Coseismic soft-sediment deformation has been studied by structural and tectononophysical methods in the Selenga Delta area shaken by the devastating M ∼ 7.5 Tsagan earthquake in 1862. Among the documented deformation structures (seismites), clastic dikes are the most reliable paleoseismic indicators. The dikes have their sizes and extent showing proximity to the primary coseismic rupture zone and are closely associated with faults of different hierarchic levels. The Tsagan event occurred under SW–NE extension as motion on a stepped system of normal faults dipping at 300°–350°, ∠45°–75°.
The amount of vertical motion measured against a reference layer in a trench reached 2.83 m, and the maximum dip displacement measured in a single fracture was 0.5 m. The earthquake was generated by the Delta Fault that dips at 60° on average to the northwest.
The distribution of quantitative parameters of brittle and brittle-plastic deformation has been analyzed along two profiles, and two new parameters were introduced: indices of mean intensity (I) of clastic dikes and microdikes; the new parameters were calculated by specially developed equations. Summation of significant peaks in all parameters (SUMspp) allowed contouring the zone of most intense soft-sediment deformation near Dubinino Village.
Deformation mostly propagated in the NE–SW and N–S directions. The location of the 1862 Tsagan earthquake at 52.35° N and 106.67° E was inferred from the SUMspp value taking into account the dip of the causative fault plane and the average origin depth of earthquakes in the Baikal rift. The approach we used is applicable to locating preinstrumental events.
The recurrence of large earthquakes in the area of Proval Bay (Lake Baikal) has been estimated to be 1120–1230 years proceeding from alternating deformed and undeformed sediments in the sections, their thicknesses and deposition rates according to radiocarbon dating. The seismic activity has been associated with the same fault which can generate M ≥ 7 events.
This paper presents the first release of an Informational System (IS) devoted to the systematic collection of all available data relating to PlioceneeQuaternary faults in southern East Siberia, their critical analysis and their seismotectonic parameterization. The final goal of this project is to form a new base for improving the assessment of seismic hazard and other natural processes associated with crustal deformation. The presented IS has been exploited to create a relational database of active and conditionally active faults in southern East Siberia (between 100e114 E and 50e57 N) whose central sector is characterized by the highly seismic Baikal rift zone. The information within the database for each fault segment is organized as distinct but intercorrelated sections (tables, texts and pictures, etc.) and can be easily visualized as HTML pages in offline browsing. The preliminary version of the database distributed free on disk already highlights the general fault pattern showing that the Holocene and historical activity is quite uniform and dominated by NEeSW and nearly EeWtrending faults; the former with a prevailing dip-slip normal kinematics, while the latter structures are left-lateral strike-slip and oblique-slip (with different proportion of left-lateral and normal fault slip components). These faults are mainly concentrated along the borders of the rift basins and are the main sources of moderate-to-strong (M 5.5) earthquakes on the southern sectors of East Siberia in recent times. As a whole, based on analyzing the diverse fault kinematics and their variable spatial distribution with respect to the overall pattern of the tectonic structures formed and/or activated during the late PlioceneeQuaternary, we conclude they were generated under a regional stress field mainly characterized by a relatively uniform NWeSE tension, but strongly influenced by the irregular hard boundary of the old Siberian craton. The obtained inferences are in an agreement with the existing models of the development of the Baikal region
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