Structural style and early stage growth of inversion structures: 3D seismic insights from the Egersund Basin,offshore Norway

High-quality three-dimensional (3D) seismic reflection and borehole data from the Egersund Basin, offshore Norway are used to characterise the structural style and determine the timing of growth of inversion-related anticlines adjacent to a segmented normal fault system. Two thick-skinned normal faults, which offset Permian clastics and evaporites, delineate the north-eastern margin of the basin. These faults strike NNW-SSE, have up to 1900 m of displacement and are separated by an ESE-dipping, c. 10 km wide relay ramp. Both of these faults display exclusively normal separation at all structural levels and tip out upwards into the upper part of the Lower Cretaceous succession. At relatively shallow structural levels in the hangingwalls of these faults, a series of open, low-amplitude, fault-parallel anticlines are developed. These anticlines, which are asymmetric and verge towards the footwalls of the adjacent faults, are interpreted to have formed in response to mild inversion of the Egersund Basin. The amplitude of and apparent shortening associated with the anticlines vary along strike, and these variations mimic the along-strike variations in throw observed on the adjacent fault segments. We suggest that this relationship can be explained by along-strike changes in the propensity of the normal faults to reactivate during shortening; wider damage zones and lower angles of internal friction, coupled with higher pore fluids pressures at the fault centre, mean that reactivation is easier at this location than at the fault tips or in the undeformed country rock. Seismic-stratigraphic analysis of growth strata indicate that the folds initiated in the latest Turonian-to-earliest Coniacian (c. 88.6 Ma) and Santonian (c. 82.6 Ma); the control on this c. 6 Myr diachroneity in the initiation of fold growth is not clear, but it may be related to strain partitioning during the early stages of shortening. Anticline growth ceased in the Maastrichtian and the inversion event is therefore interpreted to have lasted at least c. 20 Myr. This study indicates that 3D seismic reflection data is a key tool to investigate the role that normal fault segmentation can play in controlling the structural style and timing of inversion in sedimentary basins. Furthermore, our results highlight the impact that this structural style variability may have on the development of structural and stratigraphic hydrocarbon traps in weakly-inverted rifts.     

Structural geometry and controls on basement‐involved deformation in the northern Flinders Ranges,Adelaide Fold Belt,South Australia

In the northern Flinders Ranges, Neoproterozoic and Cambrian sedimentary rocks were deformed and variably metamorphosed during the ca 500 Ma Cambro‐Ordovician Delamerian Orogeny. Balanced and restored structural sections across the northern Flinders Ranges show shortening of about 10–20%. Despite the presence of suitable evaporitic detachment horizons at the basement‐cover interface, the structural style is best interpreted to be thick‐skinned involving basement with only a minor proportion of the overall shortening accommodated along stratigraphically controlled detachments. Much of the contractional deformation was localised by the inversion of former extensional faults such as the Norwest and Paralana Faults, which both controlled the deposition of Neoproterozoic cover successions. As such, both faults represent major, long‐lived structures which effectively define the present boundaries of the northern Flinders Ranges with the Gawler Craton to the west and the Curnamona Craton to the east. The most intense deformation, which resulted in exhumation of the basement along the Paralana Fault to form the Mt Painter and Babbage Inliers, coincides with extremely high heat flows related to extraordinarily high heat‐production rates in the basement rocks. High heat flow in the northern Flinders Ranges suggests that the structural style not only reflects the pre‐Delamerian basin architecture but is also a consequence of the reactivation of thermally perturbed, weakened basement.     

Structural architecture and tectonic evolution of the Maghara inverted basin,Northern Sinai,Egypt

Large NE–SW oriented asymmetric inversion anticlines bounded on their southeastern sides by reverse faults affect the exposed Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary rocks of the Maghara area (northern Sinai). Seismic data indicate an earlier Jurassic rifting phase and surface structures indicate Late Cretaceous-Early Tertiary inversion phase. The geometry of the early extensional fault system clearly affected the sense of slip of the inverted faults and the geometry of the inversion anticlines. Rift-parallel fault segments were reactivated by reverse slip whereas rift-oblique fault segments were reactivated as oblique-slip faults or lateral/oblique ramps. New syn-inversion faults include two short conjugate strike-slip sets dissecting the forelimbs of inversion anticlines and the inverted faults as well as a set of transverse normal faults dissecting the backlimbs. Small anticline–syncline fold pairs ornamenting the steep flanks of the inversion anticlines are located at the transfer zones between en echelon segments of the inverted faults.     

乌鲁木齐山前坳陷逆断裂-褶皱带及其形成机制

乌鲁木齐山前坳陷位于天山新生代再生造山带北侧,南以准噶尔南缘断裂与天山相隔,内部发育了几排逆断裂 背斜带,每一排构造带又由多个逆断裂 背斜组成。最南的齐古逆断裂 背斜带形成于中生代末,其北的玛纳斯逆断裂背斜带包含霍尔果斯、玛纳斯和吐谷鲁逆断裂背斜,形成于上新世末、早更新世初,受上、下２ 个滑脱面和断坡的控制,形成上、下２ 个背斜。再向北的独山子逆断裂背斜带由独山子、哈拉安德和安集海逆断裂背斜组成,形成于早、中更新世之间,主逆断裂向下在８ ～９ ｋｍ 深处的侏罗系中变为近水平滑脱面。此外,在独山子和吐谷鲁背斜的西北和东北还分别发育有正在形成之中的西湖和呼图壁隆起。研究了这些逆断裂 背斜带的地表和深部的构造特征、二维和三维几何学及运动学后指出,它们是在天山向准噶尔盆地扩展过程中发育于近水平滑脱面和不同断坡上的断展褶皱,独山子和安集海逆断裂 背斜的水平缩短量分别为２ ９００ ,１ ３５０ ｍ ,缩短速率分别为３９７ ,１８７ ｍ ｍ／ ａ。霍尔果斯、玛纳斯、吐谷鲁逆断裂 背斜的水平缩短量分别为５ ９００ ,６ ５００ ,６ ０００ ｍ ,相应的缩短速率分别为２０２,２２３ ,２０６ ｍ ｍ／ａ,准噶尔南缘断裂和乌鲁木齐山前坳陷第四纪?     

逆牵引背斜构造特征和成因

综述了许多学者对逆牵引背斜构造特征和形成机理的讨论。根据近年来对于渤海湾新近纪-第四纪盆地的研究,提出了一种新的解释,即逆牵引构造和伴生的简单或复杂y字形正断层组合是由于区域伸展作用下不同运动方式和差异位移产生的,并强调指出,逆牵引背斜构造与走滑作用产生的负花状构造在构造特征和成因上是不同的,不要把这两者混为一类构造。     

Esk Trough—Yarraman Block contact,an unconformity: Its nature and implications for regional tectonics

Detailed field study in southeast Queensland has resulted in the interpretation of an unconformity at the base of the Esk Trough sequence at its contact with the Yarraman Block (Maronghi Creek beds and associated intrusions). Previously this contact had been considered to be faulted. The nature of the unconformity is very variable with the Esk Formation resting on freshly eroded surfaces, on mature palaeosols and on an immature palaeosol. Immediately above the unconformity, the Esk Formation variably comprises scree breccia, fluvial conglomerate and arenite, and alluvial fan conglomerate and arenite. North‐northwest‐south‐southeast‐striking faults are associated with the unconformity. Where the unconformity parallels these faults, it retains a relatively constant character, but where it is cut by these faults, it shows greater variability, a relationship interpreted to result from contemporaneous tectonism. The Glen Howden Fault extends into structurally disturbed areas previously described as ‘fractured anticlines’ and ‘complex anticlines’, which are here interpreted as flower structures and associated features. The south‐southeast extension of the Glen Howden Fault strikes obliquely across the Esk Trough to finally pass into the South Moreton Anticline previously interpreted as a positive flower structure, and resolves structural and stratigraphic observations that previously appeared anomalous. Inferred strike‐slip movement in the Esk Trough resulted from Early to Middle Triassic north‐northwest‐south‐southeast oblique transtension followed by Late Triassic transpression, and similar tectonism probably affected adjacent portions of the Yarraman Block.     

The Jinadriyah anticlines: a surface model for oil fields in eastern Saudi Arabia

Mesozoic oil in Saudi Arabia exists in north/south-oriented anticlines. Such anticlines are usually studied using subsurface data. The present study introduces, for the first time in Saudi Arabia, a surface analog for these anticlines. The study covers two northerly oriented anticlines located in the Jinadriyah area at 15 km to the northeast of the Riyadh city. They are named herein the North and South Jinadriyah anticlines. The outcrops in both anticlines belong to the Lower Cretaceous Yamama Formation which consists of limestone in its lower part and limestone with shale in its upper part. The study included initially detailed interpretation of Google Earth and Landsat TM images to map the structural pattern of the anticlines. Detailed field mapping confirmed the satellite image interpretation and helped describe the geometry of the two anticlines in detail. The 3.5-km-long South Jinadriyah anticline is an open doubly plunging asymmetric anticline. The western flank is dissected by 13 minor reverse faults of north–south orientation. The North Jinadriyah anticline is about 5.5 km long and is relatively more complex than the South Jinadriyah anticline. It consists of northern, central, and southern segments that differ from each others in orientation and style. The anticline is dissected by 18 minor faults of different orientations and sense of displacement. Two perpendicular fracture sets with one being parallel to the anticline axes were recorded in the two anticlines. Both anticlines are interpreted as fault-propagation folds that were formed during the Late Cretaceous first Alpine orogeny. The mid-Late Tertiary second Alpine orogeny and Late Tertiary eastward tilting of the Arabian Plate increased the degree of folding and faulting.     

The role of small‐scale fold and fault development in seismogenic zones: example of the western Huércal‐Overa Basin (eastern Betic Cordillera,Spain)

The NW–SE shortening between the African and the Eurasian plates is accommodated in the eastern Betic Cordillera along a broad area that includes large N‐vergent folds and kilometric NE–SW sinistral faults with related seismicity. We have selected the best exposed small‐scale tectonic structures located in the western Huércal‐Overa Basin (Betic Cordillera) to discuss the seismotectonic implications of such structures usually developed in seismogenic zones. Subvertical ESE–WNW pure dextral faults and E–W to ENE–ESW dextral‐reverse faults and folds deform the Quaternary sediments. The La Molata structure is the most impressive example, including dextral ESE–WNW Neogene faults, active southward‐dipping reverse faults and associated ENE–WSW folds. A molar M1 assigned to Mimomys savini allows for precise dating of the folded sediments (0.95–0.83 Ma). Strain rates calculated across this structure give ～0.006 mm a^?1 horizontal shortening from the Middle Pleistocene up until now. The widespread active deformations on small‐scale structures contribute to elastic energy dissipation around the large seismogenic zones of the eastern Betics, decreasing the seismic hazard of major fault zones. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Seismic profile analysis of the Kangra and Dehradun re-entrant of NW Himalayan Foreland thrust belt,India: A new approach to delineate subsurface geometry

In the NW Sub-Himalayan frontal thrust belt in India, seismic interpretation of subsurface geometry of the Kangra and Dehradun re-entrant mismatch with the previously proposed models. These procedures lack direct quantitative measurement on the seismic profile required for subsurface structural architecture. Here we use a predictive angular function for establishing quantitative geometric relationships between fault and fold shapes with ‘Distance–displacement method’ (D–d method). It is a prognostic straightforward mechanism to probe the possible structural network from a seismic profile. Two seismic profiles Kangra-2 and Kangra-4 of Kangra re-entrant, Himachal Pradesh (India), are investigated for the fault-related folds associated with the Balh and Paror anticlines. For Paror anticline, the final cut-off angle \(\beta =35{^{\circ }}\) was obtained by transforming the seismic time profile into depth profile to corroborate the interpreted structures. Also, the estimated shortening along the Jawalamukhi Thrust and Jhor Fault, lying between the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) and the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) in the frontal fold-thrust belt, were found to be 6.06 and 0.25 km, respectively. Lastly, the geometric method of fold-fault relationship has been exercised to document the existence of a fault-bend fold above the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT). Measurement of shortening along the fault plane is employed as an ancillary tool to prove the multi-bending geometry of the blind thrust of the Dehradun re-entrant.     

Variable hangingwall palaeotransport during Silurian and Devonian thrusting in the western Lachlan Fold Belt: Missing gold lodes,synchronous Melbourne Trough sedimentation and Grampians Group fold interference

The western margin of the Lachlan Fold Belt contains early ductile and brittle structures that formed during northeast‐southwest and east‐west compression, followed by reactivation related to sinistral wrenching. At Stawell all of these structural features (and the associated gold lodes) are dismembered by a complex array of later northwest‐, north‐ and northeast‐dipping faults. Detailed underground structural analysis has identified northwest‐trending mid‐Devonian thrusts (Tabberabberan) that post‐date Early Devonian plutonism and have a top‐to‐the‐southwest transport. Deformation associated with the initial stages of dismemberment occurred along an earlier array of faults that trend southwest‐northeast (or east‐west) and dip to the northwest (or north). The initial transport of the units in the hangingwall of these fault structures was top‐to‐the‐southeast. ‘Missing’ gold lodes were discovered beneath the Magdala orebody by reconstructing a displacement history that involved a combination of transport vectors (top‐to‐the‐southeast and top‐to‐the‐southwest). Fold interference structures in the adjacent Silurian Grampians Group provide further evidence for at least two almost orthogonal shortening regimes, post the mid‐Silurian. Overprinting relationships, and correlation with synchronous sedimentation in the Melbourne Trough, indicates that the early fault structures are mid‐ to late‐Silurian in age (Ludlow: ca 420–414 Ma). These atypical southeast‐vergent structures have regional extent and separate significant northeast‐southwest shortening that occurred in the mid‐Devonian (‘Tabberabberan orogeny’) and Late Ordovician (‘Benambran orogeny’).     

Comparison of the ‘strike‐slip’ versus the ‘episodic rift‐sag’ models for the origin of the Isa Superbasin

In this paper we assess two competing tectonic models for the development of the Isa Superbasin (ca 1725–1590 Ma) in the Western Fold Belt of the Mt Isa terrane. In the ‘episodic rift‐sag’ tectonic model the basin architecture is envisaged as similar to that of a Basin and Range province characterised by widespread half‐graben development. According to this model, the Isa Superbasin evolved during three stages of the Mt Isa Rift Event. Stage I involved intracontinental extension, half‐graben development, the emergence of fault scarps and tilt‐blocks, and bimodal volcanism. Stage II involved episodic rifting and sag during intervening periods of tectonic quiescence. Stage III was dominated by thermal relaxation of the lithosphere with transient episodes of extension. Sedimentation was controlled by the development of arrays of half‐grabens bounded by intrabasinal transverse or transfer faults. The competing ‘strike‐slip’ model was developed for the Gun Supersequence stratigraphic interval of the Isa Superbasin (during stage II and the beginning of stage III). According to this model, sinistral movements along north‐northeast‐orientated strike‐slip faults took place, with oblique movements along northwest‐orientated faults. This resulted in the deposition of southeast‐thickening ramp sequences with local sub‐basin depocentres forming to the west and north of north‐northeast‐ and northwest‐trending faults, respectively. It is proposed that dilation zones focused magmatism (e.g. Sybella Granite) and transfer of strike‐slip movement resulted in transient uplift along the western margin of the Mt Gordon Arch. Our analysis supports the ‘episodic rift‐sag’ model. We find that the inferred architecture for the strike‐slip model correlates poorly with the observed structural elements. Interpretation is made difficult because there has been significant modification and reorientation of fault geometry during the Isan Orogeny and these effects need to be removed before any assertion as to the basin structure is made. Strike‐slip faulting does not explain the regional‐scale pattern of basin subsidence. The ‘episodic rift‐sag’ model explains the macroscopic geometry of the Isa Superbasin and is consistent with the detailed sedimentological analysis of basin facies architecture, and the structural history and geometry.     

Arc-oblique fault systems: their role in the Cenozoic structural evolution and metallogenesis of the Andes of central Chile

The evolution of the Main Cordillera of Central Chile is characterized by the formation and subsequent inversion of an intra-arc volcano-tectonic basin. The world’s largest porphyry Cu-Mo deposits were emplaced during basin inversion. Statistically, the area is dominated by NE- and NW-striking faults, oblique to the N-striking inverted basin-margin faults and to the axis of Cenozoic magmatism. This structural pattern is interpreted to reflect the architecture of the pre-Andean basement. Stratigraphic correlations, syn-extensional deposits and kinematic criteria on fault surfaces show several arc-oblique structures were active as normal faults at different stages of basin evolution. The geometry of syn-tectonic hydrothermal mineral fibers, in turn, demonstrates that most of these structures were reactivated as strike-slip ± reverse faults during the middle Miocene – early Pliocene. Fault reactivation age is constrained by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of hydrothermal minerals deposited during fault slip. The abundance and distribution of these minerals indicates fault-controlled hydrothermal fluid flow was widespread during basin inversion. Fault reactivation occurred under a transpressive regime with E- to ENE-directed shortening, and was concentrated around major plutons and hydrothermal centers. At the margins of the former intra-arc basin, deformation was largely accommodated by reverse faulting, whereas in its central part strike-slip faulting was predominant.     

Structure and tectonics along the inner edge of a foreland basin: The Hunter Coalfield in the northern Sydney Basin,New South Wales

From the early Late Permian onwards, the northeastern part of the Sydney Basin, New South Wales, (encompassing the Hunter Coalfield) developed as a foreland basin to the rising New England Orogen lying to the east and northeast. Structurally, Permian rocks in the Hunter Coalfield lie in the frontal part of a foreland fold‐thrust belt that propagated westwards from the adjacent New England Orogen. Thrust faults and folds are common in the inner part of the Sydney Basin. Small‐scale thrusts are restricted to individual stratigraphic units (with a major ‘upper decollement horizon’ occurring in the mechanically weak Mulbring Siltstone), but major thrusts are inferred to sole into a floor thrust at a poorly constrained depth of approximately 3 km. Folds appear to have formed mainly as hangingwall anticlines above these splaying thrust faults. Other folds formed as flat‐topped anticlines developed above ramps in that floor thrust, as intervening synclines ahead of such ramp anticlines, or as decollement folds. These contractional structures were overprinted by extensional faults developed during compressional deformation or afterwards during post‐thrusting relaxation and/or subsequent extension. The southern part of the Hunter Coalfield (and the Newcastle Coalfield to the east) occupies a structural recess in the western margin of the New England Orogen and its offshore continuation, the Currarong Orogen. Rocks in this recess underwent a two‐stage deformation history. West‐northwest‐trending stage one structures such as the southern part of the Hunter Thrust and the Hunter River Transverse Zone (a reactivated syndepositional transfer fault) developed in response to maximum regional compression from the east‐northeast. These were followed by stage two folds and thrusts oriented north‐south and developed from maximum compression oriented east‐west. The Hunter Thrust itself was folded by these later folds, and the Hunter River Transverse Zone underwent strike‐slip reactivation.     

Macro‐ and meso‐scale structural criteria for identifying pre‐thrusting normal faults within foreland fold‐and‐thrust belts: Insights from the Central‐Northern Apennines (Italy)

Reliable macro‐ and meso‐scale structural criteria for identifying pre‐thrusting normal faults within inversion‐dominated foreland thrust belts are here reappraised by showing field cases from the Central‐Northern Apennines of Italy. Field‐based analyses of relative chronologies among the structures allow determination of the timing of pre‐thrusting normal faulting, the positive inversion of the faults and their post‐thrusting reactivation when absolute chronostratigraphic constraints are lacking. The correct identification of pre‐thrusting normal faults allows recognition of shortcut and reactivation anticlines, and these have important implications for the definition of the thrust‐belt structural style and for the estimation of post‐orogenic extension.     

Structural Mapping of the Bentong‐Raub Suture Zone Using PALSAR Remote Sensing Data,Peninsular Malaysia: Implications for Sediment‐hosted/Orogenic Gold Mineral Systems Exploration

The Bentong‐Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ) of Peninsular Malaysia is one of the major structural zones in Sundaland, Southeast Asia. It forms the boundary between the Gondwana‐derived Sibumasu terrane in the west and Sukhothai Arc in the east. The BRSZ is genetically related to the sediment‐hosted/orogenic gold deposits associated with the major lineaments in the Central Gold Belt of Peninsular Malaysia. In this investigation, the Phased Array type L‐band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) satellite remote sensing data were used to map major geological structures in Peninsular Malaysia and provide detailed characterization of lineaments and curvilinear structures in the BRSZ, as well as their implication for sediment‐hosted/orogenic gold exploration in tropical environments. Major structural lineaments such as the Bentong‐Raub Suture Zone (BRSZ) and Lebir Fault Zone, ductile deformation related to crustal shortening, brittle disjunctive structures (faults and fractures) and collisional mountain range (Main Range granites) were detected and mapped at regional scale using PALSAR ScanSAR data. The major geological structure directions of the BRSZ were N–S, NNE–SSW, NE–SW and NW–SE, which derived from directional filtering analysis to PALSAR fine and polarimetric data. The pervasive array of N–S faults in the Central Gold Belt and surrounding terrain is mainly linked to the N–S trending of the Suture Zone. N–S striking lineaments are often cut by younger NE–SW and NW–SE‐trending lineaments. Gold mineralized trend lineaments are associated with the intersection of N–S, NE–SW, NNW–SSE and ESE–WNW faults and curvilinear features in shearing and alteration zones. Compressional tectonic structures such as the NW–SE trending thrust, ENE–WSW oriented faults in mylonite and phyllite, recumbent folds and asymmetric anticlines in argillite are high potential zones for gold prospecting in the Central Gold Belt. Three generations of folding events in Peninsular Malaysia have been recognized from remote sensing structural interpretation. Consequently, PALSAR satellite remote sensing data is a useful tool for mapping major geological structural features and detailed structural analysis of fault systems and deformation areas with high potential for sediment‐hosted/orogenic gold deposits and polymetallic vein‐type mineralization along margins of Precambrian blocks, especially for inaccessible regions in tropical environments.     

Contourite drifts, moats and channels in the Upper Cretaceous chalk of the Danish Basin

During the Late Cretaceous, high global sea‐level meant that most of the NW European craton was flooded by the deep epeiric ‘chalk sea’. The classical paradigm for chalk deposition envisages a quiet rain of minute skeletal debris of coccolithophorid algae and other pelagic organisms deposited as horizontal, flat‐lying pelagic oozes with local redeposition by slumps, slides and debris flows along faults and other structural features. Seismic data from the Danish Basin and elsewhere necessitate a revision of this paradigm. These demonstrate that the chalk sea floor had a considerable relief, commonly of more than a hundred metres amplitude, comprising moats, drifts, mounds and channels. Seismic sections from the Kattegat sea illustrate the development in the Maastrichtian of a deep moat adjacent to a topographic ridge formed over the inverted NW–SE‐trending Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone. The moat was up to 120 m deeper than its SW flank which was formed by an internally complex elongate drift, up to 20 km wide with an estimated length of ca 200 km. Smaller mound‐like features, channels and clinoform beds are superimposed on the large‐scale relief. The sea floor relief is interpreted to have formed in response to persistent bottom currents, flowing parallel to bathymetric contours. The initial build‐up of the broad, gently convex‐up sheeted drift was controlled by relatively low‐velocity bottom currents. The region of highest current velocity was gradually shifted NE‐wards towards the inversion zone ridge, resulting in the formation of the deep moat flanked by the elongate drift. The current is interpreted to have flowed from the SE towards NW on the basis of the internal architecture of the elongate drift and the NW‐ward branching and decrease in moat relief. The architecture and morphology of the moat drift and other features of the chalk sea floor are in all aspects similar to contourite systems of modern continental margins. It is accordingly proposed that the fundamental physical oceanographic concept – contour currents and their resulting contourite drifts – is extended to include the deep epeiric seas which covered NW Europe during the Late Cretaceous.     

纵向伸展断背斜类型及成因

纵向伸展断背斜是伸展断陷中重要的油气勘探领域。按照断背斜的几何形态将纵向伸展断背斜划分为双断型断背斜、单断型断背斜和叠合y型断背斜。根据渤海湾盆地新生代地质资料,讨论这3类纵向伸展断背斜的成因:(1)双断型断背斜发育于裂谷期,受对向双断断陷控制,主要是由于早期伸展过程中岩层局部缩短作用、晚期差异沉降和断块翘倾作用形成,其形成机制不同于前陆盆地的区域挤压作用产生的背斜;(2)单断型断背斜(或称逆牵引背斜)发育于裂谷期,受单断断陷控制,是由于控陷断层下降盘岩层下滑过程中岩层以逆牵引方式回倾、差异沉降和岩层弹性挠曲作用造成的,但岩层长度局部缩短作用仍是一个重要因素;(3)叠合y型断背斜发育于裂谷期后,受对称断陷和其中y形断洼控制,其形成与以纯剪切方式伸展运动和多期次断裂活动有关。它与走滑-伸展断背斜成因存在根本性差别,后者实质上不属于纵向伸展断背斜的范畴。     

Early Jurassic rift structures associated with the Soapaga and Boyacá faults of the Eastern Cordillera, Colombia: Sedimentological inferences and regional implications

The NW-trending Bucaramanga fault links, at its southern termination, with the Soapaga and Boyacá faults, which by their NW trend define an ample horsetail structure. As a result of their Neogene reactivation as reverse faults, they bound fault-related anticlines that expose the sedimentary fill of two Early Jurassic rift basins. These sediments exhibit the wedge-like geometry of rift fills related to west-facing normal faults. Their structural setting was controlled further by segmentation of the bounding faults at approximately 10 km intervals, in which each segment is separated by a transverse basement high. Isopach contours and different facies associations suggest these transverse anticlines may have separated depocenters of their adjacent subbasins, which were shaped by a slightly different subsidence history and thereby decoupled. The basin fill of the relatively narrow basin associated with the Soapaga fault is dominated by fanglomeratic successions organized in two coarsening-upward cycles. In the larger basin linked to the Boyacá fault, the sedimentary fill consists of two coarsening-upward sequences that, when fully developed, vary from floodplain to alluvial fan deposits. These Early Jurassic rift fills temporally constrain the evolution of the Bucaramanga fault, which accommodated right-lateral displacement during the early Mesozoic rift event.     

准噶尔盆地南缘中生代正反转构造分析

本文以地质露头、钻井和测井资料为约束,运用断层相关褶皱理论解释了新处理的准噶尔盆地南缘94条工业地震反射剖面,并通过数值模拟实验以及平衡剖面恢复技术,合理地再现了准噶尔盆地南缘第一排褶皱冲断带中生代构造演化的运动学过程。研究结果表明准噶尔盆地南缘中三叠世-中侏罗世为拉张环境,喀拉扎正断层、昌吉正断层发育,并控制中-上三叠统-中-下侏罗统沉积; 中-晚侏罗世转变为挤压环境,早期正断裂发生反转,同时控制第一排背斜带的齐古逆断裂开始发育,齐古背斜、昌吉背斜雏形形成; 上新世(N₂)再次发生强烈挤压,齐古背斜、昌吉背斜和喀拉扎背斜最终定型。     

Andean oblique folds in the Cordillera Oriental – Northwestern Argentina: Insights from analogue models

The dominant Cenozoic structural grain in northwestern Argentina trends north–south. However, several oblique folds have been mapped, mainly in the Cordillera Oriental and the Sistema de Santa Bárbara. Two oblique NE–SW-trending anticlines are well exposed in the Luracatao Valley-Salta, along the western border of the Cordillera Oriental. These oblique anticlines are defined by the Palaeogene Santa Bárbara Subgroup and are cut by the reverse faults bounding the Luracatao Valley. We constructed analogue models to simulate the generation of oblique NE–SW anticlines inside the narrow, trough-like Luracatao Valley. Orthogonal compression and basement oblique heterogeneities, oblique compression and basement oblique heterogeneities, and oblique compression configurations were tested in the models. The first two configurations simulate the anticline formation well. In addition, we analyse dextral rotation and the influence of Neoproterozoic basement/Cretaceous rift structures as the cause of the oblique orientation. The analogue models suggest pre-Andean oblique structures controlling the oblique orientation of these Andean folds despite being a second-order planes of weakness.