Structural similarity and variety at the tips in a wide range of strike–slip faults: a review

Strike–slip faults are often accompanied by a variety of structures, particularly at their tips. The zones of additional fracturing are classified as tip‐damage zones. These zones can be subdivided into several different damage patterns based on the nature and orientation of faults and fractures developed. Damage zones at the ends of small strike–slip faults (mode II tips) develop wing cracks, horsetail splays, antithetic faults, synthetic branch faults and solution surfaces. Similar tip‐damage patterns are also commonly observed at larger (regional) scales, but with a dominance of faulting over tensile cracks and solution surfaces. Wing cracks and horsetail splays developed at small‐scale faults are replaced by normal faults in large‐scale faults. Antithetic faults and synthetic branch faults are observed at small and large scales. Thrust faults are developed at large scales, in a similar pattern to solution surfaces at a small scale. All these structures may show slightly different angular relationships to the master fault at small and large scale, but develop in response similar stress distribution and mechanics around the fault. Thus, mode II tip‐damage zones show similar patterns over a wide range of fault scales.     

Seismic and field evidence for selective inversion of Cretaceous normal faults, Salta rift, northwest Argentina

Northwestern Argentina was the site of the continental Salta rift in Cretaceous to Paleogene time. The Salta rift had a complex geometry with several subbasins of different trends and subsidence patterns surrounding a central high. Fault trends in the rift were extremely variable. There is evidence of normal and/or transfer faults trending N, NE, E and SE. It is not clear if all these faults were active at the same time, indicating a poorly defined extension direction, or if they formed in different, non-coaxial extension phases. In either case, their trends were very likely influenced by preexisting fault systems. Beginning in early Eocene time, the rift basins were superseded by Andean foreland basins and later became caught in the Andean thrust deformation propagating eastward, resulting in the inversion of rift faults. Due to their different orientations, not all faults were equally prone to reactivation as thrusts. N to NNE trending faults were apparently most strongly inverted, probably often to a degree where the traces of their normal fault origin have become obliterated. We present seismic evidence of moderately inverted N trending faults in the Tres Cruces basin and field examples of preserved E trending normal faults. However, reactivation sometimes also affects faults trending approximately parallel to the main Neogene shortening direction, indicating short-term deviations from the general pattern of Neogene thrust deformation. These pulses of orogen-parallel contraction may be linked to the intermittent activity of oblique transfer zones.     

The occurrence of graphite-bearing fault rocks in the Atotsugawa fault system,Japan: Origins and implications for fault creep

Graphite in fault zones has received little attention even though it is a well-known solid lubricant that could affect frictional properties of faults dramatically. This paper reports the presence of abundant graphite in fault zones of the Atotsugawa fault system, central Japan. Mesoscopic and microscopic observations of fault rocks revealed two processes of carbon enrichment in fault zones. One is a pressure solution process or diffusive mass transfer in general which removes water-soluble minerals such as quartz and carbonates from rocks, resulting in the enrichment of insoluble minerals including carbon. The other process is precipitation of graphite from a high-temperature carbon-rich fluid, forming graphite filling fractures within cataclasitic fault zones. The two processes have led to the concentration, up to 12 wt% of graphite, in the Atotsugawa fault zones, compared to 0 to 3 wt% of carbonaceous materials in the host rocks. This concentration is high enough for graphite to affect frictional properties at wide range of slip rates. The presence of graphite may provide an explanation for the low resistivity, the patterns of microearthquakes and fault creep along the western part of the Atotsugawa fault system. Graphite should receive more attention as a weakening and stabilizing agent of faults.     

Interrelations of mesoscopic structures and strain across a small regional fold,Virginia Appalachians

Small regional folds, such as the Clover Hollow anticline of the Narrows thrust-sheet in southwest Virginia, U.S.A., are considered to be large buckle folds expressing lateral shortening above a subsurface décollement. Cleavage, mesoscopic and regional folds, and contraction faults have developed in these rocks under anchimetamorphic conditions, in a single, protracted deformation during thrust-sheet emplacement. The contraction faults dominate the structure at all scales. Three fault associations (isolated contraction faults, contraction faults in series and complex fault zones with intense folding) determine the pattern and intensity of local structures. Regional displacement transfer of strain along and across faults has produced local variations in structural style. Duplex-like systems of second-order faults terminate laterally into zones of intense folding and third-order faulting. Fold tightness, cleavage intensity, strain magnitude and total longitudinal strain (ε_T) are maximum in these regions. Contraction faults in this thrust-sheet have propagated along zones of high strain rate associated with mesoscopic folding and intense cleavage. Regional hinge migration, and greater structural complexity along the southeast limb of the Clover Hollow anticline, are considered to be due to emplacement of the adjacent thrust-sheet.     

Analysis of faulting in three-dimensional strain field

Multiple faults, composed of three, four or more sets of faults, have been observed at a wide range of scales, from clay experiments to rift valleys. Multiple faults usually are explained by multiple phases of deformation. However, in several cases the multiple faults develop simultaneously; therefore, they cannot be explained by the common theories of faulting. Furthermore, these theories were derived for plane strain, whereas, multiple faults are associated with three-dimensional strain.An elementary analysis of faulting in three-dimensional strain field is presented here. The analysis considers the deformation of an idealized model due to slip along sets of faults; the model is subjected to strain boundary conditions. The analysis shows that (1) three or four sets of faults are necessary to accommodate three-dimensional strain, (2) there is a combination of four fault sets which minimize the dissipation of the deformation; the orientation of these faults depend on the strain state, and (3) if the resistance to slip along these four sets of faults is cohesive, then the stresses which cause slippage along them are equal or larger than the yielding stresses of a Tresca rigid-plastic with the same cohesion.The analysis presented here is too elementary to be directly applied to field observations; however, it indicates that multiple faults and rhomboid patterns of faults probably form when a body is strained three-dimensionally.     

新疆东准噶尔地区断裂的多重分形研究

结合东准噶尔地区强应变构造带的空间展布情况和断裂的空间分布特征 ,用多重分形模型测算了各带的多重分维值。研究结果表明 :强应变构造带在不同尺度上具有自相似性 ;断裂的空间分布为多重分形结构 ,断裂的演化有从复杂几何结构的次级断裂组合向单一连续的大断裂过渡而分维值逐渐减小的趋势 ;不同的大地构造单元有不同的分维值 ,而且有靠近板块缝合带 (或海沟 )分维值减小、远离板块缝合带 (或海沟 )分维值增大的趋势     

Geometry and architecture of faults in a syn-rift normal fault array: The Nukhul half-graben, Suez rift, Egypt

The geometry and architecture of a well exposed syn-rift normal fault array in the Suez rift is examined. At pre-rift level, the Nukhul fault consists of a single zone of intense deformation up to 10 m wide, with a significant monocline in the hanging wall and much more limited folding in the footwall. At syn-rift level, the fault zone is characterised by a single discrete fault zone less than 2 m wide, with damage zone faults up to approximately 200 m into the hanging wall, and with no significant monocline developed. The evolution of the fault from a buried structure with associated fault-propagation folding, to a surface-breaking structure with associated surface faulting, has led to enhanced bedding-parallel slip at lower levels that is absent at higher levels. Strain is enhanced at breached relay ramps and bends inherited from pre-existing structures that were reactivated during rifting. Damage zone faults observed within the pre-rift show ramp-flat geometries associated with contrast in competency of the layers cut and commonly contain zones of scaly shale or clay smear. Damage zone faults within the syn-rift are commonly very straight, and may be discrete fault planes with no visible fault rock at the scale of observation, or contain relatively thin and simple zones of scaly shale or gouge. The geometric and architectural evolution of the fault array is interpreted to be the result of (i) the evolution from distributed trishear deformation during upward propagation of buried fault tips to surface faulting after faults breach the surface; (ii) differences in deformation response between lithified pre-rift units that display high competence contrasts during deformation, and unlithified syn-rift units that display low competence contrasts during deformation, and; (iii) the history of segmentation, growth and linkage of the faults that make up the fault array. This has important implications for fluid flow in fault zones.     

Defining diagnostic criteria to describe the role of rift inheritance in collisional orogens: the case of the Err-Platta nappes (Switzerland)

It is commonly accepted that collisional orogens involve the reactivation of former rifted margins. While it remains debated how rift inheritance can be identified and how it controls the architecture of orogens this case study analyses the importance of rift-inheritance during reactivation of a passive margin. The study analyses complex, non-layer cake rift structures within the well-exposed Err and Platta nappes (SE Switzerland), representing the former distal Adriatic margin of the Alpine Tethys. Diagnostic criteria for rift inheritance include: (1) typical fault rocks with a mantle derived fluid signature, and (2) tectono-sedimentary breccias made of reworked exhumed basement and grading upwards into late syn- and post-rift sediments. Based on the study of “recognisable” features, a methodology is etablished, which enables to (1) map rift-related detachment faults and (2) to analyse their role during reactivation and formation of a thrust stack. First, second and third order thrust systems are defined. First order thrust systems juxtapose different rift domains (proximal, necking, and distal). Second order systems are dominantly made up of basement sheets sampling the former footwall of an extensional detachment fault. Third order systems mainly consist of the former hanging wall of an extensional detachment fault. A major result of this study is that thrust faults commonly reactivate former extensional detachment faults, especially in the exhumed mantle domain (Platta nappe), while in the hyperextended domain (Err nappe) reactivation of rift-inherited structures is more complex and often incomplete. The results of this study may help to better identify remnants of former distal margins and to define and analyse their complex stacking patterns observed in many internal parts of collisional orogens.     

Origin of fault domains and fault-domain boundaries (transfer zones and accommodation zones) in extensional provinces: Result of random nucleation and self-organized fault growth

In many extensional provinces, large normal faults dip in the same direction forming fault domains. Features variously named transfer faults, transfer zones, and accommodation zones (hereafter non-genetically referred to as fault-domain boundaries) separate adjacent fault domains. Experimental modeling of distributed extension provides insights on the origin, geometry, and evolution of these fault domains and fault-domain boundaries. In our scaled models, a homogeneous layer of wet clay or dry sand overlies a latex sheet that is stretched orthogonally or obliquely between two rigid sheets. Fault domains and fault-domain boundaries develop in all models in both map view and cross-section. The number, size, and arrangement of fault domains as well as the number and orientation of fault-domain boundaries are variable, even for models with identical boundary conditions. The fault-domain boundaries in our models differ profoundly from those in many published conceptual models of transfer/accommodation zones. In our models, fault-domain boundaries are broad zones of deformation (not discrete strike-slip or oblique-slip faults), their orientations are not systematically related to the extension direction, and they can form spontaneously without any prescribed pre-existing zones of weakness. We propose that fault domains develop because early-formed faults perturb the stress field, causing new nearby faults to dip in the same direction (self-organized growth). As extension continues, faults from adjacent fault domains propagate toward each another. Because opposite-dipping faults interfere with one another in the zone of overlap, the faults stop propagating. In this case, the geometry of the domain boundaries depends on the spatial arrangement of the earliest formed faults, a result of the random distribution of the largest flaws at which the faults nucleate.     

甘肃舟曲南峪江顶崖古滑坡发育特征与复活机理

江顶崖古滑坡位于甘肃舟曲白龙江左岸,区内地形地貌和地质构造复杂,多高山峡谷且河流纵坡降大,晚第四纪以来强烈活动的坪定—化马断裂带从区内通过,造成地层岩性极为破碎,古滑坡发育,且复活特征明显。在遥感解译和现场调查的基础上,对江顶崖古滑坡的发育特征和复活机理进行分析,认为江顶崖古滑坡堆积体方量为41×106～49×106m3,为在地质历史上形成的巨型古滑坡,位于坪定—化马断裂带及其次级断裂形成的断裂带内。根据滑坡不同位置和坡体结构特征,将江顶崖古滑坡共划分为古滑坡崩塌区、滑坡岩体变形区、古滑坡堆积区等3个大区,以及4个古滑坡复活区等7个区域,坡体内断错陡坎和拉裂缝极为发育。江顶崖古滑坡的中部复活区是主要变形和破坏区,1991年和2018年的复活区均位于该区域内,2018年复活滑坡体体积为480×104～550×104m3,为缓慢滑动的牵引式滑坡。江顶崖古滑坡复活机理复杂,在断裂活动和地震作用下形成的破碎岩土体和斜坡结构特征为滑坡复活提供了内因,强降雨作用增加了坡体自重并弱化了岩土体的力学强度,在暴雨期形成的强烈河流侵蚀作用进一步切割坡脚,从而诱发滑坡的复活;因此,江顶崖古滑坡是在内外动力耦合作用下形成的典型古滑坡复活案例。目前江顶崖古滑坡区域内的4个滑坡复活区仍处于蠕滑状态,在强降雨和河流侵蚀等作用下极可能再次发生复活,并造成堵江和毁坏国道等灾害事件。     

GPS观测的活动断裂滑动速率及其对现今大陆动力作用的制约

活动断裂的滑动速率是晚第四纪构造变形的定量描述 ,是制约和研究现今大陆动力过程的重要基础数据。地震地质学研究给出主要活动断裂的长期和平均运动水平 ,横跨断裂的GPS观测能够提供断裂的现今滑动速率。文中利用重大科学工程“中国地壳运动观测网络”的 10 0 0多个GPS观测站的复测数据 ,计算中国大陆主要活动断裂的现今滑动速率。发现主要活动断裂的GPS滑动速率与晚第四纪滑动速率在运动方式和运动量上是大体一致的。从GPS观测到的断层滑动速率来看 ,中国大陆的大多数活动断裂的速率都在 10mm/a之下 ,而没有类似于板块边界的大于 2 0 30mm/a的滑动速率。这种现象意味着整个中国大陆的构造变形可能是分布式的 ,而不是仅仅集中在少数几条大型活动构造带上 ,沿主要活动断裂的刚性块体滑移可能不是构造变形的主要方式。现今构造变形的分块运动图像可能只是脆性上地壳的变形方式 ,中下地壳和上地幔的运动则以连续变形为特征 ,从下部驱动脆性上地壳的变形和运动 ,使得上部地壳的变形既表现出分块特征 ,又发生块内的变形。“连续变形”理论模型能够更好地描述大陆内部的构造变形。     

Growth of vertically segmented normal faults

The geometry and evolution of vertically segmented normal faults, with dip separations of < ca 11.5 m have been studied in a coastal outcrop of finely bedded Cretaceous chalk at Flamborough Head, U.K. Fault trace segments are separated by both contractional and extensional offsets which have step, overlap or bend geometries. The location of fault trace offsets is strongly controlled by lithology occurring at either thin (ca 1 mm-8 cm) and mechanically weak marl layers or partings between chalk units. Fault segmentation occurred during either fault nucleation within, or propagation through, the strongly anisotropic lithological sequence. An inverse relationship between fault displacement and number of offsets per length of fault trace reflects the progressive destruction of offsets during fault growth. The preservation of fault offsets is therefore dependent on offset width and fault displacement. Fault rock, comprising gouge and chalk breccia, may vary in thickness by 1.5–2.0 orders of magnitude on individual fault traces. Strongly heterogeneous fault rock distributions are most common on small faults (< 10 cm displacement) and are produced mainly by destruction of fault offsets. Shearing of fault rock with increasing displacement gives rise to a more homogeneous fault rock distribution on large faults at the outcrop scale.     

Three-dimensional structure along the inverted Palaeoproterozoic Fiery Creek Fault System, Mount Isa terrane, Australia

The NW-dipping Fiery Creek Fault System, located in the northern Mount Isa terrane, comprises numerous sub-parallel faults that record multiple episodes of Palaeo- to Mesoproterozoic movement. Hanging wall wedge-shaped stratal geometries and marked stratal thickness variation across the fault system indicate that the earliest movement occurred during episodic intracontinental extension (Mount Isa Rift Event; ca. 1710–1655 Ma). Reactivation of the fault system during regional shortening and basin inversion associated with the Mesoproterozoic Isan Orogeny (ca. 1590–1500 Ma) resulted in complex three-dimensional hanging wall geometries and highly variable strain in the hanging wall strata along the fault system. This has resulted in the development of discrete hanging wall deformation compartments, that are characterised by different structural styles. High strain compartments are characterised by relatively intense folding and the development of break-back thrusts, whereas low strain compartments are only weakly folded. Variations in hanging wall strain are attributed to selective reactivation of normal fault segments, controlled by the pre-inversion fault dip and lithological contrasts across the faults. Variation of the pre-inversion fault dip is interpreted to have been caused by episodic tilt-block rotation during crustal extension. Moderately dipping faults active early in the Mount Isa Rift Event show the greatest degree of reactivation, whereas younger and steeper normal faults have behaved as buttresses during inversion with strain focussed in zones of upright folding in the hanging wall.     

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.     

Tectonics of the Northern Bresse region (France) during the Alpine cycle

Combining fieldwork and surface data, we have reconstructed the Cenozoic structural and tectonic evolution of the Northern Bresse. Analysis of drainage network geometry allowed to detect three major fault zones trending NE–SW, E–W and NW–SE, and smooth folds with NNE trending axes, all corroborated with shallow well data in the graben and fieldwork on edges. Cenozoic paleostress succession was determined through fault slip and calcite twin inversions, taking into account data of relative chronology. A N–S major compression, attributed to the Pyrenean orogenesis, has activated strike-slip faults trending NNE along the western edge and NE–SW in the graben. After a transitional minor E–W trending extension, the Oligocene WNW extension has structured the graben by a collapse along NNE to NE–SW normal faults. A local NNW extension closes this phase. The Alpine collision has led to an ENE compression at Early Miocene. The following WNW trending major compression has generated shallow deformation in Bresse, but no deformation along the western edge. The calculation of potential reactivation of pre-existing faults enables to propose a structural sketch map for this event, with a NE–SW trending transfer fault zone, inactivity of the NNE edge faults, and possibly large wavelength folding, which could explain the deposit agency and repartition of Miocene to Quaternary deformation.     

Strike-slip faults in the West Siberian basin: implications for petroleum exploration and development

Specific deformation patterns in sediments associated with small-amplitude strike-slip faults in the basement have been recognized over a large territory of the West Siberian basin due to 3D seismic exploration advance. These patterns represent shear structures which turn to be a phenomenon beyond the classical views of the regional basin architecture. Many densely faulted oil and gas fields of a complex geometry in reservoir rocks of a wide stratigraphic range fall in zones of shear structures. Prospecting, test drilling, and oil enhancement activities in these fields are risky without a solid mechanic and kinematic background based on simulation of sedimentary fracture patterns which are associated with basement-involved strike-slip faults and may govern hydrocarbon migration as structure controls, fluid channels, or screens.     

The Variscan tectonic inheritance of the Upper Rhine Graben: evidence of reactivations in the Lias,Late Eocene–Oligocene up to the recent

Processing of gravity and magnetic maps shows that the basement of the Upper Rhine Graben area is characterized by a series of NE–SW trending discontinuities and elongated structures, identified in outcrops in the Vosges, Black Forest, and the Odenwald Mountains. They form a 40 km wide, N30–40° striking, sinistral wrench-zone that, in the Visean, shifted the Variscan and pre-Variscan structures by at least 43 km to the NE. Wrenching was associated with emplacement of several generations of plutonic bodies emplaced in the time range 340–325 Ma. The sub-vertical, NE–SW trending discontinuities in the basement acted as zones of weakness, susceptible to reactivation by subsequent tectonism. The first reactivation, marked by mineralizations and palaeomagnetic overprinting along NE–SW faults of the Vosges Mountains, results from the Liassic NW–SE extension contemporaneous with the break-up of Pangea. The major reactivation occurred during the Late Eocene N–S compression and the Early-Middle Oligocene E–W extension. The NE–SW striking basement discontinuities were successively reactivated as sinistral strike-slip faults, and as oblique normal faults. Elongated depocenters appear to form in association with reactivated Variscan wrench faults. Some of the recent earthquakes are located on NE–SW striking Variscan fault zones, and show sinistral strike-slip focal mechanisms with the same direction, suggesting also present reactivation.     

Antithetic fault linkages in a deep water fold and thrust belt

Deep water fold and thrust belts consist of both forethrusts and backthrusts that can link along strike to form continuous folds in the overburden. The interaction of faults of opposing dip are termed ‘antithetic thrust fault linkages’ and share the common feature of a switch in vergence of overlying hangingwall anticlines. Using three-dimensional seismic data, on the toe-of-slope of the Niger Delta, linkages are classified into three distinct structural styles. This preliminary classification is based on the vertical extent of faulting within a transfer zones relative to the branch line of the antithetic faults. The stratigraphic level of the lateral tip of the fault, the shape of lateral tip region of a fault plane and the stratal deformation within the transfer zones is also distinctive in each type of fault linkage. A Type 1 linkage comprises faults that overlap exclusively above the level of the branch line. A ‘pop-up’ structure forms within the transfer zone with sediments below remaining planar. The lower tip lines of faults climb stratigraphically towards the linkage zone creating asymmetric, upward-tapering lateral tip regions. In Type 2 linkages fault overlap occurs lower than the level of the branch line such that lateral fault tips are located within the footwall of the counterpart fault. Faulting is thus limited to the deeper section within the transfer zone and creates unfaulted, symmetric, bell-shaped folds in the overburden. Upper tip lines of faults lose elevation within the transfer zone creating asymmetric, downwards-tapering lateral tip regions. In Type 3 linkages both faults continue above and below the branch line within the transfer zone resulting in cross-cutting fault relationships. Horizon continuity across the folds, through the transfer zones, varies significantly with depth and with the type of fault intersection.     

黄骅坳陷横向变换带的构造特征及成因

讨论了黄骅坳陷横向变换带的构造特征和成因。根据利用地震反射剖面对盆地构造几何学的研究，圈定了不同尺度的横向变换带，确定了伸展构造背景下的横向变换带是为了保持区域伸展应变调节构造变形的一种调节体系。这种伸展应变守恒是靠三维空间上断层位移沿走向的变化实现的。横向变换带的构造样式为横向地垒状凸起和鼻状凸起或鼻状背斜，并具伸展性质的正断层。横向凸起与非叠复的和叠复的分段断层系伴生及发育在断层位移最小处等事实表明，横向凸起或横向鼻状背斜是由于分段断层系位移沿走向变化形成的。     

青海西南部乌丽活动断裂系的地质特征及灾害效应

乌丽活动断裂系发育于乌丽山地，是青藏高原北部重要的区域性活动构造体系，由乌丽北山活动断裂、乌丽盆缘活动断裂和乌丽南山活动断裂所组成，主要包括17条不同规模、不同性质的活动断层。大部分活动断层属左旋斜滑断层，部分活动断层为左旋走滑断层。据地质观测资料估算，典型活动断层全新世左旋走滑速度分量为1．2—3．5mm／a、垂直下滑速度分量为0．5—3．5mm／a。沿乌丽活动断裂系发育5条宽100—400m的构造裂缝带、大量串珠状冰丘群与少量移动冰丘，构造裂缝产生的高密度地表破裂和移动冰丘造成的地表拱曲变形是影响青藏铁路、公路线路工程安全的主要地质灾害。