Recent Progresses of Active Fault Research in China

This paper provides a brief overview regarding the history and major advances in research on active faults in China. Active fault research in China has progressed through three periods. The initial period, covering the former half of last century, was characterized by descriptions of the relationship between faults and strong earthquakes. In the second period, reconnaissance surveys on active faults were carried out along major historically seismic zones during the 1960's to 1970's. The third period, characterized by quantitative studies on active faults, started in the early 1980's. Researches were focused on fault slip rates, earthquake surface rupture and coseismic displacements, paleoearthquakes and earthquake recurrence intervals, fault geometry and segmentation, and seismic hazard assessment on the basis of these quantitative data of active faults. Based on the characteristic tectonic differences in the Quaternary, the China continent is divided into 5 active tectonic provinces : Tibet (TTP), Xinjiang-Uygur (XUTP), Northeast China (NETP), North China (NTP), and South China (STP). Major progress in paleoseismology and fault segmentation in China include the application of new techniques and concepts as follows : large-scale and three-dimension trenches, paleoseismic rupture behavior and recurrence of large earthquakes along several major fault zones, regional paleoearthquake recurrence behavior, and the stability of segmentation and persistency of segment boundary, gradation of segmentation and multirupture.