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ACTIVE FAULT SURVEY OF THE WEIHE FAULT ZONE NEAR LOESS-COVERED TERRACE SCARP
- SHI Ya-qin, FENG Xi-jie, CHONG Jin, BIAN Ju-mei, ZHANG An-liang, XU Guo-chang, DAI Wang-qiang, LI Xiao-ni
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2009, 31(1):
9-21.
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.0253-4967.2009.01.002
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Based on the survey and study of active faults at three sites,i.e.Yaodian,Shiheyang and Dujiapu on the north bank of Weihe River in Xianyang,Shaanxi,this paper probes into the methodology of survey of the loess-covered active faults coincident with terrace scarps,and presents the displacement amount of the Weihe Fault zone at Shiheyang in late Pleistocene.At Shiheyang,exploration of the Weihe Fault zone was carried out by means of shallow seismic prospecting,drilling,topographic analysis and age dating.The initial survey result showed a displacement of 17.94m of the stratum S1 on the Weihe Fault zone.The causes leading to this false result were mainly due to incorrect judgment on geomorphic unit,and followed by the so big spacing of drill holes that the subtle change of strata tilting due to erosion couldn't be seen.The drop of the same stratum at the profile detected at two drill holes far away from each other was mistaken for fault displacement.With the scarp caused by erosion added to the fault displacement,the fault throw was magnified.By densifying the drill holes to a spacing of 1.9m between holes,we get the displacement of the top of S1 to be only about 1.2m.At Yaodian,data are available,including the 200m deep drilling section data,the densified mid-deep drilling data and shallow seismic prospecting data.Drilling data with borehole spacing of 30m revealed an offset of 4.8m on the top of S1 by the Weihe Fault.Since the two holes were located at scarp change zone,the 4.8m height difference of the top of S1 might be the elevation difference of tilted terrain superimposed possibly with certain amount of faulting.The 30m hole spacing is too large to affirm that S1 has been faulted.The drilling section at Dujiapu was implemented at last,in which deficiencies in dealing with the first two ones were avoided.At this site,the shallow seismic methods couldn't be performed,therefore the fault was located by combining the deep drilling with shallow drilling at a hole spacing as small as possible(2～3m).In spite of the small borehole spacing,it was difficult to identify the displacement amount of the fault according to the paleosol layer S1,which is probably due to too small fault throw.All the explorations of fault at the above three sites have a certain deficiency in methodology,mainly in the depth and spacing of drill holes.The common shortcoming is that no deep trenches were excavated.If allowable,it would be better to verify the fault location and activity by trenching.The above results show that the exploration of loess-covered active faults coincident with terrace scarps shall be carried out with comprehensive method combining topographic analysis,shallow seismic survey,drilling and trenching.Particularly for drilling exploration,deep,medium and shallow holes shall be combined in use with the medium and deep holes drilled to determine the location of faults at depth,and the shallow holes used to identify the location and activity of faults near surface.Due to river erosion,the fluvial deposition layer in terrace scarp zone is tilted.Aeolian paleosol layer draping over the tilted layer is tilted too.As a result,the spacing between holes must be small(2～3m preferable)when such strata are used to identify the location and movement of faults.Excessive spacing may lead to the addition of the height of erosion-formed scarp to the fault offset,thus greatly overstating the later.It is highly recommended to make verification by trenching in the end.The above exploration results show that the Weihe Fault zone coincides with the scarps of the third terrace at Yaodian,Shiheyang and Dujiapu.The displacements associated with faulting only have a small proportion of the terrace scarp and the 1～2m offset of the first late Pleistocene paleosol layer by faulting is much less than the difference in elevation of terrace surface.The previously thought 4.8m and 17.94m displacements are incorrect.
