Deformation and seismicity of Taiwan

14C-dated Holocene coastal uplift, conventional and satellite geodetic measurements, and coseismic and aseismic fault slip reveal the pattern of distributed deformation at Taiwan resulting from convergence between the Philippine Sea plate and Eurasia; as in other subduction orogenic settings, the locus of strain release and accumulation is strongly influenced by changes in fault geometry across strike. Uplift evidence from the islands of Lutao and Lanhsu is consistent with progressive oblique collision between the Luzon arc and the Chinese continental margin. In the Coastal Range, geodetic and seismic records show that shortening is taken up serially by discontinuous slip on imbricate faults. The geodetic data point to net extension across the Central Range, but deformed Holocene shorelines in the Hengchun Peninsula at its southern extremity suggest that the extension is a superficial effect partly caused by blind reverse faulting. The fastest shortening rates indicated by geodesy are recorded on the Longitudinal Valley fault and across the Chukou fault within the fold-and-thrust belt. In the former, the strain is dissipated mainly as aseismic reverse and strike-slip displacement. In contrast, the fold-and-thrust belt has witnessed five earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.5 or above in the 20th century, including the 1999.9.21 Chi-Chi earthquake (magnitude approximately 7.6) on a branch of the Chukou fault. The neotectonic and geodetic data for Taiwan as a whole suggest that the fold-and-thrust belt will continue to host the majority of great earthquakes on the island.