Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF

Volume 56 Supplement 2

Special Issue: Special section for IUGG workshop: Lithospheric Structure of a Supercontinent:Gondwana

Seismological evidence of simultaneous mountain-building and crust-thickening from the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake (Mw=7.6)

Earth, Planets and Space volume 56, pages 163–167 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

High-quality seismic data recorded during the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake (Mw=7.6) show that a small-scale orogenic process of both mountain-building and crust-thickening was simultaneously accomplished along one set of crustal-scale conjugated faults. Mountain-building near the surface was primarily produced by the main shock along an eastward low-angle thrust fault in the upper crust. In the meanwhile, a sequence of aftershocks along a westward high-angle reverse fault in the lower crust could increase crustal thickness even though major crustal deformation in generally taken place under ductile deformation. Also, velocity structures inverted from seismic tomography suggest that the crustal deformation in the form of both mountain-building and crust-thickening has been repeatedly generated by a similar orogenic process during the past million years. The dynamic dual process observed here contributes to the growth of the orogenic zone in the near the surface and deep crust in Taiwan.

References

  • Chang, H. C., Geological surveys for the 921 earthquake, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taipei, Taiwan, 314 pp., 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C. H., W. H. Wang, and T. L. Teng, 3D velocity structure around the source area of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake: before and after the mainshock, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 1013–1027, 2001a.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, K. C., B. S. Huang, and J. H. Wang, Conjugate thrust faulting associated with the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake sequence, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 118–121, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, W. S., B. S. Huang, Y. G. Chen, Y. H. Lee, C. N. Yang, C. H. Lo, H. C. Chang, Q. C. Sung, N. W. Huang, C. C. Lin, S. H. Sung, and K. J. Lee, 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake: A case study on the role of thrust-ramp structures for generating earthquakes, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 986–994, 2001b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, W. B., Three-dimensional crustal structure around the source area of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan and its relation to aftershock locations, Terr. Atmos. Oceanic Sci., 11, 643–660, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dewey, J. F., R. M. Shackleton, C. Chang, and Y Sun, The tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., 327, 379–413, 1988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirata, N., S. Sakai, Z. S. Liaw, Y B. Tsai, and S. B. Yu, Aftershock observations of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake, Bull. Earthq. Res. Inst. Tokyo Univ., 75, 33–46, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S., Y J. Hsu, P. Segall, and S. B. Yu, Fault geometry and slip distribution of the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan earthquake imaged from inversion of GPS data, Geophy. Res. Lett., 28, 2285–2288, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao, H. and W. P. Chen, The Chi-Chi earthquake sequence: active, out-of-sequence thrust faulting in Taiwan, Science, 288, 2346–2349, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. H., Seismic tomography of crustal structures across the Chelungpu fault, submitted to Tectonophysics, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. H. and S. W. Roecker, Three-dimensional P-wave velocity structure of the Bear Valley region of central California, Pure and Applied Geophy., 149, 4, 667–688, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. H., Y H. Yeh, B. S. Huang, R. C. Shih, H. L. Lai, C. S. Huang, S. S. Yu, H. Y. Yen, C. S. Liu, and F. T. Wu, Deep crustal structures inferred from wide-angle seismic data in Taiwan, International conference and Sino-American symposium on tectonics of East Asia, Chungli, Taiwan, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. H., Y H. Yeh, H. Y. Yen, K. C. Chen, B. S. Huang, S. W. Roecker, and J. M. Chiu, Three-dimensional elastic wave velocity structures of the Hualien region of Taiwan: Evidence of active crustal exhumation, Tectonics, 17, 1, 89–103, 1998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ma, K. F, J. Mori, S. J. Lee, and S. B. Yu, Spatial and temporal distribution of slip for the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 91, 1069–1087, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molnar, P., A review of geophysical constraints on the deep structure of the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalaya, and the Karakorum and their tectonic implications, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser. A, 326, 33–88, 1988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rau, R. J. and F T. Wu, Tomographic imaging of lithospheric structures under Taiwan, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 133, 517–532, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roecker, S. W., Y H. Yeh, and Y B. Tsai, Three-dimensional P and S wave velocity structures beneath Taiwan: deep structure beneath an arc-continent collision, J. Geophys. Res., 92, 10,547–10,570, 1987.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schelling, S. and K. Arita, Thrust tectonics, crustal shortening and the structure of the far eastern Nepal Himalaya, Tectonics, 10, 851–862, 1991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shin, T. C, K. W. Kuo, W. H. K. Lee, T. L. Teng, and Y B. Tsai, A preliminary report on the 1999 Chi-Chi (Taiwan) earthquake, Seism. Res. Letters, 71, 1, 23–29, 2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava, P. and G. Mitra, Thrust geometries and deep structure of the outer and lesser Himalaya, Kumaon and Garwal (India): Implications for evolution of the Himalayan fold-and-thrust belt, Tectonics, 13, 89–109, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turcotte, D. and G. Schubert, Geodynamics: Applications of Continuum Physics to Geological Problems, New York: Wiley, pp. 225–228, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, C. Y, C. L. Li, F C. Su, M. T. Leu, M. S. Wu, S. H. Lai, and C. C. Chen, Structural mapping of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake fault, Taiwan by seismic reflection methods, Terr. Atmos. Oceanic Sci., 13, 211–226, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeh, Y H., R. C. Shih, C. H. Lin, C. C. Liu, H. Y. Yen, B. S. Huang, C. S. Liu, and F. T. Wu, Onshore/offshore wide-angle deep seismic profiling in Taiwan, Terr. Atm. Ocean., 9, 301–316, 1

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 1-55, Nankang, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Cheng-Horng Lin

  2. Research Center for Seismology and Volcanology, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya, 464-8602, Japan

    Masataka Ando

Authors
  1. Cheng-Horng Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Masataka Ando
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cheng-Horng Lin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lin, CH., Ando, M. Seismological evidence of simultaneous mountain-building and crust-thickening from the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake (Mw=7.6). Earth Planet Sp 56, 163–167 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353400

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353400

Key words

  • Chi-Chi earthquake
  • crust-thickening
  • mountain-building