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The Late Quaternary activity characteristics of secondary faults located between the main active faults at the boundaries of large basins are of great significance to the overall understanding of regional seismic hazards. The Wulashan Northern Fault (WNF) is located on the northern side of the Ordos Block, within the Northern Margin Fault Basin in North China, between the Sertengshan Piedmont Fault and Daqingshan Piedmont Fault. Current research on the geometry and kinematics of the WNF needs to be improved. In this study, we aimed to determine the shallow structural characteristics and Late Quaternary activity of the WNF using shallow seismic exploration and composite drilling geological cross-sectional analysis. The results indicate that the WNF is not a single surface fault but multiple branches with a northward-dipping stepped surface distribution. The latest activity of the F1 branch with a maximum coseismic vertical dislocation of 0.9 m occurred before 47.08 ± 3.7 ka B.P. The latest and older activities of the branch of F2 with a maximum coseismic vertical dislocation of 0.96 m and 1.15 m occurred before 73.8 ± 2.8 ka B.P. and 91.2 ± 4.4 ka B.P., respectively. According to a series of empirical relationships between length of surface rupture and magnitude, the maximum potential magnitude of the earthquake was determined to be M = 6.5–7.0. We argue that even though the Late Quaternary activity of the WNF was weaker than that of the other boundary faults of the Hetao Basin, the local urban and rural planning and land and resources construction in the Hetao Basin region should pay attention to the seismic risk of the WNF as an independent section in the future for the effect of secular tectonic loading.

Both MW 7.8 and MW 7.5 earthquakes occurred in southeastern Türkiye on February 6, 2023, resulting in numerous buildings collapsing and serious casualties. Understanding the distribution of coseismic surface ruptures and secondary disasters surrounding the epicentral area is important for post-earthquake emergency and disaster assessments. High-resolution Maxar and GF-2 satellite data were used after the events to extract the location of the rupture surrounding the first epicentral area. The results show that the length of the interpreted surface rupture zone (part of) is approximately 75 ​km, with a coseismic sinistral dislocation of 2–3 ​m near the epicenter; however, this reduced to zero at the tip of the southwest section of the East Anatolia Fault Zone. Moreover, dense soil liquefaction pits were triggered along the rupture trace. These events are in the western region of the Eurasian Seismic Belt and result from the subduction and collision of the Arabian and African Plates toward the Eurasian Plate. The western region of Chinese mainland and its adjacent areas are in the eastern section of the Eurasian Seismic Belt, where seismic activity is controlled by the collision of the Indian and Eurasian Plates. Both China and Türkiye have independent tectonic histories.

Abstract Background As a domesticated species vital to humans, horses are raised worldwide as a source of mechanical energy for sports, leisure, food production, and transportation. The gut microbiota plays an important role in the health, diseases, athletic performance, and behaviour of horses. Results Here, using approximately 2.2 Tb of metagenomic sequencing data from gut samples from 242 horses, including 110 samples from the caecum and 132 samples from the rectum (faeces), we assembled 4142 microbial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAG), 4015 (96.93%) of which appear to correspond to new species. From long-read data, we successfully assembled 13 circular whole-chromosome bacterial genomes representing novel species. The MAG contained over 313,568 predicted carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZy), over 59.77% of which had low similarity match in CAZy public databases. High abundance and diversity of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) were identified in the MAG, likely showing the wide use of antibiotics in the management of horse. The abundances of at least 36 MAG (e.g. MAG belonging to Lachnospiraceae, Oscillospiraceae, and Ruminococcus) were higher in racehorses than in nonracehorses. These MAG enriched in racehorses contained every gene in a major pathway for producing acetate and butyrate by fibre fermentation, presenting potential for greater amount of short-chain fatty acids available to fuel athletic performance. Conclusion Overall, we assembled 4142 MAG from short- and long-read sequence data in the horse gut. Our dataset represents an exhaustive microbial genome catalogue for the horse gut microbiome and provides a valuable resource for discovery of performance-enhancing microbes and studies of horse gut microbiome. Video Abstract

In March 1966, Ms 6.8 and 7.2 earthquakes occurred in Xingtai, North China, resulting in widespread soil liquefaction that caused severe infrastructure damage and economic losses. Using Keyhole satellite imagery combined with aerial images and fieldwork records, we interpreted and identified 66,442 liquefaction points and analyzed the coseismic liquefaction distribution characteristics and possible factors that influenced the Xingtai earthquakes. The interpreted coseismic liquefaction was mainly concentrated above the IX-degree zone, accounting for 80% of all liquefaction points. High-density liquefaction zones (point density > 75 pieces/km2) accounted for 22% of the total liquefaction points. Most of the interpreted liquefaction points were located at the region with a peak ground acceleration (PGA) of >0.46 g. The liquefaction area on 22 March was significantly larger than that on 8 March. The region of liquefaction was mainly limited by sandy soil conditions, water system conditions, and seismic geological conditions and distributed in areas with loose fine sand and silt deposits, a high water table (groundwater level increases before both mainshocks corresponding to the liquefaction intensive regions), rivers, and ancient river channels. Liquefaction exhibited a repeating characteristic in the same region. Further understanding of the liquefaction characteristics of Xingtai can provide a reference for the prevention of liquefaction in northern China.

Measurement(s) Metagenome metadata Technology Type(s) Collection and integration the metagenomic information of multiple animal species Factor Type(s) animal Sample Characteristic - Organism animal Sample Characteristic - Environment metagenome Sample Characteristic - Location United States of America • People’s Republic of China • Canada

Animal gut microbiomes play important roles in the health, diseases, and production of animal hosts. The volume of animal gut metagenomic data, including both 16S amplicon and metagenomic sequencing data, has been increasing exponentially in recent years, making it increasingly difficult for researchers to query, retrieve, and reanalyze experimental data and explore new hypotheses. We designed a database called the domestic animal gut microbiome atlas (ADDAGMA) to house all publicly available, high-throughput sequencing data for the gut microbiome in domestic animals. ADDAGMA enhances the availability and accessibility of the rapidly growing body of metagenomic data. We annotated microbial and metadata from four domestic animals (cattle, horse, pig, and chicken) from 356 published papers to construct a comprehensive database that is equipped with browse and search functions, enabling users to make customized, complicated, biologically relevant queries. Users can quickly and accurately obtain experimental information on sample types, conditions, and sequencing platforms, and experimental results including microbial relative abundances, microbial taxon-associated host phenotype, and P-values for gut microbes of interest. The current version of ADDAGMA includes 290,422 quantification events (changes in abundance) for 3215 microbial taxa associated with 48 phenotypes. ADDAGMA presently covers gut microbiota sequencing data from pig, cattle, horse, and chicken, but will be expanded to include other domestic animals. ADDAGMA is freely available at (http://addagma.omicsbio.info/).

The long-term earthquake prediction from 2021 to 2030 is carried out by researching the active tectonic block boundary zones in the Chinese mainland. Based on the strong earthquake recurrence model, the cumulative probability of each target fault in the next 10 years is given by the recurrence period and elapsed time of each fault, which are adopted from relevant studies such as seismological geology, geodesy, and historical earthquake records. Based on the long-term predictions of large earthquakes throughout the world, this paper proposes a comprehensive judgment scheme based on the fault segments with the seismic gap, motion strongly locked, sparse small-moderate earthquakes, and apparent Coulomb stress increase. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the relative risk for strong earthquakes that may occur in the coming 10 years on the major faults in the active tectonic block boundary zones in the Chinese mainland. The present loading rate of each fault is first constrained by geodetic observations; the cumulative displacement of each fault is then estimated by the elapsed time since the most recent strong earthquake.

Earthquake-triggered liquefaction deformation could lead to severe infrastructure damage and associated casualties and property damage. At present, there are few studies on the rapid extraction of liquefaction pits based on high-resolution satellite images. Therefore, we provide a framework for extracting liquefaction pits based on a case-based reasoning method. Furthermore, five covariates selection methods were used to filter the 11 covariates that were generated from high-resolution satellite images and digital elevation models (DEM). The proposed method was trained with 450 typical samples which were collected based on visual interpretation, then used the trained case-based reasoning method to identify the liquefaction pits in the whole study area. The performance of the proposed methods was evaluated from three aspects, the prediction accuracies of liquefaction pits based on the validation samples by kappa index, the comparison between the pre- and post-earthquake images, the rationality of spatial distribution of liquefaction pits. The final result shows the importance of covariates ranked by different methods could be different. However, the most important of covariates is consistent. When selecting five most important covariates, the value of kappa index could be about 96%. There also exist clear differences between the pre- and post-earthquake areas that were identified as liquefaction pits. The predicted spatial distribution of liquefaction is also consistent with the formation principle of liquefaction.

The 2022 MS 6.8 Luding earthquake is the strongest earthquake in Sichuan Province, Western China, since the 2017 MS 7.0 Jiuzhaigou earthquake. It occurred on the Moxi fault in the southeastern segment of the Xianshuihe fault, a tectonically active and mountainous region with severe secondary earthquake disasters. To better understand the seismogenic mechanism and provide scientific support for future hazard mitigation, we summarize the preliminary results of the Luding earthquake, including seismotectonic background, seismicity and mainshock source characteristics and aftershock properties, and direct and secondary damage associated with the mainshock. The peak ground displacements in the NS and EW directions observed by the nearest GNSS station SCCM are ∼35 mm and ∼55 mm, respectively, resulting in the maximum coseismic dislocation of 20 mm along the NWW direction, which is consistent with the sinistral slip on the Xianshuihe fault. Back-projection of teleseismic P waves suggest that the mainshock rupture propagated toward south-southeast. The seismic intensity of the mainshock estimated from the back-projection results indicates a Mercalli scale of VIII or above near the ruptured area, consistent with the results from instrumental measurements and field surveys. Numerous aftershocks were reported, with the largest being MS 4.5. Aftershock locations (up to September 18, 2022) exhibit 3 clusters spanning an area of 100 km long and 30 km wide. The magnitude and rate of aftershocks decreased as expected, and the depths became shallower with time. The mainshock and two aftershocks show left-lateral strike-slip focal mechanisms. For the aftershock sequence, the b-value from the Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude relationship, h-value, and p-value for Omori’s law for aftershock decay are 0.81, 1.4, and 1.21, respectively, indicating that this is a typical mainshock-aftershock sequence. The low b-value implies high background stress in the hypocenter region. Analysis from remote sensing satellite images and UAV data shows that the distribution of earthquake-triggered landslides was consistent with the aftershock area. Numerous small-size landslides with limited volumes were revealed, which damaged or buried the roads and severely hindered the rescue process.

The 2013 heavy rainfall event (from June to July) in the Tianshui area triggered the most serious rainfall-induced group-occurring landslides since 1984, causing extensive casualties and economic losses. To better understand the characteristics and triggers of these loess landslides, we conducted a detailed analysis of the landslides and relevant influencing factors. Based on the detailed rainfall-induced landslide database obtained using visual interpretation of remote sensing images before and after rainfall, the correlation between the landslide occurrence and different influencing factors such as terrain, geomorphology, geology, and rainfall condition was analyzed. This rainfall event triggered approximately 54,000 landslides with a total area of 67.9 km2, mainly consisting of shallow loess landslides with elongated type, shallow rockslides, collapses, and mudflows. The landslides exhibited a clustered distribution, with the majority concentrated in two specific areas (i.e., Niangniangba and Shetang). The abundance index of landslides was closely associated with the hillslope gradient, total rainfall, and drainage (river) density. The landslide area density (LAD) was positively correlated with these influential factors, characterized by either an exponential or a linear relationship. The Middle Devonian Shujiaba formation (D2S) was identified to be highly susceptible to landslides, and the landslide events therein accounted for 35% of the total landslide occurrences within 22% of the study area. In addition, the E-SE aspect was more prone to landslides, while the W-NW aspect exhibited a low abundance of landslides.

Editorial paper

At 02:04 on May 22, 2021, an MS 7.4 earthquake occurred in Madoi County in Qinghai Province, China. This earthquake is the largest seismic event in China since the 2008 MS 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake. Thus, it is critical to investigate surface deformation and damage in time to accurately understand the seismogenic structure of the Madoi earthquake and the seismogenic capacity of the blocks in this region. This study focuses on the Xuema Village, located at the eastern end of the coseismic surface ruptures produced by the event, and assesses the deformation and seismic damage in this area based on field surveys, UAV photogrammetry, and ground penetrating radar (GPR). The results indicate that the rupture scale is substantially smaller at the eastern end of the rupture zone compared to other segments. En echelon type shear tensile fractures are concentrated in a width range of 50–100 m, and the width of single fractures ranges from 20 to 30 cm. In contrast, the degree of seismic damage significantly increases at this site. All of the brick and timber houses are damaged or collapsed, while the steel frame structures and the color steel houses are slightly damaged. More than 80% of the bridge decks on the Changma River Bridge collapse, similar to the terraces along the Youerqu and Changma Rivers and the cut slopes of Provincial Highway S205. We infer that the seismogenic fault of the Madoi earthquake exerts a tail effect in this segment. The tension zone has led to a reduction at the eastern end of the rupture zone, causing shaking damage. Local topography and buildings without earthquake-resistant construction along the strike of the rupture zone have undergone different levels of seismic damage.

Rainfall-induced landslides pose a significant threat to human life, destroy highways and railways, and cause farmland degradation in the Loess Plateau. From 19 June 2013 to 26 July 2013, continuous and heavy rainfall events occurred in the Tianshui area, Gansu Province. This strong rainfall process included four short-term serious rainfall events and long-term intermittent rainfall, triggering many shallow loess landslides. To improve our understanding of this rainfall process as the triggering mechanism of the loess landslides, we conducted the physical-based spatiotemporal prediction of rainfall-induced landslides. By utilizing precipitation data recorded every 12 h from the rain gauge stations and 51 soil samples from within a 50 km radius of the study area, we predicted 1000 physical-based model-calculated pictures of potential landslides, and the slope failure probability (Pf) of the study area was obtained by Monte Carlo simulations. The model was validated by the actual landslide data of the 2013 heavy rainfall event, and the effects of the precipitation process and the trigger mechanism on the landslides were discussed. The results showed that the fourth rainfall event had the best prediction ability, while the third event had the second-best prediction ability. There was a solid linear link between the antecedent precipitation (Pa) and the predicted landslide area (Pls) based on the fitting relationship, indicating that antecedent rainfall may play a significant role in the occurrence of landslides in the region. By comparing the distribution of the predicted results of the four heavy rainfall events with the actual landslide, we observed that the first two rainfall processes may not have been the main reason for slope failure, contributing only to prepare for the landslides in the later period. The superposition of the fourth and third rainfall events finally determined the spatial distribution characteristics of the landslide induced by the 2013 heavy rainfall event.

Rapid extraction of liquefaction induced by strong earthquakes is helpful for earthquake intensity assessment and earthquake emergency response. Supervised classification methods are potentially more accurate and do not need pre-earthquake images. However, the current supervised classification methods depend on the precisely delineated polygons of liquefaction by manual and landcover maps. To overcome these shortcomings, this study proposed two binary classification methods (i.e., random forest and gradient boosting decision tree) based on typical samples. The proposed methods trained the two machine learning methods with different numbers of typical samples, then used the trained binary classification methods to extract the spatial distribution of liquefaction. Finally, a morphological transformation method was used for the postprocessing of the extracted liquefaction. The recognition accuracies of liquefaction were estimated by four evaluation indices, which all showed a score of about 90%. The spatial distribution of liquefaction pits is also consistent with the formation principle of liquefaction. This study demonstrates that the proposed binary classification methods based on machine learning could efficiently and quickly provide the spatial distribution of liquefaction based on post-earthquake emergency satellite images.

Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV) is the main pathogen of bovine viral diarrhea disease (BVD), which leads to enormous economic losses in the cattle industry. A sensitive and specific detection for BVDV is advantageous to the control of BVDV. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas systems have been used for detecting virus RNA. In this study, the expression and purification of LwCas13a protein was optimized and the RNase activity of LwCas13a in vitro was verified. CRISPR-LwCas13a system could detect BVDV virus and BVDV RNA with high specificity and simplicity. The detection limit of the LwCas13a system was 103 pM, and there were no cross-reactions with HEK293T and MDBK. In summary, a sensitive, specific, and simple nucleic acid detection method based on CRISPR-Cas13a was developed for BVDV. This method provides a new detection strategy for early diagnosis of BVDV.

Earthquake-triggered damming landslides threaten downstream residents and affect the regional landscape by disrupting water and sediment fluxes. Therefore, it is essential to study the distribution characteristics and distinctive controlling factors of earthquake-triggered damming landslides to provide a reference for treating landslide dams caused by damming landslides. This study uses the 1920 M~8 Haiyuan earthquake-triggered landslides as an example to study the characteristics and topographic effects of damming landslides in the Loess Plateau in Northwestern China. A detailed Haiyuan-earthquake-triggered damming landslide inventory was established. The statistics of terrain, geology, seismic factors, and information gain rankings were used to quantify the significance of the controlling factors. The aspect ratio, equivalent coefficient of friction, area, and slope position was calculated. Damming landslides’ distinctive geomorphic and morphological characteristics were summarized through comparisons with non-damming landslides. The results showed that damming landslides were concentrated in areas with thick loess sediment, low relief, and close proximity to a river. Loess thickness was the most critical control factor among them. Damming landslides have the geomorphological characteristics of a large ratio of length to width (L/W), a low ratio of height to length (H/L), large scales, and entire-slope failure. Moreover, damming landslides can transform the topography of the Loess Plateau through their long-term effects. These findings highlight the characteristics of damming landslides in the Loess Plateau and supplement the global landslide dam inventory. They provide a reference for assisting in earthquake-triggered damming landslides treatments in the Loess Plateau.

The number of vertebrae, especially thoracic vertebrae, is an important economic trait that may influence carcass length and meat production in animals. However, the genetic basis of vertebrae number in sheep is still poorly understood. To detect the candidate genes, 400 increased number of thoracic vertebrae (T14L6) and 200 normal (T13L6) Kazakh sheep were collected. We generated and sequenced 60 pools of genomic DNA (each pool prepared by mixing genomic DNA from 10 sheep with the same thoracic traits), with an average depth of coverage of 25.65×. We identified a total of 42,075,402 SNPs and 11 putatively selected genomic regions, including the VRTN gene and the HoxA gene family that regulate vertebral development. The most prominent areas of selective elimination were located in a region of chromosome 7, including VRTN, which regulates spinal development and morphology. Further investigation indicated that the expression level of the VRTN gene during fetal development was significantly higher in sheep with more thoracic vertebrae than in those with a normal number of thoracic vertebrae. A genome-wide comparison between sheep with increased and normal numbers of thoracic vertebrae showed that the VRTN gene is the major selection locus for the number of thoracic vertebrae in sheep and has the potential to be utilized in sheep breeding in the future.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, molecules of 21 to 25 nucleotides in length, that regulate gene expression by binding to their target mRNA and play a significant role in animal development. The expression and role of miRNAs in regulating sheep estrus, however, remain elusive. Transcriptome analysis is helpful to understand the biological roles of miRNAs in the pituitary gland of sheep. A sheep’s pituitary gland has a significant difference between estrus and anestrus states. Here, we investigate the expression profiles of sheep anterior pituitary microRNAs (miRNAs) in two states, estrus and anestrus, using Illumina HiSeq-technology. This study identified a total of 199 miRNAs and 25 differentially expressed miRNAs in the estrus and anestrus pituitary gland in sheep. Reverse transcription quantitative-PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis shows six differentially (p < 0.05) expressed miRNAs, that are miR-143, miR-199a, miR-181a, miR-200a, miR-218, and miR-221 in both estrus and anestrus states. miRNAs containing estrus-related terms and pathways regulation are enriched using enrichment analysis from gene ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). Moreover, we also envisioned a miRNA−mRNA interaction network to understand the function of miRNAs involved in the pituitary gland regulatory network. In conclusion, miRNA expression profiles in sheep pituitary gland in the anestrus and estrus deliver a theoretical basis for the study of pituitary gland biology in sheep.

CircRNA is a type of closed circular non-coding RNA formed by reverse splicing and plays an important role in regulating the growth and development of plants and animals. To investigate the function of circ-FoxO3 in mouse myoblast cells’ (C2C12) differentiation and proliferation, we used RT-qPCR to detect the expression level of circ-FoxO3 in mouse myoblast cells at different densities and different differentiation stages, and the specific interference fragment was used to inhibit the expression level of circ-FoxO3 in myoblast cells to observe its effect on myoblast cells proliferation and differentiation. We found that the expression level of circ-FoxO3 in myoblast cells increased with the prolongation of myoblast cells differentiation time, and its expression level decreased with the proliferation of myoblast cells. At the same time, we found that the differentiation ability of the cells was significantly increased (p < 0.05), but the cell proliferation was unchanged (p > 0.05) after inhibiting the expression of circ-FoxO3 in myoblast cells. Combining the results of bioinformatics analysis and the dual luciferase reporter experiment, we found that circ-FoxO3 is a sponge of miR-138-5p, which regulates muscle differentiation. Our study shows that circ-FoxO3 can inhibit the differentiation of C2C12 myoblast cells and lay a scientific foundation for further study of skeletal muscle development at circRNA levels.

Many rifts are influenced by pre-existing structures and heterogeneities during their evolution, a process known as structural inheritance. During rift evolution, these heterogeneities may aid rift nucleation, growth, and segmentation of faults, encourage linkage of various segments, or even inhibit the formation of faults. Understanding how structural inheritance influences early rift evolution could be vital for evaluating seismic risk in tectonically active areas. The Shanxi Rift in the North of China is an active rift system believed to have formed along the trend of the Proterozoic Trans North China Orogen. However, the influence of these pre-existing structures on the present-day rift architecture is poorly known. Here we use tectonic geomorphological techniques, e.g., hypsometric integral (HI), channel steepness (ksn) and local relief to identify the impact of structural inheritance on the formation of the Shanxi Rift. We found that HI was less sensitive to lithology and may be more valuable in evaluating the tectonic signal. Based on their geomorphic expression we characterise the activity levels of active faults and found that activity is concentrated in the Rift Interaction Zones (RIZs) that formed in between the sub-basins. Furthermore, we found that many faults formed parallel to inherited structures. Based on these observations we propose a new model for the evolution of the Shanxi Rift where inherited structures play an important part in segmenting the rift. Geomorphic indices might prove useful in the study of the evolution of structural inheritance in other active rifts, such as the East African Rift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 22 May 2021, an Mw 7.4 earthquake struck Maduo, China, within the eastern Bayan Har block of the Tibetan plateau. The eastward-extruding Bayan Har block is marked by active seismicity along its boundary faults, including the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, but large earthquakes within the block are relatively rare. Thus, the Maduo earthquake could provide useful information about crustal deformation of the Tibetan plateau. Early reports, shortly after the earthquake, have suggested a sinistral strike-slip fault rupture, but the fault geometry and slip distribution vary in these models due to the limited observational constraints. Here, we reconstructed a model of fault geometry and coseismic slip using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and Global Positioning System data. A nonplanar fault model was constructed based on pixel-offset images and the optimized dip angle. The along-strike variation of the dip angle is small, so a single optimized dip is used. Our results suggest that the Maduo earthquake ruptured ~156 km on a northwest-striking major fault that dips 78°, and ~24 km on a minor southeast-striking fault that dips 64°. Most fault slip occurred above 15 km depth, and released a moment of ~ 1.65 × 1020 N · m. Using the resolved fault source model, we calculated the change of coulomb failure stress in the region and on the neighboring faults. The Maduo earthquake highlighted intrablock deformation in the Tibetan plateau whereas numerous lithospheric blocks extrude along major strike-slip faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constraining tectonic uplift history within the Tibetan Plateau is critical to understanding its deformational response to continental collision. However, it is difficult to extrapolate orogen-scale uplift history from any single method alone. Here, we combined high-resolution deep and shallow seismic imaging (on the order of 103 to 102 meters in depth, respectively) with geologic paleoseismic trenching (on the order of several meters in depth) in the Qilian Shan--Qaidam Basin (QSQB) transition zone within the northern Tibetan Plateau, which provide a fault-tobasin, ka-to-Ma-scale record of mountain building. Tectonic uplift began in the early Cenozoic (>40 Ma), with slow uplift rates persisting until ca. 15.3 Ma. Tectonic tilting with limited thrust faulting along the QSQB transition zone was the predominant form of deformation during this period. Accelerated uplift since the middle Miocene is attributed to the activation of more thrust faults, and an increase in fault vertical slip rates by an order of magnitude, reaching ~0.2-0.25 mm/a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]