Pulsed strain release on the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China

Gold, Ryan D.; Cowgill, Eric; Arrowsmith, J Ramón; Friedrich, Anke

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2016.11.024

Cited by 52 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Complex fault systems with splays or intersecting faults have been documented to show potential slip variations with time, as slip might switch from one fault to the other (e.g., (Bennett et al, ; Dolan et al, ; Friedrich et al, ; Gold et al, )). The central Haiyuan fault, with its two subparallel fault strands, the main central Haiyuan fault and the Zhongwei fault, may display such behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene‐Holocene Slip Rate Along the Hasi Shan Restraining Bend of the Haiyuan Fault: Implication for Faulting Dynamics of a Complex Fault System

et al. 2019

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The Haiyuan fault is a major left-lateral strike-slip fault at the boundary between northeast Tibet and the Gobi platform. Combining measurements of offset alluvial terraces with 10 Be-26 Al cosmogenic radionuclides dating, we bracket the late Quaternary slip rate along the Hasi Shan fault section (37°00′N, 104°25′E) of the Haiyuan fault. At our reference site, terrace-riser offsets for five successive terraces range from~5 to~200 m, and associated cosmogenic radionuclide ages range from 9 ± 3 to 44 ± 7 kyr. These measurements yield a geological slip rate between 2.7 and 3.0 mm/year. Extending the offset measurements to the entire Hasi Shan front, it yields a slip rate of 3.2 ± 0.2 mm/year over the last 50 kyr. Our rate is consistent with the lower estimates of other long-term rates of 4 to 5 mm/year, as well as with geodetic rates of 3 to 5 mm/year, determined in the same area. About 150 km farther west, however, Holocene terraces and moraines offsets have suggested higher slip rate values, between 6 and 15 mm/year. We interpret such discrepancy between rates determined along the western section of the Haiyuan fault and rates determined in the Hasi Shan section as being related to the complex geometry of the Haiyuan fault system along its eastern part, with several active strands moving at the same time and resulting in distributed slip among several sections of the fault system. Key Points: • Slip rate along the Hasi Shan section of the Haiyuan fault is determined from numerous offsets and cosmogenic exposure dates over a period of 50,000 years • The Hasi Shan fault strand horizontal slip rate is about 3.2 mm/year; this rate is stable over 50,000 years; the uplift rate is about 0.5 mm/year • Combining slip rate for the Hasi Shan strand and all subparallel stands yields a slip rate of 5 to 7 mm/year for the Haiyuan fault system Supporting Information: • Supporting Information S1

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Pleistocene‐Holocene Slip Rate Along the Hasi Shan Restraining Bend of the Haiyuan Fault: Implication for Faulting Dynamics of a Complex Fault System

et al. 2019

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“…But, if we use the maximum bound of 6.3 mm/year, this slip rate is faster than the right‐lateral geodetic rate. To reconcile the potential discrepancy of these rates, we can infer variations between Holocene rates and present‐day rates due to variations in the accumulation of strain over multiple seismic cycles (Gold et al, ; Gold & Cowgill, ; Rust et al, ). However, recent studies also show that strain accumulation and release along major active faults appear relatively constant over a range of different time scales (Gold et al, ; Vernant, ).…”

Section: Discussion: Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To reconcile the potential discrepancy of these rates, we can infer variations between Holocene rates and present-day rates due to variations in the accumulation of strain over multiple seismic cycles (Gold et al, 2017;Gold & Cowgill, 2011;Rust et al, 2018). However, recent studies also show that strain accumulation and release along major active faults appear relatively constant over a range of different time scales (Gold et al, 2017;Vernant, 2015). Earthquakes whose depths and mechanisms are confirmed by P and SH body wave modeling are colored by depth (black <20 km, red >20 km).…”

Section: Tff Fault Rotation and Geodynamic Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…Advances in high-resolution topography and Quaternary dating tools suggest that transient fault slip rates and irregular earthquake recurrence intervals over thousand year timescales are a common feature of extensional areas [e.g., Friedrich et al, 2003;Palumbo et al, 2004;Bull et al, 2006;Nicol et al, 2010;Begg and Mouslopoulou, 2010;Akçar et al, 2012;Jewell and Bruhn, 2013;Nicol et al, 2016;Cowie et al, 2017] as well as other tectonic environments [e.g., Weldon et al, 2004;Oskin et al, 2008;Dolan et al, 2016;Gold et al, 2017]. A number of different processes have been invoked to explain this transient behavior including static elastic stress transfer [Benedetti et al, 2013], dynamic (i.e., coseismic) stress changes [Brodsky and van der Elst, 2014], temporal variations in the strength of brittle faults and ductile shear zones [Dolan et al, 2007], fluid migration through fault zones [Oskin et al, 2008], interactions with surface processes [Hetzel and Hampel, 2005], episodic release of strain stored in a crustal stress "battery" [Gold et al, 2017], and energy dissipation and minimization of work in response to flexural bending of normal fault footwalls [Cowie et al, 2017]. However, the timescales upon which these processes can affect fault slip rates are poorly constrained, and it is not clear which of these processes, if any, are the dominant mechanism controlling transient fault slip rates and irregular earthquake recurrence times.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 667 year record of coseismic and interseismic Coulomb stress changes in central Italy reveals the role of fault interaction in controlling irregular earthquake recurrence intervals

et al. 2017

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Current studies of fault interaction lack sufficiently long earthquake records and measurements of fault slip rates over multiple seismic cycles to fully investigate the effects of interseismic loading and coseismic stress changes on the surrounding fault network. We model elastic interactions between 97 faults from 30 earthquakes since 1349 A.D. in central Italy to investigate the relative importance of co‐seismic stress changes versus interseismic stress accumulation for earthquake occurrence and fault interaction. This region has an exceptionally long, 667 year record of historical earthquakes and detailed constraints on the locations and slip rates of its active normal faults. Of 21 earthquakes since 1654, 20 events occurred on faults where combined coseismic and interseismic loading stresses were positive even though ~20% of all faults are in “stress shadows” at any one time. Furthermore, the Coulomb stress on the faults that experience earthquakes is statistically different from a random sequence of earthquakes in the region. We show how coseismic Coulomb stress changes can alter earthquake interevent times by ~103 years, and fault length controls the intensity of this effect. Static Coulomb stress changes cause greater interevent perturbations on shorter faults in areas characterized by lower strain (or slip) rates. The exceptional duration and number of earthquakes we model enable us to demonstrate the importance of combining long earthquake records with detailed knowledge of fault geometries, slip rates, and kinematics to understand the impact of stress changes in complex networks of active faults.

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Pulsed strain release on the Altyn Tagh fault, northwest China

Cited by 52 publications

References 85 publications

Late Pleistocene‐Holocene Slip Rate Along the Hasi Shan Restraining Bend of the Haiyuan Fault: Implication for Faulting Dynamics of a Complex Fault System

Late Pleistocene‐Holocene Slip Rate Along the Hasi Shan Restraining Bend of the Haiyuan Fault: Implication for Faulting Dynamics of a Complex Fault System

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

A 667 year record of coseismic and interseismic Coulomb stress changes in central Italy reveals the role of fault interaction in controlling irregular earthquake recurrence intervals

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