Late Cretaceous Transpressional Fault System: A Case Study of the Yishu Fault Belt, Shandong Province, Eastern China

Abstract

AbstractOn the basis of field observations of the structures of three profiles from the Linshu region, deformation characteristics and the tectonic background of the Yishu fault belt in the Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic have been discussed in detail. Three structural profiles, whose deformations consist mainly of earlier transpressional faults and later normal faults, were developed for the Mengtuan Formation of the Lower Cretaceous Dasheng Group. Typical positive flower structures, duplex structures, and break‐through faults were found in these profiles. On the basis of analyses of the structural deformation and previous geochronological studies, it was concluded that the earlier transpressional faults of the profiles were triggered by the sinistral transpression of the Yishu fault belt in the Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene, and that the later normal faults, formed during the Late Paleogene–Neogene extension, truncated the earlier transpressional faults. With consideration of the tectonic evolution of the Tan‐Lu fault belt and the different drift directions of the Pacific plate since the Cretaceous, we suggest that the major tectonic events of the Late Cretaceous–Neogene in eastern China were mainly controlled by the subduction of the Pacific plate.