Similarities between strike-slip faults at different scales and a simple age determining method for active faults

Abstract Several differently scaled strike‐slip faults were examined. The faults shared many geometric features, such as secondary fractures and linkage structures (damage zones). Differences in fault style were not related to specific scale ranges. However, it was recognized that differences in style may occur in different tectonic settings (e.g. dilational/contractional relays or wall/linkage/tip zones), different locations along the master fault or different fault evolution stages. Fractal dimensions were compared for two faults (Gozo and San Andreas), which supports the idea of self‐similarity. Fractal dimensions for traces of faults and fractures of damage zones were higher (D ～1.35) than for the main fault traces (D ～1.005) because of increased complexity due to secondary faults and fractures. Based on the statistical analysis of another fault evolution study, single event movements in earthquake faults typically have a maximum earthquake slip : rupture length ratio of approximately 10^?4, although this has only been established for large earthquake faults because of limited data. Most geological faults have a much higher maximum cumulative displacement : fault length ratio; that is, approximately 10^?2 to 10^?1 (e.g. Gozo, ～10^?2; San Andreas, ～10^?1). The final cumulative displacement on a fault is produced by accumulation of slip along ruptures. Hence, using the available information from earthquake faults, such as earthquake slip, recurrence interval, maximum cumulative displacement and fault length, the approximate age of active faults can be estimated. The lower limit of estimated active fault age is expressed with maximum cumulative displacement, earthquake slip and recurrence interval as T ? (d_max /u) · I(M).     

~(40)Ar/~(39)Ar dating of shear deformation of the Xianshuihe fault zone in west Sichuan and its tectonic significance

TheNW-SEstrikingXianshuihefaultzoneslicesthesoutheasternTibetanPlateauandconnectssoutheastwardwiththeAnninghe-Zemuhe-Xiaojiangfaultzone,whichformahuge,activesinistralstrike-slipfaultzone(fig.1).ThisfaultzoneisanimportantseismicfaultineastTibet[1-5].EarthquakegeologystudiesandoffsetpatternsofyounggeologicalfeatureshaveshownthatlateQuaternarysinistralsliprateoftheXianshuihefaultzonereaches13mm/a[1,2].TheXianshuhefaultzoneconsistsoftwomainbranches,theDaofufaultbranchinthewestandtheXianshuih…     

东昆仑西段布喀达坂峰地区早更新世河湖相地层的发现及初步研究

东昆仑西段布喀达坂峰地区的山间盆地中发现一套早更新世河湖相地层，岩石组合为：泥晶灰岩、砂砾石层、泥岩夹生物碎屑层，未见底，顶部被晚更新世地层覆盖。从获得的电子自旋共振测年资料及古生物显示，其时代相当于早更新世，与柴达木盆地七个泉组以及东昆仑垭口盆地羌塘组时代相当。它的发现对分析本地区以及相邻地区在早更新世时的气候演变及高原隆升具有一定的指示意义。     

议京西大台地区的燕山运动

作者研究了京西大台地区的燕山运动，初步研究表明：这里不存在强烈的挤压变形迹象和显著的角度不整合．缺乏磨拉石建造。龙门组是厚度有限的河流相沉积，九龙山组是具有弱火山活动的湖相一滨湖相沉积。在隆起带和沉降带之间侏罗系地层显著的厚度变化率、大安山一斋堂滑覆构造及其派生的髫髻山断陷盆和大量高角度滑动面理，都显示了伸展构造背景下基底断块的差异升降。髫髻山组与壳幔相互作用有关的一套火山岩显示了上述运动的深部背景。     

红砂岩高陡岩质边坡稳定性分析及治理

充分利用边坡失稳前自身抗滑能力进行高陡边坡治理，结合工程实例，提出了主动性公路边坡治理的思路。分别利用极限平衡法和有限元数值法，综合考虑了两种方法的优缺点，对红砂岩高陡边坡进行了全面的稳定性分析，并针对性地提出了经济合理的治理方案。     

与时俱进,发展中国大地构造学

论述了黄汲清经典著作《中国主要地质构造单位》的深远影响。它是中国大地构造研究的奠基之作和经典著作 ,其基本内容和主要论点已为实践所证实 ,并为国内外地质界所认同。这部著作不仅全面系统地总结了过去 ,而且对一些重大地质问题进行了科学预测 ,为后人指出了研究的方向。它是一部你什么时候读都有味道 ,都会受到新的启发的著作。黄汲清的学术思想是民主的、开放的 ,与时俱进的。在《中国主要地质构造单位》中 ,他运用阿尔冈活动论的思想 ,阐述了中国大地构造的动力演化过程。之后 ,他又吸收了裴伟深断裂的思想 ,深入研究了中国的深断裂。 2 0世纪 70年代 ,他指导他的学生将多旋回思想与板块构造结合 ,在中国大地构造图上首次详细标绘了中国境内的板块缝合带 ,从全球动力学角度 ,将他 1 94 5年提出的亚洲三种构造型式发展为古亚洲、特提斯和滨太平洋三大构造域。黄汲清的研究始终是从东亚地质的实际情况出发 ,他曾多次指出 :中国是全球构造研究中的一块宝地 ,中国人应该为世界地质科学的发展做出贡献     

辽西医巫闾山地区中生代两期韧性变形的研究

医巫闾山地区的韧性剪切构造是中生代两期韧性变形作用的产物。早期韧性变形中a线理发育,线理走向和糜棱面理走向基本一致,线理在xy面上的侧伏角绝大多数<30°;该期韧性变形是以左行走滑运动为主。晚期韧性变形中a线理发育,线理倾伏向和糜棱岩中糜棱面理倾向相近,线理在xy面上侧伏角主要在45°～90°之间;该期韧性变形是伸展作用的产物。医巫闾山中生代两期韧性剪切变形作用表明,在侏罗纪至早白垩世期间辽西地区不仅发生了强烈挤压推覆作用和伸展作用,也发生了大规模左行走滑作用。该韧性变形作用的发现对进一步研究辽西中生代的构造演化序列、期次和构造格架转换等问题有重要意义。     

岩层移动动态过程的离散单元法分析

采动覆岩动态发展过程受地质、采矿条件诸多因素的影响,是一个十分复杂的时空过程。通过离散单元法数值模拟,揭示了综放开采条件下采场上覆岩层动态发展规律,特别是覆岩离层缝隙的分布规律、发展形态、空间位置以及与地质采矿条件的关系,揭示了工作面推进过程中,采场上覆岩层中重新分布的应力大小、方向及其发展变化规律,该应力的存在和变化规律是确定井下开采方法、支护方式的依据。     

Imaging the ramp–décollement geometry of the Chelungpu fault using coseismic GPS displacements from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake

We use coseismic GPS data from the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake to estimate the subsurface shape of the Chelungpu fault that ruptured during the earthquake. Studies prior to the earthquake suggest a ramp–décollement geometry for the Chelungpu fault, yet many finite source inversions using GPS and seismic data assume slip occurred on the down-dip extension of the Chelungpu ramp, rather than on a sub-horizontal décollement. We test whether slip occurred on the décollement or the down-dip extension of the ramp using well-established methods of inverting GPS data for geometry and slip on faults represented as elastic dislocations. We find that a significant portion of the coseismic slip did indeed occur on a sub-horizontal décollement located at 8 km depth. The slip on the décollement contributes 21% of the total modeled moment release. We estimate the fault geometry assuming several different models for the distribution of elastic properties in the earth: homogeneous, layered, and layered with lateral material contrast across the fault. It is shown, however, that heterogeneity has little influence on our estimated fault geometry. We also investigate several competing interpretations of deformation within the E/W trending rupture zone at the northern end of the 1999 ground ruptures. We demonstrate that the GPS data require a 22- to 35-km-long lateral ramp at the northern end, contradicting other investigations that propose deformation is concentrated within 10 km of the Chelungpu fault. Lastly, we propose a simple tectonic model for the development of the lateral ramp.     

Neotectonic deformation in the transition zone between the Dead Sea Transform and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, Southern Turkey: a palaeomagnetic study of the Karasu Rift Volcanism

In southern Turkey ongoing differential impingement of Arabia into the weak Anatolian collisional collage resulting from subduction of the Neotethyan Ocean has produced one of the most complex crustal interactions along the Alpine–Himalayan Orogen. Several major transforms with disputed motions, including the northward extension of the Dead Sea Fault Zone (DSFZ), meet in this region. To evaluate neotectonic motion on the Amanos and East Hatay fault zones considered to be northward extensions of the DSFZ, the palaeomagnetism of volcanic fields in the Karasu Rift between these faults has been studied. Remanence carriers are low-Ti magnetites and all except 5 of 51 basalt lavas have normal polarity. Morphological, polarity and K–Ar evidence show that rift formation occurred largely during the Brunhes chron with volcanism concentrated at 0.66–0.35 Ma and a subsidiary episode at 0.25–0.05. Forty-four units of normal polarity yield a mean of D/I=8.8°/54.7° with inclination identical to the present-day field and declination rotated clockwise by 8.8±4.0°. Within the 15-km-wide Hassa sector of the Karasu Rift, the volcanic activity is concentrated between the Amanos and East Hatay faults, both with left lateral motions, which have rotated blocks bounded by NW–SE cross faults in a clockwise sense as the Arabian Block has moved northwestwards. An average lava age of 0.5 Ma yields a minimum cumulative slip rate on the system bounding faults of 0.46 cm/year according with the rate deduced from the Africa–Arabia Euler vector and reduced rates of slip on the southern extension of the DSFZ during Plio-Quaternary times. Estimates deduced from offsets of dated lavas flows and morphological features on the Amanos Fault Zone [Tectonophysics 344 (2002) 207] are lower (0.09–0.18 cm/year) probably because they are limited to surface fault breaks and do not embrace the seismogenic crust.Results of this study suggest that most strike slip on the DSFZ is taken up by the Amanos–East Hatay–Afrin fault array in southern Turkey. Comparable estimates of Quaternary slip rate are identified on other faults meeting at an unstable FFF junction (DSFZ, East Anatolian Fault Zone, Karatas Fault Zone). A deceleration in slip rate across the DSFZ and its northward continuation during Plio-Quaternary times correlates with reorganization of the tectonic regime during the last 1–3 Ma including tectonic escape within Anatolia, establishment of the North and East Anatolian Fault Zones bounding the Anatolian collage in mid–late Pliocene times, a contemporaneous transition from transpression to transtension and concentration of all basaltic magmatism in this region within the last 1 Ma.