The Sudian Fault extends in nearly NS direction and crosses the border between China and Myanmar, with a length of about 100km. Historically, many earthquakes have occurred along the fault. However, restricted by traffic, climate and other factors, there has been little research on the late Quaternary activity of the fault for a long time. On the basis of results of field geological and geomorphological investigation, trenching and geochronology, the movement characteristics of the fault in late Quaternary, the latest active age and sliding rate are analyzed in this paper. The Neotectonic activity of the Sudian Fault is obvious. Beaded Quaternary basins in areas of Sudian, Mengdian, Huangcaoba and Longzhong have developed along the fault. Many boiling springs and gas springs are distributed linearly in the area of Humeng in the south section of the fault. The fault controls the Lama River and Zhanda River obviously. Fault landforms are mainly characterized by clear fault scarps, straight linear ridges and fault valleys. Mengdian pull apart basin is developed in the middle segment of Sudian Fault. In the Zuojiapo area of the western margin of the basin, there is a clear linear ridge about 1.7km long and a parallel fault valley which is close to the west side of the linear ridge. Trench excavation was carried out in this fault valley(24.97°N, 97.93°E). Zuojiapo trench reveals that three faults have developed in Quaternary deposits. At the position of 2~3m(from west to east)on the S wall of the trench, a fault dislocated all the strata(unit②~unit⑥)below the modern loam layer(unit①). These strata are obviously offset and some of them are cut off. The 14C age of the displaced unit ④(tested by BETA laboratory, USA)is(7 680±30)a, two 14C ages of the displaced unit ③are(6 970±30)a and(5 860±30)a, and the 14C age of the displaced unit ②is(1 260±30)a. The fault developed at 21m in the east section of S-wall of the trench has offset the lower bedrock(unit⑧), the middle gravel layer(unit⑤and unit⑦), the upper dark gray gravelly clay layer(unit④)and the peat interlayer(unit④'). In the peat interlayer(unit④'), there is obvious structural deflection deformation, and its 14C age is(350±30)a. There is another fault developed at 26~27m in the east section of S-wall of this trench, which cuts off the light yellow and light gray gravelly clay(unit ②), gray black gravelly clay(unit③), gray white sandy gravel(unit⑤), yellow gravelly silty clay(unit ⑥), yellow clay gravel(unit ⑦)and hornblende schist and quartz schist of Gaoligongshan group(unit ⑧). The fault shows obvious normal fault property, and the maximum offset is 1.3m. A 10cm wide schistosity zone is developed and gravels are arranged along the fault plane. The 14C ages of the faulted upper stratum(unit ③)are(1 100±30)a and(870±30)a. The N-wall also reveals the existence of faults, corresponding to the S-wall of the trench. These faults and dislocated strata fully indicate that the fault was active during the Holocene. According to field investigation, the Sudian Fault is mainly characterized by horizontal dextral strike-slip movement. For example, in Mengnong tea field, obvious synchronous dextral displacement occurred in three gullies along the fault. From south to north, the displacements of the three gullies are 40m, 42m and 45m, respectively. Shutter ridge landform is developed at the gully mouth. In the lower part of the northernmost gully, there is a pluvial fan, and the 14C age of the bottom of the pluvial fan is(13 560±40)a, which is less than the formation age of the gully, but roughly represents the formation age of the gully, indicating that the Sudian Fault is mainly characterized by horizontal dextral strike-slip movement. In Sudian area, the Mengga River is right-laterally offset 1050~1100m by the fault. At 1.7km north of Sudian, a diluvial fan is right-laterally offset 18~22m. There are fault scarps with a height of 1~1.5m developed on the alluvial fan, Quaternary faults and bedrock fault scarps with a height of about 8m developed on its extension line. The three points of the scarps, Quaternary faults and bedrock scarps are in a straight line, which absolutely shows the reliability of the dislocation of the alluvial fan. An organic carbon sample is obtained 1.8m below the alluvial fan, and its 14C test age is (6 210±30)a. This age should be close to the formation age of the pluvial fan, indicating that the fault underwent obvious horizontal dextral strike-slip movement during the Holocene. In the Sadung Basin, Myanmar, a river is offset about 380m right-laterally, forming a hairpin bending landform. Due to the continuous collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate, the Indosinian block in the southeastern margin of the Tibet Plateau around the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis escaped southerly, and the western Yunnan became the most intense part of the south extrusion. During the southerly escapement of the Indosinian block, the right-lateral strike-slip movement of Sudian Fault and other faults striking near SN plays a role in adjusting and absorbing the block strain. Under the action of current NNE tectonic stress field, the intersection of the dextral strike-slip Sudian Fault striking NS and the sinistral strike-slip Dayingjiang Fault striking NE is the key part of tectonic stress concentration, which will be the seismic risk area to be focused in the future. The research result of late Quaternary activity of the fault is of great practical significance for the correct understanding and reasonable assessment of the medium to long-term strong earthquake risk in this area, and for the mitigation and prevention of the earthquake disaster in the border area. © 2021, Editorial Office of Seismology and Geology. All right reserved.
