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Slip rates and paleoearthquakes along the east segment of the Guanggaishan–Dieshan fault zone, West Qinling Range, NW China

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Abstract

The WNW-trending Guanggaishan–Dieshan fault (GDF) is located in the West Qinling Range at a site of tectonic junction between the Tibetan plateau, the Sichuan basin and the Ordos block. Tectonically, this region is bounded by the East Kunlun fault to the southwest, the West Qinling fault to the north, and the Longmenshan fault to the southeast. The activity of the GDF is essentially related with the northeastward expansion of the Tibetan Plateau and associated strain partition between the East Kunlun fault and the West Qinling fault. This study reported the sense of fault movement, rate of fault slip, and the timing of three paleoseismic events on the east segment of the Guanggaishan–Dieshan fault (EGDF) with which no historical earthquake has been documented before. We focused our investigation on three branch faults in the central part of the EGDF using a range of study methods, e.g. structural mapping, paleoseismological trenching, unmanned aircraft vehicle photogrammetry, differential GPS survey, as well as radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating. Our new results highlighted: (1) the EGDF is dominated by the left-lateral sense of movement with a minor component of dip slip, (2) the range-bounding branch is characterized by a maximum left-lateral slip rate of 0.72 ± 0.34 mm/year and a maximum vertical-slip rate of 0.13 ± 0.03 mm/year, respectively. Kinematics of the EGDF is similar to many other active faults in the West Qinling Range, together they play a joint role in accommodating and transferring the residual left-lateral slip of the East Kunlun Fault. Three paleoseismic events were identified on the range-bounding fault based on two types of event markers: cut-cover relation and colluvial deposition. The ages of the most recent two events are estimated to be 2765–3320 cal. year BP and 12,775–13,005 cal. year BP and the age of the oldest event is as early as 18,495–32,950 cal. year BP. In contrast, there is no compelling evidence to show paleoseismic event along the rest two branches, and further work is needed to demonstrate this.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Xiwei Xu, Yongkang Ran for their helpful discussion about the paleoseismological trench interpretation. The two reviewers are greatly appreciated for their robust review and insightful comments that have significantly helped improve the early version of the paper. We also appreciate the Editor David McNamara for handling this paper and providing editorial advice. Xiaodong Yang is appreciated for improving the English on an early version of the paper. This study is jointly supported by the Basic Scientific Research Fund, Science and Technology Innovation Base of Lanzhou, Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration [No. 2018IESLZ02]; the National Nonprofit Fundamental Research Grant of China [No. IGCEA1803 and IGCEA1607]; the Science for Earthquake Resilience, China Earthquake Administration [No. XH19045Y]; and the special fund for China earthquake research [No. 201408023].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100029, China

    Bo Zhang

  2. Lanzhou Institute of Seismology, China Earthquake Administration, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Bo Zhang, Aiguo Wang, Daoyang Yuan, Xiaofeng Liu & Long Zheng

  3. Institute of Earthquake Forecasting, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100036, China

    Qinjian Tian

  4. Shaanxi Earthquake Agency, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Ming Wu

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  1. Bo Zhang
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Correspondence to Bo Zhang.

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Zhang, B., Wang, A., Yuan, D. et al. Slip rates and paleoearthquakes along the east segment of the Guanggaishan–Dieshan fault zone, West Qinling Range, NW China. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 110, 213–232 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-020-01947-0

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