Figure 10. Conjugate strike-slip fault as postulated from 
the various fault systems in the study area. 
  
  
  
  
49*od 
  
  
  
  
  
  
Figure 11. Drainage pattern of the Turgen Mountain Region where 
it shows a clockwise rotation. The river valleys and seasonal 
streams have radial arch forms. The mountain is located between 
the N-S Prealtai and NW-SE Achitnuur faults. 
5. CONCLUSION 
The dominant type of active faulting in western Mongolia and the 
adjacent area to the west in China is strike-slip: right-lateral on 
northerly to northwesterly trending planes and left-lateral on 
easterly or east-southeasterly trending faults. Large components of 
strike-slip faulting characterize essentially all of the major 
earthquakes that have occurred in this century. Earthquakes with 
Magnitude (M)>8 have occurred on four faults in three different 
parts of western Mongolia and its surrounding since 1900, and 
evidence of recent surface ruptures on other faults is abundant. 
Evidence for both reverse (or thrust) and normal faulting also 
exists. Slip on reverse or normal faults probably contributes only 
a fraction of the overall regional deformation. 
The huge mountain ranges and basin systems evident from the 
remotely sensed datasets arose on the territory of central Asia 
624 
during Late Cenozoic time. Many of the mountain fronts are 
marked by active fault scarps, active alluvial fan deposits and 
other youthful geomorphological features indicating current 
tectonic activity and uplift. Most of these features are visible on 
Landsat TM and SPOT images including Russian KOSMOS 
stereo photo prints. The neotectonic activities of the mountain 
ranges is continuing nowadays, and is a reason for the area’s high 
seismicity. 
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