River terraces and neotectonic movement based on digital sections—A case study of terraces of the Xar Moron River, Inner Mongolia,China

During field investigations, 12 terraces were found in the Xar Moron River basin, eastern Inner Mongolia. Whole-course digital gathering of records of the river terraces was completed using the digital section field system and thickness automatic calculation and automatic production of sections and columns were performed using the digital section desktop system. The results show that terraces T7, T8 and T9 in this terrace sequence are well preserved. As the substrata of the terraces—basalts—formed in the Pliocene to early Pleistocene, the oldest T12 should form. According to the uplift rate of the neotectonic movement, the process of its formation and evolution may be divided into six stages. Since the Miocene, the neotectonic movement of this area showed certain periodicity and generally the intensity of the neotectonic movement weakened gradually.