Low Quaternary slip rate reconciles geodetic and geologic rates along the Altyn Tagh fault, northwestern Tibet

Cowgill, Eric; Gold, Ryan D.; Chen, Xuanhua; Wang, Xiaofeng; Arrowsmith, J Ramón; Southon, John

doi:10.1130/g25623a.1

Cited by 173 publications

(146 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Our interseismic strain accumulation profiles across the ATF are in good agreement with these previous GPS measurements and InSAR results. The slip rates and locking depth for the ATF estimated from both GPS and InSAR studies and from geological studies [77,78] are also consistent with our results. This consistency indicates that the ATF played only a secondary role in the northeastward extrusion of material in the Tibetan Plateau [79], with most of the extrusion occurring in the interior of the plateau.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…This significant difference was reconciled by geologic [77] and recent geodetic [17] data, which both agree on a slip rate of 9.0˘4.0 mm/year. As Cog will et al [77,78] argued that the apparent discrepancy in slip rate along this fault might result more from systematic biases in geomorphic reconstructions rather than from true secular variation in slip rate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

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Interseismic Deformation of the Altyn Tagh Fault Determined by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Measurements

Zhu

Wen

et al. 2016

Remote Sensing

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Abstract:The Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) is one of the major left-lateral strike-slip faults in the northeastern area of the Tibetan Plateau. In this study, the interseismic deformation across the ATF at 85˝E was measured using 216 interferograms from 33 ENVISAT advanced synthetic aperture radar images on a descending track acquired from 2003 to 2010, and 66 interferograms from 15 advanced synthetic aperture radar images on an ascending track acquired from 2005 to 2010. To retrieve the pattern of interseismic strain accumulation, a global atmospheric model (ERA-Interim) provided by the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast and a global network orbital correction approach were applied to remove atmospheric effects and the long-wavelength orbital errors in the interferograms. Then, the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) time series with atmospheric estimation model was used to obtain a deformation rate map for the ATF. Based on the InSAR velocity map, the regional strain rates field was calculated for the first time using the multi-scale wavelet method. The strain accumulation is strongly focused on the ATF with the maximum strain rate of 12.4ˆ10´8/year. We also show that high-resolution 2-D strain rates field can be calculated from InSAR alone, even without GPS data. Using a simple half-space elastic screw dislocation model, the slip-rate and locking depth were estimated with both ascending and descending surface velocity measurements. The joint inversion results are consistent with a left-lateral slip rate of 8.0˘0.7 mm/year on the ATF and a locking depth of 14.5˘3 km, which is in agreement with previous results from GPS surveys and ERS InSAR results. Our results support the dynamic models of Asian deformation requiring low fault slip rate.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Interseismic Deformation of the Altyn Tagh Fault Determined by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Measurements

Zhu

Wen

et al. 2016

Remote Sensing

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“…There have been no large earthquakes recorded instrumentally, though the fault has an offset of about 475 km since around 25 Ma, and there is evidence of large ruptures in the past (Washburn et al, 2003). Slip rates on the Altyn Tagh are roughly 10 mm=yr (Elliott et al, 2008;Cowgill et al, 2009), and we use our default coupled depth of 12:5 2:5 km, consistent with estimates of the locking depth here (Elliott et al, 2008).…”

Section: Altyn Tagh Faultsupporting

confidence: 59%

Determination of Mmax from Background Seismicity and Moment Conservation

Stevens

Avouac

2017

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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We describe a simple method to determine the probability distribution function of the magnitude M max and return period T R of the maximum plausible earthquake on crustal faults. The method requires the background seismicity rate (estimated from instrumental data) and the rate of interseismic moment buildup. The method assumes that the moment released by the seismic slip is in balance with the moment deficit accumulated in between earthquakes. It also assumes that the seismicity obeys the Gutenberg-Richter (GR) law up to M max . We took into account the aftershocks of large infrequent events that were not represented in the instrumental record, so that we could estimate the average seismicity rate over the entire fault history. We extrapolated the instrumental record, using the GR law to model the frequency of larger events and their aftershocks. This increased the frequencies of smaller events on average; when these smaller events were newly extrapolated, they predicted a higher frequency of larger events. We iterated this process until stability was reached, and then we assumed moment balance when we found the maximum magnitude; we have found this method to be appropriate in applications involving examples of fault with good historical catalogs. We then showed examples of applications to faults with no historical catalogs. We present results from nine cases. For the San Andreas fault system, we find

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“…Similarly, a range of slip rate estimates from Xu et al (2005) based upon cosmogenic, carbon and thermoluminescence (TL) dated offset landforms yielded a rate along the central Altyn Tagh Fault of 17.5 AE 2 mm a À1 , which was subsequently reinterpreted in light of epistemic uncertainty in dating the terrace riser to be 5-12 mm a À1 ). More recent Quaternary observations by Gold et al (2009) and Cowgill et al (2009) at 86.7-88.58E yielded slip rate estimates of 8-17 mm a À1 and 9-14 mm a À1 respectively, which lend support to the idea that the previously high Quaternary estimates were due to inaccuracies in interpretation of offset features, rather than pointing to secular variation ).…”

Section: Quaternary Slip Ratesmentioning

confidence: 62%

“…At an additional site on the central Altyn Tagh Fault, Cowgill et al (2009) determined well-constrained age data for offset fluvial risers, providing a millennial slip rate of 14-9 mm a À1 since 4-6 ka. As for Cherchen He, these data are inconsistent with previously published millennial slip rates but agree with geodetic, palaeoseismic and geological measurements.…”

Section: Quaternary Slip Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crustal–lithospheric structure and continental extrusion of Tibet

Searle

Elliott

Phillips

et al. 2011

JGS

237

154

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Crustal shortening and thickening to c. 70-85 km in the Tibetan Plateau occurred both before and mainly after the c. 50 Ma India-Asia collision. Potassic-ultrapotassic shoshonitic and adakitic lavas erupted across the Qiangtang (c. 50-29 Ma) and Lhasa blocks (c. 30-10 Ma) indicate a hot mantle, thick crust and eclogitic root during that period. The progressive northward underthrusting of cold, Indian mantle lithosphere since collision shut off the source in the Lhasa block at c. 10 Ma. Late Miocene-Pleistocene shoshonitic volcanic rocks in northern Tibet require hot mantle. We review the major tectonic processes proposed for Tibet including 'rigid-block', continuum and crustal flow as well as the geological history of the major strikeslip faults. We examine controversies concerning the cumulative geological offsets and the discrepancies between geological, Quaternary and geodetic slip rates. Low present-day slip rates measured from global positioning system and InSAR along the Karakoram and Altyn Tagh Faults in addition to slow long-term geological rates can only account for limited eastward extrusion of Tibet since Mid-Miocene time. We conclude that despite being prominent geomorphological features sometimes with wide mylonite zones, the faults cut earlier formed metamorphic and igneous rocks and show limited offsets. Concentrated strain at the surface is dissipated deeper into wide ductile shear zones.

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Low Quaternary slip rate reconciles geodetic and geologic rates along the Altyn Tagh fault, northwestern Tibet

Cited by 173 publications

References 36 publications

Interseismic Deformation of the Altyn Tagh Fault Determined by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Measurements

Interseismic Deformation of the Altyn Tagh Fault Determined by Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) Measurements

Determination of Mmax from Background Seismicity and Moment Conservation

Crustal–lithospheric structure and continental extrusion of Tibet

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