Segmentation and inversion of the Hangjinqi fault zone, the northern Ordos basin (North China)

•A right-lateral transtentional fault zone of the northern Ordos basin is described.•The segments of HFZ separated by relay ramps are established.•Two distinct tectonic phases of the HFZ in the negative inversion is identified.•Inversion is related to activity of South China and paleo-Pacific plates, respectively.

This paper deals with the segmentation and inversion of the Hangjinqi fault zone (HFZ), which is the dominant structure in the northern part of the Ordos basin in North China. HFZ was reactivated during the Late Triassic and obliquely inverted during the Middle Jurassic shortening. Subsurface geological mapping and structural analysis were carried out to determine the segmentation and kinematic history of the deformation. The HFZ was a left-stepping fault zone and was made up of three segments: the Porjianghaizi fault (PF), Wulanjilinmiao fault (WF) and Sanyanjing fault (SF), which are separated by two relay ramps. Two distinct phases can be identified in its structural evolution: (1) during the Late Triassic compressional deformation, the HFZ was characterized by shortening and thrusting to the north; and (2) During the Middle Jurassic phase the HFZ was oblique to the extensional fault trends, the reverse faults were reactivated as dextral strike-slip faults as a result of transtensional inversion. The inversion ratio of the HFZ indicates an increase in deformational degree from east to west over the whole region. The first deformation stage resulted from the N–S compression between the South China and North China plates during the Late Triassic. The second deformation stage of compression was related to the west-northwestward subduction of the paleo-Pacific plate during the Middle Jurassic. In the Jurassic deformation framework, the HFZ may be interpreted as an accommodation structure parallel to the Yanshan–Yinshan orogenic belt developed in the northern Ordos area.