Młode procesy tektoniczne w strefie uskoku Dien Bien Phu (NW Wietnam) w świetle wstepnych wyników badań osadów czwartorzedowych

The Dien Bien Phu (DBP) fault zone, oriented NNE to N, is one of the most seismically active fault zones in Indochina. In NW Vietnam, this zone is 160 km long and 6-10 km wide, cutting through sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the Late Proterozoic, Palaeozoic and Mesozoic age, as well as Palaeozoic and Upper Triassic granitoids. Along the DBP fault zone there occur relatively small, narrow pull-apart basins (from the north: Pa Tan, Chan-Nua, Lai Chau, Muong Pon, and Dien Bien Phu), the two largest of which (Lai Chau and Dien Bien Phu) have been studied in detail. Both 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 m to 20-50 m for Holocene valleys to 2-2.5 km for middle-late Pleistocene valleys in different fault segments. The thickness of Quaternary sediments varies from a few to a dozen or so metres in Lai Chau to a few tens or even 130 m in DBP basin. In the Lai Chau basin, the middle terrace (23 m) alluvia of Nam Na River at Muong Te bridge, shortly north of the confluence with Song Da, have been OSL-SAR (optically-stimulated luminescence; single aliquot regenerative dose technique) dated to 26-45 ka. These sediments were normal-faulted by some 12 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 two palaeoseismic events postdating 14-13 ka. The contact between slope sediments and Triassic bedrock is along a normal fault (N10°W, 78E), accompanied by 0.3-0.35- m-wide fault gouge. In the Dien Bien Phu basin, in turn, alluvium of the upper Holocene terrace has been OSL-SAR dated to 6.5-7 ka, whereas the younger terrace sediments give ages of 1.8-2.7 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/yr in Holocene and 2-4 mm/yr in middle-late Pleistocene times, whereas rates of Holocene uplift tend to attain 1 mm/yr north of Lai Chau and 0.4-0.6 mm/yr west of Dien Bien Phu. Long-term, average Quaternary uplift rates are difficult to estimate, the minimum values certainly exceeding 0.05 mm/yr.