Quaternary sediments in the Dien Bien Phu fault zone, NW Vietnam: a record of young tectonic processes in the light of OSL-SAR dating results

• Published in: Geomorphology (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 269 - 302
• Main Authors: Zuchiewicz, Witold, Cuong, Nguyen Quoc, Bluszcz, Andrzej, Michalik, Marek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.06.2004
• Subjects: Active faulting; Dien Bien Phu fault; Morphotectonics; Optical luminescence dating; Vietnam; Canada, Manitoba, Red R; Vietnam; Dien Bien Phu fault; Vietnam; Optical luminescence dating; Active faulting; Morphotectonics
• ISSN: 0169-555X; 1872-695X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.08.004

The Dien Bien Phu fault zone (DBP), orientated NNE to N, is one of the most seismically active zones in Indochina. In NW Vietnam, this zone is 160 km long and 6–10 km wide, cutting sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Late Proterozoic, Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age, as well as Palaeozoic and Late Triassic granitoids. Along the DBP relatively small, narrow pull-apart basins occur, the three largest of which (Chan Nua, Lai Chau and Dien Bien Phu) have been studied in detail. All of them are bounded by sinistral and sinistral-normal faults, responsible for offset and deflected drainage, presence of numerous shutter ridges and displaced terraces and alluvial fans. The normal component of motion is testified to by well-preserved triangular facets on fault scarps, highly elevated straths in river watergaps, overhanging tributary valleys, as well as high and uneven river-bed gradients. Our observations indicate a minimum recent sinistral offset ranging from 6–8 to 150 m for Holocene valleys to 1.2–9.75 km for middle–late Pleistocene valleys in different fault segments. The thickness of Quaternary sediments varies from 5–25 m in the Lai Chau area to some 130 m in the Dien Bien Phu Basin. In the Lai Chau Basin, the middle terrace (23 m) alluvia of Nam Na River at Muong Te bridge have been optically stimulated luminescence/single aliquot regenerative dose technique (OSL-SAR) dated at 23–40 to 13 ka. These sediments were normal-faulted by some 11 m after 13 ka, and mantled by vari-coloured slope loams, 8–12 m thick, containing colluvial wedges composed of angular debris. These wedges were probably formed due to at least three palaeoseismic events postdating 6 ka. In the Dien Bien Phu Basin, in turn, alluvium of the upper Holocene terraces has been OSL-SAR dated to 6.5–7 and 1.7–1.0 ka, whereas the younger (sub-recent) terrace sediments give ages of 0.5–0.2 ka. Displaced terraces and alluvial fans allow us to suppose that the sinistral and sinistral-normal faults bounding narrow pull-apart basins in the southern portion of the DBP fault reveal minimum rates of left-lateral strike-slip ranging from 0.6 to 2 mm/year in Holocene and 0.5–3.8 mm/year in Pleistocene times, whereas rates of Holocene uplift tend to attain 1 mm/year north of Lai Chau and 0.4–0.6 mm/year west of Dien Bien Phu. More precise estimations, however, are difficult to obtain due to poor age control of the displaced drainage. Rates of Quaternary strike-slip are comparable with those of the Red River fault; the sense of movement being, however, opposite. Taking into account the presence of two phases of Late Cenozoic strike-slip of contrasting sense of motion, as well as the geometry of the two fault zones, we hypothesize that the Red River and Dien Bien Phu faults are conjugate faults capable of generating relatively strong earthquakes in the future.