme Van der Woerd c, Zhiming Sun d, Jialiang Si a,b, Paul Tapponniere,f, Jiawei Pan a,b, Dongliang Liu a,b, Marie-Luce Chevaliera,b a State Key Laboratory of Continental Tectonic and Dynamics b Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, P.R.
    [Show full text]
  • Active Strike-Slip Faulting and Systematic Deflection of Drainage
    remote sensing Article Active Strike-Slip Faulting and Systematic Deflection of Drainage Systems along the Altyn Tagh Fault, Northern Tibetan Plateau Peng Chen 1,2,3,*, Bing Yan 4 and Yuan Liu 5 1 Institute of Geomechanics, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China 2 Key Laboratory of Active Tectonics and Geological Safety, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100081, China 3 Key Laboratory of Deep-Earth Dynamics of Ministry of Natural Resources, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China 4 College of Oceanography, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China; [email protected] 5 School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Systematic deflection of drainage systems along strike-slip faults is the combination of re- peated faulting slipping and continuous headward erosion accumulated on the stream channels. The measurement and analysis of systematically deflected stream channels will enhance our understand- ing on the deformational behaviors of strike-slip faults and the relationship between topographic response and active strike-slip faulting. In this study, detailed interpretation and analysis of remote sensing images and DEM data were carried out along the Altyn Tagh Fault, one typical large-scale strike-slip fault in the northern Tibetan Plateau, and together with the statistical results of offset amounts of 153 stream channels, revealed that (i) the drainage systems have been systematically de- flected and/or offset in sinistral along the active Altyn Tagh Fault; (ii) The offset amounts recorded by Citation: Chen, P.; Yan, B.; Liu, Y.
    [Show full text]
  • The Crustal Structure from the Altai Mountains to the Altyn Tagh Fault, Northwest China Youxue Wang,1,2,3 Walter D
    JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 108, NO. B6, 2322, doi:10.1029/2001JB000552, 2003 The crustal structure from the Altai Mountains to the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China Youxue Wang,1,2,3 Walter D. Mooney,2 Xuecheng Yuan,4 and Robert G. Coleman5 Received 30 March 2001; revised 7 November 2002; accepted 17 March 2003; published 28 June 2003. [1] We present a new crustal section across northwest China based on a seismic refraction profile and geologic mapping. The 1100-km-long section crosses the southern margin of the Chinese Altai Mountains, Junggar Accretional Belt and eastern Junggar basin, easternmost Tianshan Mountains, and easternmost Tarim basin. The crustal velocity structure and Poisson’s ratio (s), which provide a constraint on crustal composition, were determined from P and S wave data. Despite the complex geology, the crustal thickness along the entire profile is nearly uniform at 50 km. The thickest crust (56 km) occurs at the northern end of the profile beneath the Altai Mountains and the thinnest (46 km) crust is beneath the Junggar basin. Beneath surficial sediments, the crust is found to have three layers with P wave velocities (Vp) of 6.0–6.3, 6.3–6.6, and 6.9–7.0 km/s, respectively. The southern half of the profile, including the eastern Tianshan Mountains and eastern margin of the Tarim basin, shows low P wave velocities and s = 0.25 to a depth of 30 km, which suggests a quartz-rich, granitic upper crustal composition. The northern half of the profile below the Altai Mountains and Junggar Accretional Belt has a higher Poisson’s ratio of s = 0.26–0.27 to a depth of 30 km, indicative of an intermediate crustal composition.
    [Show full text]
  • Active Structures of the Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen and Their Relationships to Earthquake Distribution, Contemporary Strain fi Eld, and Cenozoic Volcanism
    Active structures of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and their relationships to earthquake distribution, contemporary strain fi eld, and Cenozoic volcanism Michael Taylor Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1735 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA An Yin Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA ABSTRACT used to correlate surface geology with geo- earthquake distributions, and Cenozoic volca- physical properties such as seismic veloc- nism. The main fi ndings of this study include the We have compiled the distribution of ity variations and shear wave-splitting data following: (1) Tibetan earthquakes with mag- active faults and folds in the Himalayan- across the Himalaya and Tibet. nitudes >5 correlate well with surface faults; Tibetan orogen and its immediate surround- (2) the decadal strain-rate fi elds correlate well ing regions into a web-based digital map. The INTRODUCTION with the kinematics and rates of active faults; main product of this study is a compilation and (3) Tibetan Neogene–Quaternary volcanism of active structures that came from those The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the is controlled by major strike-slip faults along documented in the literature and from our Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and its surround- the plateau margins but has no relationship with own interpretations based on satellite images ing regions is expressed by the development of active faults in the plateau interior. Our com- and digital topographic data. Our digital tec- complex fault systems, folds, and widespread piled active structures are far from being com- tonic map allows a comparison between the volcanism.
    [Show full text]
  • Cenozoic Tilting History of the South Slope of the Altyn Tagh As Revealed by Seismic Profiling: Implications for the Kinematics GEOSPHERE; V
    Research Paper GEOSPHERE Cenozoic tilting history of the south slope of the Altyn Tagh as revealed by seismic profiling: Implications for the kinematics GEOSPHERE; v. 12, no. 3 of the Altyn Tagh fault bounding the northern margin of the doi:10.1130/GES01269.1 Tibetan Plateau 10 figures; 1 table Haifeng Zhao1, Yanyan Wei1, Ya Shen2, Ancheng Xiao1, Liguang Mao1, Liqun Wang3, Junya Guan2, and Lei Wu1 CORRESPONDENCE: Xiao: xiaoanch@ zju .edu .cn; 1School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China Wu: leiwu@ zju .edu .cn 2Bureau of Geophysical Prospecting Inc., China National Petroleum Corporation, Zhuozhou 072750, China 3Research Institute of Oil and Gas Exploration and Exploitation of Qinghai Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Dunhuang 736202, China CITATION: Zhao, H., Wei, Y., Shen, Y., Xiao, A., Mao, L., Wang, L., Guan, J., and Wu, L., 2016, Ceno- zoic tilting history of the south slope of the Altyn Tagh ABSTRACT is important for understanding the growth of the Tibetan Plateau during the as revealed by seismic profiling: Implications for the Cenozoic era (Tapponnier et al., 2001; Yin et al., 2002; Cowgill et al., 2003; kinematics of the Altyn Tagh fault bounding the north- ern margin of the Tibetan Plateau: Geosphere, v. 12, The Altyn Tagh fault (ATF) plays a significant role in the northward growth Meng et al., 2012), as well as understanding the development of adjacent no. 3, p. 884–899, doi:10.1130/GES01269.1. of the Tibetan Plateau, but its Cenozoic kinematics and related structural re- basins (Chen et al., 2004; Ritts et al., 2004; Yue et al., 2001; Wu et al., 2012a, sponse in adjacent basins remain debated.
    [Show full text]
  • Structure and in Situ Stress Analysis of the Tazhong Uplift, Nw
    STRUCTURE AND IN SITU STRESS ANALYSIS OF THE TAZHONG UPLIFT, NW CHINA: IMPLICATIONS FOR FAULT REACTIVATION A Thesis by ELIZABETH DA SILVA RODRIGUEZ Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Chair of Committee, Frederick M. Chester Committee Members, Nicholas D. Perez Ding Zhu Head of Department, Michael Pope August 2018 Major Subject: Geophysics Copyright 2018 Elizabeth Da Silva Rodriguez ABSTRACT The Tarim Basin in northwest China is an intracratonic, poly-phase basin with a subsurface structure that records a protracted tectonic history associated with crustal accretion and amalgamation. Currently, the basin is bounded by actively deforming mountain belts but displays little evidence of active deformation within the basin. Here, detailed interpretation of 3D seismic reflection data and analysis of drilling-induced deformation in deep boreholes (e.g. borehole breakouts) are used to resolve uncertainties about the timing and distribution of past deformation, the effect of pre-existing structures on subsequent deformation, and the current in situ stress state in the Tazhong Uplift of the Central Tarim Basin. The geometry and kinematics of Ordovician thrust faults and folds, Silurian-Permian strike-slip faults, and Triassic igneous bodies and normal faults, along with stratigraphic relationships, suggest that creation of new faults, and reactivation of pre-existing faults occurred during tectonic events in the Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic; however, no evidence of faulting is observed in Late Mesozoic or Cenozoic strata in the Tazhong Uplift. The current in situ stress should favor extensional and strike-slip tectonics with maximum horizontal compression directed NE, which contrasts with past stress states in the basin inferred from Paleozoic and Mesozoic structures.
    [Show full text]
  • The Altyn Tagh Fault
    The Altyn Tagh Fault edited by David L. Alles Western Washington University e-mail: [email protected] Last updated 2011-6-4 Note: In PDF format most of the images in this web paper can be enlarged for greater detail. 1 The Altyn Tagh Fault and Integrated Science The study of the Altyn Tagh fault and the geology of China's deserts is an example of the emerging field of Earth systems science, in which geologists and chemists try to document changes in Earth's environment throughout the planet's history, and biologists try to understand how the core metabolic processes of life are distributed on the planet's surface (Falkowski, 2007). China's northwest region, which includes the provinces Xinjiang and Qinghai, is situated near the center of the Eurasian continent. The region's great distance from the ocean and extreme geomorphic features have resulted in some of the Earth's oldest and driest deserts (Guo, et al., 2002). These deserts are a legacy of the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates, which started ~50 Mya (Zhu, et al., 2005) and continues today. The collision of India with Asia has had profound effects on the Earth that include widely distributed deformation and extrusion of continental blocks, the inception of the Indian monsoon, changes in seawater geochemistry, and the uplift of the world’s highest mountains, and largest and highest plateau, the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The high altitude deserts in the Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau have been shown to have the coldest and driest recorded extremes for lithic cyanobacterial communities on Earth (Warren-Rhodes, et al., 2007).
    [Show full text]
  • Harkins-Kirby Kunlun Fault Tibet Lithosph 2010.Pdf
    Downloaded from lithosphere.gsapubs.org on April 7, 2011 Lithosphere Millennial slip rates along the eastern Kunlun fault: Implications for the dynamics of intracontinental deformation in Asia Nathan Harkins, E. Kirby, X. Shi, E. Wang, D. Burbank and Fan Chun Lithosphere 2010;2;247-266 doi: 10.1130/L85.1 Email alerting services click www.gsapubs.org/cgi/alerts to receive free e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article Subscribe click www.gsapubs.org/subscriptions/ to subscribe to Lithosphere Permission request click http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/copyrt.htm#gsa to contact GSA Copyright not claimed on content prepared wholly by U.S. government employees within scope of their employment. Individual scientists are hereby granted permission, without fees or further requests to GSA, to use a single figure, a single table, and/or a brief paragraph of text in subsequent works and to make unlimited copies of items in GSA's journals for noncommercial use in classrooms to further education and science. This file may not be posted to any Web site, but authors may post the abstracts only of their articles on their own or their organization's Web site providing the posting includes a reference to the article's full citation. GSA provides this and other forums for the presentation of diverse opinions and positions by scientists worldwide, regardless of their race, citizenship, gender, religion, or political viewpoint. Opinions presented in this publication do not reflect official positions of the Society. Notes © 2010 Geological Society of America Downloaded from lithosphere.gsapubs.org on April 7, 2011 RESEARCH Millennial slip rates along the eastern Kunlun fault: Implications for the dynamics of intracontinental deformation in Asia Nathan Harkins1,*, E.
    [Show full text]
  • Late Quaternary Slip Rate of the Aksay Segment and Its Rapidly Decreasing Gradient Along the Altyn Tagh Fault GEOSPHERE
    Research Paper GEOSPHERE Late Quaternary slip rate of the Aksay segment and its rapidly decreasing gradient along the Altyn Tagh fault 1,2 1,2 3,4 2 3,4 5 GEOSPHERE, v. 16, no. 6 Jinrui Liu , Zhikun Ren , Wenjun Zheng , Wei Min , Zhigang Li , and Gang Zheng 1State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China 2Key Laboratory of Seismic and Volcanic Hazards, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China https://doi.org/10.1130/GES02250.1 3Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Geodynamics and Geohazards, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China 4Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai 519000, China 15 figures; 4 tables; 1 supplemental file 5GNSS Research Center, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China CORRESPONDENCE: [email protected]; 2007; Molnar and Dayem, 2010; Royden et al., 2008; and deformation pattern are critical to understand- [email protected] ABSTRACT Tapponnier et al., 2001). Meanwhile, the fault slip ing the mechanics of intracontinental deformation. CITATION: Liu, J., Ren, Z., Zheng, W., Min, W., Li, Z., Constraining the fault slip rate on a fault can rate pattern along strike is also helpful for under- Several researchers have suggested that a decreas- and Zheng, G., 2020, Late Quaternary slip rate of the reveal the strain accumulation and partitioning standing the strain accumulation pattern, fault slip ing trend in the slip rate can be roughly obtained Aksay segment and its rapidly decreasing gradient pattern. The Aksay segment, the eastern segment history, and the strain adjustment and its influence in the east segment of the Altyn Tagh fault from along the Altyn Tagh fault: Geosphere, v.
    [Show full text]
  • Active Structures of the Himalayan-Tibetan Orogen and Their Relationships to Earthquake Distribution, Contemporary Strain fi Eld, and Cenozoic Volcanism
    Active structures of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and their relationships to earthquake distribution, contemporary strain fi eld, and Cenozoic volcanism Michael Taylor Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 1735 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA An Yin Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1567, USA ABSTRACT used to correlate surface geology with geo- earthquake distributions, and Cenozoic volca- physical properties such as seismic veloc- nism. The main fi ndings of this study include the We have compiled the distribution of ity variations and shear wave-splitting data following: (1) Tibetan earthquakes with mag- active faults and folds in the Himalayan- across the Himalaya and Tibet. nitudes >5 correlate well with surface faults; Tibetan orogen and its immediate surround- (2) the decadal strain-rate fi elds correlate well ing regions into a web-based digital map. The INTRODUCTION with the kinematics and rates of active faults; main product of this study is a compilation and (3) Tibetan Neogene–Quaternary volcanism of active structures that came from those The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the is controlled by major strike-slip faults along documented in the literature and from our Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and its surround- the plateau margins but has no relationship with own interpretations based on satellite images ing regions is expressed by the development of active faults in the plateau interior. Our com- and digital topographic data. Our digital tec- complex fault systems, folds, and widespread piled active structures are far from being com- tonic map allows a comparison between the volcanism.
    [Show full text]