1 - HKU Libraries

NeotectonicsFault activity in the region around Hong Kong diminished during the Cenozoic. Little evidence ofQuaternary faulting onshore was found during fieldwork. Numerous seismic profiles offshorehave also failed to identify recent faulting. Raised beach deposits are widely mapped, but theirpresence is more likely to be caused by storm deposits in the Holocene than tectonic movement.The Guangdong Seismological Bureau has identified two active, northwest-trending faults in thePearl River Estuary area (Y.Z.Ding, Guangdong Seismological Bureau, pers. comm., August1994). One of these, the Humen Fault, lies on the eastern margin of the estuary, and the other liesto the west of Macao. The southsoutheastwards continuation of the Humen Fault is inferred topass through the district offshore to the northeast of Lantau Island, thence along the Tung ChungFault, before continuing offshore again, beyond the Territory to the Dangan Islands. Ding statedthat Holocene activity had been demonstrated at two sites on the Humen Fault, using seismicprofiles. One site is near Shekou Peninsula and the other near the Dangan Islands. At the lattersite, the last movement is thought to have occurred between 2000 and 4000 years ago.100