Displacement Rates and Paleoseismicity of the Eastern Kunlun Fault: Implications for the Dynamical Role of Strike-slip Faults During Intracontinental Deformation

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0000503KirbyThis project will investigate the active displacement field surrounding the eastern termination of the Kunlun Fault, in western Sichuan and Gansu Provinces, China. The study is aimed at furthering understanding of the role that large (1000 km) strike-slip faults play in active intracontinental deformation in Asia. Unresolved issues addressed here include: 1) whether these faults control the extrusion of coherent, rigid blocks of crust or whether they are simply passive features developed in a continuously deforming medium, 2) whether these faults are confined to the crust or penetrate through the lithosphere, and 3) how displacement is accommodated at the terminations of such large structures. Results from this study will also have important implications for the utility of "mass budget" approaches to balancing Indo-Eurasian convergence velocities. In addition to broadening the PI's experience with paleoseismic techniques, this study is unique in that it focuses on the spatial variability of displace near the termination of one of these structures.