Join us for a free one-day workshop for educators at the Japanese American National Museum, hosted by the USC U.S.-China Institute and the National Consortium for Teaching about Asia. This workshop will include a guided tour of the beloved exhibition Common Ground: The Heart of Community, slated to close permanently in January 2025. Following the tour, learn strategies for engaging students in the primary source artifacts, images, and documents found in JANM’s vast collection and discover classroom-ready resources to support teaching and learning about the Japanese American experience.
Darby, "Mesozoic intraplate deformation in the east Asian tectonic collage: The enigmatic northwest Ordos region, China," 2003
Brian Joseph Darby, Ph.D.
Abstract (Summary)
The stable Ordos block is surrounded by Mesozoic intraplate fold-thrust belts, which include the north-trending Western Ordos fold-thrust belt (WOFTB) along its western margin, and the ?east-trending Lang Shan fold-thrust belt (LSFTB) along its northwestern margin. Strength contrasts between Ordos and the surrounding crust have localized intraplate strain along the margins of the block.
The WOFTB involves rock units from Archean to Late Jurassic(?) in age. A paleocurrent reversal within a Lower-Middle Jurassic section marks the onset of contraction and mountain building. Synchronous with contraction, and cutting across the WOFTB, is a major ?E-W striking right-lateral strike-slip fault. It is interpreted as an accommodation or tear structure within the thrust belt.
Following E-W contraction, the WOFTB was dismembered by a ?N15°W-trending sinistral strike-slip fault. This fault, here named the Western Ordos sinistral fault system, has displaced the frontal, Zhuozi Shan portion of the thrust belt ?60 km northward relative to the more internal Helan Shan. The Western Ordos fault system is exposed ?100 km north in the western portion of the Lang Shan where it only has ?33 km of displacement. This discrepancy in displacement along the left-lateral system can be accounted for by greater Early Cretaceous contraction in the eastern Lang Shan than areas to the west of the Western Ordos system. The LSFTB, involves basement and Mesozoic strata including Early Cretaceous synorogenic units.
Synchronous development of the WOFTB and east-west dextral strike-slip faulting implies relative westward movement of the Ordos with respect to the North China craton. Younger fold-thrust belt development along its northern margin and north-trending sinistral faulting along its western margin, indicate younger relative northward movement of Ordos with respect to the North China craton. Although the intraplate location of the Ordos block and the complexities of Mesozoic Asian plate interactions make it difficult to relate Ordos-bounding deformation to specific plate boundaries, the N-S and E-W orientation of the fold-thrust belts suggest a kinematic linkage with similarly oriented subduction zones along the margins of evolving eastern Asia.
Advisor: Davis, Gregory A.
Featured Articles
Please join us for the Grad Mixer! Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, Enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow students across USC Annenberg. Graduate students from any field are welcome to join, so it is a great opportunity to meet fellow students with IR/foreign policy-related research topics and interests.
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/1zer188RE9dCS6Ho6
Events
Hosted by USC Annenberg Office of International Affairs, enjoy food, drink and conversation with fellow international students.
Join us for an in-person conversation on Thursday, November 7th at 4pm with author David M. Lampton as he discusses his new book, Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War. The book examines the history of U.S.-China relations across eight U.S. presidential administrations.