TECTONIC GEOMORPHOLOGY IN THE SHANXI GRABEN SYSTEM, NORTHERN CHINA

The Shanxi Graben System is composed of a series of normal fault-contr olled basins which are arranged in an s-shaped curve over a distance o f about 1200 km. Active faults, mainly trending NNE-SSW, NE-SW, or ENE -WSW, caused blocks to become rotated and tilted, and river courses an d terraces to become deformed. Volcanoes in the Datong Basin indicate that the formation of the Shanxi Graben System has a relationship to u pper mantle activity and that the tectonic activity was intense during the middle Pleistocene. Arrangement and movement of the faults indica tes there has been right-lateral shear in this area, which may have re sulted from the northward push of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.