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Bounds on the Holocene Slip Rate of the Haiyuan Fault, North-Central China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Zhang Peizhen
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
Peter Molnar
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
B. C. Burchfiel
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
L. Royden
Affiliation:
Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 USA
Wang Yipeng
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, State Seismological Bureau, Beijing, China
Deng Qidong
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, State Seismological Bureau, Beijing, China
Song Fangmin
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, State Seismological Bureau, Beijing, China
Zhang Weiqi
Affiliation:
Ningxia Seismological Bureau, Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan, China
Jiao Decheng
Affiliation:
Ningxia Seismological Bureau, Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, Yinchuan, China

Abstract

We measured the offsets of six stream valleys, of 30 to 90 m, along the northwest-southeast trending, left-lateral Haiyuan strike-slip fault, in north-central China. Minimum ages of these offsets were determined to estimate lower bounds for the Holocene slip rate. The most reliable bounds are 7.6 ± 1.0 and 6.7 ± 1.0 mm/yr, with three others that are smaller (3.4 ± 0.7, 3.5 ± 0.9, and 4.1 ± 0.4 mm/yr) and one large value (16.4 ± 5.9 mm/yr) that we doubt. Thus, the average Holocene slip rate of the Haiyuan fault is larger than 6 mm/yr and probably exceeds 7 mm/yr. If the average slip rate of 5 to 10 mm/yr for the Quaternary Period is applicable to the Holocene Epoch, the average rate is 8 ± 2 mm/yr.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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