The Activity of Major Faults and the Hydrothermal Alteration Zone at Tianchi Volcano of Changbaishan

It is found by field investigation that the near horizontal top surface of the brown or brick-red hydrothermal alteration zone varies obviously in elevation at different sections of the same layer on the caldera's inner wall of Tianchi, with that at the north section near the Tianwen Peak about 110 m higher than that at the south near the Jiangjun Peak in Korea. The top surface of the hydrothermal alteration zone can be taken as key horizon to tectonic movement. The difference indicates that the total uplift height of the NW wall of the Liudaogou-Tianchi-Jingfengshan fault, the principal fault trending NE at Tianchi, is bigger than that of the SE wall ever since the occurrence of hydrothermal alteration. This also explains why the topography in the northwest side of Tianchi is steeper and with more developed river system than in the southeast. The uplifting of the northeastern wall is bigger than that of the southwest along the principal NW-trend fault, namely, the Baishanzhen-Tianchi-Jince fault. It is observed from characters of hydrothermal alteration and the palaeoresiduum, that the recent vertical movement rate along the principal NE-trend fault is larger than that of the principal NW-trend fault. The two faults intersect at Tianchi, dividing the volcano into 4 blocks, with the uplift magnitudes decreasing successively in the order of the north, the west, the east and the south block. The biggest uplift of the north block corresponds well to the shallow magma batch in the north of Tianchi observed by DSS and telluric electromagnetic sounding, and etc. and they may be related with the causes.