The Litang fault system (LTFS) in the eastern Tibetan Plateau has generated several large (7.5 N M N 7) historical
earthquakes and has exhumed granitic peaks rising N1700 m above the mean elevation of the plateau, despite
being located within a tectonic block surrounded by highly active faults. We study horizontally offset moraine
crests from the Cuopu basin and a vertically offset alluvio-glacial fan from the eastern Maoya basin. We determine
a left-lateral rate of 0.09 ± 0.02 mm/yr along a slowly slipping secondary fault at Cuopu, while the main
active fault at present is the normal range-front N Cuopu fault, along which we determined a left-lateral rate
of 2.3 ± 0.6 mm/yr since 173 ka. At Maoya fan, matching the vertical 12 ± 1 m cumulative offset with
the 21.7 ± 4.2 ka fan age yields a vertical (normal) rate of 0.6 ± 0.1 mm/yr. This rate is very similar to that
recently determined at the same location using low-temperature thermochronology (0.59 ± 0.03 mm/yr since
6.6 ± 0.5 Ma). Left-lateral rates along the main faults of the LTFS range between 0.9 and 2.3 mm/yr at all timescales
from a few years to ~6 Ma. The facts that the LTFS is highly segmented and that at present, the Cuopu,
Maoya and South Jawa segments are mostly normal (while the Litang and Dewu segments are left-lateral/
normal), could prevent the occurrence ofMN 7.5 destructive earthquakes along the LTFS, as is generally assumed.
However, motion on the normal faults appears to be linked with motion on the strike–slip faults, potentially
allowing for exceptional larger earthquakes, and implying that the area is not experiencing pure ~NS extension
but rather NW–SE left-lateral transtension.