Late Cenozoic east–west crustal shortening in southern Longmen Shan, eastern Tibet: Implications for regional stress field changes

Li, Peilin; Jia, Dong; Chen, Wei; Yin, Handong; Shen, Li; Sun, Chuang; Zhang, Yong; Li, Yiquan; Li, Shiqin; Zhou, Xiaojun; Li, Haibin; Jian, GaoMing; Zhang, Meng; Cui, Jian

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2014.03.033

Cited by 34 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 74 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Schematic diagram of the regional stratigraphy of the LMS piedmont modified from Jia et al [] and Z. G. Li et al []. Our multilayer velocity model and three main detachment layers are shown.…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In map view, the Pengzhou thrust fault is the nearest splay fault to the RFBT and extends for more than 70 km (Figures and ).To the south, another two splay faults have nucleated from the RFBT, known as the Dayi and Qiongxi thrust faults. Their structural and geometrical variations along strike have also been imaged by the 3‐D seismic cube data and discussed by our research group [ Wang et al ., ; Z. G. Li et al ., ]. Besides the Pengzhou, Dayi [ Z. G. Li et al ., ], and Qiongxi [ Wang et al ., ] thrust faults, most of the other splay faults are covered by Quaternary sediments and show little expression on the surface of the Chengdu Plain.…”

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their structural and geometrical variations along strike have also been imaged by the 3‐D seismic cube data and discussed by our research group [ Wang et al ., ; Z. G. Li et al ., ]. Besides the Pengzhou, Dayi [ Z. G. Li et al ., ], and Qiongxi [ Wang et al ., ] thrust faults, most of the other splay faults are covered by Quaternary sediments and show little expression on the surface of the Chengdu Plain. Z. G. Li et al [] demonstrated that the Dayi structure varies along strike, so that it is characterized by pure‐shear fault‐bend folding in the north but changes to a multibend fault‐bend folding toward the south.…”

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides the Pengzhou, Dayi [ Z. G. Li et al ., ], and Qiongxi [ Wang et al ., ] thrust faults, most of the other splay faults are covered by Quaternary sediments and show little expression on the surface of the Chengdu Plain. Z. G. Li et al [] demonstrated that the Dayi structure varies along strike, so that it is characterized by pure‐shear fault‐bend folding in the north but changes to a multibend fault‐bend folding toward the south. As defined by Wang et al [], the Qiongxi structure exhibits geometries that are typical of pure‐shear fault‐bend folding.…”

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the activities and along‐strike variations of these faults are little understood. Consequently, we have extended our previous work [ Wang et al ., ; M. M. Wang et al ., ; Z. G. Li et al ., ] into the northern Chengdu Plain to cover the entire RFTS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Quaternary activity of the range front thrust system in the Longmen Shan piedmont, China, revealed by seismic imaging and growth strata

Liu‐Zeng

Jia

et al. 2016

Tectonics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reliable estimates of Quaternary or Cenozoic upper crustal shortening in the Longmen Shan fold‐and‐thrust belt are rare. In this paper, we report on our use of high‐resolution 2‐D and 3‐D seismic reflection profiles at various scales, together with borehole data, to investigate the structural geometry of the Longmen Shan piedmont. The results reveal a thrust system beneath the Longmen Shan, termed the range front thrust system, which consists of the range front blind thrust and its upward splay faults. Moreover, on these faults we identified growth strata that provide an excellent opportunity for assessing the activity of this thrust system. Analyses of the growth strata reveal early to late Pleistocene activity on the range front blind thrust, with minimum dip slip and horizontal shortening rates of 1.1 ± 0.2 mm/yr and ~1 mm/yr. Accordingly, the maximum accumulated slip on the range front blind thrust is calculated to be 7.5 ± 0.3 km in the Longmen Shan. Using the new horizontal shortening rate and other published data, we also estimated that the long‐term shortening rate across the Longmen Shan fold‐and‐thrust belt is 1–3 mm/yr, which is comparable to the short‐term GPS rate. The similarity of these rates suggests that the Longmen Shan attained a steady state condition over the past 2 Myr. An additional highlight of our results is that we show Quaternary activity around the Tibetan Plateau to have been nearly synchronous in different regions, including in the Longmen Shan, the Himalayas, the western Kunlun Shan, and the northern Qilian Shan.

show abstract

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Structures Of the Range Front Thrust Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Quaternary activity of the range front thrust system in the Longmen Shan piedmont, China, revealed by seismic imaging and growth strata

Liu‐Zeng

Jia

et al. 2016

Tectonics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Sandbox modeling of evolving thrust wedges with different preexisting topographic relief: Implications for the Longmen Shan thrust belt, eastern Tibet

et al. 2016

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To understand the effects of substantial topographic relief on deformation localization in the seismically active mountains, like the Longmen Shan thrust belt in the eastern Tibet, sandbox experiments were performed based on the framework of the critical taper theory. First, a reference experiment revealed that the critical taper angle was 12° for our experimental materials. Subsequently, different proto wedges (subcritical (6° in taper angle), critical (12°), and supercritical (20°)) were introduced to cover the range of natural topographic relief, and we used two setups: setup A considered only across‐strike topographic relief, whereas setup B investigated along‐strike segmentation of topography, consist of two adjacent proto wedges. In all experiments, thrust wedges grew by in‐sequence accretion of thrust sheets. Setup A revealed an alternating mode of slip partitioning on the accreted thrusts, with large‐displacement thrust and small‐displacement thrust developing in turn. And contrasting wedge evolutions occurred according to whether the proto wedge was subcritical or critical‐supercritical. In setup B, the differential deformation along the strike produced transverse structures such as tear fault and lateral ramp during frontal accretion. The observed tear fault and its associated thrust system resemble the seismogenic fault system of the 2008 Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake. Our experimental results could also explain first‐order deformation features observed in the Longmen Shan. Consequently, we conclude that topographic features, including topographic relief across the range and along‐strike segmentation of topography, contribute significantly to the kinematics and deformation localization in such active mountains.

show abstract

Concurrent Deformation in the Longmen Shan and the Sichuan Basin: A Critical Wedge Captured by Limit Analysis

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2018

Tectonics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The southern Longmen Shan region has seismically active faults in its western part, the Beichuan fault (BCF) and the Pengguan fault (PGF), both rooting on a deep décollement, and has flat topography in its eastern part that marks the current deformation front due to thrusting from a shallow décollement. The concurrent faulting at the rear and at the front is separated by the flat Sichuan Basin. The objective of this contribution is to propose a mechanical approach based on the limit analysis theory to estimate the frictional properties that could explain how this heterogeneous wedge could be critical in the sense that faulting occurs at various places concurrently. A simple prototype with bilinear topography is first proposed to construct analytical solutions. The activations of the BCF, the PGF, and of the upper décollement up to the deformation front are examples of collapse mechanisms captured analytically by the limit analysis. Deformation maps are constructed in the space of the friction angles of the upper and lower décollements, identifying the domain of activation of the various collapse mechanisms. The critical conditions in terms of friction angles for the concomitant activation of these various collapse mechanisms are established. A more realistic prototype is then analyzed with the numerical code OptumG2, which is also based on the limit analysis theory. The deformation maps established for the first prototype are then applied to evaluate the critical conditions of the complex prototype with a limited number of numerical simulations.

show abstract

Late Cenozoic east–west crustal shortening in southern Longmen Shan, eastern Tibet: Implications for regional stress field changes

Cited by 34 publications

References 74 publications

Quaternary activity of the range front thrust system in the Longmen Shan piedmont, China, revealed by seismic imaging and growth strata

Quaternary activity of the range front thrust system in the Longmen Shan piedmont, China, revealed by seismic imaging and growth strata

Sandbox modeling of evolving thrust wedges with different preexisting topographic relief: Implications for the Longmen Shan thrust belt, eastern Tibet

Concurrent Deformation in the Longmen Shan and the Sichuan Basin: A Critical Wedge Captured by Limit Analysis

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About