Young Landforms Created by Earthquakes in the Foothills of the Kurai Range (Gorny Altai)

Structural and geomorphological studies were carried out in the foothills of the Kurai Range in southeast Gorny Altai. It is shown that the structure of the Kurai Fault Zone here is governed by north-dipping reverse faults and thrusts, along which the Kurai Range thrusts onto deposits of the Chuya and Kurai depressions. They are feathered by south-dipping backthrusts. Displacements along these fault systems lead to growth of forbergs in front of the range front and separation of smaller negative morphostructures from the Chuya and Kurai depressions. Numerous fault scarps have been revealed along the faults, which are outlets of seismic sources of paleoearthquakes to the surface. For a number of scarps, in addition to the vertical component, the strike-slip component of displacements is also read in the relief. Some fault scarps have an age of a few hundred years and arose in the sources of paleoearthquakes with minimal magnitude: MW = 6.7–7.3.