Thrust geometries in unconsolidated Quaternary sediments and evolution of the Eupchon Fault, southeast Korea

Abstract The Korean peninsula is widely regarded as being located at the relatively stable eastern margin of the Asian continent. However, more than 10 Quaternary faults have recently been discovered in and reported from the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula. One of these, the Eupchon Fault, was discovered during the construction of a primary school, and it is located close to a nuclear power plant. To understand the nature and characteristics of the Quaternary Eupchon Fault, we carried out two trench surveys near the discovery site. The fault system includes one main reverse fault (N20°E/40°SE) with approximately 4 m displacement, and a series of branch faults, cutting unconsolidated Quaternary sediments. Structures in the fault system include synthetic and antithetic faults, hanging‐wall anticlines, drag folds, back thrusts, pop‐up structures, flat‐ramp geometries and duplexes, which are very similar to those seen in thrust systems in consolidated rocks. In the upper part of the fault system, several tip damage zones are observed, indicating that the fault system propagates upward and terminates in the upper part of the section. Pebbles along the main fault plane show a preferred orientation of long axes, indicating the fault trace. The unconformity surface between the Quaternary deposits and the underlying Tertiary andesites or Cretaceous sedimentary rocks is displaced by this fault with a reverse movement sense. The stratigraphic relationship shows normal slip sense at the lower part of the section, indicating that the fault had a normal slip movement and was reversely reactivated during the Quaternary. The inferred length of the Quaternary thrust fault, based on the relationship between fault length and displacement, is 200–2000 m. The current maximum horizontal compressive stress direction in this area is generally east‐northeast–west‐southwest, which would be expected to produce oblique slip on the Eupchon Fault, with reverse and right‐lateral strike‐slip components.     

山东半岛地区活断层研究

山东半岛地区活断层研究表明，该区断层在中更新世时期（Q2）普遍存在活动，是一个主要活动时期；晚更新世时期（Q3）仅在局部地区有活动；晚更新世（Q3）活断层的发现为确定该地区的中强地震发震构造提供了依据。     

ESR dating of the Eupchon fault, South Korea

We investigated temporal pattern of Quaternary fault activity of the Eupchon fault zone in the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula, using ESR dating of fault rocks. The counterfeit E′ signal significantly affected the equivalent dose on some samples. In particular, the counterfeit E′ signal tends to affect samples with E′ intensity close to saturation level. Storage at room temperature for 360 days and heating at 170 °C for 15 min. after γ-ray irradiation did not change significantly the intensities, the dose responses and ESR ages for OHC, Al, and Ti signals. ESR ages from the Eupchon fault zone range from 2000 to 500 ka. The fault rocks were reactivated at least five times 2000, 1300, 900–1100, 700–800, and 500–600 ka ago. These data indicate that long-term cyclic fault activity of this fault zone continued into the Quaternary. The results from this study suggest that the Eupchon fault zone can be classified as a potentially active fault and presents some potential seismic hazards to the nuclear power plant in its vicinity.     

Surface rupture and mechanism of the Bob-Tangol (southeastern Iran) earthquake of 19 December 1977

The Bob-Tangol earthquake of magnitude 5.8 (M_S), occurred in southeastern Iran on 19 December 1977, not far from the region where the 1896 and 1933 earthquakes caused considerable damage and destruction. The shock was associated with a 19.5-km fault break at the surface with a maximum 20 cm right-lateral strike-slip movement along an Early Quaternary geological fault. Results of the field investigation together with the fault plane solution and epicentre location of the main shock are presented here in order to give a seismotectonic view of the event.Surface rupture and fault plane solution of this medium-magnitude earthquake demonstrate a considerable amount of right-lateral movement along a major Early Quaternary high-angle reverse fault. This change in fault behaviour and slip vector may indicate that evidence of Early Quaternary movement cannot always provide a good clue to present-day crustal deformation.     

根据重力数据研究黄海周边断裂带在海区的延伸

根据黄海及周边地区的布格重力资料,通过解析延拓、目标场提取、任意水平方向导数计算、离散小波变换等处理,得到各种有关断裂的信息.经过与地质资料综合分析,选择123°E经线为典型剖面,以地震资料建立初始模型,对该剖面进行重力正反演迭代拟合,最终得到各模块的密度参数及分布,并在此基础上分析了研究区主要断裂的地质地球物理特征,给出了研究区的断裂带、块体结合带分布图.重点对朝鲜半岛西缘断裂带和五莲-青岛-荣城断裂带进行了讨论,提出五莲-青岛-荣城断裂带并未进入朝鲜半岛与临津江断裂带相连.认为朝鲜半岛西缘断裂带西侧属于扬子块体的部分曾受北向应力作用向北发生了平移.由五莲-青岛-荣城断裂带和南黄海北部断裂带、朝鲜半岛西缘断裂带及济州岛南缘断裂带共同组成的断裂带应该是中朝与扬子块体之间的结合带.     

甘孜-玉树断裂带东南段晚第四纪活动性研究

以甘孜-玉树断裂带东南段的地质地貌为研究对象,在遥感解译的基础上,通过对典型地区的详细野外调查和探槽研究对该段晚第四纪活动性进行研究。在断裂沿线的生康乡、仁果乡、错阿乡、日阿乡进行了断错地貌分析和晚第四纪滑动速率计算, 生康区的水平滑动速率为(7.6±0.5)mm/a, 垂直滑动速率为(1.1±0.1)mm/a; 仁果区的水平滑动速率为(8.0±0.3)mm/a,垂直滑动速率为(1.1±0.1)mm/a; 错阿区的水平滑动速率为(10.3±0.4)mm/a; 日阿区的水平滑动速率为(10.8±0.8)mm/a, 垂直滑动速率为(1.1±0.1)mm/a。在仁果乡和错阿乡进行了探槽研究,两处探槽都揭示了多次古地震事件,虽然揭露的断层构造样式有所不同,但总体上都是以走滑为主兼有一定的逆冲分量。综合古地震事件和滑动速率分析表明,甘孜-玉树断裂带东南段晚第四纪尤其是全新世以来活动剧烈。     

PALEOSEISMOLOGY ON THE YEMAHE SEGMENT OF THE YEMAHE-DAXUESHAN FAULT REVEALED BY TRENCH STUDY

A series of NWW striking faults are obliquely intersected by the NEE striking Altyn Tagh fault zone in the western Qilian Mountains. These faults were mostly active in late Quaternary and play an important role in accommodating regional lateral extrusion by both reverse and sinistral slip. Detailed studies on late Quaternary activity, tectonic transformation, paleoseismology, and strain partitioning not only significantly affect our recognition on seismogenic mechanism and zones of potential large earthquakes, but also provide useful information for exploring tectonic deformation mechanism in the northern Tibetan plateau. The Danghenanshan Fault, Yemahe-Daxueshan fault, and Altyn Tagh Fault form a triplet junction point at southwest of Subei county. The Yemahe-Daxueshan fault is one important branch fault in the western Qilian Mountains that accommodated eastward decreasing slip of the Altyn Tagh Fault, which was active in late Holocene, with a length up to 170km. Based on geometry and late Quaternary activity, the Yemahe-Daxueshan fault was subdivided into 3 segments, i.e. the Subei fault, Yemahe fault and Daxueshan Fault. The Yemahe Fault has the most prominent appearance among them, and is dominated by left-lateral slip with a little normal component. The heights of fresh scarps on this fault are only several tens of centimeters. We dug 2 trenches at the Zhazhihu site, and cleaned and reinterpreted one trench of previous studies. Then we interpreted trench profiles and paleoseismic events, and collected ¹⁴C and Optical Stimulated Luminescence samples to constrain event ages. Finally, we determined 3 events on the Yemahe fault with ages(6 830±30) a BP-(6 280±40) a BP, (5 220±30) a BP, (2 010±30) a BP, respectively. The elapsed time of most recent earthquake is(2 010±30) years before present, which is very close to the recurrence interval, so the possibility of major earthquakes on the Yemahe fault is relatively large.     

Neotectonic activity and formation mechanism of the Yishu Fault Zone

On the basis of comprehensive analyses of fault textures and geometry, the active methods, stress field, mechanism and time of the Yishu Fault Zone during the neotectonic period are discussed in this paper. The results show that the Yishu Fault Zone is a major mobile belt since the Quaternary. It consists of four major active faults with reverse dextral slip. Their active intensity increases eastwards and southwards. Fault-slip data from many active faults in the fault zone demonstrate that ENE-WSW compression predominated in the neotectonic period. Detailed field investigation shows that formation mechanism of shallow, active faults in the Yishu Fault Zone includes direct boundary fault reactivity, buried fault propagation, and reactivity of antithetic and truncating faults. In most cases, shallow, active faults in the fault zone are developed through direct reactivity or upward propagation of the previous four graben boundary faults.     

郯庐断裂带白山-卅铺段第四纪以来的活动习性

根据构造地貌遥感解析,发现郯庐断裂带沿庐江白山到桐城卅铺一线显示1组平行断层,现场地震地质调查验证其为1组活动断层。通过断层剖面观测、样品采集及样品测试分析和宏微观构造分析,结果表明,郯庐断裂带在白山—卅铺一带第四纪以来仍具有黏滑、蠕滑交替的变形活动。其中,在柯坦—卅铺一带,最年轻的水系被NE向断层组右旋扭折,其断层物质的微观观测和测龄结果表明该断裂段第四纪时的活动具有脆、塑性过渡变形特征,强烈活动时间处于早、中更新世;而白山剖面断层泥年龄测试结果则反映相应断层段在中、晚更新世曾有过较强烈的活动。断层泥超微(SEM)和显微观测结果亦表明该断裂段曾发生黏滑、蠕滑交替的构造变形事件,且表现为先黏滑后蠕滑;结合水系呈现缓慢扭折表征,近年来沿断裂有不少微震发生,表明郯庐断裂带在白山—卅铺段的最新滑移方式主要表现为蠕滑,也就是说,该段积累的应力以蠕滑或微震等方式缓慢释放,据此推测未来一定时期内不易孕育强烈地震     

THE LATE QUATERNARY ACTIVITY AND FORMATION MECHANISM OF BAOERTU FAULT ZONE,EASTERN TIANSHAN SEGMENT

Influenced by the far-field effect of India-Eurasia collision, Tianshan Mountains is one of the most intensely deformed and seismically active intracontinental orogenic belts in Cenozoic. The deformation of Tianshan is not only concentrated on its south and north margins, but also on the interior of the orogen. The deformation of the interior of Tianshan is dominated by NW-trending right-lateral strike-slip faults and ENE-trending left-lateral strike-slip faults. Compared with numerous studies on the south and north margins of Tianshan, little work has been done to quantify the slip rates of faults within the Tianshan Mountains. Therefore, it is a significant approach for geologists to understand the current tectonic deformation style of Tianshan Mountains by studying the late Quaternary deformation characteristics of large fault and fold zones extending through the interior of Tianshan. In this paper, we focus on a large near EW trending fault, the Baoertu Fault (BETF) in the interior of Tianshan, which is a large fault in the eastern Tianshan area with apparent features of deformation, and a boundary fault between the central and southern Tianshan. An M_S5.0 earthquake event occurred on BETF, which indicates that this fault is still active. In order to understand the kinematics and obtain the late Quaternary slip rate of BETF, we made a detailed research on its late Quaternary kinematic features based on remote sensing interpretation, drone photography, and field geological and geomorphologic survey, the results show that the BETF is of left-lateral strike-slip with thrust component in late Quaternary. In the northwestern Kumishi basin, BETF sinistrally offsets the late Pleistocene piedmont alluvial fans, forming fault scarps and generating sinistral displacement of gullies and geomorphic surfaces. In the bedrock region west of Benbutu village, BETF cuts through the bedrock and forms the trough valley. Besides, a series of drainages or rivers which cross the fault zone and date from late Pleistocene have been left-laterally offset systematically, resulting in a sinistral displacement ranging 0.93~4.53km. By constructing the digital elevation model (DEM) for the three sites of typical deformed morphologic units, we measured the heights of fault scarps and left-lateral displacements of different gullies forming in different times, and the result shows that BEFT is dominated by left-lateral strike-slip with thrust component. We realign the bended channels across the fault at BET01 site and obtain the largest displacement of 67m. And we propose that the abandon age of the deformed fan is about 120ka according to the features of the fan. Based on the offsets of channels at BET01 and the abandon age of deformed fan, we estimate the slip rate of 0.56mm/a since late Quaternary. The Tianshan Mountains is divided into several sub-blocks by large faults within the orogen. The deformation in the interior of Tianshan can be accommodated or absorbed by relative movement or rotation. The relative movement of the two sub-blocks surrounded by Boa Fault, Kaiduhe Fault and BETF is the dominant cause for the left-lateral movement of BETF. The left-lateral strike-slip with reverse component of BETF in late Quaternary not only accommodates the horizontal stain within eastern Tianshan but also absorbs some SN shortening of the crust.     

late quaternary activity of the qujiang fault and analysis of the slip rate

The Qujiang Fault is one of the most seismically active faults in western Yunnan, China and is considered to be the seismogenic fault of the 1970 M_S7.7 Tonghai earthquake. The Qujiang Fault is located at the southeastern tip of the Sichuan-Yunnan block. In this study, we examine the geometry, kinematics, and geomorphology of this fault through field observations and satellite images. The fault is characterized by dextral strike-slip movements with dip-slip components and can be divided into northwest and southeast segments according to different kinematics. The northwest segment shows right-lateral strike-slip with normal components, whereas it is characterized by dextral movements with the northeast wall thrusting over the opposite in the southeast segment. The offset landforms are well developed along the strike of the fault with displacements ranging from 3.7m to 830m. The Late Quaternary right-lateral slip rate was determined to be 2.3～4.0mm/a through dating and measuring on the offset features. The variation of the slip and uplift rates along the fault strike corresponds well to the fault kinematics segmentation: the slip rate on the northwest segment is above 3mm/a with an uplift rate of 0.6～0.8mm/a; however, influenced by the Xiaojiang Fault, the southeast segment shows apparent thrust components. The slip rate decreases to below 3.0mm/a with an uplift rate of 1.1mm/a, indicating different uplift between the northwest and southeast segments.     

Discovery of the Longriba fault zone in eastern Bayan Har block,China and its tectonic implication

Re-measured GPS data have recently revealed that a broad NE trending dextral shear zone exists in the eastern Bayan Har block about 200 km northwest of the Longmenshan thrust on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The strain rate along this shear zone may reach up to 4-6 mm/a. Our interpretation of satellite images and field observations indicate that this dextral shear zone corresponds to a newly generated NE trending Longriba fault zone that has been ignored before. The northeast segment of the Longriba fault zone consists of two subparallel N54°±5°E trending branch faults about 30 km apart, and late Quaternary offset landforms are well developed along the strands of these two branch faults. The northern branch fault, the Longriqu fault, has relatively large reverse component, while the southern branch fault, the Maoergai fault, is a pure right-lateral strike slip fault. According to vector synthesizing principle, the average right-lateral strike slip rate along the Longriba fault zone in the late Quaternary is calculated to be 5.4±2.0 mm/a, the vertical slip rate to be 0.7 mm/a, and the rate of crustal shortening to be 0.55 mm/a. The discovery of the Longriba fault zone may provide a new insight into the tectonics and dynamics of the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Taken the Longriba fault zone as a boundary, the Bayan Har block is divided into two sub-blocks: the Ahba sub-block in the west and the Longmenshan sub-block in the east. The shortening and uplifting of the Longmenshan sub-block as a whole reflects that both the Longmenshan thrust and Longriba fault zone are subordinated to a back propagated nappe tectonic system that was formed during the southeastward motion of the Bayan Har block owing to intense resistance of the South China block. This nappe tectonic system has become a boundary tectonic type of an active block supporting crustal deformation along the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau from late Cenozoic till now. The Longriba fault zone is just an active fault zone newly-generated in late Quaternary along this tectonic system.     

THRUST OF THE SOUTHERN LONGMENSHAN FAULT IN THE LATE QUATERNARY REVEALED BY RIVER LANDFORMS

The Longmenshan fault zone is divided into three sections from south to north in the geometric structure. The middle and northern segments are mainly composed of three thrust faults, where the deformation of foreland is weak. The geometric structure of the southern segment is more complex, which is composed of six fault branches, where the foreland tectonic deformation is very strong. The Wenchuan M_S8.0 earthquake occurred in the middle of the Longmenshan in 2008, activating the bifurcation of two branches, the Yingxiu-Beichuan and the Guixian-Jiangyou faults. In 2013, the Lushan M_S7.0 earthquake occurred in the southern Longmenshan, whose seismogenic structure was considered to be a blind fault. After the Lushan earthquake, the seismic hazard in the southern Longmenshan has been widely concerned. At present, the studies on active tectonics in the southern Longmenshan are limited to the Dachuan-Shuangshi and the Yanjing-Wulong faults. The Qingyi River, which flows across the southern Longmenshan, facilitates to study fault slip by the deformation of river terraces. Based on satellite imagery and high-resolution DEM analysis, we measured the fluvial terraces along the Qingyi river in detail. During the measurement, the Sichuan network GPS system (SCGNSS)was employed to achieve a precision of centimeter grade. Besides, the optical luminescence dating (OSL)method was employed to date the terraces' ages. And the late Quaternary activities of the six branch faults in the southern Longmen Shan were further analyzed. The Gengda-Longdong, Yanjing-Wulong and the Xiao Guanzi faults (west branch of the Dachuan-Shuangshi fault)all show thrust slip and displaced the terrace T₂. Their average vertical slip rates in the late Quaternary are 0.21-0.30mm/a, 0.12-0.21mm/a and 0.10-0.12mm/a, respectively. Since the Late Quaternary, vertical slip of the east branch of the Dachuan-Shuangshi fault was not obvious, and the arc-like Jintang tectonic belt was not active. Crustal shortening rate of the southern Longmenshan thrust fault zone in the late Quaternary is 0.48-0.77mm/a, which equals about half of the middle segment of the Longmenshan. Based on the previous study on the tectonic deformation of the foreland, we consider that the foreland fold belt in the southern Longmenshan area has absorbed more than half of the crustal shortening. The three major branch faults in the southern Longmenshan are active in the late Quaternary, which have risk of major earthquakes.     

A 48-kyr-long slip rate history for the Jordan Valley segment of the Dead Sea Fault

We investigate the late Quaternary active deformation along the Jordan Valley segment of the left-lateral Dead Sea Fault and provide new insights on the behaviour of major continental faults. The 110-km-long fault segment shows systematic offsets of drainage systems surveyed at three sites along its southern section. The isotopic dating of six paleoclimatic events yields a precise chronology for the onset of six generations of gully incisions at 47.5 ka BP, 37.5 ka BP, 13 ka BP, 9 ka BP, 7 ka BP, and 5 ka BP. Additionally, detailed mapping and reconstructions provide cumulative displacements for 20 dated incisions along the fault trace. The individual amounts of cumulative slip consistently fall into six distinct classes. This yields: i) an average constant slip rate of 4.7 to 5.1 mm/yr for the last 47.5 kyr and ii) a variable slip rate ranging from 3.5 mm/yr to 11 mm/yr over 2-kyr- to 24-kyr-long intervals. Taking into account that the last large earthquake occurred in AD 1033, we infer 3.5 to 5 m of present-day slip deficit which corresponds to a Mw  7.4 earthquake along the Jordan Valley fault segment. The timing of cumulative offsets reveals slip rate variations critical to our understanding of the slip deficit and seismic cycle along major continental faults.     

Evolution of crustal deformation in the northeast–central Japanese island arc: Insights from fault activity

We evaluated fault activity in northeast–central Japan based on fault orientation, regional stress field, and slip tendency analysis for active and non‐active faults (i.e. faults for which Quaternary activity has not been identified). Slip tendency is generally higher along active faults than non‐active faults, although a high slip tendency was observed along some non‐active faults, indicating their potential to become active. The potential for fault activity along non‐active faults can be modeled using the temporal evolution from non‐active to active during long‐term crustal deformation. The density of potentially active faults varies spatially across the study areas and reflects the temporal evolution of crustal deformation in northeast–central Japan.     

黄海及其邻区深部结构特点与地质演化

根据黄海及其周边地区的布格重力资料，通过多种方法处理，得到有关断裂的信息并求取了研究区的地壳厚度分布. 经过与地震层析成像结果、地质资料的对比和综合分析，认为朝鲜半岛西缘断裂带和济州岛南缘断裂带均为深大断裂，断裂带的两侧速度结构存在较大差异. 推断朝鲜半岛和南黄海分别属于不同的地质单元. 根据对岩石层结构的综合分析，认为中朝与扬子块体在黄海海域的接触关系是扬子块体推覆于中朝块体之上. 从目前的地震层析成像、重力异常、地壳厚度分布等结果来看，还不足以判断扬子与华南块体结合带在黄海海域中的准确位置.     

海原、六盘山断裂带至银川断陷第四纪构造应力场分析

利用断层滑动资料反演构造应力张量从而确定出海原、六盘山断裂带至银川断陷的第四纪两期构造应力场 :早更新世末期以前 ,为北东—南西挤压型构造应力场 ,由此造成该地区断裂活动主要以逆断为主 ;早更新世末期至中更新世以后 ,构造应力场发生了调整 ,主压应力方向由早期的北东—南西改变为北东东—南西西 ,应力结构由挤压型转变为走滑型 ,并导致断裂活动由早期的逆断为主变为走滑为主 ,这种应力场格局一直持续至今。研究区现代构造应力场可划分为 :海原断裂带走滑应力区、六盘山逆断 -走滑混合应力区和银川断陷拉张应力区     

声波探测技术在山东近海活断层探测中的应用

利用声波探测技术在山东近海开展活断层探测表明,声波探测对海底最新沉积单元分层、地层变形和断裂活动均具有很高的分辨率,是适用于该海域活断层探测的理想探测技术。     

滇西南地区黑河断裂中西段晚第四纪构造活动特征

通过卫星影像解译、野外实地调查与地质填图,对滇西南地区黑河断裂中西段晚第四纪构造活动特征进行了研究.结果表明,黑河断裂为一条规模较大的区域性活动断裂带,西起沧源县南,向东南止于澜沧江断裂,全长约168 km,走向280°～310°.该断裂晚第四纪新活动性具有一定的差异性和分段性.根据其几何结构、最新活动性及1988年澜沧7.6级地震破裂带特征,可将黑河断裂从西向东划分为沧源-木戛、木戛-南代和南代-勐往三条次级断裂段.其中的中、西段长约88 km,全新世活动显著,活动性质以右旋走滑为主.沿断裂形成了丰富的断错地貌现象.西段断裂的最新活动断错了全新世晚期地层;中段是1988年澜沧7.6级地震的发震断裂之一.根据对断错冲沟的测量和年代测试,得到其全新世以来右旋滑动速率为(3.54±0.78)mm/a,与区域上其它断裂的滑动速率大致相当,反映了其区域构造活动的整体性和协调性.