Earth Science Frontiers ›› 2022, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (6): 206-223.DOI: 10.13745/j.esf.sf.2022.8.6

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Genetic analysis of typical strike-slip faults and related basins in China

FENG Zhiqiang(), LI Meng, GUO Yuanling, LIU Guangxiang   

  1. Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, SINOPEC, Beijing 102206, China
  • Received:2022-07-07 Revised:2022-07-27 Online:2022-11-25 Published:2022-10-20

Abstract:

Strike-slip faults and strike-slip pull-apart basins are widely distributed in China. At present, few researches are concerned with the large variety patterns of strike-slip faults related to the different rheological structures of the lithosphere. There is no doubt that the lithosphere is the subject of the tectonic movement driven by regional stress field, hence, the stress field determines the way of movement, such as strike-slipping, stretching etc., whilst the nature of a lithosphere determines the movement scale and its specific form. Study of the large quantity and variety forms of strike-slip faults and basins show: many small strike-slip faults are distributed widely in the ancient craton, e.g., the strike-slip fault systems of Paleozoic strata in the Tarim Basin; a “destroyed craton” develops multiple strike-slip fault belts, e.g., the Tan-Lu fault belt, Lanliao-Yanshan fault belt and the eastern piedmont fault zone of Taihang Mountain in the eastern part of the North China Craton, and it can couple with the regional extensional stress field to form an echelon grabens (like the Bohai Bay Basin); large strike-slip faults (such as the northeastern segment of the Tan-Lu fault) develop on the relatively weak Paleozoic lithosphere, and its related independent strike-slip pull-apart basins. In the Meso-Cenozoic orogenic belt with poor consolidation, a linear large strike-slip fault is often formed, e.g., the Altyn and Haiyuan faults. Based on the strike-slip stress field and the strength and rheological characteristics of the lithosphere, we establish the coupling mechanism between the lower ductile-layer and the top brittle-layer of lithosphere properties. On this basis, the formation and evolutionary models of strike-slip faults with different lithosphere properties are established to better explain the genetic mechanisms of typical strike-slip faults and related basins developed in China.

Key words: strike-slip fault, strike-slip basin, pull-apart basin, lithosphere property, lithosphere strength, brittle layer, ductile layer, ductile deformation

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