Temporally constant slip-rate along the Ganzi fault, NW Xianshuihe fault system, eastern Tibet
M.-L. Chevalier, P. H. Leloup, A. Replumaz, Jiawei Pan, M. Métois, Haibing Li
The
left-lateral strike-slip Xianshuihe fault system, located in eastern
Tibet, is one of the most tectonically active intracontinental fault
systems in China, if not in the world, along which more than 20 M
>6.5 earthquakes have occurred since A.D. 1700, including the 2010
Mw 6.9 Yushu earthquake. It is therefore essential to precisely
determine its slip rate, which remains poorly constrained at all time
scales, in order to evaluate regional earthquake hazard. Here, we focus
on the NW segment of the Xianshuihe fault system, the Ganzi fault. We
studied three sites where the active Ganzi fault cuts and
left-laterally offsets moraine crests and fan edges. We constrained
left-lateral offsets using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and
kinematic global positioning system (GPS) methods, and we used
cosmogenic dating to determine the abandonment age of the offset
surfaces. We found that the slip rate remains constant along the entire
Ganzi fault (∼300 km) at 6−8 mm/yr at the late Quaternary time scale,
consistent with geodetic (interferometric synthetic aperture radar
[InSAR] and GPS) as well as geologic slip rates (4.9−7.5 mm/yr since
ca. 12.6 Ma). This implies that the Manigango segment of the Ganzi
fault could potentially produce a M 7.6 earthquake in the near future.
While the Xianshuihe fault system propagated from west to east, the
fact that the Ganzi fault’s long-term slip rate is similar to that of
the Xianshuihe fault to the SE suggests that the onset of the
Xianshuihe fault system at ca. 13 Ma marked a major transition in
tectonic regime in SE Tibet.
Geological Society of America Bulletin, 2017. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/B31691.1.