Longmenshan Fault
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The Longmenshan Fault is a thrust fault which runs along the base of the Longmenshan Mountains in Sichuan province in southwestern China. The strike of the fault plane is approximately NE.[1] Motion on this fault is responsible for the uplift of the mountains relative to the lowlands of the Sichuan Basin to the east. It represents the eastern boundary of the Tibetan Plateau. The 2008 Sichuan earthquake occurred along this fault or a related fault.[2]
[edit] Morphology
The American Geophysical Union publication Tectonics describes the 5 km high escarpment thus:
"In the Longmen Shan region, however, the topographic margin of the Tibetan Plateau is one of the world's most remarkable continental escarpments. Elevations rise from circa 600 m in the southern Sichuan Basin to peaks exceeding 6500 m over a horizontal distance of less than 50 km. Regional topographic gradients typically exceed 10 % along this mountain front and rival any other margin of the plateau."[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Dong Jia et al. (September 2006). "Longmen Shan fold-thrust belt and its relation to the western Sichuan Basin in central China: New insights from hydrocarbon exploration". AAPG Bulletin 90 (9): 1425-1447. doi:.
- ^ Magnitude 7.9 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA (2008 May 12 06:28:00 UTC).
- ^ E. Kirby, P. W. Reiners, M. A. Krol, K. X. Whipple, K. V. Hodges, K. A. Farley, W. Tang, and Z. Chen, (2002). "Late Cenozoic evolution of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau". Tectonics 21 (1). doi:.
[edit] External links
- Map of faults in SW China - MIT
- University of Arizona
- Simplified geologic map of the Longmen Shan region of the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau.
- China Virtual Museum of Earthquakes, map charting the Five Seismic Belts in China
