Abstract
The Puqu Fault is situated in Southern Tibet. It is influenced by the eastward extrusion of Northern Tibet and carries the clockwise rotation followed by the southward extrusion. Thus, the Puqu Fault is bounded by the principal dynamic zones and the tectonic evolution remains active alongside. This study intends to understand the tectonic activity in the Puqu Fault Region from the river profiles obtained from the remotely sensed satellite imagery. A medium resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM, 20 m) was generated from an Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) stereo pair of images and the stream network in this region was extracted from this DEM. The indices of slope and drainage area were subsequently calculated from this ASTER DEM. Based on the stream power law, the area-slope plots of the streams were delineated to derive the indices of channel concavity and steepness, which are closely related to tectonic activity. The results show the active tectonics varying significantly along the Puqu Fault, although the potential influence of glaciations may exist. These results are expected to be useful for a better understanding of tectonic evolution in Southeastern Tibet.
Highlights
Empirical observations have indicated that steep topography may be closely related to rapid uplift [1]
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was created from a stereo pair of ASTER images acquired on 3 January
This study attempted to understand the tectonic activities in the Puqu Fault region from a series of river profiles that were extracted from an ASTER DEM
Summary
Empirical observations have indicated that steep topography may be closely related to rapid uplift [1]. Some studies argued that hillslopes may be influenced by potential balance between erosion and soil production rates [1,5,6,7]. These tectonic activities may alter river network mainly through changes of fluvial incision rates and stream diversion by modifying erosion base level [8,9,10]. The drainage network may continuously adjust to changes of surface slope, and it shows potential in recording information related to evolution of faults and folds [15,16]
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