Paleoseismic investigation on the eastern end of the Altyn Tagh fault
Abstract
Paleoseismology provides fundamental data for study the active fault behavior as it reveals past events which occurred on the fault. To better understand the timing of the paleoearthquakes along the eastern Altyn Tagh fault, we opened two trench at the Shibaocheng site, where surface trace of the fault is clear. We apply 14C dating techniques to constraint the timing of the events. Preliminary results at Shibaocheng suggest that the trench recorded at least 2 - 3 events. With the charcoal samples dated, the earliest paleo-earthquake recorded in these trench occurred between B.P. 3470 - 4130 years. A subsequent earthquake occurred between B.P. 3420 - 3470 years. Thus, this section of the Altyn Tagh fault broke frequently in the time window between B.P. 4130 yrs. - 3420 yrs. The data from our investigation presented additional paleoseismic records for this segment of the fault. Combined with the previous trenches opened along the fault, we revealed the fault behavior at the millennium-year scale.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017AGUFM.T43C0700G
- Keywords:
-
- 9320 Asia;
- GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION;
- 7221 Paleoseismology;
- SEISMOLOGY;
- 8107 Continental neotectonics;
- TECTONOPHYSICS;
- 8175 Tectonics and landscape evolution;
- TECTONOPHYSICS