The role of dip-slip components in creating and maintaining a strike-slip landscape

Stream-channel offsets are widely used for identifying strike-slip faults and estimating fault slip rates. Most strike-slip faults have the component of dip-slip motion. Here, we used a landscape evolution model to investigate the role of dip-slip in creating and maintaining stream-channel offsets in the strike-slip environment. Our results show that the length of stream-channel offsets is primarily controlled by the vertical slip rate difference (VSRD) between the above fault part and the below fault part. The average cumulative offsets of the stream channels are positively associated with VSRD and are negatively related to the strike-slip rates. The positive VSRD leads to underestimates of offsets by promoting stream capture while the negative VSRD may lead to overestimates of offsets by creating pre-existing offsets and shutter ridges which inhibits stream capture. Our results call for careful studies of surface processes when using stream-channel offsets to infer fault slip and estimate slip rates.