Neotectonic vertical movements of Northern Sikhote-Alin and adjacent territories and its relationship with the characteristics of the stream network

Abstract

Morphostructural analysis of the relief and the analysis of the self-similarity characteristics of stream network of the Northern Sikhote-Alin and adjacent territories were carried out. The relief of the studied territory has an inherited character; it was formed in several stages during the neotectonic stage. The most intense vertical movements occurred at the early phases of the neotectonic stage. At Pleistocene time the intensity of vertical movements decreased significantly. At this time, the modern erosion-denudation forms of relief was formed. At the final stages of neotectonic development (at the end of the Pleistocene — Holocene), there was a slight activation of vertical movements with a changes in the structural plan and the manifestation of NNE stretched structures in the relief, which was reflected in the features of the residual relief. The boundaries of areas with increased residual relief coincide with areas of increased seismicity in the region. A modification of the complex self-similarity parameter PRNS was proposed, the use application of which allowed us to improve the correlation of this parameter with the latest (youngest) movements detected by the morphostructural method. Zones of maximum PRNS values correlate with the areas of greatest relief increment, and zones of it’s minimum correlate with areas the smallest relief increment, or areas of most significant erosion. The results of the analysis of the characteristics of self-similarity of the stream network are mainly comparable with the manifestations of vertical tectonic movements at the final stages of neotectonic development.