The Fenwei rift and its recent periodic activity

Abstract

The Fenwei rift on the southern sector of the Jin—Shaan rift system of China is marked by a crescent-shaped valley 600 km in length and 30–90 km in width depressed up to 10 km and filled with about 7000 m of Cenozoic deposits, bounded on both northern and southern sides by majestic mountain ranges. The geometry of the rift valley is characterized by six branch depressions and five intervening swells extending east-northeastward in a dextral en-echelon pattern and bounded on both sides by abrupt topographic slopes reflecting the underlying faults. These are typically a system of growth faults having downthrows ranging from 800 m to 10 km and dipping toward the centre of the valley forming an asymmetric graben structure. The geometry, kinematics and evolution of these faults have had controlling influences on the neotectonic movement of the rift and its recent periodic activity as the present overall form of the rift valley. Estimates of the amount of extension across the rift for various recent geological periods were obtained from calculations made on the fault separation of corresponding stratigraphie horizons. The total amount of extension in response to tensile stresses, acting in a direction varying from 25° NW on the west to 70° NW on the northeast is estimated to be 9065 m, since the beginning of the rift formation in the Eocene whereas the rate of extension in the Recent is 4.5 mm/yr and in modern times it is 8–24 mm/yr. The amount of left-lateral displacement across the rift during various stages of its development was also calculated from the observed effects of strike-slip movement on the drainage system. The left-lateral offset since the mid-Pleistocene is approximately 7170 m and the offset rate in modern times is 6 mm/yr. These estimates suggest that the Fenwei rift has been a place of intense neotectonic activity. Details of more recent activity of the rift were investigated in terms of the various rift-related phenomena such as seismic events, ground fissuring, epeirogenic movement, shifting of streams or lakes and climatic changes which have occurred in the historic period. Seven highly periodic cycles of seismicity are recognized from available historic records of the earthquakes that have occurred in the rift region during the last 4000 yrs. Each cycle appears to begin with a period of intense seismicity consisting of a series of violent shocks chiefly of M6–8 and lasting approximately 200 yrs, and then passes on to a prolonged period of quiescence of about 600 yrs during which only minor seismic events occur. The 22 events of ground-fissuring recorded in the historic annals are also concentrated in several distinctive periods of intense activity which coincide with seven corresponding periods of active seismicity, suggesting that seismic events and ground fissures resulted from the same cause, both being indications of periodic tectonic activity of the rift. Moreover, periodic and coincident with periods of tectonic activity are the occurrences of the natural phenomena related to rifting such as the appearance and disappearance of lakes, the shifting of streams and changes of river water from clear to turbid.