FOCAL MECHANISM SOLUTION AND TECTONIC STRESS FIELD CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MIDDLE TIANSHAN MOUNTAINS,XINJIANG

The middle part of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang is located in the north-central part of the Tianshan orogenic belt, between the rigid Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin. It is one of the regions with frequent deformation and strong earthquake activities. In this paper, 492 M_S>2.5 earthquake events recorded by Xinjiang seismograph network from 2009 to 2018 were collected. The M_S3.5 earthquake was taken as the boundary, the focal mechanism solutions of the earthquake events in this region were calculated by CAP method and FOCEMEC method respectively. At the same time the focal mechanism solutions of GCMT recorded historical earthquake events in this region were also collected. According to the global stress map classification standard, the moderate-strong earthquakes in the region are mainly dominated by thrust with a certain slip component, which are distributed near the combined belts of the Tarim Basin, Junggar Basin, Turpan Basin and Yili Basin with Tianshan Mountains. The thrust component decreases from south to north, while the strike-slip component increases. The spatial distribution characteristics of the tectonic stress field in the middle section of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang are obtained by using the damped regional-scale stress field inversion method. The maximum principal compressive stress in axis the study area rotated in a fan shape from west to east, the NW direction in the western section gradually shifted to NE direction, its elevation angle is nearly horizontal, in the state of near horizontal compression. The minimum principal compressive stress axis is nearly EW, and the elevation angle is nearly vertical. Influenced by large fault zones such as Kashi River, Bolhinur, Nalati, Fukang, the southern margin of the Junggar and the north Beiluntai, the local regional stress field presents complex diversity. Under the influence of the northward extrusion of Pamir and Tarim blocks, the whole Tianshan is shortened by compression, but its shortening rate decreases from south to north and from west to east, the stress shape factor increases gradually from west to east, the intermediate principal compressive stress axis exhibits a change in compression to extension. There are some differences in the characteristics of tectonic stress field between the north and south of Tianshan Mountains. The regional maximum principal compressive stress axis is 15° north by east on the south side, while it is nearly NS on the north side. The deformation of the Tianshan Mountains and the two basins on both sides is obviously larger than that in the inside of the mountain. Changes in the crustal shortening rate caused by the rotation of the rigid Tarim block and Junggar block to the relatively soft Tianshan block, as well as the uplifts of Borokonu and Bogda Mountains, the comprehensive influence of the material westward expansion constitute the stress field distribution characteristics of the north and south sides of the middle section of Tianshan Mountains. The recent two M_S6.6 earthquakes in the region caused the regional stress field to rotate counterclockwise. The post-earthquake stress field and the main source focal mechanism solution tend to be consistent. The seismic activity in the study area is week in the south and strong in the north. The focal depth is about 20km. Most strike-slip earthquakes occur near the junction belt of the Tianshan and Junggar Basin.