General characteristics of the recent horizontal crustal movement in Chinese mainland

In this paper, the horizontal crustal movement obtained from GPS observations in 1998 and 2000 at basic and fiducial stations in the Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) is introduced. A brief introduction of the field observations, the data processing with GAMIT/GLOBK software and the accuracy of the GPS observations is given. In average the accuracy of the results for each year is about 2 mm in the horizontal components and 5 mm in the vertical component, and the average accuracy of horizontal displacements at a station is about 3 mm. The results of crustal movement during the period from early September 1998 to mid June, 2000, including the displacements at each station with datum definition of a group of stable stations of insignificant relative movements among themselves in the eastern part of China, strains in different parts of the network and rotations in some parts, are obtained. Based on the crustal movement maps which are more complete and detailed than previous ones, the general characteristics of the recent crustal movement in Chinese mainland are discussed. During the above mentioned period of observations, the crustal deformation in the eastern part of China was relatively small and quite stable. With reference to a group of stable stations with small relative movement in the eastern part of China, the northeastern China block moved northward for about 10 mm, the South China block moved south-eastern for about 9 mm. In reference to the eastern part the northwestern part of China moved northward for about 26 mm, the Tibetan area in southwestern part of China moved mainly northward for about 32 mm. The area in Yunnan and east Tibet showed significant clockwise tectonic rotation of 0.0045 double prime or average rotational displacement of 12 mm with the rotation center at 26.5°N and 95.5°E. The North-South Seismic Belt in the middle part of China is of active and complicated deformation. The observation results show that the northward pushing by the Indian plate has still played the dominant role in the crustal movement in Chinese mainland.

The newest observational evidence on asymmetrical deformation of the Earth

Based on the coordinates, velocities and their error estimations of 595 GPS, SLR and VLBI stations issued by IERS in March 2001, the current asymmetrical deformation of the Earth is studied. The results show that the northern hemisphere of the Earth is undergoing compressive deformation, and the southern hemisphere is undergoing extensional deformation with the equator as the boundary. If the longitude line of 90°E and 90°W is taken as the boundary, the Pacific hemisphere (with 180° as its central longitude) is undergoing compressive deformation, and the Atlantic hemisphere (with 0° as its central longitude) is undergoing extensional deformation. The deformation patterns indicate again that the Earth is undergoing some dual-asymmetrical deformation. Moreover, taking 6 366.740 km as the standard mean curvature radius of the Earth, the velocity of volume change calculated from the data of space geodesy is 6.65x10-(11)m3/a.

Contemporary crustal deformation of the Chinese continent and tectonic block model

We obtain the preliminary result of crustal deformation velocity field for the Chinese con-tinent by analyzing GPS data from the Crustal Motion Observation Network of China (CMONOC), particularly the data from the regional networks of CMONOC observed in 1999 and 2001. We de-lineate 9 tectonically active blocks and 2 broadly distributed deformation zones out of a denseGPS velocity field, and derive block motion Euler poles for the blocks and their relative motionrates. Our result reveals that there are 3 categories of deformation patterns in the Chinese conti-nent. The first category, associated with the interior of the Tibetan Plateau and the Tianshan oro-genic belt, shows broadly distributed deformation within the regions. The third category, associatedwith the Tarim Basin and the region east of the north-south seismic belt of China, shows block-likemotion, with deformation accommodated along the block boundaries only. The second category, mainly associated with the borderland of the Tibetan Plateau, such as the Qaidam, Qilian, Xining(in eastern Qinghai), and the Diamond-shaped (in western Sichuan and Yunnan) blocks, has thedeformation pattern between the first and the third, i.e. these regions appear to deform block-like,but with smaller sizes and less strength for the blocks. Based on the analysis of the lithosphericstructures and the deformation patterns of the regions above, we come to the inference that thedeformation modes of the Chinese continental crust are mainly controlled by the crustal structure.The crust of the eastern China and the Tarim Basin is mechanically strong, and its deformationtakes the form of relative motion between rigid blocks. On the other hand, the northward indentation of the Indian plate into the Asia continent has created the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Tianshan Mountains, thickened their crust, and raised the temperature in the crust. The lower crust thus has become ductile, evidenced in low seismic velocity and high electric conductivity observed. The brittle part of the crust, driven by the visco-plastic flow of the lower crust, deforms extensively at all scales. The regions of the second category located at the borderland of the Tibetan Plateau are at the transition zone between the regions of the first and the third categories in terms of the crustal structure. Driven by the lateral boundary forces, their deformation style is also between the two, in the form of block motion and deformation with smaller blocks and less internal strength.

Movement and strain conditions of active blocks in the Chinese mainland

The definition of active block is given from the angles of crustal deformation and strain. The movement and strain parameters of active blocks are estimated according to the unified velocity field composed of the velocities at 1598 GPS stations obtained from GPS measurements carried out in the past years in the Chinese mainland and the surrounding areas. The movement and strain conditions of the blocks are analyzed. The active blocks in the Chinese mainland have a consistent E-trending movement component, but its N and S components are not consistent. The blocks in the western part have a consistent N-trending movement and the blocks in the eastern part have a consistent S-trending movement. In the area to the east of 90°E, that is the area from Himalayas block towards NE, the movement direction of the blocks rotates clockwisely and the movement rates of the blocks are different. Generally, the movement rate is large in the west and south and small in the east and north with a difference of 3 to 4 times between the rates in the west and east. The distributions of principal compressive strain directions of the blocks are also different. The principal strain of the blocks located to the west of 90oE is basically in the SN direction, the principal compressive strain of the blocks in the northeastern part of Qingzang plateau is roughly in the NE direction and the direction of principal compressive strain of the blocks in the southeastern part of Qingzang plateau rounds clockwisely the east end of Himalayas structure. In addition, the principal strain and shear strain rates of the blocks are also different. The Himalayas and Tianshan blocks have the largest principal compressive strain and the maximum shear strain rate. Then, Lhasa, Qiangtang, Southwest Yunnan (SW Yunnan), Qilian and Sichuan-Yunan (Chuan-Dian) blocks followed. The strain rate of the blocks in the eastern part is smaller. The estimation based on the stain condition indicates that Himalayas block is still the area with the most intensive tectonic activity and it shortens in the NS direction at the rate of 15.2±1.5 mm/a. Tianshan block ranks the second and it shortens in the NS direction at the rate of 10.1±0.9 mm/a. At present, the two blocks are still uprising. It can be seen from superficial strain that the Chinese mainland is predominated by superficial expansion. Almost the total area in the eastern part of the Chinese mainland is expanded, while in the western part, the superficial compression and expansion are alternatively distributed from the south to the north. In the Chinese mainland, most EW-trending or proximate EW-trending faults have the left-lateral or left-lateral strike-slip relative movements along both sides, and most NS-trending faults have the right-lateral or right-lateral strike-slip relative movements along both sides. According to the data from GPS measurements the left-lateral strike-slip rate is 4.8±1.3 mm/a in the central part of Altun fault and 9.8±2.2 mm/a on Xianshuihe fault. The movement of the fault along the block boundary has provided the condition for block movement, so the movements of the block and its boundary are consistent, but the movement levels of the blocks are different. The statistic results indicate that the relative movement between most blocks is quite significant, which proves that active blocks exist. Himalayas, Tianshan, Qiangtang and SW Yunnan blocks have the most intensive movement; China-Mongolia, China-Korea (China-Korea), Alxa and South China blocks are rather stable. The mutual action of India, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates versus Eurasia plate is the principal driving force to the block movement in the Chinese mainland. Under the NNE-trending intensive press from India plate, the crustal matter of Qingzang plateau moves to the NNE and NE directions, then is hindered by the blocks located in the northern, northeastern and eastern parts. The crustal matter moves towards the Indian Ocean by the southeastern part of the plateau.