Publication Date:
2018-02-17
Description:
The North China Plain (NCP) is a region with high level of seismic hazard. Previous GPS measurements, however have shown a near absence of present-day crustal deformation. Using updated GPS data covering three blocks of the eastern China, we discover that interseismic deformation in the NCP takes place in a ~1100 km wide left-lateral shear zone of roughly east-west orientation. The 6.0±1.3 mm/yr interseismic left-lateral shear over the NCP results in contemporary deformation that is eventually accommodated by earthquake ruptures of right-lateral strike-slip along the north-northeast trending faults and anticlockwise block rotates. We suggest that rapid ~eastward motion of the rigid South China block, with respect to the rigid Amurian block, have created a left-lateral shear couple to twist the non-rigid NCP to form the contemporary deformation.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics