PLIOCENE-QUATERNARY FAULTING PATTERN AND LEFT-SLIP PROPAGATION TECTONICS IN NORTH CHINA

North China includes two extensional domains:the grabens surrounding the Ordos block in the west, and Huabei-Bohai plain basins in the east.Pliocene-Quaternary faulting in grabens around the Ordos block displays predominantly normaldip slip displacements with a right-lateral or left-lateral slip component, indicating a NW-trending extension.Pliocene-Quaternary faulting in the Huabei-Bohai Plain basins has occurred along NNE-trending faults with oblique slip including right-lateral strile slip and normal components.The major EW-trending Qinling fault svstem bounds both extensional domains on the south and displays left-lateral slip decreasing in magnitude from west to east.The NNE-striking Tanlu fault zone bounds the extensional domains on the east and displays rightlateral strike slip movement, consistent with EW-trending compression and N-S-trending extension.A kinematic model linking North China deformation with left-lateral slip on the major Haiyuan fault on the NE margin of Qinhai-Tibetan plateau and on the Kunlun fault gives a new insight into eastward propagating extrusion tectonics in China.ln this model, displacement on the Haiyuan fault is accommodated by the counterclockwise rotation of the Ordos block and folding along its SW margin.Motion on the Kunlun fault continues along the Qinling fault system into eastern China where it is accommodated by reactivation of NNE-trending pre-existing faults.