Variability in interseismic strain accumulation rate and style along the Altyn Tagh Fault.

ABSTRACT: Major strike-slip faults that develop between strong and weaker regions are thought to focus along narrow shear zones at the rheological boundary. Here we present the InSAR-derived velocity field spanning almost the entire length of one such fault, the 1600 km-long Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF), and analyse the strain distribution. We find that localisation of strain is actually variable, in contrast to other major strike-slip faults that show little variation, with strain concentrated at the fault for some sections and distributed over broad (>100 km) shear zones for others. Slip rate along the ATF is also variable, decreasing along the fault from 11.6 ± 1.6 mm/yr in the west to 7.2 ± 1.4 mm/yr in the central portion, before increasing again to 11.7  ± 0.9 mm/yr over the eastern portion. We show

SUBMITTER: Shen L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11317509 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature