Large-Scale Dextral Strike-Slip Movement and Associated Tectonic Deformation Along the Red-River Fault Zone

Field investigation has revealed that the large-scale dextral strike-slip movement and the associated tectonic deformation along the Red River fault zone have the following features: geometrically, the Red River fault zone can be divided into three deformation regions, namely, the north, central and south regions. The north region lies on the eastern side of the Northwest Yunnan extensional taphrogenic belt, which is characterized by the 3 sets of rift-depression basins striking NNW, NNE and near N-S since the Pliocene time, and on its western side is the Lanping-Yunlong compressive deformation belt of the Paleogene to Neogene; the deformation in the central region is characterized by dextral strike-slip or shearing. The east Yunnan Miocene compressive deformation belt lies on the eastern side of the fault in the south, and the Tengtiaohe tensile fault depression belt is located on its west. In terms of tectonic geomorphology, the aforementioned deformation is represented by basin-range tectonics in the north, linear faulted valley-basins in the central part and compressive (or tensional) basins in the south. Among them, the great variance in elevation of the planation surfaces on both sides of the Cangshan-Erhai fault suggests prominent normal faulting along the Red River fault since the Pliocene. From the viewpoint of spatial-temporal evolution, the main active portion of the fault was the southern segment in the Paleogene-Miocene-Pliocene, which is represented by “tearing” from south to north. The main active portion of the fault has migrated to the northern segment since the Pliocene, especially in the late Quaternary, which is characterized by extensional slip from north to southeast. The size of the deformation region and the magnitude of deformation show that the eastern plate of the Red River fault has been an active plate of the relative movement of blocks.