A Duplex Model for the Eastern Cape Fold Belt? Evidence from the Palaeozoic Witteberg and Bokkeveld Groups (Cape Supergroup), Near Steytlerville, South Africa

The eastern part of the Cape Fold Belt, near Steytlerville, South Africa, reveals a typical pattern of numerous, north-verging thrust faults and associated folds, interpreted as part of a large duplex structure that formed along the southern margin of Gondwana during the Late Palaeozoic. Steeply-dipping fore- and backthrusts occur in the Bokkeveld Group (middle Cape Supergroup), where strata are composed of predominantly argillaceous rocks, whereas in the more arenaceous Witteberg Group (upper Cape Supergroup) there are fewer recognizable and less closely-spaced thrusts. Open style folds characterize areas in which the Bokkeveld Group crops out, but in areas of Witteberg outcrop, folds, especially those adjacent to thrusts, are often overturned.In spite of a general absence of marker horizons, a displacement of at least 500 metres can be inferred for one prominent thrust, the Jackalsbos thrust. This fault, the northernmost in the area investigated, is probably the sole thrust in the duplex structure, linked through southward-dipping imbricates to a projected roof thrust (the Baviaanskloof thrust) cropping out immediately south of the study area.Displacements on imbricates within the duplex are difficult if not impossible to measure, but the net effect is certainly accumulative and incremental. Truncation by a roof thrust and subsequent erosional processes may explain why so few of the many thrusts so far identified in the eastern part of the fold belt can be successfully mapped, and their displacements measured. Normal and strike-slip faults, less common than thrust faults, formed during extensional tectonism related to the breakup of Gondwana, during the Mesozoic.     

剥离断层、板块内近水平的剪切带与伸展构造

地壳的水平伸展作用是形成大陆板块内部断陷盆地的重要因素.在山区的基底岩石中,这种伸展在上部层次表现为一系列低角度的剥离断层;在中深部层次表现为近水平的韧性剪切带。本文中阐明了它们的鉴别特征.据此,在北京西山新生代以前的地层中,已发现了多期的伸展与挤压作用交替所造成的复杂的构造.     

Seismogenic structures along continental convergent zones: from oblique subduction to mature collision

We summarize seismogenic structures in four regions of active convergence, each at a different stage of the collision process, with particular emphases on unusual, deep-seated seismogenic zones that were recently discovered. Along the eastern Hellenic arc near Crete, an additional seismogenic zone seems to occur below the seismogenic portion of the interplate thrust zone—a configuration found in several other oblique subduction zones that terminate laterally against collision belts. The unusual earthquakes show lateral compression, probably reflecting convergence between the subducting lithosphere's flank and the collision zone nearby. Along oblique zones of recent collision, the equivalence between space and time reveals the transition from subduction to full collision. In particular, intense seismicity beneath western Taiwan indicates that along the incipient zone of arc–continent collision, major earthquakes occur along high-angle reverse faults that reach deep into the crust or even the uppermost mantle. The seismogenic structures are likely to be reactivated normal faults on the passive continental margin of southeastern China. Since high-angle faults are ineffective in accommodating horizontal motion, it is not surprising that in the developed portion of the central Taiwan orogen (<5 Ma), seismogenic faulting occurs mainly along moderate-dipping (20–30°) thrusts. This is probably the only well-documented case of concurrent earthquake faulting on two major thrust faults, with the second seismogenic zone reaching down to depths of 30 km. Furthermore, the dual thrusts are out-of-sequence, being active in the hinterland of the deformation front. Along the mature Himalayan collision zone, where collision initiated about 50 Ma ago, current data are insufficient to distinguish whether most earthquakes occurred along multiple, out-of-sequence thrusts or along a major ramp thrust. Intriguingly, a very active seismic zone, including a large (M_w=6.7) earthquake in 1988, occurs at depths near 50 km beneath the foreland. Such a configuration may indicate the onset of a crustal nappe, involving the entire cratonic crust. In all cases of collision discussed here, the basal decollement, a key feature in the critical taper model of mountain building, appears to be aseismic. It seems that right at the onset of collision, earthquakes reflect reactivation of high-angle faults. For mature collision belts, earthquake faulting on moderate-dipping thrust accommodates a significant portion of convergence—a process involving the bulk of crust and possibly the uppermost mantle.     

Mechanisms of thrust faulting in the gran sasso chain, central apennines, italy

The Gran Sasso chain in Central Italy is made up of an imbricate stack of eight thrust sheets, which were emplaced over the Upper Miocene—Lower Pliocene Laga Flysch. The thrust sheets are numbered from 1 to 8 in order of their decreasing elevation in the tectonic stack, and their basal thrusts are numbered from T₁ to T₈, accordingly. On the basis of their different deformation features, the major thrust faults fall into three groups: (1) thrust faults marked by thick belts of incoherent gouges and breccia zones (T₁, T₂, T₃); (2) thrust faults characterized by a sharp plane which truncates folds that had developed in the footwall rocks (T₅, T₆); and (3) thrust faults truncating folds developed in both the hangingwall and footwall units, and bordered by foliated fault rocks (T₇). The deformation features observed for the different faults seem to vary because of two combined factors: (1) lithologic changes in the footwall and hangingwall units separated by the thrust faults; and (2) increasing amounts of deformation in the deepest portions of the imbricate stack. The upper thrust sheets (from 1 to 6) are characterized by massive calcareous and dolomitic rocks, they maintain a homoclinal setting and are truncated up-section by the cataclastic thrust faults. The lowermost thrust sheets (7 and 8) are characterized by a multilayer with competence contrasts, which undergoes shear-induced folding prior to the final emplacement of the thrust sheets. Bedding and axial planes of folds rotate progressively towards the T₅, T₆, T₇ and T₈ thrust boundaries, and are subsequently truncated by propagation of the brittle thrust faults. The maximum deformation is observed along the T₇ thrust fault, consistent with horizontal displacement that increases progressively from the uppermost to the lowermost thrust sheet in the tectonic stack. The axial planes of the folds developed in the hangingwall and footwall units are parallel to the T₇ thrust fault, and foliated fault rocks have developed. Field data and petrographic analysis indicate that cleavage fabrics in the fault rocks form by a combination of cataclasis, cataclastic flow and pressure-solution slip, associated with pervasive shearing along subtly distributed slip zones parallel to the T₇ thrust fault. The development of such fabrics at upper crustal levels creates easy-slip conditions in progressively thinner domains, which are regions of localized flow during the thrust sheet emplacement.     

Late Cenozoic deformation in the South Caspian region: effects of a rigid basement block within a collision zone

Active deformation in the South Caspian region demonstrates the enormous variation in kinematics and structural style generated where a rigid basement block lies within a collision zone. Rigid basement to the South Caspian Basin moves with a westward component relative both to stable Eurasia and Iran, and is beginning to subduct at its northern and western margins. This motion is oblique to the approximately north–south Arabia–Eurasia convergence, and causes oblique shortening to the south and northeast of the South Caspian Basin: thrusting in the Alborz and Kopet Dagh is accompanied by range-parallel strike–slip faults, which are respectively left- and right-lateral. There are also arcuate fold and thrust belts in the region, for two principal reasons. Firstly, weaker regions deform and wrap around the rigid block. This occurs at the curved transition zone between the Alborz and Talysh ranges, where thrust traces are concave towards the foreland. Secondly, a curved fold and thrust belt can link a deformation zone created by movement of the basement block to one created by the regional convergence: west-to-east thrusts in the eastern Talysh represent underthrusting of the South Caspian basement, but pass via an arcuate fan of fold trains into SSW-directed thrusts in the eastern Greater Caucasus, which accommodates part of the Arabia–Eurasia convergence. Each part of the South Caspian region contains one or more detachment levels, which vary dependent on the pre-Pliocene geology. Buckle folds in the South Caspian Basin are detached from older rocks on thick mid-Tertiary mudrocks, whereas thrust sheets in the eastern Greater Caucasus detach on Mesozoic horizons. In the future, the South Caspian basement may be largely eliminated by subduction, leading to a situation similar to Archaean greenstone belts of interthrust mafic and sedimentary slices surrounded by the roots of mountain ranges constructed from continental crust.     

河北兴隆复式叠瓦扇构造

河北省北部兴隍-平泉复向斜的西端发育了一种特殊类型的推覆构造,该推覆构造具有三重结构的特点,即由上叠瓦扇、下叠瓦扇和下伏系统组成。上叠瓦扇可以分为被分支断裂分割的太古字、长城系、蓟县系、青白口系和寒武-奥陶系5个逆冲岩席;各分支断裂上陡下缓,向下逐渐归并于F₁主逆冲断裂上。F₁断层下的石炭-二叠系也发育了一组叠瓦状逆冲断层,形成了与上叠瓦扇具有不同变形特征的下叠瓦扇。由于这一构造特殊的两套叠瓦扇结构,故笔者称其为复式叠瓦扇构造,这是一种新的推覆构造类型。     

Evidence for Proterozoic Collision from Airborne Magnetic and Gravity Studies in Southern Granulite Terrain, India and Signatures of Recent Tectonic Activity in the Palghat Gap

The composite airborne total intensity map of the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT) at an average elevation of 7000' (≈ 2100 m) shows bands of bipolar regional magnetic anomalies parallel to the structural trends suggesting the distribution of mafic/ultramafic rocks that are controlled by regional structures/shear zones and thrusts in this region. The spectrum and the apparent susceptibility map computed from the observed airborne magnetic anomalies provide bands of high susceptibility zones in the upper crust associated with known shear zones/thrusts such as Transition Zone, Moyar-Bhavani and Palghat-Cauvery Shear Zones (MBSZ and PCSZ). The quantitative modelling of magnetic anomalies across Transition Zone, MBSZ and PCSZ suggest the presence of mafic rocks of susceptibility (1.5-4.0 × 10⁻³ CGS units) in upper crust from 8-10 km extending up to about 21-22 km, which may represent the level of Curie point geotherm as indicated by high upper mantle heat flow in this section.Two sets of paired gravity anomalies in SGT and their modelling with seismic constraints suggest gravity highs and lows to be caused by high density mafic rocks along Transition Zone and Cauvery Shear Zone (CSZ) in the upper crust at depth of 6-8 km and crustal thickening of 45-46 km south of them, respectively. High susceptibility and high density rocks (2.8 g/cm³) along these shear zones supported by high velocity, high conductivity and tectonic settings suggest lower crustal mafic/ultramafic granulite rocks thrusted along them. These signatures with lower crustal rocks of metamorphic ages of 2.6-2.5 Ga north of PCSZ and Neoproterozoic period (0.6-0.5 Ga) south of it suggest that the SGT represents mosaic of accreted crust due to compression and thrusting. These observations along with N-verging thrusts and dipping reflectors from Dharwar Craton to SGT suggest two stages of N-S directed compression: (i) between Dharwar Craton and northern block of SGT during 2.6-2.5 Ga with Transition Zone and Moyar Shear towards the west as thrust, and (ii) between northern and southern blocks of SGT with CSZ as collision zone and PCSZ as thrust during Neoproterozoic period (0.6-0.5 Ga). The latter event may even represent just a compressive phase without any collision related to Pan-African event. The proposed sutures in both these cases separate gravity highs and lows of paired gravity anomalies towards north and south, respectively. The magnetic anomalies and causative sources related to Moyar Shear, MBSZ and PCSZ join with those due to Transition Zone, Mettur and Gangavalli Shears in their eastern parts, respectively to form an arcuate-shaped diffused collision zone during 2.6-2.5 Ga.Most of the Proterozoic collision zones are highlands/plateaus but the CSZ also known as the Palghat Gap represents a low lying strip of 80-100 km width, which however, appears to be related to recent tectonic activities as indicated by high upper mantle heat flow and thin crust in this section. It is supported by low density, low velocity and high conductive layer under CSZ and seismic activity in this region as observed in case of passive rift valleys. They may be caused by asthenospheric upwarping along pre-existing faults/thrusts (MBSZ and PCSZ) due to plate tectonic forces after the collision of Indian and Eurasian plates since Miocene time.     

Fault architecture and deformation mechanisms in exhumed analogues of seismogenic carbonate-bearing thrusts

Faults in carbonates are well known sources of upper crustal seismicity throughout the world. In the outer sector of the Northern Apennines, ancient carbonate-bearing thrusts are exposed at the surface and represent analogues of structures generating seismicity at depth. We describe the geometry, internal structure and deformation mechanisms of three large-displacement thrusts from the km scale to the microscale. Fault architecture and deformation mechanisms are all influenced by the lithology of faulted rocks. Where thrusts cut across bedded or marly limestones, fault zones are thick (tens of metres) and display foliated rocks (S-CC′ tectonites and/or YPR cataclasites) characterized by intense pressure-solution deformation. In massive limestones, faulting occurs in localized, narrow zones that exhibit abundant brittle deformation. A general model for a heterogeneous, carbonate-bearing thrust is proposed and discussed. Fault structure, affected by stratigraphic heterogeneity and inherited structures, influences the location of geometrical asperities and fault strain rates. The presence of clay minerals and the strain rate experienced by fault rocks modulate the shifting from cataclasis-dominated towards pressure-solution-dominated deformation. Resulting structural heterogeneity of these faults may mirror their mechanical and seismic behaviour: we suggest that seismic asperities are located at the boundaries of massive limestones in narrow zones of localized slip whereas weak shear zones constitute slowly slipping portions of the fault, reflecting other types of “aseismic” behaviour.     

North Chilean forearc tectonics and cenozoic plate kinematics

The continental forearc of northern Chile has been subjected to contemporaneous extension and compression. Here, cross-sections constructed across the forearc are presented which show that since initial shortening, deformation of the forearc has occurred in two tectonically distinct areas. These inner and outer forearc areas are separated by the strain discontinuity of the Atacama fault system and the tectonically neutral Central Depression.

The outer forearc, the Coastal Cordillera, exhibits extensional tectonics, with large (up to 300 m) normal fault scarps preserved. These faults cut the earlier thrusts responsible for the elevation of Jurassic rocks at the coast above their regional elevation. The normal faults have been re-activated, displacing Quaternary salt deposits in the Salar Grande. This re-activation of the basement faults is probably due to the subduction of anomalously thick oceanic crust, producing an isostatic imbalance in the outer forearc. In the inner forearc, cross-sections through the Sierra del Medio and Cordillera de Domeyko show that structures of the Pre-Cordillera are best explained by a thick-skinned thrust system, with localized thin-skinned tectonics controlled by evaporite detachment horizons.

Current forearc deformation features indicate a strong degree of correlation between subduction zone geometry and forearc tectonics. The timing of Cenozoic tectonism also fits well with established plate motion parameters, and the spatial and temporal variation in the state of stress of the forearc shows a close relationship throughout the Cenozoic to the plate kinematics and morphology of the subducting Nazca plate.     

On the number and spacing of faults

Orogens and rift zones have a finite number of regional faults. The accretionary prisms analysed here have a number of thrusts < 50, whereas extensional areas have a number of normal faults ranging between six and 44. The average spacing of thrusts is between 5 and 25 km; spacing of normal faults is more restricted into two peaks, at 25–29 km and 4–6 km, in which the latter is the most common. The number and spacing of faults appear to be mainly controlled by the depth of the decollement plane, which seems to be more variable in compressive settings with respect to rift zones. Basement‐involved orogens present fewer and more spaced thrusts; by contrast, a greater number of thrusts with shorter spacing characterize thin‐skinned thrust belts. The shallower the decollement is, the stronger it appears to control the palaeogeography, in the sense of rheological lateral variations in the sedimentary cover.     

库车坳陷盐下构造对盐上盖层变形的影响因素分析

库车坳陷是在地壳或者岩石圈尺度整体挤压作用下,收缩构造变形形成的一个构造单元,膏盐岩层等软弱岩层可能导致滑脱断层发育,并引起盐上和盐下不协调收缩变形,区域挤压作用下一些先存基底断裂带的逆冲位移是控制盐上层冲断褶皱变形的主要因素。运用地震资料、地表露头、钻测井资料以及非地震资料等,对库车坳陷区域大剖面的盐上层、盐下层的构造变形样式进行分析,认为南天山在挤压收缩变形中隆升,诱导盆山过渡带发育基底卷入的高角度逆冲断层,先前基底断层的复活影响了盆地沉积盖层的构造变形,基底断裂与盖层断层组合样式在走向上基本一致,盖层强变形带与基底断裂带上下呼应。     

Fault-related folding in the Ramshorn Peak area,Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt

The Ramshorn Peak area of the Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt lies in the toe of the Prospect thrust sheet along the eastern margin of the exposed part of the thrust belt. The terrain is folded with axes trending N-S and wavelengths ranging from 3 to 4.3 km. Thrusts occur exclusively along the eastern part of the map area where the toe of the Prospect thrust sheet is thinnest. The easternmost thrusts are backthrusts.Monoclinally folded rocks are thrust on less deformed rocks south of Ramshorn Peak. This fold and fault complex is interpreted to have formed by thrusting over a large oblique and small forward step. The oblique step is responsible for the formation of the monocline in the hanging wall of the thrust. All faults and associated folds are rotated by subsequent buckle folding.Second- and third-order folds (folds at the scale of the Ramshorn Peak fold and fault complex and smaller) appear to be isolated features associated with faults (fault-related folds rather than buckle folds) because they are not distributed throughout the map area. These folds were probably initiated by translation and adhesive drag. The early folding was terminated by large translation over a stepped thrust surface which caused additional folding as the hanging wall rocks conformed to the irregular shape of the footwall. The Rich model is utilized to explain the Ramshorn Peak complex because the fold is of monoclinal form and is an isolated feature rather than part of a buckle fold wave-train.     

燕山西段及北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造格局及其地质意义

燕山西段及北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造集中分布于三个NE向带状区域中,三个带状区域的间隔约为60km,延伸长度自东向西依次减小,呈现出明显的逆冲构造发育的三角形区域。三角形区域的北界为“内蒙地轴”南缘断裂西段,南西界与中元古代早期古盆地构造边界一致,东南部边界则与华北克拉通基底新太古代-古元古代中部碰撞造山带的东部边界大致吻合。逆冲构造具有基底卷入的厚皮构造与盖层内部的薄皮构造共存的构造属性,上盘运动方向总体指向NW,逆冲构造变形主要发生在140~130Ma。逆冲后伸展构造变形以发育在主要逆冲构造后侧为主,并利用先存构造薄弱带。先存构造薄弱带在有利区域构造应力和其他影响因素的作用下导致的构造活化,可能是燕山板内构造变形的重要机制之一。主要逆冲变形前后均有大规模岩浆活动的构造-岩浆时空组合表明,收缩构造造成地壳加厚及由此引发的深部地壳重熔,难以作为统一的机制对这些特征进行合理阐释,需要有其他方式的深部热物质与能量的参与。北京西山霞云岭—长操、教军场—大安山以及马兰—胡林等逆冲断层,是一个统一的大规模的逆冲构造的不同组成部分,具典型、连续的断坪-断坡结构,它形成于髫髻山组(148~146Ma)之后、南窖闪长岩(128Ma)侵入之前,而不是“印支期(或更早)”,它与南大寨—八宝山逆冲构造构成北京西山晚中生代逆冲构造格局。区域性的NW-SE向收缩构造作用及南大寨—八宝山逆冲构造上覆岩席的构造加载,可能是北京西山的蓝晶石带和硬绿泥石带为代表的高压动力变质作用的基本构造原因。     

Polyphase late Palaeozoic deformation in the southeastern foreland and northwestern Piedmont of the Alabama Appalachians

Late Palaeozoic deformation in the southern Appalachians is believed to be related to the collisional events that formed Pangaea. The Appalachian foreland fold and thrust belt in Alabama is a region of thin-skinned deformed Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks ranging in age from Early Cambrian to Late Carboniferous, bounded to the northwest by relatively undeformed rocks of the Appalachian Plateau and to the southeast by crystalline thrust sheets containing metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks ranging in age from late Precambrian to Early Devonian. A late Palaeozoic kinematic sequence derived for a part of this region indicates complex spatial and temporal relationships between folding, thrusting, and tectonic level of décollement. Earliest recognized (Carboniferous(?) or younger) compressional deformation in the foreland, observable within the southernmost thrust sheets in the foreland, is a set of large-scale, tight to isoclinal upright folds which preceded thrafing, and may represent the initial wave of compression in the foreland. Stage 2 involved emplacement of low-angle far-traveled thrust sheets which cut Lower Carboniferous rocks and cut progressively to lower tectonic levels to the southwest, terminating with arrival onto the foreland rocks of a low-grade crystalline nappe. Stage 3 involved redeformation of the stage 2 nappe pile by large-scale upright folds oriented approximately parallel to the former thrusts and believed to be related to ramping or imbrication from a deeper décollement in the foreland rocks below. Stage 4 involved renewed low-angle thrusting within the Piedmont rocks, emplacement of a high-grade metamorphic thrust sheet, and decapitation of stage 3 folds. Stage 5 is represented by large-scale cross-folding at a high angle to previous thrust boundaries and fold phases, and may be related to ramping or imbrication on deep décollements within the now mostly buried Ouachita orogen thrust belt to the southwest. Superposed upon these folds are stage 6 high-angle thrust faults with Appalachian trends representing the youngest (Late Carboniferous or younger, structures in the kinematic sequence.     

中国大陆及邻近海域航磁——大地构造解释及分区

地表地质研究及中国航磁异常表明中国航磁大地构造具以下3种类型:沉积盖层区(深浅层结果反映正常构造层序)、构造盖层区(地表及浅层为外来推覆山系,与深部构成异常构造层序)和航磁异常地质历史时期各期沉积-构造事件叠加的记录。按郯庐断裂两侧华北、扬子地台区航磁-构造异常带的可比性,郯庐断裂总位移可达500km.中国大陆及邻近海域航磁-大地构造分区为:Ⅰ光蒙区、Ⅱ华北区、Ⅲ哈萨克斯坦区、Ⅳ塔里木区、Ⅴ青藏高原区、Ⅵ扬子区、Ⅶ华夏——台湾区。     

中国大陆及邻近海域航磁─大地构造解释及分区

地表地质研究及中国航磁异常表明中国航磁大地构造具以下３种类型：沉积盖层区（深浅层结果反映正常构造层序）、构造盖层区（地表及浅层为外来推覆山系，与深部构成异常构造层序）和航磁异常地质历史时期各期沉积－构造事件叠加的记录。按郯庐断裂两侧华北、扬子地台区航磁－构造异常带的可比性，郯庐断裂总位移可达５００ｋｍ。中国大陆及邻近海域航磁－大地构造分区为：Ⅰ光蒙区、Ⅱ华北区、Ⅲ哈萨克斯坦区、Ⅳ塔里木区、Ⅴ青藏高原区、Ⅵ扬子区、Ⅶ华夏－台湾区。     

青藏高原羌塘盆地南部古近纪逆冲推覆构造系统

西藏羌塘地块南部古近纪发育肖茶卡-双湖逆冲推覆构造、多玛-其香错逆冲推覆构造、赛布错-扎加藏布逆冲推覆构造,构成古近纪大型逆冲推覆构造系统。沿逆冲推覆构造的前锋断层,二叠系白云岩与大理岩化灰岩、三叠系砂岩与页岩、侏罗系碎屑岩与碳酸盐岩和三叠纪—侏罗纪蛇绿岩自北向南逆冲推覆于古近纪红色砂砾岩之上,形成规模不等的构造岩片与飞来峰。羌塘盆地南部主要的逆冲断层和下伏的褶皱红层被中新世湖相沉积地层角度不整合覆盖,表明逆冲推覆构造运动自中新世以来基本停止活动。羌塘盆地南部古近纪逆冲推覆构造运动在近南北方向产生的最小位移为90km,指示新生代早期上地壳缩短率约为47%。古近纪逆冲推覆构造对羌塘盆地油气资源具有重要影响。     

塔北隆起北部叠加断裂构造特征与成因背景分析

塔北隆起在塔里木叠合盆地演化时期经历了古克拉通隆起、早期前陆前缘隆起、库车再生前陆盆地斜坡3个阶段。经过两期成盆构造变革阶段，塔北隆起北部垂向上叠加深、浅层两组断裂系统：深层断裂系统为基底逆冲断裂，发育冲断构造、背冲构造组合；浅层断裂系统为正断层，发育地堑、地垒构造样式组合。两组不同性质断裂系统的发育均对应于两期造山挤压背景下前陆盆地形成阶段。笔者认为，深层断裂并非是处于早期前陆变形区域，而是处于挤压背景下板内塔北古克拉通隆起“纵弯”构造变形中岩层破裂的结果。浅层断裂是库车再生前陆盆地阶段塔北隆起北部基底（前中生界构造层）受水平挤压翘曲变形（纵弯变形）导致上覆岩层引张破裂的结果。     

Crustal lineaments and shear zones in Africa: Their relationship to plate movements

Many of the major lineaments in southern Africa are major ductile shear zones with large displacement, occurring within, though often bounding orogenic belts. An example is the boundary to the Limpopo belt in Botswana and Zimbabwe. However, some of these shear zones only record slight displacement when considered on a crustal scale; they are merely planes recording differential movement on much larger, flat to gently dipping, shear zones where the boundary to the orogenic belt is a low-angle thrust zone. These different types of shear zones are clearly shown in the Pan-African belt of Zambia where large ENE-trending lineaments have been recorded. Recent work has shown the northern group of shears to be large lateral ramps; for example, the rocks of the copper belt are part of an ENE-verging thrust package, the southern boundary of which is a major, oblique to lateral ramp. In southern Zambia shears are more analogous to major transform faults; they form as tear faults separating zones of different thrust vergence. A possible plate tectonic model is given for this part of Africa, showing the different relative plate movement vectors estimated from the geometry of the Pan-African shear zones.     

Thrust faulting in the northern flinders range,South Australia

The geology of the Northern Flinders Range has been reinterpreted.

Three clastic units, mapped previously (1, 2), were supposed to have been evidence of three late Proterozoic transgressions over the Archaean basement. Tectonic movements resulted in east‐west folds and major fractures zones.

Recent structural and petrographic observations in the western part of the Mt Painter block lead to a reinterpretation of this region. Three tectonic phases may be observed in the Proterozoic rocks: the first phase is characterized by isoclinal folds with axial‐plane cleavage. Three thrust slices of quartzite, carbonate, and schist can be delineated. These thrust slices are separated by shear zones marked by mica schists which could be either basement or strongly deformed Adelaidean rocks. The second phase shows east‐west concentric upright folds with secondary cleavage in their hinges; this phase refolds the first‐phase structures and affects the underlying basement. The third phase created large strike‐slip faults which are superimposed on the first and second deformation.