Structural analysis of the right-lateral strike-slip Qingchuan fault, northeastern segment of the Longmen Shan thrust belt, central China

•Spatial change in slip sense occurred along the Longmen Shan thrust belt (LSTB).•Qingchuan fault (QF) is a strike-slip-dominated active fault within the LSTB.•Drainages and terraces are systematically deflected and/or offset along the QF.•S–C fabrics of cataclastic rocks indicate a right-lateral strike-slip sense of the QF.•Slip sense change along LSTB is mainly caused by the orientation of fault geometry.

The eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau is marked by the Longmen Shan thrust belt (LSTB), which is dominated by thrust faults and thrust-related fold structures that is home to the 2008 Mw 7.9 thrusting-type Wenchuan earthquake. Although previous works demonstrated that the seismogenic fault for the earthquake changed coseismic slip sense from thrust-dominated slip in the central and southeastern segments of the LSTB to right-lateral strike-slip-dominated displacement along the Qingchuan fault (northeastern segment of the LSTB), the related structures and current activity of the Qingchuan fault remains unclear. Topographic analyses of 0.5-m-resolution WorldView imagery and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data, field investigations and structural analysis of the fault zone reveal that: i) stream channels and late Pleistocene–Holocene terrace risers and alluvial fans are systematically offset dextrally along the Qingchuan fault; ii) foliations developed in the fault zone indicate a right-lateral strike-slip-dominated displacement; and iii) geological evidence and seismic data show that the Qingchuan fault is currently active as the main seismogenic fault dominated by a right-lateral strike-slip with an average slip rate of ca. 3–5 mm/yr. Our results demonstrate that the spatial change in slip sense along the LSTB from thrust-dominated in the central and southwestern sectors to right-lateral strike-slip-dominated in the northeastern sector is mainly caused by a change in the orientation of fault geometry from NE–SW to ENE-WSW along the LSTB.