Quantification of Both Normal and Right-Lateral Late Quaternary Activity Along the Kongur Shan Extensional System, Chinese Pamir

Abstract:

The Pamir Mountains, located at the western end of the Indo-Asian collision zone, are one of the most tectonically active regions in central Asia. The Kongur Shan extensional system (KES), located in the Chinese Pamir, accommodates EW extension due to the India/Asia collision and has been the focus on numerous Cenozoic studies, whereas there are very few late Quaternary studies. The KES is mostly normal, except towards its NW end, where it becomes right-lateral strike-slip, along the Muji segment. From Muji to Tashkorgan, we investigated 6 sites, where active normal and/or strike-slip faults cut and offset abandoned river channels or alluvial fans and terraces, which allows us to quantify both the normal and strike-slip motions at different locations along the KES. Our preliminary results yield vertical and right-lateral rates of ~1.8 and >3.2 mm/yr along the northern KES (Muji to Bulunkou) during the Holocene, and of ~1.9-2.7 and ~1 mm/yr along the southern KES (near Taheman) since ~30 ka. These preliminary rates, consistent with GPS data and Cenozoic rates, imply that the EW extension rate due to the northward indentation of the Pamir salient as well as due to the clockwise rotation of the rigid Tarim basin, is partly accommodated by the Muji-Tashkorgan pull-apart basin, and is faster in the north than in the south (from ~5 to ~2 mm/yr).