Preliminary results of long-term slip rates of 1999 earthquake fault by luminescence and radiocarbon dating

Abstract

For the purpose of deriving the long-term slip rates of different segments along the surface rupture of 1999 Chi-chi earthquake, radiocarbon and luminescence methods (TL and OSL) were applied to the tectonically influenced geomorphic features and deposits. We obtained six age estimates on pottery, driftwood and fluvial sediments. We found that the OSL signals of the samples collected from the coarse fluvial deposits had not been totally bleached due to rapid deposition. Based on the cumulative vertical offsets, the vertical slip rates were computed for each site. Our results reveal that the slip rate of the northern segment is relatively higher than that of the southern segment, which is consistent with the coseismic offsets that occurred in the 1999 earthquake. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.