Active faults in the Zagros and central Iran

Active tectonic movements in the northwestern Zagros include right lateral slip at the rate of about 10 mm/a along the Main Recent Fault, which inherits the position of the Main Thrust, now inactive, and active thrusting and accompanying folding distributed between several zones southwest of the Main Recent Fault. In the southeastern Zagros (the Fars Province), there are several right lateral faults that extend N–S obliquely to the overall trend of the Zagros fault-and-fold belt. These may be either branches of the Main Recent Fault, or faults accommodating relative broadening of the outer Zagros in its southeastern segment. The Main Thrust in the southeastern Zagros also remains inactive.

The Ipak, North Tehran, and Mosha fault zones and several minor structures in the eastern Alborz form the E–W-trending active fault system with combined reverse and left lateral slip. On the Ipak and Mosha zones, lateral movements with the late Quaternary mean rate exceeding 1 mm/a dominate over vertical fault movements. Together with right lateral faults stretching northeast of Zagros, the faults of the Alborz may accommodate east-directed motion of the Iranian microplate.     

Active faulting and human environment

Active faulting, a source of seismic disasters and ground deformation, may be also accompanied with the effects that can result in rapid or slow changes in the environment capable of affecting, either negatively or positively, living conditions of a man and in general evolution of animals and plants. Existing data still rare and uncertain show that these effects may be, first of all, specific fault-related landscapes and various geophysical and geochemical anomalies above and around active fault planes.     

Active faulting and natural hazards in Armenia, eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran

Active fault zones of Armenia, SE Turkey and NW Iran present a diverse set of interrelated natural hazards. Three regional case studies in this cross-border zone are examined to show how earthquakes interact with other hazards to increase the risk of natural disaster. In northern Armenia, a combination of several natural and man-made phenomena (earthquakes, landslides and unstable dams with toxic wastes) along the Pambak-Sevan-Sunik fault (PSSF) zone lowers from 0.4 to 0.2–0.3g the maximum permissible level (MPL) of seismic hazard that may induce disastrous destruction and loss of life in the adjacent Vanadzor depression.

In the Ararat depression, a large active fault-bounded pull-apart basin at the junction of borders of Armenia, Turkey, Iran and Azerbaijan, an earthquake in 1840 was accompanied by an eruption of Ararat Volcano, lahars, landslides, floods, soil subsidence and liquefaction. The case study demonstrates that natural hazards that are secondary with respect to earthquakes may considerably increase the damage and the casualties and increase the risk associated with the seismic impact.

The North Tabriz–Gailatu fault system poses a high seismic hazard to the border areas of NW Iran, eastern Turkey, Nakhichevan (Azerbaijan) and southern Armenia. Right-lateral strike–slip motions along the North Tabriz fault have given rise to strong earthquakes, which threaten the city of Tabriz with its population of 1.2 million.

The examples illustrate how the concentration of natural hazards in active fault zones increases the risk associated with strong earthquakes in Armenia, eastern Turkey and NW Iran. This generally occurs across the junctions of international borders. Hence, the transboundary character of active faults requires transboundary cooperation in the study and mitigation of the natural risk.     

Active faults, seismicity and recent fracturing in the lithosphere of the Baikal rift system

A map of major active faults has been constructed for the Baikal rift system (BRS). Recent active faults are identified using seismological data. The BRS seismicity of the past 40 years is statistically analyzed. Areas of a “stable” concentration of epicenters are revealed. On this basis, a zone of recent fracturing of the lithosphere is identified and its relation to active and developing faults of the BRS is analyzed. The zone of the lithosphere fracturing is a major tectonic structure, which controls both the recent seismic process and the reactivation of ancient faults. It is demonstrated that the available seismological data can provide a basis for a detailed classification of faults by degree of their tectonic activity. Regularities in the distribution of strong earthquakes along the zone of the recent fracturing of the lithosphere are established, as well as regularities in the distribution of strong and weak seismic events relative to transform and other faults. The degree of the fault reactivation is determined by their spatial closeness to the axial zone of the recent rupturing of the lithosphere.     

Active faults and magnitudes of left-lateral displacement along the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

The northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (NMTP) is a major intracontinental Cenozoic transpressional zone that comprises a series of active strike-slip faults and thrust faults. It is important to document cumulative horizontal displacements along the NMTP in order to understand quantitatively strain partitioning in East Asia since the India–Eurasia collision. Based on an analysis of horizontal slip along major active faults, the total amount of horizontal displacements is estimated up to 700 km between the Tibetan Plateau and the Tarim Basin since the convergence of India and Eurasia. Along the western and middle segment of the Altyn Tagh fault to the northern margin of the Qaidam Basin, there are abundant evidence that show that the net displacement is 400 km since 40–35 Ma, and along the Shulenan Shan and southeast of middle Qilian Shan since 25–17 Ma, the amount of offset is 150 km. The largest horizontal slip in Qilian Shan–Hexi Corridor to the northeast of the Altyn Tagh fault is also 150 km since late Oligocene to early Miocene. It decreases to only 60 km along the Haiyuan fault (since late Miocene) and to 25 km along the Zhongwei–Tongxin fault since the Pliocene (about 5.3–3.4 Ma), at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This clearly implies northeastward diminishing of the total horizontal displacement and temporal getting younger of the fault slip along the NMTP. However, this tendency is very complicated at different times and different segments as a result of the uplift, growth and rotation of different segments of the NMTP at different stages during the convergence of India and Eurasia.     

Active faults and paleoseismicity in Fennoscandia, especially Sweden. Primary structures and secondary effects

Fennoscandia, today a region of low to moderately low seismicity, was, at the time of deglaciation, with rates of uplift on the order of tens of centimetres per year, a region of very high seismicity and active tectonics. This is evident both from primary fault structures and from secondary sedimentary and hard rock effects in the region around the epicentral areas. The map of active faults in Fennoscandia includes numerous structures previously not recognised. Despite this, the recording of active faults and paleoseismic events is still in its initial phase. Much more data will surely accumulate in the near future.     

The Portland Hills Fault: uncovering a hidden fault in Portland, Oregon using high-resolution geophysical methods

The Portland metropolitan area historically is the most seismically active region in Oregon. At least three potentially active faults are located in the immediate vicinity of downtown Portland, with the Portland Hills Fault (PHF) extending directly beneath downtown Portland. The faults are poorly understood, and the surface geologic record does not provide the information required to assess the seismic hazards associated with them. The limited geologic information stems from a surface topography that has not maintained a cumulative geologic record of faulting, in part, due to rapid erosion and deposition from late Pleistocene catastrophic flood events and a possible strike-slip component of the faults. We integrated multiple high-resolution geophysical techniques, including seismic reflection, ground penetrating radar (GPR), and magnetic methods, with regional geological and geophysical surveys to determine that the Portland Hills Fault is presently active with a zone of deformation that extends at least 400 m. The style of deformation is consistent with at least two major earthquakes in the last 12–15 ka, as confirmed by a sidehill excavation trench. High-resolution geophysical methods provide detailed images of the upper 100 m across the active fault zone. The geophysical images are critical to characterizing the structural style within the zone of deformation, and when integrated with a paleoseismic trench, can accurately record the seismic history of a region with little surface geologic exposure.     

Active faulting at the Eurasian, North American and Pacific plates junction

The active faults known and inferred in the area where the major Pacific, North American and Eurasian plates come together group into two belts. One of them comprises the faults striking roughly parallel to the Pacific ocean margin. The extreme members of the belt are the longitudinal faults of islands arcs, in its oceanic flank, and the faults along the continental margins of marginal seas, in its continental flank. The available data show that all these faults move with some strike-slip component, which is always right-lateral. We suggest that characteristic right-lateral, either partially or dominantly, kinematics of the fault movements has its source in oblique convergence of the Pacific plate with continental Eurasian and North American plates. The second belt of active faults transverses the extreme northeast Asia as a continental extension of the active mid-Arctic spreading ridge. The two active fault belts do not cross but come close to each other at the northern margin of the Sea of Okhotsk marking thus the point where the Pacific, North American and Eurasian plates meet.     

Active faulting south of the Himalayan Front: Establishing a new plate boundary

New tectonic uplifts south of the Salt Range Thrust and Himalayan Front Thrust (HFT) represent an outward step of the plate boundary from the principal tectonic displacement zone into the Indo-Gangetic Plain. In Pakistan, the Lilla Anticline deforms fine-grained overbank deposits of the Jhelum River floodplain 15 km south of the Salt Range. The anticline is overpressured in Eocambrian non-marine strata. In northwest India south of Dehra Dun, the Piedmont Fault (PF) lies 15 km south of the HFT. Coalescing fans derived from the Himalaya form a piedmont (Old Piedmont Zone) 15–20 km wide east of the Yamuna River. This zone is uplifted as much as 15–20 m near the PF, and bedding is tilted 5–7° northeast. Holocene thermoluminescence-optically-stimulated luminescence dates for sediments in the Old Piedmont Zone suggest that the uplift rate might be as high as several mm/a. The Old Piedmont Zone is traced northwest 200 km and southeast another 200 km to the Nepal border. These structures, analogous to protothrusts in subduction zones, indicate that the Himalayan plate boundary is not a single structure but a series of structures across strike, including reactivated parts of the Main Boundary Thrust north of the range front, the HFT sensu stricto, and stepout structures on the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Displacement rates on all these structures must be added to determine the local India-Himalaya convergence rate.     

浅谈活断层及其研究方法

介绍了活断层的基础理论知识,包括活断层性质及地震的概念及特性。从理论上探讨了地震与活断层的关系,认为地震的产生往往伴随断层位移且可常见于地表。以已有的科研成果为例,总结了近年专家、学者研究活断层的几种方法及其应用,提出了综合应用活断层研究方法及相互论证是预测地震更为有效的技术。阐述了对地震产生的动力机制的认识,并认为活断层往往是地震孕育场所,但不一定所有地震都在活断层的基础上发生。     

Active deformation in the eastern Swiss Alps: post-glacial faults, seismicity and surface uplift

Post-glacial tectonic faults in the eastern Swiss Alps occur as single lineaments, clusters of faults or extensive fault zones consisting of several individual faults aligned along the same trend. The orientation of the faults reflects the underlying lithology and the pre-existing structures (joints, pervasive foliations) within these lithologies. Most post-glacially formed faults in the area around Chur, which undergoes active surface uplift of 1.6 mm/year, trend E–W and cut across Alpine and glacial features such as active screes and moraines. Additionally, there are NNW and ENE striking faults reactivating pervasive Alpine foliations and shear zones. Based on a comparison with the nodal planes of recent earthquakes, E–W striking faults are interpreted as active faults. Because of very short rupture lengths and mismatches of fault location with earthquake distribution, magnitude and abundance, the faults are considered to be secondary faults due to earthquake shaking, cumulative deformation in post- or interseismic periods or creep, and not primary earthquake-related faults. The maximum of recent surface uplift rates coincides with the youngest cooling of the rocks according to apatite fission-track data and is therefore a long-lived feature that extends well into pre-glacial times. Isostatic rebound owing to overthickened crust or to melting of glacial overburden cannot explain the observed surface uplift pattern. Rather, the faults, earthquakes and surface uplift patterns suggest that the Alps are deforming under active compression and that the Aar massif basement uplift is still active in response to ongoing collision.     

Evidence for coupled reverse and normal active faulting in W Iberia: The Vidigueira–Moura and Alqueva faults (SE Portugal)

The Vidigueira–Moura fault (VMF) is a 65 km long, E–W trending, N dipping reverse left-lateral late Variscan structure located in SE Portugal (W Iberia), which has been reactivated during the Cenozoic with reverse right-lateral slip. It is intersected by, and interferes with the NE–SW trending Alentejo–Plasencia fault. East of this intersection, for a length of 40 km the VMF borders an intracratonic tectonic basin on its northern side, thrusting Paleozoic schists, meta-volcanics and granites, on the north, over Cenozoic continental sediments preserved in the basin, on the south. West of the faults intersection, evidence of Cenozoic reactivation is scarce. In the eastern sector, Plio-Quaternary VMF reactivation is indicated by geomorphologic, stratigraphic, and structural data, showing reverse movement with a right-lateral strike-slip component, in response to a NW–SE trending compressive stress. An average vertical displacement rate of 0.06 to 0.08 mm/yr since late Pliocene (roughly the last 2.5 Ma) is estimated. The Alqueva fault (AF) is a subparallel, northward dipping, 7.5 km long anastomosing fault zone that affects Palaeozoic basement rocks, and is located 2.5 km north and on the hanging block of the VMF. The AF is also a reverse left-lateral late Variscan structure, which has been reactivated during the Tertiary with reverse right-lateral slip; however, Plio-Quaternary reactivation was normal left-lateral, as shown by abundant kinematical criteria (slickensides) and geomorphic evidence. It shows an average displacement rate of 0.02 mm/yr for the vertical component of movement in the approximately last 2.5 Ma. It is proposed that the normal displacements on the AF result from tangential longitudinal strain on the upthrown block of the VMF above a convex ramp of this main reverse structure. According to this model of faults interaction, the AF is interpreted to work as a bending-moment fault sited above the VMF thrust ramp. Consequently, it is expected that the displacements on the AF increase towards the topographic surface with the increase in the imposed extension, declining downwards until they vanish above or at the VMF ramp. In order to constrain the proposed scheme, numerical modeling was performed, aiming at the reproduction of the present topography across the faults using different geodynamic models and fault geometries and displacements.     

浅议不同规范对活动断裂定义的差异——以昆明市为例

现行的勘察设计行业《岩土工程勘察规范》(GB50021-2001/2009年版)、《建筑抗震设计规范》(GB50011-2010)、《工程场地地震安全性评价》(GB17741-2005),对于活动断裂的定义有一定差异,使得不同的勘察设计单位对同一条断裂的评价结果不一致,甚至相互矛盾。本文以昆明市为例,通过分析不同规范对于活动断裂的定义,指出其中的问题与差异,结合典型断层地质剖面与震害实例,简要阐述地质上判定活动断裂的主要依据,即不应以《岩土工程勘察规范》(GB50021-2001/2009年版)规定的全新地质时期(一万年)内有无地震活动来判定断裂是否为全新活动断裂,应以《工程场地地震安全性评价》(GB17741-2005)规定的断裂是否错动地表或近地表相应时代的地层,来判定其活动时代。     

Characterization of Quaternary faults by electric resistivity tomography in the Andean Precordillera of Western Argentina

El río San Juan, situado en la Provincia de San Juan (Argentina) cruza la Precordillera y otras unidades geológicas incluyendo la Depresión de Ullum y la Zona de La Laja, entre las latitudes 31°S y 32°S. El curso del río tiene un cierto caracter antecedente como puede deducirse por sus dos trazas perpendiculares unidas por otra casi paralela a las alineaciones estructurales principales. En la zona de la Precordillera, el valle del río San Juan muestra numerosos abanicos aluviales, situados en las zonas de confluencia entre el río principal y sus tributarios. Las superficies de los abanicos aluviales cuaternarios estan cortadas por una serie de escalones que consideramos como terrazas aluviales generadas por episodios repetitivos de agradación y degradación. El sector estudiado incluye una zona con una importante actividad sísmica reciente(La Laja), otra sin una importante actividad sísmica reciente (Precordillera), y una zona subsidente (Ullum) donde se formó un gran lago natural hace unos 6500 años. El antiguo río San Juan fue capturado por el valle de la Quebrada de Ullum mediante una incisión del orden de 25 m, que implicó una nueva adecuación del gradiente del río mediante los efectos de la erosión remontante. El gradiente del río San Juan muestra algunas irregularidades que, aunque no se presenten relacionadas directamente con las estructuras principales, estan relacionadas con la propia dinámica fluvial que acentúa la diferenciación litológica. La anchura del valle del río principal, la geometria y el gradiente de cada tributario, junto a las litologias del basamento y a las dimensiones de cada area fuente local, son los factores principales que controlan los procesos de la generación de las terrazas aluviales. En la zona de La Laja, donde la terraza mas alta soporta un nivel de travertino, la datación de los depósitos travertínicos proporciona datos como para suponer una tasa de incisión del orden de 0,9–1 mm/año, asociada a la actuación periódica de la falla de La Laja.

Topographic expression of active faults in the foothills of the Northern Apennines

Active faults that rupture the earth's surface leave an imprint on the topography that is recognized using a combination of geomorphic and geologic metrics including triangular facets, the shape of mountain fronts, the drainage network, and incised river valleys with inset terraces. We document the presence of a network of active, high-angle extensional faults, collectively embedded in the actively shortening mountain front of the Northern Apennines, that possess unique geomorphic expressions. We measure the strain rate for these structures and find that they have a constant throw-to-length ratio. We demonstrate the necessary and sufficient conditions for triangular facet development in the footwalls of these faults and argue that rock-type exerts the strongest control. The slip rates of these faults range from 0.1 to 0.3 mm/yr, which is similar to the average rate of river incision and mountain front unroofing determined by corollary studies. The faults are a near-surface manifestation of deeper crustal processes that are actively uplifting rocks and growing topography at a rate commensurate with surface processes that are eroding the mountain front to base level.     

莺歌海盆地断裂活动与地质灾害分析

莺歌海盆地是南海西北部海域地质灾害类型较齐全的地区之一.根据野外调查资料,本文简要地分析了该区的活动断裂和地质灾害类型.区内活动断裂主要走向呈NW向,该方向的活动断裂主要有红河断裂带、中央拗陷东部断裂带和中央拗陷西部断裂带.红河断裂带在地震资料上显示为一倾向SW的正断层,表现为明显的重力梯级带和磁异常分界带,NE向断裂带分布于盆地中部,在重磁异常上表现为明显的异常带,在北部表现为被NW向的断裂切割.莺歌海盆地地质灾害类型主要有地震活动、泥底辟构造、滑坡与崩塌等.同时,还对该区地质灾害基本特征和分布规律进行了初步分析.     

Active tectonics of the Yizre'el valley, Israel, using high-resolution seismic reflection data

We present a series of high-resolution seismic reflection lines across the Yizre'el valley, which is the largest active depression in Israel, off the main trend of the Dead Sea rift. The new seismic reflection data is of excellent quality and shows that the valley is dissected into numerous small blocks, separated by active faults. The Yizre'el valley is found to consist of a series of half grabens, rather than a single half graben, or a symmetrical graben. The faults are generally vertical and appear to have a dominant strike-slip component, but some dip-slip is also evident. A marked zone of compression near Megido is associated with the intersection of the two largest faults in the valley, the Carmel fault and the Gideon fault. Variable trend of the faults reflects the complexity of the local geology along the boundary between the wide NW–SE trending Farah–Carmel fault zone and the E–W trending basins and ranges in the Lower Galilee. This tectonic complexity is likely to result from a highly variable stress pattern, modified by the structures inside it. Normal faulting in the valley occurred at an early stage of its development as a tectonic depression. However, strike-slip motion on the Carmel fault, and possibly also on some of the other faults, appears to have started together with the onset of normal faulting. Earthquake hazard in the area appears to be uniform as faults are distributed throughout the Yizre'el valley.     

泛亚铁路滇西大理至瑞丽沿线主要活动断裂 与地震地质特征

根据最新的遥感影像解译和地表调查成果,分析总结了拟建的云南大理至瑞丽铁路沿线区域最新的地表变形特征、主要活动断裂带的几何分布与运动学特征。结果显示,影响该区地壳稳定性的活动断裂带主要有10条,从东到西包括：点苍山东麓断裂、云龙-永平断裂带、保山断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、太平-罗明坝断裂、镇安断裂带、龙新共轭断裂系、黄连河共轭断裂系、龙川江断裂和畹町断裂带,其中晚第四纪期间活动性最显著、对工程场地稳定性影响最大的是：点苍山东麓断裂带、保山盆地西缘断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、畹町断裂带等。同时,通过整理分析近代强震资料发现,仅根据历史强震资料所揭示的高地震烈度区是不全面的,结合最新的活动断裂调查成果,对大瑞铁路沿线区域的地震烈度分区进行重新划分后,认为大瑞铁路工程场地区从东到西至少存在：大理－弥渡、保山、蒲缥－施甸、镇安－荆竹坪和瑞丽－畹町5个大于等于Ⅸ级的高地震烈度区,需要在铁路工程建设的抗震设防时给予重点关注。     

泛亚铁路滇西大理至瑞丽沿线主要活动断裂与地震地质特征

根据最新的遥感影像解译和地表调查成果,分析总结了拟建的云南大理至瑞丽铁路沿线区域最新的地表变形特征、主要活动断裂带的几何分布与运动学特征。结果显示,影响该区地壳稳定性的活动断裂带主要有10条,从东到西包括：点苍山东麓断裂、云龙-永平断裂带、保山断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、太平-罗明坝断裂、镇安断裂带、龙新共轭断裂系、黄连河共轭断裂系、龙川江断裂和畹町断裂带,其中晚第四纪期间活动性最显著、对工程场地稳定性影响最大的是：点苍山东麓断裂带、保山盆地西缘断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、畹町断裂带等。同时,通过整理分析近代强震资料发现,仅根据历史强震资料所揭示的高地震烈度区是不全面的,结合最新的活动断裂调查成果,对大瑞铁路沿线区域的地震烈度分区进行重新划分后,认为大瑞铁路工程场地区从东到西至少存在：大理－弥渡、保山、蒲缥－施甸、镇安－荆竹坪和瑞丽－畹町5个大于等于Ⅸ级的高地震烈度区,需要在铁路工程建设的抗震设防时给予重点关注。     

泛亚铁路滇西大理至瑞丽沿线主要活动断裂与地震地质特征

根据最新的遥感影像解译和地表调查成果,分析总结了拟建的云南大理至瑞丽铁路沿线区域最新的地表变形特征、主要活动断裂带的几何分布与运动学特征。结果显示,影响该区地壳稳定性的活动断裂带主要有10条,从东到西包括：点苍山东麓断裂、云龙-永平断裂带、保山断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、太平-罗明坝断裂、镇安断裂带、龙新共轭断裂系、黄连河共轭断裂系、龙川江断裂和畹町断裂带,其中晚第四纪期间活动性最显著、对工程场地稳定性影响最大的是：点苍山东麓断裂带、保山盆地西缘断裂带、蒲缥-施甸断裂、畹町断裂带等。同时,通过整理分析近代强震资料发现,仅根据历史强震资料所揭示的高地震烈度区是不全面的,结合最新的活动断裂调查成果,对大瑞铁路沿线区域的地震烈度分区进行重新划分后,认为大瑞铁路工程场地区从东到西至少存在：大理-弥渡、保山、蒲缥-施甸、镇安-荆竹坪和瑞丽-畹町5个大于等于区级的高地震烈度区,需要在铁路工程建设的抗震设防时给予重点关注。