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The vertical slip rate of a normal fault is one of the most important parameters for evaluating its level of activity. The Sertengshan piedmont fault has been studied since the 1980s, but its absolute vertical slip rate has not been determined. In this paper, we calculate the displacements of the fault by measuring the heights of piedmont terraces on the footwall and the stratigraphic depths of marker strata in the hanging wall. We then calculate the vertical slip rate of the fault based on the displacements and ages of the marker strata. We selected nine sites uniformly along the fault to study the vertical slip rates of the fault. The results show that the elevations of terraces T3 and T1 are approximately 1060 m and 1043 m, respectively. The geological boreholes in the basin adjacent to the nine study sites reveal that the elevation of the bottom of the Holocene series is between 1017 and 1035 m and that the elevation of the top of the lacustrine strata is between 925 and 1009 m. The data from the terraces and boreholes also show that the top of the lacustrine strata is approximately 65 ka old. The vertical slip rates are calculated at 0.74-1.81 mm/a since 65 ka and 0.86-2.28 mm/a since the Holocene. The slip rate is the highest along the Wujiahe segment and is lower to the west and east. Based on the findings of a previous study on the fault system along the northern margin of the Hetao graben basin, the vertical slip rates of the Daqingshan and Langshan faults are higher than those of the Sertengshan and Wulashan faults, and the strikeslip rates of these four northern Hetao graben basin faults are low. These results agree with the vertical slip components of the principal stress field on the faults. The results of our analysis indicate that the Langshankou, Wujiahe, and Wubulangkou areas and the eastern end of the Sertengshan fault are at high risk of experiencing earthquakes in the future.

The authors surveyed the longitudinal profiles of 28 gullies across the Luoyunshan Piedmont fault (LPF) by differential GPS and dating of sediments well preserved in the typical terraces and obtained 6-level knickpoint series of the gullies along the Luoyunshan Piedmont. The authors compared it with previous studies on the paleo-earthquakes of the LPF revealed by trenches and found that the paleo-earthquake events from knickpoint and trench studies are in good agreement in terms of the time of occurrence and vertical displacement of the fault. It shows studying the paleo-earthquake events of the fault by knickpoint series is feasible. At last, the authors established a more complete paleo-earthquake sequence of the LPF supported by geomorphologic and sedimentary evidence, i.e., six paleo-earthquake events happened on the LPF from about 28,000 years ago; the LPF has the characteristic of quasi-periodic recurrence and the average recurrence interval is 4585 years. The vertical displacement of the paleo-earthquake events is © 2016. This manuscript version is made available under the Elsevier user license http://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/ 2 2.4-3.0 m; according to the empirical equations between co-seismic displacement and earthquake magnitude the magnitude of these events is Ms 7.0-7.5. This study aims to complement and improve the traditional trenching method, provide theoretical and methodological support for the research of active tectonics, and contribute important information for the seismic hazard assessment of the densely populated Linfen area.

The Ordos Block is located northeast of the Tibetan Plateau (Figure 1a; Deng et al., 1999). Since the Cenozoic, due to the rapid expansion of the Tibetan Plateau to the northeast (Gaudemer et al., 1995;Tapponnier et al., 1982Tapponnier et al., , 1986 and subduction of the Pacific plate to the west (Northrup et al., 1995;Uyeda & Kanamori, 1979), at least four M ≥ 8 large earthquakes have been triggered in the basin on the periphery of the Ordos Block. These earthquakes were the 1303 Hongdong M 8.0 earthquake in the Shanxi Basin in the eastern block

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