Role of shear along horizontal plane in the formation of helicoidal structures

An unusual structural paragenesis, complicated by brachyanticlines, is revealed for the first time in the sedimentary cover of the West Siberian Plate by 3D seismic surveying. These are linear (in plan view) systems of en-echelon arranged low-amplitude normal faults related to wrench faults in the basement. On different sides off a wrench fault, the planes of normal faults dip in opposite directions, forming a helicoidal structure that resembles the blades of a propeller. In the section parallel to the wrench fault, the boundaries of the beds and normal fault planes dip in opposite directions as well. In the section across the strike of the normal faults converging toward the basement, the beds take the shape of an antiform with a crest sagged along the normal faults (flower structure). This structural assembly was formed as a result of interference of stress fields of horizontal shear in the vertical plane (induced by faulting in the basement) and in the horizontal plane (caused by gravity resistance of the cover). In this case, the displacements along the normal faults develop in both the vertical and, to a greater extent, horizontal directions, so that the faults in cover are actually characterized by normal-strike-slip kinematics. The regional N-S-trending compression of the West Siberian Plate is the main cause of shearing along the NW- and NE-trending faults in the basement, which make up a rhomb-shaped system in plan view. Petroliferous brachyanticlines, whose axes, notwithstanding tectonophysical laws, are oriented in the direction close to the maximum compression axis, are known in the large wrench fault zones of Western Siberia. Our experiments with equivalent materials showed that a local stress field arising at the ends of echeloned Riedel shears within a wrench fault zone may be a cause of the formation of such brachyanticlines. The progressive elongation of Riedel shears leads to the corresponding elongation of the brachyanticlines located between their ends. The performed study has shown that the known types of interference of elementary geodynamic settings such as horizontal shear along the vertical plane + horizontal compression (transpression) and horizontal shear along the vertical plane + horizontal extension (transtension) may be supplemented by combination of horizontal shears along the vertical and horizontal planes, resulting in tectonic lamination. By analogy, we propose to name this type of interference of elementary shear settings translamination. Petroliferous helicoidal structures arise in the given geodynamic setting of translamination.     

Numerical analysis of overburden soil subjected to strike-slip fault: Distinct element analysis of Nojima fault

A distinct element method analysis is carried out to examine the development of shear bands in overburden soil subjected to a strike-slip fault. About 2.3 million spherical particles are used in the analysis and the results are compared with the shears observed at the Nojima earthquake fault during the 1995 Hyogoken Nanbu earthquake. En echelon shears and secondary shears which strike at lower angles to the basement fault – typical in strike-slip faults – are observed in the numerical analysis. Simple shear in the horizontal plane and drag due to the dependence of velocity on depth are confirmed to control the helicoidal shape of Riedel shears. Rotation of the compressional direction toward the fault strike as a result of slip along Riedel shears is also verified. It is found that the compressional direction is more horizontal within the area enclosed by Riedel shears than in outside areas and that these compressional directions produce secondary lower-angle shears that are less helicoidal. It is shown that the formation of column-like structures of particles and their subsequent buckling play significant micromechanical roles in three-dimensionally wrenched shears. The results of the numerical analysis, such as shear intervals and striking angles, show a resemblance to observational results at sites where sediment contains coarse grains and is subjected to strike slip with a small dip component, although they are not exactly the same as those observed at locations with similar overburden thicknesses.     

Initiation and development of pull-apart basins with Riedel shear mechanism: insights from scaled clay experiments

Typical pull-apart structures were created in scaled clay experiments with a pure strike-slip geometry (Riedel type experiments). A clay slab represents the sedimentary cover above a strike-slip fault in the rigid basement. At an early stage of the development of the deformation zone, synthetic shear fractures (Riedel shears) within the clay slab display dilatational behaviour. With increasing basal displacement the Riedel shears rotate and open further, developing into long, narrow and deep troughs. The shear displacement and the low angle with the prescribed principal basal fault set them apart from tension gashes. At a more evolved stage, synthetic segments (Y-shears) parallel to the basal principal fault develop and accommodate progressive strike-slip deformation. The Y-shears connect the tips of adjacent troughs developed from the earlier Riedel shears, resulting in the typical rhomb-shaped structures characteristic for pull-apart basins. The Strait of Sicily rift zone, with major strike-slip systems being active from the Miocene to the Present, comprises pull-apart basins at different length scales, for which the structural record suggests development by a mechanism similar to that observed in our experiments.     

Shear zones in clay-rich fault gouge: A laboratory study of fabric development and evolution

Clay-rich fault rocks have long been recognized to host distinctive fabric elements, and fault rock fabric is increasingly thought to play a fundamental role in fault mechanical behaviour in the brittle regime. Although the geometries of fabric elements in fault gouges have been described for almost a century, the genesis and evolution of these elements during shear, and their links to bulk mechanical properties, remain poorly understood. We characterize the development and evolution of fabric elements with increasing shear in a variety of clay-rich experimental gouges over shear strains of <1 to >20 and at normal stresses of 2–150 MPa in the double-direct shear configuration. In addition to SEM observations of experiment products at a variety of shear strains, we quantified clay fabric intensity and the degree of grain size reduction using X-ray Texture Goniometry (XTG) and particle size distribution (PSD) measurements. We also measured P- and S-wave velocities during shear to further probe the evolution of shear fabric and gouge properties. We find that clay fabric elements develop in a systematic manner regardless of the gouge material. Riedel shears in the R₁ orientation and boundary-parallel shears are the dominant fabric elements. Riedel shears nucleate at layer margins and propagate into the layer shortly after reaching yield stress. Clay particles rotate into the P-orientation shortly after Riedels propagate through the layer. The Riedel shears are through-going, but are >10× thinner than similar zones observed in coarser granular materials. Our results suggest that the weakness of clay-rich fault gouge may be less a function of anisotropic crystal structure, as has been suggested previously, and more a consequence of very thin shear surfaces permitting deformation in clay-rich materials with minimal dilation or cataclasis. The very thin shear surfaces are a function of the fine grain size of the materials and possibly polymodal PSD's.     

Recent crustal movements in The Central Sierra Nevada—Walker lane region of California—Nevada: Part iii, The Olinghouse fault zone

The Olinghouse fault zone is one of several NE—ENE-trending fault zones and lineaments, including the Midas Trench and the Carson—Carson Sink Lineament, which exhibit left-lateral transcurrent movement conjugate to the Walker Lane in western Nevada. The active portion of this fault zone extends for approximately 23 km, from 16 km east of Reno, Nevada, to the southern extent of Pyramid Lake. The fault can be traced for most of its length from its geomorphic expression in the hilly terrain, and it is hidden only where overlain by recent alluvial sediments. Numerous features characteristic of strike-slip faulting can be observed along the fault, including: scarps, vegetation lines, sidehill and shutter ridges, sag ponds, offset stream channels and stone stripes, enclosed rhombohedral and wedge-shaped depressions, and en-echelon fractures.A shear zone having a maximum observable width of 1.3 km is defined principally by Riedel shears and their symmetrical P-shears, with secondary definition by deformed conjugate Riedel shears. Several continuous horizontal shears, or principal displacement shears, occupy the axial portion of the shear zone. The existence of P-shears and principal displacement shears suggests evolution of movement along the fault zone analogous to the “Post-Peak” or “Pre-Residual Structure” stage.Historic activity (1869) has established the seismic potential of this zone. Maximum intensities and plots of the isoseismals indicate the 1869 Olinghouse earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7. Field study indicates the active length of the fault zone is at least 23 km and the maximum 1869 displacement was 3.65 m of left-slip. From maximum fault length and maximum fault displacement to earthquake magnitude relations, this corresponds to an earthquake of about magnitude 7.     

Recent crustal movements in the Central Sierra Nevada—Walker lane region of California—Nevada: Part ii, The pyramid lake right-slip fault zone segment of the Walker lane

The Pyramid Lake fault zone is within the Honey Lake—Walker Lake segment of the Walker Lane, a NW-trending zone of right-slip transcurrent faulting, which extends for more than 600 km from Las Vegas, Nevada, to beyond Honey Lake, California. Multiscale, multiformat analysis of Landsat imagery and large-scale (1: 12,000) lowsun angle aerial photography, delineated both regional and site-specific evidence for faults in Late Cenozoic sedimentary deposits southwest of Pyramid Lake. The fault zone is coincident with a portion of a distinct NW-trending topographic discontinuity on the Landsat mosaic of Nevada. The zone exhibits numerous geomorphic features characteristic of strike-slip fault zones, including: recent scarps, offset stream channels, linear gullies, elongate troughs and depressions, sag ponds, vegetation alignments, transcurrent buckles, and rhombohedral and wedge-shaped enclosed depressions. These features are conspicuously developed in Late Pleistocene and Holocene sedimentary deposits and landforms.The Pyramid Lake shear zone has a maximum observable width of 5 km, defined by Riedel and conjugate Riedel shears with maximum observable lenghts of 10 and 3 km, respectively. P-shears have formed symmetrical to the Riedel shears and the principal displacement shears, or continuous horizontal shears, isolate elongate lenses of essentially passive material; most of the shears are inclined at an angle of approximately 4° to the principal direction of displacement. This suggests that the shear zone is in an early “PreResidual Structure” stage of evolution, with the principal deformation mechanism of direct shear replacing the kinematic restraints inherent in the strain field.Historic seismic activity includes microseismic events and may include the earthquake of about 1850 reported for the Pyramid Lake area with an estimated Richter magnitude of 7.0. Based on worldwide relations of earthquake magnitude to length of the zone of surface rupture, the Pyramid Lake fault zone is inferred to be capable of generating a 7.0–7.5-magnitude event for a maximum observable length of approximately 6 km and a 6.75–7.25-magnitude event for a half length of approximately 30 km.     

Microscopic feather fractures in the faulting process

The nature and development of microscopic feather fractures (mff) are investigated in experimentally deformed intact and precut cylinders of room-dry Tennessee and Coconino Sandstone. All specimens are deformed at 25° C, and at a shortening rate of 10⁻⁴ sec⁻¹ ; the intact ones are at confining pressures from 0.5 to 2.5 kbar; and the precut specimens at 1.0 and 1.5 kbar. Mff occur in grains adjacent to induced shear fractures or faults; they are wedge-shaped and die out within one or two grain diameters from the fault; and they make acute angles with the fault such that arrows directed into the apices of these angles on either side of the fault define its sense of shear. Occurrence of mff only after slip on precut surfaces clearly demonstrates that they form as a result of shear displacement. The average angle between the mff and fault is 10° greater than that between the load axis and the fault, and it increases with increasing confining pressure in initially intact specimens. Data suggest that the abundance of mff (mean number per grain) increases with increasing normal stress across the fault and with displacement. The wedgeshaped character of many mff and their consistent orientation at 10° to the load axis are distinguishing characteristics. Mff are shown to be parallel to the local maximum compressive stress and thus are extension microfractures. They are not to be confused with precursive micro fractures developed prior to macroscopic fracture, nor to Riedel shears developed during faulting.     

里德尔剪切的组合型式与走滑盆地组合型式的相似性

走滑断裂体系中经常发育里德尔剪切的断裂组合,世界上不同构造背景下与走滑断裂相关的盆地(走滑盆地)也很多见。因此里德尔剪切是地质构造研究中的重要方面。我们从三个方面对里德尔剪切的节理构造组合及盆地组合进行了对比:(1)里德尔剪切构造组合与比例尺无关。里德尔剪切带的(转换)拉张区与沉积盆地的分布区是相似的;(2)断裂的最大位移区与断陷盆地的沉积中心是一致的,断陷盆地长轴平行于断裂走向;(3)物理模拟试验及数学模拟试验都证实了走滑盆地的演化。基于上述认识,我们通过厘米级岩芯标本的观察,结合已发表的盆地资料,提出了6类与里德尔剪切有关的构造组合及断陷盆地组合。(1)雁列状构造及盆地组合:许多盆地发育雁列状构造。同时,与里德尔剪切相关的雁列状盆地的宽度与主剪切断裂的剪切位移呈正相关。(2)帚状或马尾状构造及盆地组合:二者在形态上相似,所以归为一类。成因上,马尾状构造及盆地主要发育在走滑断裂的拉张端部,而帚状构造或盆地反映走滑断裂的旋扭作用,可以在走滑断裂影响区域的任何部位。(3)串珠状构造及盆地组合:该类型的盆地主要是指释压盆地的组合,拉分盆地也可以形成串珠状盆地。(4)S状或Z状构造或盆地组合:左行走滑形成Z状构造或盆地,而右行走划形成S状构造或盆地。(5)多字型构造及盆地组合:是拉分盆地的典型组合,可以过渡到串珠状盆地。(6)复杂的网状构造及盆地组合:通常是由于分布型简单剪切的作用结果。以上盆地组合类型包括大型盆地内次级单元(次级盆地或更次级盆地)的组合,但不包括多成因、多期活动的构造及盆地。     

Magnetic fabric development in a highly anisotropic magnetite-bearing ductile shear zone (Seve Nappe Complex,Scandinavian Caledonides)

Magnetite-bearing mylonitic garnet–micaschists close to the major suture between the Baltica and Iapetus terranes (Seve Nappe Complex, Scandinavian Caledonides) show very high anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) with corrected degree of anisotropy (P′) up to 4.8. Three different magnetic fabric types can be distinguished. They correspond to protomylonite (type I, P′ < 2), mylonite (type II, 2 < P′ < 3), and ultramylonite (type III, P′ > 3), respectively. The orientation of the ellipsoid axes from all applied magnetic fabric methods in this study is similar with shallow dips of the metamorphic foliation toward WSW and subhorizontal, mostly NW–SE trending mineral lineation. Differences between subfabrics were minimized under high shear strain as all markers tend to align parallel with the shear plane. The very high anisotropies and mostly oblate ellipsoid shapes of type III correlate with high magnetic susceptibility (k _mean up to 55 × 10⁻³ SI units) and are related to the concentration of magnetite aggregates with shape-preferred orientation. They show a distinct field dependence of magnetic susceptibility of up to 10% in the k _max-direction. We attribute this field dependence to a “memory” of high strains in the domain walls of the crystals acquired during synkinematic magnetite growth during shear zone fabric development at temperatures of 550–570°C.     

Geology of the epithermal Ag–Au Huevos Verdes vein system and San José district, Deseado massif, Patagonia, Argentina

The San José district is located in the northwest part of the Deseado massif and hosts a number of epithermal Ag–Au quartz veins of intermediate sulfidation style, including the Huevos Verdes vein system. Veins are hosted by andesitic rocks of the Bajo Pobre Formation and locally by rhyodacitic pyroclastic rocks of the Chon Aike Formation. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar constraints on the age of host rocks and mineralization define Late Jurassic ages of 151.3 ± 0.7 Ma to 144.7 ± 0.1 Ma for volcanic rocks of the Bajo Pobre Formation and of 147.6 ± 1.1 Ma for the Chon Aike Formation. Illite ages of the Huevos Verdes vein system of 140.8 ± 0.2 and 140.5 ± 0.3 Ma are 4 m.y. younger than the volcanic host rock unit. These age dates are among the youngest reported for Jurassic volcanism in the Deseado massif and correlate well with the regional context of magmatic and hydrothermal activity. The Huevos Verdes vein system has a strike length of 2,000 m, with several ore shoots along strike. The vein consists of a pre-ore stage and three main ore stages. Early barren quartz and chalcedony are followed by a mottled quartz stage of coarse saccharoidal quartz with irregular streaks and discontinuous bands of sulfide-rich material. The banded quartz–sulfide stage consists of sulfide-rich bands alternating with bands of quartz and bands of chlorite ± illite. Late-stage sulfide-rich veinlets are associated with kaolinite gangue. Ore minerals are argentite and electrum, together with pyrite, sphalerite, galena, chalcopyrite, minor bornite, covellite, and ruby silver. Wall rock alteration is characterized by narrow (< 3 m) halos of illite and illite/smectite next to veins, grading outward into propylitic alteration. Gangue minerals are dominantly massive quartz intergrown with minor to accessory adularia. Epidote, illite, illite/smectite, and, preferentially at deeper levels, Fe-chlorite gangue indicate near-neutral pH hydrothermal fluids at temperatures of >220°C. Kaolinite occurring with the late sulfide-rich veinlet stage indicates pH < 4 and a temperature of <200°C. The Huevos Verdes system has an overall strike of 325°, dipping on average 65° NE. The orientations of individual ore shoots are controlled by vein strike and intersecting north-northwest-striking faults. We propose a structural model for the time of mineralization of the San José district, consisting of a conjugate shear pair of sinistral north-northwest- and dextral west-northwest-striking faults that correspond to R and R′ in the Riedel shear model and that are related to master faults (M) of north-northeast-strike. Veins of 315° strike can be interpreted as nearly pure extensional fractures (T). Variations in vein strike predict an induced sinistral shear component for strike directions of >315°, whereas strike directions of <315° are predicted with an induced dextral strike–slip movement. The components of the structural model appear to be present on a regional scale and are not restricted to the San José district.     

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility analysis of deformed kaolinite: implications for evaluating landslides

Plane strain tests were performed on seven kaolinite blocks, each of which developed shear bands. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis of the kaolinite reveals a threshold degree of magnetic anisotropy (P′) exceeding which shear bands develop. Since P′ is a strain-intensity gauge and soils are known to develop shear bands prior to landsliding, it is concluded that soil in every landslide-prone region must have its unique threshold P′ exceeding which it develops shear bands before failing. Therefore, AMS monitoring of soil in landslide prone regions is proposed as a potential tool in the management of natural hazard zones.     

Seafloor spreading, obduction and triple junction tectonics of the Mineoka Ophiolite, Central Japan

The Tertiary Mineoka ophiolite occurs in a fault zone at the intersection of the Honshu and Izu forearcs in central Japan and displays structural evidence for three major phases of deformation: normal and oblique-slip faults and hydrothermal veins formed during the seafloor spreading evolution of the ophiolite at a ridge-transform fault intersection. These structures may represent repeated changes in differential stress and pore-fluid pressures during their formation. The second series of deformation is characterized by oblique thrust faults with Riedel shears and no significant mineral veining, and is interpreted to have resulted from transpressional dextral faulting during the obduction of the ophiolite through oblique convergence and tectonic accretion. This deformation occurred at the NW corner of a TTT-type (trench–trench–trench) triple junction in the NW Pacific rim before the middle Miocene. The third series of deformation of the ophiolite is marked by contractional and oblique shear zones, Riedel shears, and thrust faults that crosscut and offset earlier structures, and that give the Mineoka fault zone its lenticular (phacoidal) fabric at all scales. This deformation phase was associated with the establishment and the southward migration of the TTT Boso triple junction and with the kinematics of oblique subduction and forearc sliver fault development. The composite Mineoka ophiolite hence displays rocks and structures that evolved during its complex geodynamic history involving seafloor spreading, tectonic accretion, and triple junction evolution in the NW Pacific Rim.     

Viscoelastic behaviour of mica-based glass-ceramic aggregate

The present study deals with the small strain torsion deformation of MACOR glass-ceramic samples at high temperatures (450–850 °C) and over a range of low frequencies (20 Hz–5 mHz). The samples of MACOR ceramic consist of 55 vol% randomly oriented, sheet-like fluorophlogopite mica crystals (∼100–20 μm in planar size, 1–2 μm in thickness) and 45 vol% of isotropic alumino-borosilicate glass matrix. Measurements of the complex shear modulus show that the sample does not possess the relaxed shear viscosity even at temperatures above the glass transition temperature of the glass matrix. The maximum of the imaginary component G ^′′() of the shear modulus is ∼0.15 of the unrelaxed value G _∞, the relaxation strength Δ≈0.9. The activation energy of the peak of G ^′′() is ∼245 kJ mol⁻¹. Using this value of E _a , the data obtained at various frequencies and temperatures have been reduced to a master curve using the dimensionless variable ωτ, where ∼₀ exp(−E _a /RT). The internal friction Q⁻¹(ωτ) is ∝1/()^0.35−0.4 in the low-temperature high-frequency range (1); passes through a maximum at ∼1 and trends asymptotically to a value Q⁻¹∼0.25–0.30 at ≪1. The behaviour of Q ⁻¹(ωτ) differs from that of a Caputo body by the presence of the resolved peak which may be attributed to the slow mechanical relaxation of mica crystals due to rotation as well as flexing and bending modes of crystal deformation. Received: 26 June 1998 / Revised, accepted: 13 January 1999     

Extensional shear band development on the outer margin of the Alpine mylonite zone,Tatare Stream,Southern Alps,New Zealand

Schistose mylonitic rocks in the central part of the Alpine Fault (AF) at Tatare Stream, New Zealand are cut by pervasive extensional (C′) shear bands in a well-understood and young, natural ductile shear zone. The C′ shears cross-cut the pre-existing (Mesozoic—aged) foliation, displacing it ductilely synthetic to late Cenozoic motion on the AF. Using a transect approach, we evaluated changes in geometrical properties of the mm–cm-spaced C′ shear bands across a conspicuous finite strain gradient that intensifies towards the AF. Precise C′ attitudes, C′-foliation dihedral angles, and C′–S intersections were calculated from multiple sectional observations at both outcrop and thin-section scales. Based on these data the direction of ductile shearing in the Alpine mylonite zone during shear band activity is inferred to have trended >20° clockwise (down-dip) of the coeval Pacific-Australia plate motion, indicating some partitioning of oblique-slip motion to yield an excess of “dip-slip” relative to plate motion azimuth, or some up-dip ductile extrusion of the shear zone as a result of transpression, or both. Constant attitude of the mylonitic foliation across the finite strain gradient indicates this planar fabric element was parallel to the shear zone boundary (SZB). Across all examined parts of the shear zone, the mean dihedral angle between the C′ shears and the mylonitic foliation (S) remains a constant 30 ± 1° (1σ). The aggregated slip accommodated on the C′ shear bands contributed only a small bulk shear strain across the shear zone (γ = 0.6–0.8). Uniformity of per-shear slip on C′ shears with progression into the mylonite zone across the strain gradient leads us to infer that these shears exhibited a strain-hardening rheology, such that they locked up at a finite shear strain (inside C′ bands) of 12–15. Shear band boudins and foliation boudins both record extension parallel to the SZB, as do the occurrence of extensional shear band sets that have conjugate senses of slip. We infer that shear bands nucleated on planes of maximum instantaneous shear strain rate in a shear zone with W_k < 0.8, and perhaps even as low as <0.5. The C′ shear bands near the AF formed in a thinning/stretching shear zone, which had monoclinic symmetry, where the direction of shear-zone stretching was parallel to the shearing direction.     

Strain and vorticity analysis using small-scale faults and associated drag folds

Small-scale faults with associated drag folds in brittle-ductile rocks can retain detailed information on the kinematics and amount of deformation the host rock experienced. Measured fault orientation (α), drag angle (β) and the ratio of the thickness of deflected layers at the fault (L) and further away (T) can be compared with α, β and L/T values that are calculated with a simple analytical model. Using graphs or a numerical best-fit routine, one can then determine the kinematic vorticity number and initial fault orientation that best fits the data. The proposed method was successfully tested on both analogue experiments and numerical simulations with BASIL. Using this method, a kinematic vorticity number of one (dextral simple shear) and a minimum finite strain of 2.5–3.8 was obtained for a population of antithetic faults with associated drag folds in a case study area at Mas Rabassers de Dalt on Cap de Creus in the Variscan of the easternmost Pyrenees, Spain.     

Structural analysis of the Gachsar sub-zone in central Alborz range; constrain for inversion tectonics followed by the range transverse faulting

Analysis of the Gachsar structural sub-zone has been carried out to constrain structural evolution of the central Alborz range situated in the central Alpine Himalayan orogenic system. The sub-zone bounded by the northward-dipping Kandovan Fault to the north and the southward-dipping Taleghan Fault to the south is transversely cut by several sinistral faults. The Kandovan Fault that controls development of the Eocene rocks in its footwall from the Paleozoic–Mesozoic units in the fault hanging wall is interpreted as an inverted basin-bounding fault. Structural evidences include the presence of a thin-skinned imbricate thrust system propagated from a detachment zone that acts as a footwall shortcut thrust, development of large synclines in the fault footwall as well as back thrusts and pop-up structures on the fault hanging wall. Kinematics of the inverted Kandovan Fault and its accompanying structures constrain the N–S shortening direction proposed for the Alborz range until Late Miocene. The transverse sinistral faults that are in acute angle of 15° to a major magnetic lineament, which represents a basement fault, are interpreted to develop as synthetic Riedel shears on the cover sequences during reactivation of the basement fault. This overprinting of the transverse faults on the earlier inverted extensional fault occurs since the Late Miocene when the south Caspian basin block attained a SSW movement relative to the central Iran. Therefore, recent deformation in the range is a result of the basement transverse-fault reactivation.     

Analogue models of folds above a wrench fault

This paper describes the experimental deformation of models made with sheets of paraffin wax, simulating a bedded cover resting on a basement wrench fault. During the experiments, “en échelon” folds appear in the cover. As a result of early fault motion, folds first appear at heterogeneities in the bedding and with axes at about 45° to the trace of the wrench fault. Further fault displacement causes a bulk rotation of fold axes towards parallelism with the basement wrench fault, and a resulting curvature of fold axes at larger fault displacement.Folding affects an area which tends to quickly stabilize in width, since folding weakens the sheared cover and subsequent deformation is concentrated in it. Axial surfaces of folds are initially upright, then tend to become inclined with an external vergence, forming a fan centered on the basement wrench fault. Deeper layer-deformation, close to the basement, involves fold reorientations that are greater than in the upper layers. Therefore, down a given vertical line, there is no continuity between surface and deep structures. The geometry and orientation of folds appearing at later stages of wrenching is controlled by the geometry and orientation of already extant folds.     

钦杭带南段庞西垌-金山银金矿田控矿构造分析及找矿指示

钦杭成矿带南段的庞西垌-金山银金矿田位于粤东与桂西交界处,包括庞西垌、金山、中苏、竹根坡、高村等银金矿床及一系列银金矿点,是20世纪80年代规划的十大银矿基地之一。庞西垌地区经历了多期的构造-岩浆活动,韧性剪切带和断裂构造尤其发育。印支期以来,可识别出3期主要构造:第一期为右行韧性剪切,前人利用糜棱岩中白云母测得时代为221 Ma;第二期为左行韧脆性剪切,北东向的庞西垌-金山断裂带反映最为突出,切过燕山晚期花岗岩;第三期为脆性走滑。银金矿体及矿石结构、构造主要受第二期左行韧脆性剪切带控制。应用里德尔剪切体系对控矿构造的分布特征分析显示,银金矿脉主要赋存于里德尔体系的D、R和T裂隙中;D裂隙是最重要的赋矿构造,热液蚀变岩型和石英脉型矿体呈透镜状左行斜列于主断裂面中,沿走向往南西侧伏;R和T裂隙主要发育梳状含金石英脉。R裂隙呈密集剪破裂产出,与主断裂面夹角15°~35°;T裂隙呈雁列状等距分布,与主断裂面夹角约为45°。这些矿脉就位体系,可以为该区进一步找矿作参考。     

Transpression

Transpression is considered as a wrench or transcurrent shear accompanied by horizontal shortening across, and vertical lengthening along, the shear plane. A model for the strain in transpression is derived, from which the shape and orientation of the finite strain ellipsoid, and the stretch and rotation of lines can be determined. Shortening across the zone of transpression leads to oblate finite strain ellipsoids (k<1).By considering the superposition of small increments of strain various model deformation paths are computed. These are used to interpret the development of structures, such as en-échelon folds, in transpression zones. The incremental strain ellipsoid allows prediction of the orientation of the principal stresses and hence brittle structures within such zones. The model is also applied to bends and terminations of shear zones and used to interpret the observed patterns of folds and fractures in these.     

The Direct Shear Strength and Dilatancy of Sand–gravel Mixtures

A total of 87 direct shear tests in a large direct shear-box apparatus have been used to investigate the strength and dilatancy of sand–gravel mixtures. This paper focuses on the differences in behaviour between a silica sand (yellow Leighton Buzzard sand) and sand–gravel mixtures obtained by adding fractions of two kinds of gravel to the sand. The purpose is to find a relation between the grain-size characteristics of the materials and the shearing resistance. Experimental results are analysed in terms of the frictional and dilatant contributions to the strength of mixtures as a function of their relative density, and are compared with dilatancy theories and empirical equations. The addition of gravel to the mixtures, even at low fractions (less than 0.1 by volume), causes an increase in peak friction angle (Φ ′_peak) which results both from higher dilatancy at failure (ψ_max) and higher constant volume friction angle (Φ ′_cv). Use of the minimum voids ratio (e_min) of the materials allows the data for the two families of mixtures to be normalized and interpreted in terms of Φ ′_cv and the ratio (Φ ′_peak − Φ ′_cv)/ψ_max. The relationships between relative density (D_r), ψ_max and Φ ′_peak − Φ ′_cv are only partly explained on a physical basis, so we develop empirical equations to predict the peak shear resistance of sand–gravel mixtures (up to gravel contents of 0.5) on the basis of easily measurable quantities. Such equations constitute a practical tool to overcome the problems arising from the impracticality of testing coarse material in the standard shear-box apparatus.