NEHRP Clearinghouse

Title
Review of Recently Active Faults in Taiwan.
File
PB2006108298.pdf
Author(s)
Bonilla, M. G.
Source
January 1975, 48 p.
Identifying Number(s)
USGS-OFR-75-41
Abstract
Six faults associated with five large earthquakes produced surface displacements ranging from 1 to 3 m in the period 1906 through 1951. Four of the ruptures occurred in the western coastal plain and foothills, and two occurred in the Longitudinal Valley of eastern Taiwan. Maps are included showing the locations and dimensions of the displacements. The published geological literature probably would not lead one to infer the existence of a fault along most of the 1906 rupture, except for descriptions of the rupture itself. Over most of its length the 1935 rupture on the Chihhu fault is parallel to but more than 0.5 km from nearby faults shown on geologic maps published in 1969 and 1971; only about 1.5 km of its 15 km length coincides with a mapped fault. The coastal plain part of the Tuntzuchio fault which ruptured in 1935 is apparently not revealed by landforms, and only suggested by other data. Part of the 1946 Hsinhua faulting coincides with a fault identified in the subsurface by seismic work but surface indications of the fault are obscure. The 1951 Meilun faulting occurred along a conspicuous pre-1951 scarp and the 1951 Yuli faulting occurred near or in line with pre-1951 scarps.
Keywords
Fault creep; Geologic faults; Geologic processes; Meishan fault; Hsinhua fault; Tectonic uplift; Tectonic subsidence; Taiwan; Longitudinal-Valley fault; Active faults; Earthquakes