Altyn Tagh fault

The change in width of the deformed zone along the collisional belt, with the narrow zone of western Tibet compared to the main part of the Tibetan Plateau, is explained as either lateral escape to the east along the Altyn Tagh and Karakorum faults in the microplate model or as the effect of the rigid Tarim Basin block causing heterogeneous deformation within a generally weaker lithosphere in the continuum model.

The main active fault trace of the ATF lies within a zone of secondary structures that is about 100 km wide in the central section.

[3] The central section of the fault zone consists of five slightly en echelon segments, with right-stepping offsets between them, forming four restraining bends.

[7] The northeastern section of the fault zone shows increasing interaction with WNW-ESE trending structures within the eastern Kunlun Shan and the Qilian Mountains.

[8] Northeast of the Qilian Mountains, a series of five or more splays of the ATF have been identified, with active slip constrained to the post-Cretaceous to pre middle Miocene time interval.

It is thought to extend northeastward from the end of the Altyn Tagh based on effects on drainage and bedrock ridges suggesting a linkage with the Cherchen Fault.

[14] Late Quaternary slip rates have been reported along the majority of the length of the Altyn Tagh fault and include measurements from geodetic techniques (e.g., GPS surveys and InSAR), traditional paleoseismic trenching, and on the basis of offset and dated landforms (morphochronology).

[20] Morphochronologic investigations, which combine displacement and age measurements of faulted landforms such as terrace risers, alluvial fans, stream channels, and glacial moraines, have been undertaken at seven sites along the central Altyn Tagh fault, including Cherchen He (86.4°E),[21][22] Kelutelage (86.7°E),[23] Tuzidun (86.7°E),[24] Sulamu Tagh (87.4°E),[22] Yukuang (87.9°E),[23] Keke Qiapu (88.1°E),[23] and Yuemake (88.5°E).