ESR Chronology of Bedrock Fault Activity in Carbonate Area: Preliminary Results from the Study of the Lijiang-Xiaojinhe Fault, Southeastern Tibet, China

Carbonated rocks constitute one of the main lithologies of the southeastern Tibet area, China, a tectonically very active zone. However, due to the lack of suitable dating materials, it is difficult to carry out chronological studies of the local tectonic evolution in such carbonate areas. In the present study, electron spin resonance (ESR) method had been applied on the dating of carbonates heated during fault activity of the Lijiang-Xiaojinhe (LX) Fault, an important active fault located in the northwest of Yunnan Province. Clear displaced landforms show that the fault has undergone strong late-Quaternary activity. During the fault activity, the heat produced by friction lead to the melting of the frictional surface of the rocks, and the melting can attenuate or zero the ESR dating signal of carbonate. The aim of the present paper was to check the ability of carbonate use to chronologically identify fault activity using electron spin resonance (ESR) method. The results showed the last fault activity of the LX fault was dated by ESR about 2.0±0.2 ka ago, in agreement with historical and radiocarbon data. Hence ESR can be if necessary a practicable dating alternative method for the study of fault activity chronology in carbonate rock area.