The Qilian Shan, located in the northeastern Tibet, is under strong tectonic activity and earthquake motion due to the propagation of the plateau. At the mountain front of the eastern Qilian Shan, the Tongziba River, in the southern Zhangye Basin, flows northward and successively cuts the Minle‐Damaying Fault and the Yonggu Anticline, two parallel structures within the Frontal Thrust system of the Qilian Shan. Here we present a detailed record of seven strath terraces of this river that documents the history of active deformation of the two structures. Based on the estimated crustal shortening distance from the deformed terraces and the terrace formation age constrained by AMS ¹⁴C and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, a horizontal slip rate of 1.4 ± 0.5 mm/year of the Minle‐Damaying Fault is constrained since 16.7 ± 1.8 kyr, and a shortening rate of 1.3 ± 0.4 mm/year across the Yonggu Anticline has been estimated in a similar time frame, respectively. In total, the shortening rate across the mountain front is estimated to be 2.7 ± 0.6 mm/year. GPS data show a similar modern shortening rate in this area, which indicates the rate of crustal shortening may be comparable in the modern and 10⁴‐year scales. Our study supports a higher crustal shortening rate along the mountain front of the eastern Qilian Shan than that of the western Qilian Shan since the Late Quaternary.

中文翻译：

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变形河阶带限制东祁连山晚第四纪地壳缩短

位于高原东北部的祁连山由于高原的传播而处于强烈的构造活动和地震运动中。在祁连山东部的山前，张ye盆地南部的通子坝河向北流动，并相继切开了祁连山前冲系统内的两个平行构造Minle-Damaying断层和永固背斜。在这里，我们提供了这条河的七个阶阶阶地的详细记录，记录了这两种结构主动变形的历史。基于估计的距变形阶地的地壳缩短距离和AMS约束的阶地形成年龄¹⁴C和光学激发发光（OSL）测年以来，自16.7±1.8千卡以来，Minle-Damaying断层的水平滑移速率为1.4±0.5 mm /年，而永古背斜的收缩速率为1.3±0.4 mm /年分别在相似的时间范围内估算。总体而言，整个山峰的缩短速度估计为2.7±0.6毫米/年。GPS数据显示该地区的现代缩短率相似，这表明在现代和10 ⁴年尺度上，地壳缩短的速率可比。我们的研究表明，自第四纪晚期以来，东部祁连山山前的地壳缩短率要高于西部祁连山。