Relationship of block faulting to stream development on both flanks of Chin-ling mountain region

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The Chin-ling block as a whole is uptilted on the north and plunges to the south; it is subdivided into tilted blocks of the second order, mainly falling southward, taking the form of “basin-ranges.” The magnitude of tilting of the Chin-ling block relative to the Wei Ho graben differs in various regions, but generally amounts to 2,000 m. In places it may be over 3,000 in, such as on the northern slope of Tai-pai shan. In consequence of the block-tilting, two types of streams are generally formed separately on the two sides of the mountains. On the north side of Chin-ling there are rather small, short valleys with many rapids and cataracts , due to the tilted block faults and deep erosion; they form tributaries of the Wei Ho. Branches of the Han river are long streams in trellis pattern, their sources far north on the highest divides and developed on the gently southward sloping surfaces, cutting across various basin-range structures, with numerous plains and narrows along their courses. Moreover, there are still two other types of streams formed under special conditions. One is the “hook” type and the other, the “pirate” stream. In the hook type the headwaters flow consequently on the southern slope of the tilted block at the Chinling divide; later, on the obstruction of a neighboring tilting block, the river turns to the west or east along a faulting valley, finally bending back to the north and cutting antecedently across the tilted range itself. A prominent example of this type is the Hei Sui. Lo Ho may be mentioned as a case of river piracy; it has eroded headward from Honan to Shensi along an east-west structural valley and successively captured a series of heads of the tributaries of the Han. – Author.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: