Assessing the activity of faults in continental interiors: Palaeoseismic insights from SE Kazakhstan

Grützner, Christoph; Carson, Emily; Walker, Richard; Rhodes, E. J.; Mukambayev, A.; Mackenzie, D.; Elliott, John R.; Campbell, G.; Abdrakhmatov, Kanatbek

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2016.11.025

Cited by 45 publications

(54 citation statements)

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“…As such, these faults are not always considered as potential sources for large seismic events. Moreover, we know that the absence of large earthquakes ( M > 7.5) in the instrumental or historical records does not truly represent the full spatial extent of the deformation, and that active faults in the Tien Shan Range rupture during occasional large earthquakes that have been shown to have recurrence times of several thousand years (Abdrakhmatov et al, ; Campbell et al, , ; Grützner et al, ; Hollingsworth et al, ; Landgraf et al, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These offset landforms however are not associated with large earthquakes during the past century. Recent paleoseismological studies conducted in the eastern Tien Shan Range suggest that these large-scale faults have the potential to be reactivated during large earthquakes (M w > 7.5) and have long recurrence times (e.g., several thousand years; Abdrakhmatov et al, 2016;Campbell et al, 2013Campbell et al, , 2015Grützner et al, 2017;Landgraf et al, 2016) In the central Tien Shan, the largest intracontinental strike-slip fault is the northwest trending Karatau-Talas-Fergana Fault (Figures 1 and 2a). This fault is classically subdivided into two main segments: the Karatau segment to the north and the Talas-Fergana Fault (TFF) to the south (Alexeiev et al, 2017;Allen, 2001;Burtman et al, 1996;Rolland et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rate of Slip From Multiple Quaternary Dating Methods and Paleoseismic Investigations Along the Talas‐Fergana Fault: Tectonic Implications for the Tien Shan Range

et al. 2019

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The ~400‐km‐long Talas‐Fergana Fault is one of a series of major right‐lateral strike‐slip faults that cross the Tien Shan Range. This fault has been recognized as active in the late Holocene and accommodates part of the deformation induced by the ongoing Indo‐Asian collision. The kinematics and the role of this strike‐slip fault are poorly understood with no large earthquakes reported in the instrumental or historical catalogs, and no well‐constrained geological slip‐rate estimates. Here we used high‐resolution satellite imagery to present a first detailed analysis of the fault segmentation. We identified nine geometric segments based on strike variations for the Talas‐Fergana Fault. Along the Kyldau segment, through morphological analyses of an offset alluvial fan and the application of multiple dating methods (10Be, 26Al, 36Cl, luminescence, and radiocarbon), we calculated a late Quaternary slip rate ranging from 2.2 to 6.3 mm/year. This rate is higher than the geodetic measurements, but the discrepancy can be partly explained if the Talas‐Fergana Fault accommodates shortening by counterclockwise rotation around a vertical axis. Paleoearthquakes identified by trenching indicate that at least two primary surface ruptures (and possibly a third) occurred in the past 3,800 years, and that no large earthquake has ruptured the Kyldau segment since at least 420 years B.P. (possibly within the last 2,700 years), making this fault segment a potential candidate to generate an earthquake with M > 7 in the near future.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rate of Slip From Multiple Quaternary Dating Methods and Paleoseismic Investigations Along the Talas‐Fergana Fault: Tectonic Implications for the Tien Shan Range

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“…The fault scarp is continuous and well‐preserved along the entire length of the fault, suggesting that it has been reactivated in the last few thousand years (e.g., Abdrakhmatov et al, ; Arrowsmith et al, ; Grützner et al, ). In addition to the scarps that we have used to determine uplift rates, and which are formed in fluvial terraces where small streams cross the fault, we also observed a lower scarp that is continuous along the fault and preserved in a series of late Quaternary alluvial fan surfaces (Figure ).…”

Section: Evidence For Palaeoearthquake Rupturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Walker et al, 2008). In such intraplate settings, strain typically accumulates slowly, and the recurrence interval between slip events on individual faults may be thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years, providing additional challenges in characterizing earthquake potential and hazard (e.g., Grützner et al, 2017;Rizza et al, 2015;Ritz et al, 2018). The focus of our paper is the Tien Shan of central Asia, where deformation related to the India-Eurasia continental collision is distributed across many faults over a wide region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid Late Quaternary Slip, Repeated Prehistoric Earthquake Rupture, and Widespread Landsliding Associated With the Karakudzhur Thrust, Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan

Campbell

Walker²,

Abdrakhmatov

et al. 2019

Tectonics

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Field studies have shown that active faulting in the SW Tien Shan is distributed across a series of E‐W reverse faults along the range fronts and within basin interiors, with summed shortening rates that are consistent with GPS measurements. In contrast, few field studies have been undertaken to determine the distribution, and the average slip rates, of faults in the central and eastern parts of the Tien Shan. In this paper we use remote and field‐based observations to characterize the active faulting and tectonic geomorphology of the Karakudzhur Basin in the central Tien Shan of Kyrgyzstan. We use radiocarbon, luminescence, and uranium series dating to provide ages on three fluvial terraces that are vertically displaced across the basin‐bounding reverse fault and estimate fault slip rates using a 20°S dipping fault exposure. We find that the fault has a slip‐rate of ∼2.4–5.9 mm/year averaged over the Holocene, indicating that it accommodates a major part of the shortening measured by GPS. In contrast to the relatively uniform distribution of N‐S shortening in the SW Tien Shan, significant shortening may instead be concentrated at present on a few active faults in the northern part of the central Tien Shan. The fresh geomorphic expression of the Karakudzhur fault suggests that it has ruptured in recent prehistory in a large‐magnitude Mw ≥ 7 earthquake. From palaeoseismic trenching we show that two significant surface rupturing earthquakes have occurred since ~2.4 ka. The most recent earthquake was potentially accompanied by widespread landsliding and faulting in the surrounding highlands.

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Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Pamir‐Tian Shan convergence zone, Northwest China

Jobe

Chen

et al. 2017

Tectonics

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The Pamir‐Tian Shan collision zone in the western Tarim Basin, northwest China, formed from rapid and ongoing convergence in response to the Indo‐Eurasian collision. The arid landscape preserves suites of fluvial terraces crossing structures active since the late Neogene that create fault and fold scarps recording Quaternary deformation. Using geologic and geomorphic mapping, differential GPS surveys of deformed terraces, and optically stimulated luminescence dating, we create a synthesis of the active structures that delineate the timing, rate, and migration of Quaternary deformation during ongoing convergence. New deformation rates on eight faults and folds, when combined with previous studies, highlight the spatial and temporal patterns of deformation within the Pamir‐Tian Shan convergence zone during the Quaternary. Terraces spanning ~130 to ~8 ka record deformation rates between ~0.1 and 5.6 mm/yr on individual structures. In the westernmost Tarim Basin, where the Pamir and Tian Shan are already juxtaposed, the fastest rates occur on actively deforming structures at the interface of the Pamir‐Tian Shan orogens. Farther east, as the separation between the Pamir‐Tian Shan orogens increases, the deformation has not been concentrated on a single structure, but rather has been concurrently distributed across a zone of faults and folds in the Kashi‐Atushi fold‐and‐thrust belt and along the NE Pamir margin, where shortening rates vary on individual structures during the Quaternary. Although numerous structures accommodate the shortening and the locus of deformation shifts during the Quaternary, the total shortening across the western Tarim Basin has remained steady and approximately matches the current geodetic rate of 6–9 mm/yr.

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Assessing the activity of faults in continental interiors: Palaeoseismic insights from SE Kazakhstan

Cited by 45 publications

References 40 publications

Rate of Slip From Multiple Quaternary Dating Methods and Paleoseismic Investigations Along the Talas‐Fergana Fault: Tectonic Implications for the Tien Shan Range

Rate of Slip From Multiple Quaternary Dating Methods and Paleoseismic Investigations Along the Talas‐Fergana Fault: Tectonic Implications for the Tien Shan Range

Rapid Late Quaternary Slip, Repeated Prehistoric Earthquake Rupture, and Widespread Landsliding Associated With the Karakudzhur Thrust, Central Kyrgyz Tien Shan

Quaternary tectonic evolution of the Pamir‐Tian Shan convergence zone, Northwest China

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