The Daliangshan tectonic zone is a rhombic area to the east of the Anninghe and Zemuhe fault zones in the middle segment of the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system along the southeast margin of the Qinghai-Xizang （Tibet） Plateau. Since the Cenozoic era, the neotectonic deformation in the Daliangshan tectonic zone has presented not only sinistral slip and reverse faulting along the Daliangshan fault zone, but also proximate SN-trending crust shortening. It is estimated that the average crust shortening in the Daliangshan tectonic zone is 10.9 ± 1.6 km, with a shortening rate of 17.8 ± 2.2% using the method of balanced cross-sections. The crust shortening from folding occurred mainly in the Miocene and the Pliocene periods, lasting no more than 8.6 Ma. Based on this, a crust shortening velocity of 1.3 ± 0.2 mm/a can be estimated. Compared with the left offset along the Daliangshan fault zone, it is recognized that crust shortening by folding plays an important part in transferring crustal deformation southeastward along the Xianshulhe-Xiaojiang fault system.
The Anninghe fault is one of the significant earthquake-generating fault zones in the Southwest China. Local historical record shows that a M2≥7 strong earthquake occurred in the year of 1536. On the basis of the detailed air-photographic interpretation and field investigation, we have acquired the following knowledge： ① The average sinistral strike-slip rate since the Late Pleistocene is about 3～7 mm/a; ② There is important reverse faulting along the fault zone besides the main left-lateral strike-slip motion, and the shortening rate across the Anninghe fault zone due to the reverse faulting is about 1.7-4.0 mm/a. If the Xianshuihe fault zone is simply partitioned into the Anninghe and Daliangshan faults, we can also get a slip rate of 3-7 mm/a along the Daliangshan fault zone, which is the same as that on the Anninghe fault zone. Moreover, on the basis of our field investigation and the latest knowledge concerning the active tectonics of Tibetan crust, we create a dynamic model for the Anninghe fault zone.
Recent studies on the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system suggest that the Late Quaternary strike-slip rate is approximately uniform along the entire length of the fault zone, about 15±2 mm/a. This approximately uniform strike slip rate strongly supports the clockwise rotation model of the southeastern Tibetan crust. By approximating the geometry of the arc-shaped Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system as a portion of a small circle on a spherical Earth, the 15±2 mm/a strike slip rate corresponds to clockwise rotation of the Southeastern Tibetan Block at the （5.2±0.7）×10^-7 deg/a angular velocity around the pole （21°N, 88°E） relative to the Northeast Tibetan Block. The approximately uniform strike slip rate along the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system also implies that the Longmeushan thrust zone is not active, or at least its activity has been very weak since the Late Quaternary. Moreover, the total offset along the Xiaushuihe-Xiaojiang fault system suggests that the lateral extrusion of the Southeastern Tibetan Block relative to Northeastern Tibetan Block is about 160 km and 200-240 km relative to the Tarim-North China block. This amount of lateral extrusion of the Tibetan crust should have accommodated about 13-24% convergence between India and Eurasia based on mass balance calculations. Assuming that the slip rate of 15±2 mm/a is constant throughout the entire history of the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system, 11±1.5 Ma is needed for the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system to attain the 160 km of total offset. This implies that left-slip faulting on the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system might start at 11±1.5 Ma.
The Daliangshan fault zone is the eastern branch in the central section of Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system. It has been neglected for a long time, partly because of no destructive earthquake records along this fault zone. On the other hand, it is located on the remote and inaccessible plateau. So far it was excluded as part of the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system. Based on the interpretation of aerophotographs and field investigations, we document this fault zone in detail, and give an estimation of strike-slip rate about 3 mm/a in Late Quaternary together with age dating data. The results suggest that the Daliangshan fault zone is a newly-generated fault zone resulted from shortcutting in the central section of Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system because of the clockwise rotation of the Southeastern Tibetan Crustal Block, which is bounded by the Xianshuihe-Xiaojiang fault system. Moreover, the shortcutting may make the Daliangshan fault zone replace the Anninghe and Zemuhe fault zones gradually, and finally, the later two fault zones will probably die out with the continuous clockwise rotation.
