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Slip-Rate Measurements on the Karakorum Fault May Imply Secular Variations in Fault Motion
M.-L. Chevalier,1,2F. J. Ryerson,2*P. Tapponnier,1R. C. Finkel,2J. Van Der Woerd,3Li Haibing,4Liu Qing5
Beryllium-10 surface exposure dating of offset moraines on onebranch of the Karakorum Fault west of the Gar basin yields along-term (140- to 20-thousand-year) right-lateral slip rateof 10.7 ± 0.7 millimeters per year. This rate is 10 timeslarger than that inferred from recent InSAR analyses (1 ±3 millimeters per year) that span 8 years and sample all branchesof the fault. The difference in slip-rate determinations suggeststhat large rate fluctuations may exist over centennial or millennialtime scales. Such fluctuations would be consistent with mechanicalcoupling between the seismogenic, brittle-creep, and ductileshear sections of faults that reach deep into the crust.
1 Laboratoire de Tectonique, Mécanique de la Lithosphère, Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 7578, CNRS, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France. 2 Insitute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA. 3 Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR 7516, CNRS, Strasbourg, France. 4 Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China. 5 Total Exploration China, Total-Fina-Elf, Beijing, 100004, China.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: ryerson{at}llnl.gov
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Comment on "Slip-Rate Measurements on the Karakorum Fault May Imply Secular Variations in Fault Motion".
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Response to Comment on "Slip-Rate Measurements on the Karakorum Fault May Imply Secular Variations in Fault Motion".
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10.7 ± 0.7 millimeters per year. This rate is 10 times larger than that inferred from recent InSAR analyses (
