The Late Pleistocene activity of the eastern part of east Kunlun fault zone and its tectonic significance

The nearly EW-trending East Kunlun fault zone is the north boundary of the Bayan Har block.The activity characteristics and the position of the eastern end of its eastward extension are of great significance to probing into the dynamic mechanism of formation of the east edge of the Tibetan Plateau,and also lay the foundation for seismic risk assessment of the fault zone.The following results are obtained by analysis based on satellite image interpretation of landforms,surface rupture survey,terrace scarp deformation survey,and terrace dating data on the eastern part of the East Kunlun fault zone：（1）the Luocha segment is a Holocene active fault,where a reverse L-shape paleoearthquake surface rupture zone of about 50 km long is located;（2）the Luocha segment is characterized by left-lateral slip movement under the compression-shear condition since the later period of the Late Pleistocene,with a rate of 7.68–9.37 mm/a and a vertical slip rate of 0.7–0.9 mm/a,which are basically in accord with the activity rate of segments on its west side.The results indicate that it is a part of eastward extension of the East Kunlun fault zone;（3）the high-speed linear horizontal slip of the nearly EW-trending East Kunlun fault zone is blocked by the South China block at east,and transforms into the vertical movement of the nearly SN-NNE trending Minjiang fault zone and the Longmenshan fault zone,and the uplift of Longmenshan and Minjiang.The area where transform of the two tectonic systems occurred confines the position of the east end;（4）Luocha segment and Maqu segment constitute the＂Maqu seismic gap＂,so,seismic risk at Maqu segment is higher than that at Luocha segment,which should attract more attention.