Structural evidence for superposition of transtension on transpression in the Zagros collision zone: Main Recent Fault,Piranshahr area,NW Iran

The Main Recent Fault of the Zagros Orogen is an active major dextral strike-slip fault along the Zagros collision zone, generated by oblique continent–continent collision of the Arabian plate with Iranian micro-continent. Two different fault styles are observed along the Piranshahr fault segment of the Main Recent Fault in NW Iran. The first style is a SW-dipping oblique reverse fault with dextral strike-slip displacement and the second style consists of cross-cutting NE-dipping, oblique normal fault dipping to the NE with the same dextral strike-slip displacement. A fault propagation anticline is generated SW of the oblique reverse fault. An active pull-apart basin has been produced to the NE of the Piranshahr oblique normal fault and is associated with other sub-parallel NE-dipping normal faults cutting the reverse oblique fault. Another cross-cutting set of NE–SW trending normal faults are also exist in the pull-apart area. We conclude that the NE verging major dextral oblique reverse fault initiated as a SW verging thrust system due to dextral transpression tectonic of the Zagros collision zone and later it has been overprinted by the NE-dipping oblique normal fault producing dextral strike-slip displacement reflecting progressive change of transpression into transtension in the collision zone. The active Piranshahr pull-apart basin has been generated due to a releasing damage zone along the NW segment of the Main Recent Fault in this area at an overlap of Piranshahr oblique normal fault segment of the Main Recent Fault and the Serow fault, the continuation of the Main Recent Fault to the N.     

冀北承德地区张营子-六沟走滑断层及其构造意义

笔者等运用构造解析的方法,在对冀北承德县一带的研究中鉴别出一条走向为北北西到北西向的右行走滑断层。断层将沿线太古宙古老变质岩、元古宇蓟县系、青白口系右行错断,它也将一个早期形成的短轴背斜构造带右行错断。位移距离沿断层向南南东方向逐渐减小,由15～16km逐渐减小到12～13km。断层截止于平泉—古北口断裂南侧元古宙逆冲岩片前缘,并将逆冲岩片南侧寒武系和奥陶系错动形成右行不对称牵引褶皱。由于断层使下三叠统丁家沟组变形而中三叠统胡杖子组却自西向东稳定延伸,所以笔者等认为断层形成的时代为早三叠世末。该走滑断层的存在表明,燕山板内造山带早期逆冲构造通过一些横向走滑断层的调节,呈板条状向南逆冲的。另外,前人所确定的“承德推覆体”上的元古宇与实际上在中三叠世以前与其东南侧的元古宇是连为一体的,由于北北西向右行走滑断层的错动使它们被右行错开。     

Geochronological constraints on the evolution of the Periadriatic Fault System (Alps)

Fault rocks from various segments of the Periadriatic fault system (PAF; Alps) have been directly dated using texturally controlled Rb-Sr microsampling dating applied to mylonites, and both stepwise-heating and laser-ablation ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating applied to pseudotachylytes. The new fault ages place better constraints on tectonic models proposed for the PAF, particularly in its central sector. Along the North Giudicarie fault, Oligocene (E)SE-directed thrusting (29-32 Ma) is currently best explained as accommodation across a cogenetic restraining bend within the Oligocene dextral Tonale-Pustertal fault system. In this case, the limited jump in metamorphic grade observed across the North Giudicarie fault restricts the dextral displacement along the kinematically linked Tonale fault to ~30 km. Dextral displacement between the Tonale and Pustertal faults cannot be transferred via the Peio fault because of both Late Cretaceous fault ages (74-67 Ma) and sinistral transtensive fault kinematics. In combination with other pseudotachylyte ages (62-58 Ma), widespread Late Cretaceous-Paleocene extension is established within the Austroalpine unit, coeval with sedimentation of Gosau Group sediments. Early Miocene pseudotachylyte ages (22-16 Ma) from the Tonale, Pustertal, Jaufen and Passeier faults argue for a period of enhanced fault activity contemporaneous with lateral extrusion of the Eastern Alps. This event coincides with exhumation of the Penninic units and contemporaneous sedimentation within fault-bound basins.     

Early Permian strike-slip basin formation and felsic volcanism in the Manning Group,southern New England Orogen,eastern Australia

The Manning Group is characterised by rapidly filled strike-slip basins that developed during the early Permian along the Peel--Manning Fault System in the southern New England Orogen. Typically, the Manning Group has been difficult to date owing to the lack of fossiliferous units or igneous rocks. Thus, the timing of transition from an accretionary convergent margin in the late Carboniferous to dominantly strike-slip tectonic regimes that involved development and emplacement of the Great Serpentinite Belt (Weraerai terrane) is not well constrained. One exception are rhyolites of the Ramleh Volcanics that were erupted into the Echo Hills Formation. These developed along the dextral Monkey Creek Fault splay east of the Peel--Manning Fault System. Zircons extracted from the Ramleh Volcanics yield a U–Pb (SHRIMP) age of 295.6?±?4.6?Ma that constrains the minimum age of deposition in this basin to earliest Permian. Whole-rock geochemistry indicates these are peraluminous felsic melts enriched in LREE and incompatible elements with strong depletions in U, Nb, Sr and Ti. These are similar in age and composition to the nearby S-type Bundarra and Hillgrove plutonic supersuites. We suggest that extensive movement along the east-dipping Peel--Manning Fault System was responsible, not only for strike-slip basin development at the surface (Manning Group), but was also the locus for crustal melting that was responsible for generating S-type felsic melts that utilised hanging-wall fault splays as conduits to the surface or to coalesce in the crust as batholiths exclusively to the east of the Peel--Manning Fault System.     

Eocene Basins on the SE Tibetan Plateau: Markers of Minor Offset along the Xuelongshan–Diancangshan–Ailaoshan Structural System

The offset of geological bodies provides robust evidence of displacement along a fault or ductile shear zone. The amount of displacement along the Xuelongshan–Diancangshan–Ailaoshan structural system, southeastern Tibetan Plateau, is uncertain because of the lack of offset geological markers. This NNW–SSE-trending system is developed in three isolated metamorphic complexes and interjacent nonmetamorphosed rocks. They are expected to record similar post-Eocene strain, although their structural patterns should be distinct. Geological mapping in the area between the Xuelongshan and Diancangshan metamorphic complexes has revealed a small Eocene basin, the Madeng Basin, located to the west of the structural system. The sedimentary and volcanic successions of the Madeng Basin are comparable to those of the Jianchuan Basin, which is located to the east of the structural system. Zircon U–Pb geochronological and bulk geochemical data demonstrate that the volcanic rocks of both basins formed during 37–34 Ma and share the same geochemical features. These data suggest that the Madeng and Jianchuan basins previously constituted a single basin, with the distribution of high-K volcanic rocks in the basins defining an ENE–WSW-trending volcanic belt that shows a limited dextral offset of ≤20 km across the Xuelongshan–Diancangshan–Ailaoshan structural system. Therefore, the northern segment of the structural system records no evidence of large-scale lateral movement/displacement. The results suggest that the Indochina block, which is bounded by the Xuelongshan–Diancangshan–Ailaoshan structural system to the east and the Sagaing Fault to the west, has not extruded southward as a whole but rather has been deformed by pervasive crustal shortening.     

Deciphering the Neoproterozoic history of the Hollow Fault,Avalon terrane,mainland Nova Scotia

Recognition and deciphering of the early history of fault zones is difficult because younger fabrics commonly overprint and obscure older ones. The Hollow–Greendale Fault system in the Avalon terrane of the northern Antigonish Highlands in mainland Nova Scotia has suffered many episodes of motion in the Paleozoic during development of the Appalachian orogen. Field relationship and petrographic observations indicate that its Neoproterozoic history is preserved as ca. 610 Ma NE- and NW-trending ductile shear zones within the Georgeville Group contact aureole of the intrusive syn- to late-tectonic Greendale Complex. Kinematic indicators within the NE-trending shear zone along the southwestern contact indicate dextral shear and are compatible with dextral shear indicators within the Greendale Complex and with the orientation of coeval regional F₁ fold structures within the Antigonish Highlands. The NW-trending shear zone along the northeastern contact represents either a step-over fault within a dextral shear zone or a zone of localized transpression associated with the emplacement of the Greendale Complex. Local preservation of Neoproterozoic shear zone fabrics within the Georgeville Group host rocks is attributed to the shielding effects of the proximal Greendale Complex, which acted as a rigid unit during Paleozoic deformation so that subsequent motion along the Hollow Fault was partitioned along the northeastern and southwestern contact of the complex. The Neoproterozoic history, combined with paleocontinental reconstructions, indicates that the Hollow–Greendale fault system was part of an important regional strike-slip fault zone within a volcanic arc regime along the periphery of Gondwana (Murphy et al., 1999a, Murphy et al., 1999b).     

Magnitude of lateral displacement on the Crevillente Fault Zone (Betic Cordillera,SE Spain): stratigraphical and sedimentological considerations

The Crevillente Fault Zone (CFZ) comprises a system of northeast to southwest oriented dextral faults that extend for some 600 km in the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera (SE Spain). The magnitude of lateral displacement related to this fault zone is not well constrained, and it is considered to be between 20 and 400 km. The stratigraphical and sedimentological criteria used in this work have proven effective in quantifying the magnitude of the displacement along this structure. We have analysed an oolitic turbidite facies in the Middle Jurassic of the Sierra de Ricote (Median Subbetic of Murcia Province). A detailed revision of ooidal limestone outcrops has revealed that the source area of these deposits was to the Internal Subbetic zone, north of Vélez Rubio (Almería Province). These two tectonic units, the Median and Internal Subbetic, are currently 75 km from each other and separated by the CFZ. The conclusions arising from our stratigraphical, petrological and sedimentological studies favour interpretation of a 75–100 km lateral displacement. After restoring the Late Jurassic–Cretaceous anticlockwise rotation of Iberia, the CFZ appears to belong to the E–W palaeofault system that is related to the extension of the South Iberian Continental Margin (SICM). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

帕米尔东北部木吉断层晚第四纪运动性质和滑动速率的约束

帕米尔造山带是印度-欧亚大陆会聚带的西构造结。木吉断层作为中-西帕米尔与东帕米尔的最北部边界转换断层,其运动性质和滑动速率的准确限定对于理解帕米尔现今应力状态和运动学特征等具有重要意义。本文以木吉断层东段布拉克村北位错特征显著的冰碛台地(39.2020°N,74.3910°E)为研究对象,基于高分辨率卫星影像解译、野外地质地貌调查、差分GPS测量和冰川漂砾宇宙成因核素10Be暴露测年,获得布拉克北冰碛台地形成(16.8±3.5 ka)以来木吉断层的累积右旋位错量、垂直位错量、南北向拉张量以及最小速率分别为约190 m、105±12 m、34±12 m和11.3±2.4 mm/a、6.3±1.5 mm/a、2.0±0.8 mm/a;三者的比值约为6:3:1,水平向的总滑动速率为11.5±2.3 mm/a。与位于断层中部近乎纯走滑的阿克萨依处相比,木吉断层在布拉克北以右旋走滑为主的同时,具有明显的正断分量。断层在布拉克北的水平向总滑动速率11.5±2.3 mm/a与阿克萨依处右旋走滑速率的最大值(9.4±0.9 mm/a)大致相当;因此尽管断层沿走向的运动性质发生了显著变化,其水平向滑动速率大致保持恒定。     

秦岭造山带内宁陕断裂带构造演化及其意义

宁陕断裂是秦岭造山带内部发育的一条近东西向区域性断裂。研究表明,宁陕断裂运动学性质为左行走滑,变形早期为韧性变形,晚期叠加脆性变形。早期变形形成的同变形变质矿物的⁴⁰Ar-³⁹Ar定年结果显示,变形时代为169~162Ma左右,属于秦岭造山带碰撞后陆内变形阶段产物。宁陕左行走滑断裂的存在暗示着在中晚侏罗世之前,现今南秦岭构造带很可能分属于两个不同的构造单元。宁陕断裂北西侧具有古老变质基底,并有大量早中生代花岗岩体侵入;南东侧只发育中上元古宙浅变质火山-沉积组合,发育晚元古宙-早古生代基性侵入岩脉及一些碱性岩脉。中晚侏罗世-早白垩世期间,围绕着扬子地块西缘和北缘,发生过左行走滑变形,这可能与扬子地块在这个时期的顺时针旋转相关。     

The Elbe Fault System in North Central Europe—a basement controlled zone of crustal weakness

The Elbe Fault System (EFS) is a WNW-striking zone extending from the southeastern North Sea to southwestern Poland along the present southern margin of the North German Basin and the northern margin of the Sudetes Mountains. Although details are still under debate, geological and geophysical data reveal that upper crustal deformation along the Elbe Fault System has taken place repeatedly since Late Carboniferous times with changing kinematic activity in response to variation in the stress regime. In Late Carboniferous to early Permian times, the Elbe Fault System was part of a post-Variscan wrench fault system and acted as the southern boundary fault during the formation of the Permian Basins along the Trans-European Suture Zone (sensu [Geol. Mag. 134 (5) (1997) 585]). The Teisseyre–Tornquist Zone (TTZ) most probably provided the northern counterpart in a pull-apart scenario at that time. Further strain localisation took place during late Mesozoic transtension, when local shear within the Elbe Fault System caused subsidence and basin formation along and parallel to the fault system. The most intense deformation took place along the system during late Cretaceous–early Cenozoic time, when the Elbe Fault System responded to regional compression with up to 4 km of uplift and formation of internal flexural highs. Compressional deformation continued during early Cenozoic time and actually may be ongoing. The upper crust of the Elbe Fault System, which itself reacted in a more or less ductile fashion, is underlain by a lower crust characterised by low P-wave velocities, low densities and a weak rheology. Structural, seismic and gravimetric data as well as rheology models support the assumption that a weak, stress-sensitive zone in the lower crust is the reason for the high mobility of the area and repeated strain localisation along the Elbe Fault System.     

冀中坳陷北部河西务断层结构及新近纪以来的活动特征分析

河西务断层是渤海湾盆地冀中坳陷北部地区一条重要的控盆断裂，新近纪—第四纪时期渤海湾盆地整体进入热沉降 阶段后，该断层仍然存在构造活动，2018年在河北永清县发生的地震就是由该断层的活动所引发。文章利用地震数据对河 西务断层的结构特征和新近纪以来的活动特征进行分析，结果表明，河西务断层新近纪以来具有右旋走滑的张扭特征，主 断层在剖面上具有负花状结构，平面上具有分段性，北段和南段兼具右旋走滑和拉张的特征，中段则主要表现为右旋走滑 特征。运动学模型表明，这种分段差异性主要由各段主断层走向和块体走滑运动方向的夹角所决定。     

冀中坳陷北部河西务断层结构及新近纪以来的活动特征分析

河西务断层是渤海湾盆地冀中坳陷北部地区一条重要的控盆断裂,新近纪-第四纪时期渤海湾盆地整体进入热沉降 阶段后,该断层仍然存在构造活动,2018年在河北永清县发生的地震就是由该断层的活动所引发。文章利用地震数据对河 西务断层的结构特征和新近纪以来的活动特征进行分析,结果表明,河西务断层新近纪以来具有右旋走滑的张扭特征,主 断层在剖面上具有负花状结构,平面上具有分段性,北段和南段兼具右旋走滑和拉张的特征,中段则主要表现为右旋走滑 特征。运动学模型表明,这种分段差异性主要由各段主断层走向和块体走滑运动方向的夹角所决定。     

新疆境内塔拉斯 费尔干纳断裂早侏罗世走滑的古地震证据

在野外考察过程中,于新疆乌恰地区早侏罗世康苏组沼泽相砂岩层中,发现并识别出软沉积物液化变形层,变形包括负载构造,球枕构造及卷曲变形构造。通过模拟试验的对比研究认为,该软沉积物变形机制与液化作用有关,触发沉积物液化的动力是古地震,并且根据地震震级与液化最大震中距的关系,推测出造成早侏罗世软沉积物变形的里氏地震震级为6相似文献   

断层内部结构及其对封闭性的影响

先前的研究多考虑断层封堵和开启的2种极端状态,近来的研究认为,在多数情况下断层处于2种之间的状态,只有在静止期具有封闭能力的断层,才有可能对油气起封堵作用。分析断层对流体运移的影响,需要分析断层在演化过程中的内部结构特征。断层可以划分出破碎带、诱导裂缝带和围岩3部分,断层岩和伴生裂缝构成破碎带的主体部分。常见的断层岩包括断层角砾岩、断层泥和部分碎裂岩,它们充填在断层裂缝空间中,断层内部结构受断层形成时的构造应力性质、断层活动强度和围岩岩性因素的控制。从动态角度看,随着断距增加,断层活动伴随着裂缝的发育和岩石的破碎混杂,可用泥质源岩层厚度和断距的比值来划分不同的发育阶段。断层活动期为油气运移通道,在静止时表现出差异性的封闭,通常用断层渗透率和排替压力2个参数来定量评价断层的封闭程度。断层岩渗透率主要受断距、泥质含量、埋深等因素的控制;断层排替压力的预测方法有2种:一种是从断层岩成岩角度分析的"等效埋深法",另一种是分析实测排替压力与主控地质因素的"拟合法"。通过简化的断层模型,建立了渗透率、排替压力与主控因素的预测关系。和储层类似,流体在断层中的运移遵循多孔介质的渗流特征。利用断层两侧的流体压力和油气柱高度并不能直接评价封闭性能,还必须考虑油气充注史和流体压力变化历史。     

新疆境内塔拉斯-费尔干纳断裂早侏罗世走滑的古地震证据

在野外考察过程中,于新疆乌恰地区早侏罗世康苏组沼泽相砂岩层中,发现并识别出软沉积物液化变形层,变形包括负载构造,球-枕构造及卷曲变形构造。通过模拟试验的对比研究认为,该软沉积物变形机制与液化作用有关,触发沉积物液化的动力是古地震,并且根据地震震级与液化最大震中距的关系,推测出造成早侏罗世软沉积物变形的里氏地震震级为6相似文献   

Deformation conditions, kinematics, and displacement history of shallow crustal ductile shearing in the Norumbega fault system in the Northern Appalachians, eastern Maine

The Norumbega fault system in the Northern Appalachians in eastern Maine experienced complex post-Acadian ductile and brittle deformation from middle through late Paleozoic times. Well-preserved epizonal ductile shear zones in Fredericton belt metasedimentary rocks and granitic batholiths that intrude them provide valuable information on the nature, geometry, and evolution of orogen-parallel strike-slip Norumbega faulting. Metasedimentary rocks were ductilely sheared into phyllonite schistose mylonite, whereas granite into mylonite within the ductile shear zones. Ductile shearing took place at conditions of the lower greenschist facies with peak temperatures on the order of 300–350° based on comparison of plastic quartz and brittle feldspar microstructures, confirming a shallow crustal environment during faulting.Ductile shear strain was partitioned into two major shear zones in easternmost Maine—the Waite and Kellyland zones—but these zones converge toward the southwest. Megascopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic kinematic indicators confirm that fault motion in both zones was dominantly dextral strike-slip. Detailed mapping, especially in the plutonic rocks, reveals a complex ductile deformation history in the area where the Waite and Kellyland zones converge. Shear strain is broadly distributed in the rocks between Kellyland and Waite zones, and increases toward their junction. Multiple dextral high-strain zones oblique to both zones resemble megascopic synthetic c′ shear bands. Together with the Kellyland and Waite master shear zones, these define a megascopic S–C′ structure system produced in a regional-scale dextral strike-slip shear duplex that developed in the transition zone between the deeper (south-central Maine) and shallower (eastern Maine) segments of the Norumbega fault system.Granite plutons caught within the strike-slip shear duplex were intensely sheared and progressively smeared into long and narrow slivers identified by this study. The western lobe of the Deblois pluton and the Lucerne pluton have been recognized as the sources, respectively of the Third Lake Ridge and Morrison Ridge granite slivers. Restoration of both granite slivers to their presumed original positions yields approximately 25 km of dextral strike-slip displacement along only the Kellyland and synthetic ductile shear zones.     

The Mesozoic structural evolution of the Gorgon Platform,North Carnarvon Basin,Australia

The Gorgon Platform is located on the southeastern edge of the Exmouth Plateau in the North Carnarvon Basin, North West Shelf, Australia. A structural analysis using three-dimensional (3D) seismic data has revealed four major sets of extensional faults, namely, (1) the Exmouth Plateau extensional fault system, (2) the basin bounding fault system (Exmouth Plateau–Gorgon Platform Boundary Fault), (3) an intra-rift fault system in the graben between the Exmouth Plateau and the Gorgon Platform and (4) an intra-rift fault system within the graben between the Exmouth Plateau and the Exmouth Sub-basin. Fault throw-length analyses imply that the initial fault segments, which formed the Exmouth Plateau–Gorgon Platform Boundary Fault (EG Boundary Fault), were subsequently connected vertically and laterally by both soft- and hard-linked structures. These major extensional fault systems were controlled by three different extensional events during the Early and Middle Jurassic, Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, and illustrate the strong role of structural inheritance in determining fault orientation and linkage. The Lower and Middle Jurassic and Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous syn-kinematic sequences are separated by unconformities.     

Compressive deformation in the floor rocks to the Bushveld Complex (South Africa): evidence from the Rustenburg Fault Zone

The north-northwest-south-southeast striking Rustenburg Fault Zone in the western Transvaal Basin, South Africa, has been extensively mapped in order to unravel its tectonic history. In post-Pretoria Group times, but before the intrusion of the Bushveld Complex at 2050 Ma, the area surrounding the fault zone was subjected to two compressive deformational events. The shortening direction of the first event was directed northeast-southwest, producing southeast-northwest trending folds, and the shortening direction of the second was directed north-northwest - south-southeast, producing east-northeast - west-southwest trending folds. The second set of folds refolded the first set to form typical transitional Type 1-Type 2 interference folding. This compression ultimately caused reactivation of the Rustenburg Fault, with dextral strike-slip movement displacing the Pretoria Group sediments by up to 10.6 km. The subsequent intrusion of the Bushveld Complex intensely recrystallised, and often ponded against the strata along the fault zone. The fault rocks within the fault zone were also recrystallised, destroying any pre-existing tectonic fabric. Locally, the fault zone may have been assimilated by the Bushveld Complex. After the intrusion of the Bushveld Complex, little movement has occurred along the fault, especially where the fault passes under areas occupied by the Bushveld Complex. It is thought that the crystallisation of the Bushveld Complex has rheologically strengthened the neighbouring strata, preventing them from being refaulted. This model is at variance with previous assumptions, which suggest that continuous regional extension during Pretoria Group sedimentation culminated in the intrusion of the Bushveld Complex.     

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the central Wassuk Range,western Nevada,USA

The central Wassuk Range is ideally located to investigate the interplay of Basin and Range extension and Walker Lane dextral deformation along the western Nevada margin of the Basin and Range province. To elucidate the Cenozoic evolution of the range, the author conducted geologic mapping, structural data collection and analysis, geochemical analysis of igneous lithologies, and geochronology. This research delineates a three-stage deformational history for the range. A pulse of ENE–WSW-directed extension at high strain rates (～8.7 mm/yr) was initiated immediately after the eruption of ～15 Ma andesite flows; strain was accommodated by high-angle, closely spaced (1–2 km), east-dipping normal faults which rotated and remained active to low angles as extension continued. A post-12 Ma period of extension at low strain rates produced a second generation of normal faults and two prominent dextral strike–slip faults which strike NW, subparallel to the dextral faults of the Walker Lane at this latitude. A new pulse of ongoing extension began at ～4 Ma and has been accomodated primarily by the east-dipping range-bounding normal fault system. The increase in the rate of fault displacement has resulted in impressive topographic relief on the east flank of the range, and kinematic indicators support a shift in extension direction from ENE–WSW during the highest rates of Miocene extension to WNW–ESE today. The total extension accommodated across the central Wassuk Range since the middle Miocene is >200%, with only a brief period of dextral fault activity during the late Miocene. Data presented here suggest a local geologic evolution intimately connected to regional tectonics, from intra-arc extension in the middle Miocene, to late Miocene dextral deformation associated with the northward growth of the San Andreas Fault, to a Pliocene pulse of extension and magmatism likely influenced by both the northward passage of the Mendocino triple junction and possible delamination of the southern Sierra Nevada crustal root.     

History of faulting in the Northern Hastings Block,southern New England Orogen

Brittle failure is common in the Devonian to Permian rocks in the Northern Hastings Block (NHB) and is manifested by faults of different orientation and kinematic histories, but the timing of fault movement is not well defined. In this study, faults in the NHB were analysed with the map pattern of cross-cutting faults used to estimate the relative time of movement and relationship to other faults. We defined five episodes of faulting or fault reactivation that affected the NHB. The Yarras Fault System on the southwestern side of the NHB and the Parrabel Fault and related faults on the eastern side of the NHB are the two major fault systems responsible for transporting and rotating the NHB in the late Carboniferous. Faults on the eastern, northeastern and northern part of Parrabel Dome started and stopped moving after emplacement of the Hastings Block and before the intrusion of the Werrikimbe Triassic granitoids. We suggested that the movement on the major bounding faults is related to the accommodation of the NHB to the folding and cleavage development in the adjoining Nambucca Block, and is associated with the earliest part of the Hunter–Bowen Orogeny. Limited dextral movement on the extensions of the Taylors Arm Fault System caused minor displacements in the northeastern part of the NHB during the Late Triassic. Some small faults cut the Triassic granitoids or Triassic Lorne Basin sediments indicating tectonic activity continued post-Triassic.