中更新世以来北天山的向北扩展

利用深部地球物理结果与浅部地质调查结果进行对比,并基于DEM的地貌分析,研究了中更新世以来北天山向北扩展的造山过程.中更新世以来,北天山地壳中存在南倾的低角度滑脱面,滑脱面之上,逆断裂和褶皱带组成的山前活动构造带整体向北滑脱并缩短变形.中更新世早期,气候暖湿,基岩山脉剥蚀强烈,在山前形成了大规模的洪泛平原.中更新世中期以来,持续的构造活动一方面使山前盆地卷入变形,另一方面使盆地遭受分隔,天山北麓地壳以阶梯式的形式自南向北逐步抬升.中更新世中期约600 ka以来,气候越来越干旱,山前盆地地表仅遭受了轻微剥蚀,地壳抬升全部转换为自南向北的地表隆起,隆起的北部向天山靠拢,隆起的南部逐渐成为山系,与天山相连,北天山得以向北扩展.中更新世以来的掀斜隆起造成山麓至盆地高差达1000多米的坡面,为30 ka以来的河流下切提供了坡度条件,造成了深达300多米的河流强烈下切.     

A demonstration of the importance of bedload transport for fluvial bedrock erosion and knickpoint propagation

We provide field evidence for the role of bedload in driving fluvial incision and knickpoint propagation. Using aerial photographs, field surveys, and hydrological data, we constrain the incision history of a bedrock gorge 1200 m long and up to 20 m deep cut by Da'an River in western Taiwan. This reach of the river experienced 10 m of uplift during the 1999 Chi‐Chi earthquake. For five years following the earthquake, bedload was prevented from entering the uplift zone, the knickpoint was static and little incision took place. Bedload transport across the uplift zone resumed in 2004, initiating extremely rapid incision, with 620 m of knickpoint propagation and up to 20 m of downcutting by 2008. This change highlights the relative inefficiency of suspended sediment and the dominant role of bedload as a tool for fluvial erosion and knickpoint propagation. Once bedload tools became available, knickpoint propagation was influenced by geological structure, lithology, and drainage organization. In particular, a change in dip of the sandstone beds at the site caused a decrease of knickpoint propagation velocity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

GEOMORPHIC FEATURES AND LATE QUATERNARY SLIP RATE OF THE SOUTHERN ZONGWULONG SHAN FAULT

With the continuous collision of the India and Eurasia plate in Cenozoic, the Qilian Shan began to uplift strongly from 12Ma to 10Ma. Nowadays, Qilian Shan is still uplifting and expanding. In the northern part of Qilian Shan, tectonic activity extends to Hexi Corridor Basin, and has affected Alashan area. In the southern part of Qilian Shan, tectonic activity extends to Qaidam Basin, forming a series of thrust faults in the northern margin of Qaidam Basin and a series of fold deformations in the basin. The southern Zongwulong Shan Fault is located in the northeastern margin of Qaidam Basin, it is the boundary thrust fault between the southern margin of Qilian Shan and Qaidam Basin. GPS studies show that the total crustal shortening rate across the Qilian Shan is 5~8mm/a, which absorbs 20% of the convergence rate of the Indian-Eurasian plate. Concerning how the strain is distributed on individual fault in the Qilian Shan, previous studies mainly focused on the northern margin of the Qilian Shan and the Hexi Corridor Basin, while the study on the southern margin of the Qilian Shan was relatively weak. Therefore, the study of late Quaternary activity of southern Zongwulong Shan Fault in southern margin of Qilian Shan is of great significance to understand the strain distribution pattern in Qilian Shan and the propagation of the fault to the interior of Qaidam Basin. At the same time, because of the strong tectonic activity, the northern margin of Qaidam Basin is also a seismic-prone area. Determining the fault slip rate is also helpful to better understand the movement behaviors of faults and seismic risk assessment.Through remote sensing image interpretation and field geological survey, combined with GPS topographic profiling, cosmogenic nuclides and optically stimulated luminescence dating, we carried out a detailed study at Baijingtu site and Xujixiang site on the southern Zongwulong Shan Fault. The results show that the southern Zongwulong Shan Fault is a Holocene reverse fault, which faulted a series of piedmont alluvial fans and formed a series of fault scarps.The 43ka, 20ka and 11ka ages of the alluvial fan surfaces in this area can be well compared with the ages of terraces and alluvial fan surfaces in the northeastern margin of Tibetan Plateau, and its formation is mainly controlled by climatic factors. Based on the vertical dislocations of the alluvial fans in different periods in Baijingtu and Xujixiang areas, the average vertical slip rate of the southern Zongwulong Shan Fault since late Quaternary is(0.41±0.05)mm/a, and the average horizontal shortening rate is 0.47~0.80mm/a, accounting for about 10% of the crustal shortening in Qilian Shan. These results are helpful to further understand the strain distribution model in Qilian Shan and the tectonic deformation mechanism in the northern margin of Qaidam Basin. The deformation mechanism of the northern Qaidam Basin fault zone, which is composed of the southern Zongwulong Shan Fault, is rather complicated, and it is not a simple piggy-back thrusting style. These faults jointly control the tectonic activity characteristics of the northern Qaidam Basin.     

柯坪塔格推覆体的新生代变形与扩展

柯坪塔格推覆体位于天山西南麓。新生代以来,由于印度板块与欧亚板块的碰撞,天山晚古生代褶皱和断裂构造重新复活隆起,并向南北两侧推挤,在前陆盆地中渐进式地形成多排褶皱-逆断裂带。文中讨论了皮羌近SN向断裂带以西推覆体的新生代变形与扩展特征。结果表明,推覆体的新生代变形为波浪式差异性隆起。从天山南侧到塔里木盆地方向,构成推覆体的各排褶皱-逆断裂带的形成顺序有先后之分,早期形成的靠近天山,晚期形成的靠近塔里木盆地,反映推覆体在形成过程中由北向南的扩展,其扩展距离最大约76km。除此之外,各排褶皱-逆断裂带前缘都由多条断裂组成,它们与褶皱伴生,具有不同的形成和新活动时代。早期形成的断裂靠近山地一侧,晚期形成的断裂靠近盆地一侧,反映褶皱-逆断裂带单排前缘断裂也具有由北向南扩展的性质,其扩展距离为100~500m。最后,对推覆体扩展的形成机制进行了讨论     

成都平原内汶川Ms8.0级地震的地表变形

2008年5月12日汶川8.0级大地震发生在青藏高原东缘龙门山推覆构造带上,除映秀—北川断裂、灌县—江油断裂上各形成240 km和72 km 长的地表破裂带外,可能在成都平原西部的什邡市师古镇附近形成一条弱地表破裂带.成都平原内的地震地表破裂带与龙门山区的2条地震破裂带构成倾向北西的叠瓦状逆断裂地震地表破裂系统.野外调查发现,师古镇南肖家院—庆云庵建筑物严重破坏带、水渠跌水、地表褶皱、喷砂和地裂缝带走向30°,延伸长度约7.5 km.探槽开挖表明,地表地震褶皱陡坎下的地层发生弯曲变形,汶川地震使断层上盘的地面和最新地层褶皱隆起0.2 m.TC2探槽中的粘土层底面褶皱隆起0.4 m,它可能记录到汶川地震之前另外一次与汶川地震大小相当的古地震事件.浅层地震勘探资料表明,平原区出现地震地表破裂的位置不仅存在晚更新世活动断裂,而且伴生有第四纪活动褶皱.     

Numerical simulation of landscape evolution and mountain uplift history constrain——A case study from the youthful stage mountains around the central Hexi Corridor,NE Tibetan Plateau

Landscape evolution models(LEMs) are essential tools for analyzing tectonic-climate interactions and reproducing landform-shaping processes. In this study we used a LEM to simulate the evolution of the mountains from the central Hexi Corridor in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, where the climate is arid and the surface processes are relatively uniform. However,there are pronounced differences in the topography between the mountains around the central Hexi Corridor. The East Jintanan Shan, West Jintanan Shan and Heli Shan are located in the northern part of the corridor; and the Yumu Shan in the southern part.Firstly, several representative areas were selected from these mountains to analyze the topographic characteristics, including the uniform valley spacing, local relief, and the outlet number. Secondly, a LEM for these areas was constructed using the Landlab platform, and the landscape evolution was simulated. With uniform valley spacing and other topographic characteristics as the criteria, we compared the realistic and simulated terrain for different model ages. Finally, based on the similarity of the simulated and realistic terrain, we estimated the timing of the initial uplift and the uplift rate of the four mountain ranges. The results are consistent with previous geological and geomorphological records from these youthful stage mountains that have not yet reached a steady state. Our findings demonstrate that LEMs combined with topographic characteristics are a reliable means of constraining the timing of the initial uplift and the uplift rate of the youthful stage mountain. Our approach can potentially be applied to other youthful stage mountains and it may become a valuable tool in tectonic geomorphology research.     

汶川地震同震滑坡物质在震区的滞留和运移及其对龙门山地形演化的影响

2008年M_W7.9汶川地震导致龙门山断裂发生强烈地壳变形,同时引发的巨量同震滑坡加速了该地区的地表剥蚀和河流侵蚀.然而,目前尚缺少系统的数据定量研究滑坡物质的运移以及河流侵蚀速率随时间的演化规律,这些对理解龙门山前缘物质的再分配以及强震对活动造山带地形塑造的作用至关重要.为此,本研究在汶川地震后的6年间,对震区沱江上游3条支流湔江、石亭江、绵远河流域进行了多期次的定点现代河沙采样.通过系统测量河沙中的石英¹⁰Be浓度,并与震前已发表的数据进行对比,发现如下基本特点：（1）震后河沙¹⁰Be浓度均有明显降低,表明同震滑坡物质对河沙的稀释作用;（2）震后河流对河沙的运移量增加为震前的1.3~18.5倍,因此震后龙门山地区侵蚀速率短期显著增加;（3）初步估计得到汶川地震产生的滑坡物质被完全运移出造山带所需要的时间至少为100~4000年,接近龙门山地区强震复发周期;（4）震间和同震产生的构造变形和地表剥蚀在空间上具有互补性.考虑到地表剥蚀引起的地壳均衡反弹效应,认为类似汶川地震的强震有利于龙门山的隆升.认识震前、震时和震后的地壳变形及侵蚀过程有助于更好地理解单次强震事件对高原边界龙门山地形演化的作用.     

Modeling of wind gap formation and development of sedimentary basins during fold growth: application to the Zagros Fold Belt,Iran

Mountain building and landscape evolution are controlled by interactions between river dynamics and tectonic forces. Such interactions have been extensively studied, however a quantitative evaluation of tectonic/geomorphic feedbacks, which is imperative for understanding sediments routing within orogens and fold‐and‐thrust belts, remains to be undertaken. Here, we employ numerical simulations to assess the conditions of uplift and river incision necessary to deflect an antecedent drainage network during the growth of one, or several, folds. We propose that a partitioning of the river network into internal (endorheic) and longitudinal drainage arises as a result of lithological differences within the deforming crustal sedimentary cover. Using examples from the Zagros Fold Belt (ZFB), we show that drainage patterns can be linked to the non‐dimensional incision ratio R between successive lithological layers, corresponding to the ratio between their relative erodibilities or incision coefficients. Transverse drainage networks develop for uplift rates smaller than 0.8 mm yr^?1 and low incision ratios (?10 < R < 10). Intermediate drainage networks are obtained for uplift rates up to 2 mm yr^?1 and large incision ratios (R > 20). Parallel drainage networks and the formation of sedimentary basins occur for large values of incision ratio (R > 20) and uplift rates between 1 and 2 mm yr^?1. These results have implications for predicting the distribution of sediment depocenters in fold‐and‐thrust belts, which can be of direct economic interest for hydrocarbon exploration. They also put better constraints on the fluvial and geomorphic responses to fold growth induced by crustal‐scale tectonics. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dating of erosion surface and terraces in the eastern Qilian Shan,northwest China

The actively deformed foreland of eastern Qilian Shan (mountains) contains well‐preserved geomorphic features such as erosion surfaces, river terraces and tectonically uplifted alluvial fans, providing suitable archives for research on regional tectonic activities and palaeoclimatic changes. These geomorphic surfaces are well dated by using a combination of magnetostratigraphy, electron spin resonance, thermoluminescence, infra‐red stimulated luminescence, radiocarbon dating, and correlation with the well‐established loess–palaeosol sequences of China. Our results show that the erosion surface formed about 1·4 Ma ago, and the age of river terraces is 1·24 Ma, 820–860 ka, 780 ka, 420–440 ka, 230–250 ka, 140 ka, 60 ka and 10 ka, respectively. Valley incision rates of c. 0·09–0·25 m ka^?1 have been identified. The repetitive stratigraphic and geomorphic pattern of these terraces indicates the fluvial sedimentation–incision cycles are tightly associated with the 100‐ka glacial–interglacial climatic cycles. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

利用河流阶地限定活动逆断层相关褶皱晚第四纪变形机制和速率：方法与认识

发育在褶皱区的河流阶地作为一种发育广泛、易于定年的被动变形的地貌标志物,已越来越多地被应用到活动逆断层相关褶皱晚第四纪变形的研究中;结合前生长地层和生长地层,可限定褶皱缩短总量和变形起始时间等参数,恢复从开始生长至晚第四纪以来完整的生长演化历史。文中对正弦曲线状和尖棱状弯滑褶皱模型、经典断弯褶皱模型和纯剪切断顶褶皱模型进行了总结和讨论。这些模型的提出为限定褶皱变形提供了很好的方法,但不能完全概括自然界中的褶皱模型,这就需要更多的野外地质、数值模拟和实验模拟工作。     

GEOMORPHIC FEATURES OF THE SHULE RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN IN QILIANSHAN AND ITS INSIGHT INTO TECTONIC IMPLICATIONS

Because of the strong uplift of the Qilian Shan since late Cenozoic,the drainage basins that are derived from the mountains have undergone strong tectonic deformation.So the typical geomorphology characteristics of these drainage basins may indicate the strong tectonic movement in the region.For example,the Shule River drainage basin,which originates from the western part of the Qilian Shan owns unique geomorphology characteristics which may indicate the neotectonic movement. Stream networks of the Shule drainage basin extracted from the DEM data based on GIS spatial analysis technology are graded into five levels using Strahler classification method.Four sub-catchments,numbered 1,2,3 and 4 are chosen for detailed analysis.Furthermore,the four sub-catchments,the hypsometric integral curves,Hack profiles,SL index and average slope of the Shule drainage basin are determined by GIS tools.In addition,we analyzed the slope spectrum of the Shule drainage basin. The average elevation of the Shule drainage basin is very high,however,the slope of the drainage basin is very low,the gentle slope occupies so large area proportion that the slope spectrum shows a unimodal pattern and a peak value is in low slope region (0°~5°),so tectonic movement has a strong influence on the drainage basin.Under the intensive impact of the tectonic movement of the active fault and regional uplift,the hypsometric integral curve is sigmoid,revealing that the Shule drainage basin is in the mature stage.The Hack profile is on a convex,the longitudinal profile is best fitted by linear fitting and the abnormal data of the SL index of the Shule River has a good fit with the section through which the active fault traverses,that means the tectonic movement of the active fault has strong influence on the river's SL index.It is worth noting that lithologic factors also have great impact on the river geomorphology in some sections. According to the above analysis,we recognize that in the interior of active orogen,the evolution of river geomorphology usually is influenced by tectonic movement and reveals the regional neotectonics in turn.     

Unraveling the roles of asymmetric uplift,normal faulting and groundwater flow to drainage rearrangement in an emerging karstic landscape

Landscape adjustment to tectonic, lithologic and climatic forcing leads to drainage reorganization and migration of divides. The respective contribution of these forcings, especially on carbonate landscapes is not well defined. Here, we have addressed this issue by combining field observations, satellite image interpretation and digital elevation model (DEM) quantitative analysis to assess drainage response to spatially heterogeneous rainfall, asymmetric uplift, and normal faulting on an emerging carbonated platform (Sumba Island, Indonesia). We map geomorphic markers of fluvial dynamics and drainage rearrangement and compute a χ parameter that incorporates the contributions of unevenly distributed precipitation and asymmetric uplift to estimate erosional disequilibrium across drainage divides. We find that asymmetric emergence of Sumba Island created an initial parallel drainage, asymmetric across a divide that propagates landwards. Soon after establishing itself on the emerging slopes this drainage was disturbed by normal faulting, which has become the main force driving drainage rearrangement. Vertical offsets across normal fault scarps first triggered aggradation within valleys over the hanging walls, and then disconnected upstream reaches from downstream reaches, leading to the formation of wind gaps atop the fault scarps and upstream perched sedimentary basins. The defeat of rivers by growing fault scarps was catalysed by the possibility for surface water to be rerouted near the fault scarps into underground water networks inside the underlying carbonates. At the end of the process, the opposite drainage across the main water divide captured the struggling drainage. Capture mechanisms include initial groundwater capture of the perched alluvial aquifers, followed by ground sapping at the head of the opposite drainage and surface stream diversion by avulsion. Finally, normal faulting is the main driving force of drainage rearrangement allowing avulsion and karstic rerouting whereas asymmetric uplift and climate forcings have shown a low efficiency. The role of karstification is more ambiguous, catalysing or inhibiting drainage rearrangement. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perturbation of fluvial sediment fluxes following the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake

Quantifying the removal of co‐seismic landslide material after a large‐magnitude earthquake is central to our understanding of geomorphic recovery from seismic events and the topographic evolution of tectonically active mountain ranges. In order to gain more insight into the fluvial erosion response to co‐seismic landslides, we focus on the sediment fluxes of rivers flowing through the rupture zone of the 2008 M_w 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake in the Longmen Shan of the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Over the post‐seismic period of 2008–2013, we annually collected river sediment samples (0.25–1 mm) at 19 locations and measured the concentration of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be in quartz. When compared with published pre‐earthquake data, the ¹⁰Be concentrations declined dramatically after the earthquake at all sampling sites, but with significant spatial differences in the amplitude of this decrease, and were starting to increase toward pre‐earthquake level in several basins over the 5‐year survey. Our analysis shows that the amplitude of ¹⁰Be decrease is controlled by the amount of landslides directly connected to the river network. Calculations based on ¹⁰Be mixing budgets indicate that the sediment flux of the 0.25–1 mm size fraction increased up to sixfold following the Wenchuan earthquake. Our results also suggest that fluvial erosion became supply limited shortly after the earthquake, and predict that it could take a few years to several decades for fluvial sediment fluxes to go back to pre‐earthquake characteristics, depending on catchment properties. We also estimate that it will take at least decades and possibly up to thousands of years to remove the co‐seismic landslide materials from the catchments in the Longmen Shan. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW METHOD FOR RIVER PROFILE ANALYSIS: Integral Approach

The topography and geomorphology of active orogens result from the interaction of tectonics and climate. In most orogens, a fluvial channel is most sensitive to the coupling between tectonics, lithology, and climate. Meanwhile, the related signals have been recorded by both the drainage geometry and channel longitudinal profile. Thus, how to extract tectonic information from fluvial channels has been a focused issue in geologic and geomorphologic studies. The well known stream-power river incision model bridges the gap between tectonic uplift, river incision and channel profile change, making it possible to retrieve rock uplift pattern from river profiles. In this model, the river incision rate depends on the rock erodibility, contributing drainage area and river gradient. The steady-state form of the river incision model predicts a power-law scaling between the drainage area and channel gradient. Via a linear regression to the log-transformed slope-area data, the slope and intercept are channel concavity and steepness indices, respectively. The concavity relates to lithology, climatic setting and incision process while the channel steepness can be used to map the spatial pattern of rock uplift. For its simple calculation process, the slope-area analysis has been widely used in the study of tectonic geomorphology during past decades. However, to calculate river slope, the coarse channel elevation data must be smoothed, re-sampled, and differentiated without any reasonable smooth window or rigid mathematical fundamentals. One may lose important information and derive stream-power parameters with high uncertainties. In this paper, we introduce the integral approach, a procedure that has been widely used in the latest four years and demonstrated to be a better method for river profile analysis than the traditional slope-area analysis. Via the integration to the steady-state form of the stream-power river incision equation, the river longitudinal profile can be converted into a straight line of which the independent variable is the integral quantity χ with the unit of distance and the dependent variable is the relative channel elevation. We can calculate the linear correlation coefficient between elevation and χ based on a series of concavity values and find the best linear fit to be the reasonable channel concavity index. The slope of the linear fit to the χ value and elevation is simply related to the ratio of the uplift rate to the erodibility. Without calculating channel slope, the integral approach makes up for the drawback of the slope-area analysis. Meanwhile, via the integral approach, a steady-state river profile can be expressed as a continuous function, which can provide theoretical principle for some geomorphic parameters (e.g., slope-length index, hypsometric integral). In addition, we can determine the drainage network migration direction using this method. Therefore, the integral approach can be used as a better method for tectonogeomorphic research.     

Interaction between the controls on fluvial system development: tectonics,climate, base level and river capture – Rio Alias,Southeast Spain

Fluvial systems in uplifting terrain respond to tectonic, climatic, eustatic and local base‐level controls modified by specific local factors, such as river capture. The Rio Alias in southeast Spain is an ephemeral, transverse‐to‐structure fluvial system. The river drains two interconnected Neogene sedimentary basins, the Sorbas and Almeria basins, and crosses two major geological structures, the Sierras de Alhamilla/Cabrera and the Carboneras Fault Zone. Regional epeirogenic uplift resulted in sustained fluvial incision during the Quaternary, punctuated by major climatically driven periods of aggradation and dissection, which created a suite of five river terraces. The river terrace sequence was radically modified in the late Pleistocene by a major river capture (itself a response to regional tectonics), localized tectonic activity and eustatic base‐level change. The Rio Alias is defined by four reaches; within each the climatically‐generated, region‐wide, fluvial response was modified by tectonics, base‐level change or river capture to varying degrees. In the upper part of the basin (Lucainena reach), climate was the dominant control on river development, with limited modification of the sequence by uplift of the Sierra Alhamilla and local drainage reorganization by a local river capture. Downstream of the Sierra Alhamilla in the Polopus reach, the climatic signal is dominant, but its expression is radically modified by the response to a major river capture whereby the Alias system lost up to 70% of its pre‐capture drainage area. In the reach adjacent to the Carboneras Fault Zone (Argamason reach), modification of the terrace sequence by local tectonic activity and a resultant local base‐level fall led to a major local incisional event (propagating c. 3–4 km upstream from the area of tectonic disturbance). At the seaward end of the system (El Saltador reach) Quaternary sea‐level changes modified the patterns of erosion and incision and have resulted in steep incisional terrace profiles. The signals generated by regional tectonics and the Quaternary climate change can be identified throughout the basin but those generated by ongoing local tectonics, river capture and sea‐level change are spatially restricted and define the four reaches. The connectivity of the system from the headwaters to the coast decreased through time as incision progressed, resulting in changes in local coupling characteristics. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Late Cenozoic uplift of the Liupan Shan,China

Based on paleomagnetic measurements and morphostratigraphy of red bed/clay sequences from pediments of the Liupan Shan and the Longdong Basin, the following results are revealed. The red bed/clay sediments became to accumulate at around 8.1 MaBP, which implied that the plantation surface developed since Late Cretaceous was broken by active fault, and its development was terminated. The Liupan Shan began to slightly uplift. The Liupan Shan experienced a small-scale uplift around 5.2 MaBP, inferred from the appearance of fine gravel sediments at that time. Consequently, a pediment was developed. The Liupan Shan accelerated uplift since about 3.8 MaBP at a large scale, which caused the deep incision of the rivers and the termination of fluvial and lacustrine deposition. Meanwhile, typical eolian red clay appeared since then. This uplift process is well correlated and in response to that of the Tibetan Plateau and the mountains around it.

     

THE NORTHWARD GROWTH OF THE NORTHEASTERN TIBETAN PLATEAU IN LATE CENOZOIC: IMPLICATIONS FROM APATITE (U-Th)/He AGES OF LONGSHOU SHAN

Longshou Shan, located at the southern edge of the Alxa block, is one of the outermost peripheral mountains and the northeasternmost area of the northeastern Tibetan plateau. In recent years, through geochronology, thermochronology, magnetic stratigraphy and other methods, a large number of studies have been carried out on the initiation time of major faults, the exhumation history of mountains and the formation and evolution of basins in the northeastern Tibet Plateau, the question of whether and when the northeastward expansion of the northeastern Tibet Plateau has affected the southern part of the Alxa block has been raised. Therefore, the exhumation history of Longshou Shan provides significant insight on the uplift and expansion of the Tibetan plateau and their dynamic mechanism. The Longshou Shan, trending NWW, is the largest mountain range in the Hexi Corridor Basin, and its highest peak is more than 3 600m(with average elevation of 2800m), where the average elevation of Hexi Corridor is 1 600m, the relative height difference between them is nearly 2200m. This mountain is bounded by two parallel thrust faults: The North Longshou Shan Fault(NLSF)and the South Longshou Shan Fault(SLSF), both of them trends NWW and has high angle of inclination(45°~70°)but dips opposite to each other. The South Longshou Shan Fault, located in the northern margin of the Hexi Corridor Basin, is the most active fault on the northeastern plateau, and controls the uplift of Longshou Shan.Due to its lower closure temperature, the lower-temperature thermochronology method can more accurately constrain the cooling process of a geological body in the upper crust. In recent years, the low-temperature thermochronology method has been used more and more in the study of the erosion of orogenic belts, the evolution of sedimentary basins and tectonic geomorphology. In this study, the apatite (U-Th)/He(AHe) method is used to analyze the erosion and uplift of rocks on the south and north sides of Longshou Shan. 11 AHe samples collected from the south slope exhibit variable AHe ages between~8Ma and~200Ma, the age-elevation plot shows that before 13~17Ma, the erosion rate of the Longshou Shan is very low, and then rapid erosion occurs in the mountain range, which indicates that the strong uplift of Longshou Shan occurred at 13~17Ma BP, resulting in rapid cooling of the southern rocks. In contrast, 3 AHe ages obtained from the north slope are older and more concentrated ranging from 220Ma BP to 240Ma BP, indicating that the north slope can be seen as a paleo-isothermal surface and the activity of the north side is weak. The results of thermal history inverse modeling show that the South Longshou Shan Fault was in a tectonic quiet period until the cooling rate suddenly increased to 3.33℃/Ma at 14Ma BP, indicating that Longshou Shan had not experienced large tectonic events before~14Ma BP.
We believe that under the control of South Longshou Shan Fault, the mountain is characterized by a northward tilting uplift at Mid-Miocene. Our results on the initial deformation of the Longshou Shan, in combination with many published studies across the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau, suggest that the compression strain of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan plateau may expand from south to north, and the Tibetan plateau has expanded northeastward to the southern margin of the Alxa block as early as Mid-Miocene, making Longshou Shan the current structural and geomorphic boundary of the northeastern plateau.     

焉耆盆地北缘和静逆断裂-褶皱带中晚第四纪变形速率

焉耆盆地为南天山内部的一个山间盆地,盆地北缘发育1排第四纪新生褶皱带,即和静逆断裂-褶皱带。中晚第四纪以来,由于和静逆断裂-褶皱带的持续活动使得在褶皱生长过程中形成的多期洪积地貌面发生反向掀斜变形。利用高精度差分GPS,对褶皱带中部哈尔莫敦背斜区内的多期变形地貌面的地形形态进行了测绘,判定背斜的生长主要以翼旋转为主。利用背斜北翼不同地貌面的反向掀斜角度,分别计算了不同期次地貌面的隆升和缩短变形量。结合原地宇宙成因核素深度剖面法和光释光测年法,对背斜区内的F4,F3b,F2洪积台地面和T1阶地面的形成年龄进行了测定,发现背斜在距今约550ka、428.3+57.6-47.2ka和354.3+34.2-34.8ka不同时段的平均隆升速率从0.31±0.24mm/a下降至0.15±0.02mm/a,同时背斜北翼的翼旋转速度也呈逐渐减小的趋势。但背斜自起始变形开始,缩短速率却大致保持恒定为约0.3mm/a。而这一恒定的缩短速率与现今横跨和静逆断裂-褶皱带所观测的GPS速率具有很好的一致性,说明在天山内部的哈尔莫敦背斜区,短尺度的GPS速率可以代表长尺度的地壳应变速率,同时反映出山体内部一系列断层和褶皱构造在吸收和调节整体变形量时也起到一定的作用。     

Late Quaternary terrace formation from knickpoint propagation in the headwaters of the Yellow River,NE Tibetan Plateau

Upstream knickpoint propagation is an essential mechanism for channel erosion, carrying changes in base level, tectonics and climate across the landscape. Generally, the terraces on cross-sections at steady-state conditions have been widely reported. However, many landscapes in the field appear to be in a transient state. Here, we explore the mechanism of knickpoint initiation and fluvial evolution in a transient setting in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Analysis of channel profiles and terrace correlation indicates that the Yellow River is adjusted to match the increase in differentiated fault activity and climate change in a regional setting of continuous uplift. Consequently, a series of terraces were formed, and the number of terrace steps increased downstream, in the headwaters of the Yellow River. All terraces were dated using the optically stimulated luminescence method. The top terrace, distributed continuously in the whole basin with a gradient, was deposited during a cold period and abandoned at the climatic transition from cold to warm state, at approximately 14.6–9.5 ka. After that, one terrace formed at around 4.2 ka in the upper reach. In correlation with the continuous topographic gradient surface of this terrace, three terrace steps were formed in the down reach during the period from 9.5 ka to 4.2 ka. This phenomenon might indicate multiple phases of continuous headward migration of fluvial knickpoint waves and terrace formation during the downcutting. It was caused by fault activity and tectonic uplift of the gorge at the outlet of the basin, under influence of the gradual integration of the Yellow River from downstream. This phenomenon shows that the fluvial incision in a transient state along the high relief margin of the orogenic plateau can be caused by fault activity, in addition to widespread surface uplift, climatically driven lake spillover and the establishment of external drainage.     

THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURAL FEATURES OF THE PENGXIAN ACTIVE BLIND FAULT IN THE CENTRAL LONGMEN SHAN FRONT BELT

The Pengxian blind fault is a typical active fault in the central Longmen Shan front belt. It has important reference value for understanding the growth mode and process of the eastern Tibetan plateau. Because the fault is covered by the thick Upper Cenozoic strata in the western Sichuan Basin, its three-dimensional spatial distribution, structural style and formation mechanism remain unclear. In this paper, based on several high-resolution 3-D seismic reflection profiles, together with near-surface geological data and borehole data, we investigate the structural geometry of the Pengxian blind fault and build a 3-D model based on the results. We analyze the shape and scale of underground spatial distribution of the fault through a three-dimensional fault model. According to the theory of fault-related fold and fold-accommodation fault, this paper discusses the forming mechanism of the Pengxian buried structures. The shallow tectonic deformation in front of Longmen Shan is closely related to the detachment layer of the Middle and Lower Triassic, and this detachment layer f1 horizontally propagates into the Longquanshan anticline in the western Sichuan Basin. The Pengxian buried fault is a typical fault-bend fold and the f1 horizontally propagates into the western Sichuan Basin with a fault slip of 3.5km. The Pengxian blind fault is a high angle(50°~60°)thrust fault developed in the front wing of the kink-band zone, striking NE-SW, with a total length of~50km; But the fault is not connected with the Dayi buried fault in the south section of Longmen Shan. They are two different faults, and this defines the scale of the Pengxian blind fault. This limitation makes sense for analyzing and evaluating the magnitudes of potential earthquake. All above study provides research basis for further analysis of the potential seismic risk in this area. The Pengxian blind fault is parallel to the anticlinal axis with small amount of offset as a fold-accommodation fault. We believe that the fault formation is related to the fold deformation of the fold front limb. The study reveals the geometry, kinematics and formation mechanism of the Pengxian active fault, and provides a basis for further analysis of fault activity and hazard. Therefore, there is little possibility of strong earthquakes at the Pengxian blind fault due to its formation mechanism of the fault which is generally characterized by fold deformation and shortening deformation. In this paper, we discuss the location of Pengxian blind fault in the middle of Longmen Shan and Sichuan Basin. Because the Pengxian buried structures are in the transition area, the shortening amount in Pengxian indicates that the absorption in the basin is quite limited. It reflects the blocking effect of Sichuan Basin. In the study, we find that the relationship between folds, faults and sediments is an important part of tectonic interpretation; the theory of fault-related fold and fold-accommodation fault is well used for analysis. This would have great significance for the study of structural deformation, which can help to build a three-dimensional model of fault.