Active Rifting in the Japan and Okhotsk Seas and the Tectonic Evolution of the Central Sakhalin Fault Zone in the Cenozoic

摘要

Large-scale geological maps available for individual areas in the Central Sakhalin Fault zone andgeological–geophysical maps of Sakhalin and surrounding sea areas were analyzed to elucidate the tectonicevolution of the fault zone determined by movements of crustal blocks due to the opening of rift basins.Changes in the direction of horizontal compression in the Sakhalin fold system from diagonal (NW–SE) tonear-latitudinal resulted in the transformation of near-meridional right-lateral strike-slip faults into reversedfaults in the Late Miocene. This allows Sakhalin faults to be interpreted as a zone of recent right-lateral shearbetween Eurasian and Sea of Okhotsk plates.