Active tectonics and landform evolution in the Longxian-Baoji Fault Zone, Northeast Tibet, China, determined using combined ridge and stream profiles

Abstract

The Longxian-Baoji Fault Zone (LBFZ) is the main structural link between the compressional Liupanshan Mountain in north and the extensional Weihe Basin in south, which accommodated complex deformation between the Tibetan Plateau and the Ordos Block. We determined the tectonic activity of the normal faults in the LBFZ using combined ridge and stream profiles measured from the natural landscape and simulated by a numerical model. The well-preserved geomorphic features (i.e., scarps) and steep scarp slopes show that the Guguan-Guozhen Fault (GGF) has been active during the Late Pleistocene to Holocene. The distinct decrease of scarp heights of the GGF near Badu and the low scarp and land surface slopes of ridge and stream profiles for the inferred northern extension of the GGF demonstrate that the GGF terminates near Badu and does not extend farther to the north. The Taoyuan-Guichuansi Fault is determined to be an Early-Middle Pleistocene fault, as evident from the different shapes and low scarp slopes of stream profiles. The longitudinal profiles of the Qianyang-Biaojiao Fault are characterized by two segments with different slopes, indicating that the fault may not have been active during the Quaternary. Our results show that the profile shapes, spatial pattern of scarp height, and the slopes of scarp and land surface of ridge and stream profiles are appropriate metrics of fault activity. Furthermore, we constructed the landform evolution in the LBFZ and suggest that it is closely related to the active tectonics. The change in fault activity reflects a tectonic transformation from an extensional regime to a dominantly transtensional regime.