New Magnetotelluric Data Reveal Deep Fault Boundaries and Contrasting Late Cenozoic Fault Kinematics Between the Qilian Shan Thrust Wedge and Beishan-Alxa Block, Western China

The structural connectivity and kinematic relationship between the Altyn Tagh sinistral strike-slip fault (ATF) and Qilian Shan fold-and-thrust belt along the north Tibetan margin east of 96 degrees E is an important question for tectonicists interested in the evolving active deformation field of Central Asia and associated earthquake hazards of China's Hexi Corridor region. New results from a detailed 130-km-long N-S magnetotelluric (MT) survey from the Qilian Shan to Beishan elucidates the locations and down-dip orientations of major faults. Importantly, the results indicate that the Heishan-Jinta'Nanshan fault system roots steeply into the lower crust, is unconnected to the Qilian Shan thrust wedge, and has reactivated the margin of the North China Craton and an older, regional ductile shear belt. The structurally linked ATF-Heishan-Jinta'Nanshan system defines a fundamental kinematic boundary in central Asia between the NE directed Qilian Shan thrust belt to the south and the eastwardly extruding Beishan-Alxa Block to the north. In this study, we present results of a comprehensive electrical resistivity survey conducted in the western Hexi Corridor region of China. The survey reveals significant sub-surface faults and crustal boundaries, providing insights into the crustal structure between northernmost Tibet (Qilian Shan) and the Beishan. We document how the strike-slip crustal boundary known as the Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF)-Heishan-Jinta'Nanshan system is steep and spatially unconnected to the Qilian Shan east of 98 degrees E. It separates crustal blocks with contrasting motion histories; the southern block experiences compressional deformation, whereas the northern block accommodates extensional and transtensional deformation. Furthermore, the northeast trending ATF bends and converges into the more east-west-oriented Heishan-Jinta'Nanshan system. We propose that this is a result of the Heishan-Jinta'Nanshan system reactivating an older ductile shear belt and a mechanically weak boundary along the northwestern margin of the Precambrian North China Craton. Our study confirms the significance of inherited crustal structures in localizing continental interior reactivation and associated earthquake hazards. A new detailed 3D resistivity model from Northern Tibet to the Southern Beishan clarifies the crustal structure in the NW Hexi Corridor The Heishan fault system penetrates steeply to the lower crust and is unconnected to the Qilian Shan thrust wedge Crustal thickening and mountain uplift in Qilian Shan is kinematically separated from eastward Beishan-Alxa Block extrusion further north