Uniform slip rates of the Altyn Tagh and the Kunlun faults likely reflect lateral variation of frictional strength of the faults

Terra Nova ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 381-389
Author(s):  
Xiaojie Zhu ◽  
Jiankun He ◽  
Jie Xiao ◽  
Xinguo Wang
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Variation ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Altyn Tagh ◽  
Frictional Strength

scholarly journals Segmentation and termination of the surface rupture zone produced by the 1932 Ms 7.6 Changma earthquake: New insights into the slip partitioning of the eastern Altyn Tagh fault system

Lithosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-39
Author(s):  
Jiaxin Du ◽  
Bihong Fu ◽  
Qiang Guo ◽  
Pilong Shi ◽  
Guoliang Xue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Slip Rate ◽  
Rupture Zone ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Surface Rupture ◽  
Altyn Tagh Fault ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Surface Rupture Zone ◽  
Altyn Tagh ◽  
Slip Partitioning

Abstract The 1932 Ms 7.6 earthquake struck the active Changma fault in the NE Tibetan Plateau, and produced a distinct surface rupture along the fault zone. However, the segmentation and termination of the surface rupture zone are still unclear. In this paper, the active tectonic analyses of multiple satellite images complemented by field investigations present the 120-km-long surface rupture zone, which can be divided into five discrete first-order segments, ranging from 14.4 to 39.56 km in length, linked by step-overs. Our results also indicate that the 1932 rupture zone could jump across step-overs 0.3–4.5 km long and 2.2–5.4 km wide in map view, but was terminated by a 6.3-km-wide restraining step-over at the eastern end. The left-lateral slip rates along the mid-eastern and easternmost segments of the Changma fault are 3.43 ± 0.5 mm/yr and 4.49 ± 0.5 mm/yr since 7–9 ka, respectively. The proposed tectonic models suggest that the slip rates on the Changma fault are similar to the slip rate on the eastern segment of the Altyn Tagh fault system near the junction point with the Changma fault. These results imply that the Changma fault plays a leading role in the slip partitioning of the easternmost segment of the Altyn Tagh fault system.

Flash Heating Leads to Low Frictional Strength of Crustal Rocks at Earthquake Slip Rates

Science ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 334 (6053) ◽  
pp. 216-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Goldsby ◽  
T. E. Tullis
Keyword(s):  
Slip Rates ◽  
Crustal Rocks ◽  
Frictional Strength

New constraints on Quaternary slip partitioning near the eastern termination of the Altyn Tagh Fault 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nimrod Wieler ◽  
Amit Mushkin ◽  
Eitan Shelef ◽  
Huiping Zhang ◽  
Amir Sagy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Altyn Tagh Fault ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Altyn Tagh ◽  
Slip Partitioning

<p>Slip partitioning along the northern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau is essential for understanding regional deformation and the seismic potential of the different faults that accommodate it. Within this framework the Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) is commonly viewed as the primary structure that separates the Tibetan Plateau from the stable Gobi-Alashan block to the north. Late Quaternary sinistral slip rates of 8-12 mm/yr across the central ATF between 86° and 93°E decrease eastwards to zero as the fault approaches its mid-continental termination at ~97°E. To better understand how late Quaternary slip is partitioned along the ATF’s eastern termination we obtained new slip-rate measurements  for the ~200-km-long left-lateral ENE striking Sanweishan Fault (SSF) located ~60 km north of the ATF between 94°-96°E near the town of Dunhuang.</p><p>Multiple sinistral offsets ranging up to 600 m were identified by linking the clast assemblage of offset alluvial fan remnants with their provenance upstream of the fault.  Luminescence dating revealed depositional ages ranging from 100 - 200 ka for the offset features and time-invariant minimum sinistral slip of 2.5±1 mm/yr during the last ~200 ka, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than previously reported slip-rates for the SSF. Our results indicate that the SSF and the eastern segment of the ATF accommodate comparable magnitudes of late Quaternary slip. Considering this substantial transfer of lateral slip as far as 60 km north of the eastern ATF we propose that the SSF may represent juvenile northeastward expansion of the Tibetan Plateau into previously stable parts of the Gobi-Alashan block.</p>

scholarly journals Low frictional strength of quartz rocks at subseismic slip rates

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 25-1-25-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Goldsby ◽  
Terry E. Tullis
Keyword(s):  
Slip Rates ◽  
Frictional Strength

Slip rates of the Altyn Tagh, Kunlun and Karakorum faults (Tibet) from 3D mechanical modeling

2008 ◽  
Vol 274 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 50-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiankun He ◽  
Jean Chéry
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Modeling ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Altyn Tagh

scholarly journals Frictional strength of ground dolerite gouge at a wide range of slip rates

2016 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 2961-2979 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-ichi Wada ◽  
Kyuichi Kanagawa ◽  
Hiroko Kitajima ◽  
Miki Takahashi ◽  
Atsuyuki Inoue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Slip Rates ◽  
Frictional Strength ◽  
Wide Range

scholarly journals Heating, weakening and shear localization in earthquake rupture

2017 ◽  
Vol 375 (2103) ◽  
pp. 20160015 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Rice
Keyword(s):  
Frictional Heating ◽  
Static Friction ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
State University ◽  
Friction Coefficients ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Decomposition Reactions ◽  
Frictional Strength ◽  
Heating Effects ◽  
University College London

Field and borehole observations of active earthquake fault zones show that shear is often localized to principal deforming zones of order 0.1–10 mm width. This paper addresses how frictional heating in rapid slip weakens faults dramatically, relative to their static frictional strength, and promotes such intense localization. Pronounced weakening occurs even on dry rock-on-rock surfaces, due to flash heating effects, at slip rates above approximately 0.1 m s −1 (earthquake slip rates are typically of the order of 1 m s −1 ). But weakening in rapid shear is also predicted theoretically in thick fault gouge in the presence of fluids (whether native ground fluids or volatiles such as H 2 O or CO 2 released by thermal decomposition reactions), and the predicted localizations are compatible with such narrow shear zones as have been observed. The underlying concepts show how fault zone materials with high static friction coefficients, approximately 0.6–0.8, can undergo strongly localized shear at effective dynamic friction coefficients of the order of 0.1, thus fitting observational constraints, e.g. of earthquakes producing negligible surface heat outflow and, for shallow events, only rarely creating extensive melt. The results to be summarized include those of collaborative research published with Nicolas Brantut (University College London), Eric Dunham (Stanford University), Nadia Lapusta (Caltech), Hiroyuki Noda (JAMSTEC, Japan), John D. Platt (Carnegie Institution for Science, now at *gramLabs), Alan Rempel (Oregon State University) and John W. Rudnicki (Northwestern University). This article is part of the themed issue ‘Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion’.

Structural analysis and tectonic evolution of the western domain of the Eastern Kunlun Range, northwest Tibet

2019 ◽  
Vol 132 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1291-1315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Wu ◽  
Changfeng Liu ◽  
Suoya Fan ◽  
Andrew V. Zuza ◽  
Lin Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Altyn Tagh Fault ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Tectonic Model ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Altyn Tagh

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau, the largest highland on Earth, formed due to the collision of India-Asia over the past 50–60 m.y., and the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau impacts our knowledge of continental tectonics. Examination of the northernmost margin of the Tibetan Plateau is key to unravelling the deformation mechanisms acting in northern Tibet. The left-slip Altyn Tagh fault system defines the northwest margin of the Tibetan Plateau, separating the Western and Eastern Kunlun Ranges in the southwest. Both Cenozoic and pre-Cenozoic crustal deformation events at this junction between the Altyn Tagh and Kunlun Ranges were responsible for the construction of northwestern Tibet, yet the relative contribution of each phase remains unconstrained. The western domain of the Eastern Kunlun Range is marked by active NE-trending, left-slip deformation of the Altyn Tagh fault and an E-striking Cenozoic thrust system developed in response India-Asia collision. To better constrain the Paleozoic Altyn Tagh and Kunlun orogens and establish the Cenozoic structural framework, we conducted an integrated investigation involving detailed geologic mapping (∼1:50,000 scale), U-Pb zircon geochronology, and synthesis of existing data sets across northwestern Tibet. Our new zircon analyses from Paleoproterozoic–Cretaceous strata constrain stratigraphic age and sediment provenance and highlight Proterozoic–Paleozoic arc activity. We propose a tectonic model for the Neoproterozoic–Mesozoic evolution of northwestern Tibet wherein restoration of an ∼56-km-long balanced cross section across the western domain of the Eastern Kunlun suggests that Cenozoic minimum shortening strain was ∼30% (∼24 km shortening). Field evidence suggests this shortening commenced after ca. 25–20 Ma, which yields an average long-term shortening rate of 1.2–0.9 mm yr–1 and strain rates of 4.7 × 10–16 s–1 to 2.3 × 10–16 s–1. Geometric considerations demonstrate that this contractional deformation did not significantly contribute to left-slip offset on the Altyn Tagh fault, which has ∼10 mm/yr slip rates.

scholarly journals Persistent rupture terminations at a restraining bend from slip rates on the eastern Altyn Tagh fault

2018 ◽  
Vol 733 ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.J. Elliott ◽  
M.E. Oskin ◽  
J. Liu-zeng ◽  
Y.-X. Shao
Keyword(s):  
Altyn Tagh Fault ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Altyn Tagh ◽  
Restraining Bend

Estimating the slip rates of normal faults in the Great Basin, USA

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 227-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. dePolo ◽  
J. G. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Slip Rates
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