Oblique convergence during the Cimmerian collision: Evidence from the Triassic Aghdarband Basin,NE Iran

The Lower-Middle Triassic Aghdarband Basin, NE Iran, consists of a strongly deformed arc-related marine succession deposited along the southern margin of Eurasia in a highly mobile tectonic context. This basin is a key-area for the study of the Cimmerian events, as the Triassic units show severe deformations, which occurred short time after the collision of Iran with Eurasia, and were sealed by the Middle Jurassic succession. In this work, we document the structural setting and evolution of this area, based on detailed mesoscopic structural analyses of faults and folds, paleostress reconstruction and revision of the Triassic stratigraphy. The Triassic sequences are deeply involved in a N-verging thrust stack interacting with an important left-lateral transpressional fault zone characterized by strike-slip faults, vertical folds and high angle reverse faults generating intricate positive flowers. Systematic folds asymmetry indicates that they developed in a left-lateral transpressional zone coeval to thrust imbrication to the south, due to a marked strain partitioning.The extent of the transpressional zone shows that important left-lateral movements developed parallel to the belt during the Cimmerian collision, in response to oblique convergence between Iran and Eurasia. Inversion of Triassic syn-sedimentary faults, possibly inherited from Palaeozoic structures of the Kopeh Dagh basement and favouring strain partitioning, is suggested by unconformities, significant differences in the sedimentary successions, repeated olistoliths, scarp-related coarse breccias and rapid tectonic drowning, occurring especially along the northern tectonic boundary of the basin. Paleostress analyses point to a complex stress pattern showing a 45° rotation of the stress field along the left-lateral fault system, related to a complete deformation partitioning in two domains respectively characterized by pure reverse dip-slip and strike-slip motions. The main direction of compression, possibly oriented NE–SW in present days coordinates, favoured the development of large shear zones disrupting the eastern portion of the Cimmerian orogen.     

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.     

Geometric and kinematic analysis of structural elements along north front of Bagharan Kuh Mountain,NE Iran

At the end of the western part of Bagharan Kuh Mountain in the northeast of Iran, mountain growth has been stopped toward the west because of the stress having been consumed by the thrusting movements and region rising instead of shear movement. Chahkand fault zone is situated at the western part of this mountain; this fault zone includes several thrust sheets that caused upper cretaceous ophiolite rocks up to younger units, peridotite exposure and fault related fold developing in the surface. In transverse perpendicular to the mountain toward the north, reduction in the parameters like faults dip, amount of deformation, peridotite outcrops show faults growth sequence and thrust sheets growth from mountain to plain, thus structural vergence is toward the northeast in this fault zone. Deformation in the east part of the region caused fault propagation fold with axial trend of WNW-ESE that is compatible with trending of fault plane. In the middle part, two types of folds is observed; in the first type, folding occurred before faulting and folds was cut by back thrust activity; in the second type, faults activity caused fault related folds with N60-90W axial trend. In order to hanging wall strain balance, back thrusts have been developed in the middle and western part which caused popup and fault bend folds with N20-70E trend. Back thrusts activity formed footwall synclines, micro folds, foliations, and uplift in this part of the region. Kinematic analysis of faults show stress axis σ₁ = N201.6, 7, σ₂ = N292.6, 7.1, σ₃ = N64.8, 79.5; stress axis obtained by fold analysis confirm that minimum stress (σ₃) is close to vertical so it is compatible with fault analysis. Based on the results, deformation in this region is controlled by compressional stress regime. This stress state is consistent with the direction of convergence between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. Also study of transposition, folded veins, different movements on the fault planes and back thrusts confirm the progressive deformation is dominant in this region that it increases from the east to the west.     

滇中小江走滑剪切带晚新生代挤压变形研究

对滇中小江走滑剪切带中的挤压变形作用进行研究发现,尽管这些变形多发生于中元古界昆阳群浅变质岩中,其形成时代却可能是第三纪末和第四纪初,和小江断裂带的走滑运动有成因关系,并导致了走滑位移量的衰减。昆阳群的隆起可能主要是第四纪变形的结果。     

Crustal anisotropy from Moho converted Ps wave splitting analysis and geodynamic implications beneath the eastern margin of Tibet and surrounding regions

In addition to crustal thickening, distinctly different mechanisms have been suggested to accommodate the huge convergences caused by the continental collision between India and Eurasia. As the transition zone between the two grand tectonic domains of Asia, the Tethys and the Pacific, east Tibet and its surrounding regions are the ideal places to study continental deformation. Pervasive rock deformation may produce anisotropy on the scale of seismic wavelengths; thus, seismic anisotropy provides insight into the deformation of the crust and mantle beneath tectonically active domains. In this study, we calculated receiver function pairs of radial- and transverse-components at 98 stations located in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, China. We selected 7423 pairs with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and unambiguous Moho converted Ps phases (Pms) to measure the Pms splitting owing to the crustal anisotropy. Both the crustal thickness and the average crustal Vp/Vs ratio were calculated simultaneously by the H–k stacking method. The geodynamic implications were also investigated in relation to surface geological features, GPS velocities, absolute plate motion (APM), SKS/SKKS splitting, and other seismological observations. In addition to the fast polarization directions (FPDs) of the crustal anisotropy, we observed a conspicuous sharper clockwise rotation around the eastern Himalayan syntaxis than was revealed by GPS velocities. The distributed FPDs within and near the main active fault zones also favored the directions parallel to the faults. This implied that the deformation of a continuous medium revealed by GPS motions is a proxy for the deformation of the brittle shallow crust only, while the main active faults and the deep crustal interiors both play important roles in the deep deformation. Our results suggest that the deformation between the crust and upper mantle within the northernmost section of the Indochina block is decoupled due to the large difference in the directions between the observations related to the crust (GPS and crustal anisotropy) and mantle (APM and mantle anisotropy). Focusing on the transition zone between the plateau and the South China and Indochina blocks, we suggest that the motion of the Central Yunnan sub-block is a southeastward extrusion by way of tectonic escape. There is less deformation in the deep crust and the motion is controlled by the active boundary faults of the Ailaoshan–Red River shear zone to the west and the Xianshuihe–Xiaojiang fault to the east; the lower crustal flow within the plateau southeastward reached the Lijiang–Xiaojinhe fault, but further south it was obstructed by the Central Yunnan sub-block.     

Structure of the Pre-Paleozoic Formation of the Central Ural Uplift in the Northern and Subpolar Urals and Its Relation with Gold Production

The Central Ural uplift occupies the near-Vodorazdelnaya part of the Urals. It is composed of metaterrigenous and metavolcanogenic Riphean–Vendian formations. Distributed folds, which formed in several stages, and various tectonic faults are widespread. The study of these structures in the areas located in the Northern and Subpolar Urals showed their lateral and temporal variability, which was reflected in the difference in morphology and nature of faulting. In the Vodorazdelnaya area of the Northern Urals, as a result of thrust–fold deformations, a complex fold structure of the sequence was formed, subsequently broken by two submeridional subparallel faults into blocks. In the Khalmerya area of the Subpolar Urals, there are several tectonic blocks bounded by gently eastward dipping and overlapping tectonic blocks that form a duplex structure. This series of thrust structures created a complex cover structure contrasting in composition and degree of deformation. Later, a northeastern strike-slip fault zone arose. The orientation of early isoclinal folds in the rocks indicates pressure from the northeast, during the formation of tectonic scales and sheets in the Precambrian basement. Then this pressure occurred from the southeast and the Lower Paleozoic sediments were involved in the thrust process. Differences in the features of the formation of structures apparently depend on the morphology of the eastern margin of the East European platform and the change in the vector of displacement of the thrust sheet. The movement of the thrust sheets within the continental margin occurred along the main surface of the fault, with which the thrust structures are articulated at depth. At the final stages, extended strike-slip-upthrust zones were established, which affected the distribution of he gold mineralization.

     

Basement deformation: tertiary folding and fracturing of the Variscan Bielsa granite (Axial zone,central Pyrenees)

The Bielsa thrust sheet is a south-verging unit of the Axial zone in the central Pyrenees. The Bielsa thrust sheet consists predominantly of a Variscan granite unconformably overlain by a thin cover of Triassic and Cretaceous deposits. During the Eocene–Oligocene, Pyrenean compression, displacement of the Bielsa thrust sheet generated a large-scale south-verging monocline. Low temperature deformation of the Bielsa thrust sheet resulted in the development of: (1) E–W trending, asymmetric folds in the Triassic cover with amplitudes up to 1.5 km; these folds of the cover are related with normal and reverse faults in the granite and with rigid-body block rotations. (2) Pervasive fracturing within the Bielsa granite is also attributed to Pyrenean deformation and is consistent with a NNE to ENE shortening direction; two main, conjugate fault systems are associated with this direction of shortening, as is a subvertical strike-slip system with shallow-plunging slickenside lineations and a moderately dipping fault system with reverse movement; and (3) in addition, we recognise strike-slip and reverse shear bands, associated with sericitisation and brittle deformation of quartz and feldspar in the granite, that enclose Triassic rocks. Basement deformation within the Bielsa thrust sheet can be related to movement of faults developed to accommodate internal deformation of the hanging wall. Several models are proposed to account for this deformation during the southward displacement of the thrust.     

Transverse fold evolution in the External Sierra,southern Pyrenees,Spain

Fault-slip data are used to reconstruct varying tectonic regimes associated with transverse fold development along the eastern and southern margins of the Jaca basin, southern Pyrenees, Spain. The Spanish Pyrenean foreland consists of thrust sheets and leading-edge décollement folds which developed within piggyback basins. Guara Formation limestones on the margins of the Jaca basin were deposited synchronously with deformation and are exposed in the External Sierra. Within the transverse folds, principal shortening axes determined from P and T dihedra plots of fault-slip data show a shift from steep shortening in stratigraphically older beds to NNE–SSW horizontal shortening in younger beds. Older strata are characterized by extensional faults interpreted to result from halotectonic (salt tectonics) deformation, whereas younger strata are characterized by contraction and strike-slip faults interpreted to result from thrust sheet emplacement. The interpretation of the timing for the shortening axes in the younger strata is supported by the observation that these axes are parallel to shortening axes determined from finite strain analysis, calcite twins, and regional thrusting directions determined from fault-related folds and slickenlines. This study shows that fault population analysis in syntectonic strata provides an opportunity to constrain kinematic evolution during orogeny.     

Overprinted strike-slip deformation in the southern Valley and Ridge in Pennsylvania

Two major faults, over 32 km long and 6.4 km apart, truncate or overprint most previous folds and faults as they trend more northerly than the previous N25°E to N40°E fold trends. The faults were imposed as the last event in a region undergoing sequential counter-clockwise generation of tectonic structures. The western Big Cove anticline has an early NW verging thrust fault that emplaces resistant rocks on its NW limb. A 16 km overprint by the Cove Fault is manifested as 30 small northeast striking right-lateral strike-slip faults. This suggests major left-lateral strike-slip separation on the Cove Fault, but steep, dip-slip separation also occurs. From south to north the Cove Fault passes from SE dipping beds within the Big Cove anticline, to the vertical beds of the NW limb. Then it crosses four extended, separated, Tuscarora blocks along the ridge, brings Cambro-Ordovician carbonates against Devonian beds, and initiates the zone of overprinted right-lateral faults. Finally, it deflects the Lat 40°N fault zone as it crosses to the next major anticline to the northwest. To the east, the major Path Valley Fault rotates and overprints the earlier Carrick Valley thrust. The Path Valley Fault and Cove Fault may be Mesozoic in age, based upon fault fabrics and overprinting on the east–west Lat 40°N faults.     

黔南地区古生代正断层对构造特征的制约

黔南地区发育东西向的古生代正断层以及南北向的中、新生代逆冲断层和褶皱。通过对地层、褶皱和断层的平面展布、野外地质调查以及地震剖面的解释,结合雪峰隆起的逆冲推覆特征,研究黔南地区古生代正断层对构造特征的制约作用。研究结果表明东西向的古生代正断层在中、新生代的构造变形过程中起构造转换带的作用。通过建立区内构造转换带的几何学模型,对地震线上的构造变形特征进行了解释。在构造转换带（正断层）附近,断层上盘逆冲推覆不明显;在远离断层处,逆冲断层和与断层相关的褶皱发育。随着距离断层面越来越远,构造转换带（正断层）下盘地层的逆冲推覆特征逐渐消失。     

Fractal modeling and relationship between thrust faults and carbonate-hosted Pb-Zn mineralization in Alborz Mountains,Northern Iran

Central Alborz Metallogenic Belt is a major mineral province of northern Iran placed at the northern margin of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone. This study aimed to at recognition the affiliation between reverse/thrust faults and Pb-Zn carbonate-hosted mineral deposition using fractal modeling. Thrusting is the major mechanism of faulting in this region in terms of length, frequency and density. The carbonate-hosted Pb and Zn occurrence/deposit were classified using the concentration-number fractal method. All faults then are categorized based on fault density, and concentration-area fractal methods are utilized for the thrust faults. According to our analysis, main fault density zones are situated at the central and western parts of the Alborz Mountains. Relationship among the major fault density zones and the Pb-Zn carbonate-hosted occurrences/deposits using logratio matrix reveals that there is a proper connection between reverse/thrust faults and the Zn-Pb carbonate-hosted occurrences/deposits. Moreover, the results were controlled by four ore deposits/prospects in this region which shows high-grade ores directly relate to faults especially reverse/thrust faults based on their distribution. This research indicates that this method can be used for other various ore deposit types that have been distributed by faulting.     

Mountain building processes in intracontinental oblique deformation belts: Lessons from the Gobi Corridor,Central Asia

This paper presents a review of the Quaternary–Recent deformation field and mountain building processes within the Gobi Corridor region of Central Asia, which includes the North Tibetan foreland, Beishan, Gobi Altai and easternmost Tien Shan. The region can be considered the ‘soft core’ of Central Asia which has been reactivated due to the continuing Indo-Eurasia collision to the south. Favourable preconditions for reactivation of Gobi Corridor basement include a mechanically weak Palaeozoic terrane collage sandwiched between rigid Precambrian basement blocks to the north and south, thermally weakened crust due to Jurassic–Miocene volcanism and widespread Palaeozoic–Mesozoic granitic magmatism with associated high radiogenic heat production, and crustal thinning due to widespread Cretaceous rift basin development. The network of Quaternary–Recent faults within the entire region defines a diffuse sinistral transpressional deformation field that has generated a transpressional basin and range physiographic province. Typically, thrust and oblique-slip thrust faults are WNW-striking and reactivate basement faults and fabrics, whereas left-lateral strike-slip faults are ENE-striking and cut across basement trends. The angular relationship between SHmax and pre-existing basement structural trends is the fundamental control on the kinematics of Late Cenozoic deformation. Along-strike and across-strike growth and coalescence of restraining bends, other transpressional ranges and thrust ridges is an important mountain building process. Thrust faults throughout the region are both NNE and SSW directed and thus there is no common structural vergence, nor orogenic foreland or hinterland. Root structures appear to be vertical faults, not low-angle decollements and flower structure fault geometries within individual ranges are common. Published earthquake and geodetic data are consistent with a diffusely deforming continental interior region with tectonic loading shared amongst a complex network of faults. Therefore, earthquake prediction is likely to be more complex than in plate boundary settings and extrapolation of derived Late Quaternary fault slip rates is not straightforward. Modern mountain building within the Gobi Corridor demonstrates that reactivation of ancient accretionary and collisional orogens within continental interiors can play an important role in continental evolution and the life cycle of orogenic belts.     

雪峰山西侧贵州地区中生代构造特征及其演化

贵州中生代变形主要发生在燕山期,发育三幕褶皱变形、两幕逆冲和三幕走滑。根据区域对比、卷入褶皱的地层和褶皱间的叠加关系,判断三期褶皱的形成顺序依次为近东西向、北东向和南北向,时限在J_3—K_2之间。逆冲推覆构造主要由向北西或西逆冲的近南北向逆冲断层组成,大体与南北向褶皱同时形成;自雪峰构造带西缘向西,依次划分出根部带、中部带和前锋带。但是,在根部带识别出两幕逆冲推覆,其它两带各识别出一幕。走滑断层也有3个方向:东西向、北东向和近南北向。东西向走滑断层呈现出右行压扭的运动学特征,而大多数北东向走滑断层是左行张扭性质的。依据各个方向断层间的切割和限制关系,推测东西向走滑断层最早形成,其次是南北向逆冲断层,北东向走滑断层最晚活动。这些断裂和褶皱特征,总体表现出贵州多重多种复合联合的构造特征,最后,探讨了本区的构造成因模式。     

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.     

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.     

Structural characterization of deep-water deposits in a foreland basin, Silla Syncline (Chilean Patagonia), with applications to depositional processes

Based on our detailed structural characterization, we examine possible relationships between thrust faults and strike-slip faults and thrust-cored folds and depositional units in the Silla Syncline, a 4 km wide fold composed of fine-grained mudstone, coarse sandstone and conglomerate deposits of the Cerro Toro Formation in the Magallanes foreland basin, Chilean Patagonia. The syncline is bounded on its western flank by an asymmetric anticline and on its eastern flank by a broad zone of thrust faults and associated folds, which are oriented sub-parallel to the syncline axis. Deposition of the coarse-grained units of the Silla Syncline appears to have taken place in this structurally defined trough controlled primarily by thrust fault related growth structures flanking the syncline.The syncline and surrounding area have also been deformed by two sets of strike-slip faults, one right-lateral and one left-lateral. The strike-slip and thrust faulting operated contemporaneously for much of their active periods, although it appears that thrust faulting, confined within the fine-grained units, initiated slightly earlier than strike-slip faulting. In addition, younger igneous intrusions at high angle to bedding generally localize along the strike-slip faults. The cross-cutting relationships among the intrusions, strike-slip faults, and flexural slip faults show that all these structures were active during the same period, which extends beyond mid-Miocene.These conclusions support the premise that structures in deep-water sediments are important for understanding not only the deformation of a foreland basin, but also its depositional architecture.     

Energy balance for large thrust sheets and fault-bend folds

Thrust sheet movement over ramps requires energy because of the frictional resistance and deformation within the fault zone, fault-bend folding at the base and top of the ramp, and changes in the gravitational potential energy because of uplift. To model the energy usage, a kinematic model of a foreland thrust sheet is constructed assuming: (1) the ramp is planar and the flats are parallel to bedding; (2) the fault-bend folds are concentric; (3) thickness is preserved for beds that enter the folds parallel to the basal thrust fault and (4) cross-sectional area is preserved for rocks deformed by folding. Equations for the work done within the fault zone, and during uplift and fault-bend folding are derived by combining the kinematic model with stresses that increase in proportion to depth. The relative amounts of energy consumed by friction along the fault, uplift and fault-bend folding are estimated to be 2.7:1.0.25 for a ramp angle of 30°. The energy balance for the movement of large thrust sheets thus depends principally upon friction in the fault zone and changes in the gravitational energy.     

Structural deformation and evolution of right-lateral strike-slip tectonics of the Liaohe western depression during the early Cenozoic

The Tan-Lu fault zone (TLFZ) traverses the Liaohe western depression (LHWD), affords an exceptional opportunity to reveal the structural deformation and evolution of a major strike-slip fault of the LHWD using three dimensional seismic data and well data. In this paper, based on structural interpretations of the 3-D seismic data of the LHWD, combined with depth slice and seismic coherency, a variety of structural features in relation to right-lateral strike-slip fault (the western branch of the Tan-Lu fault) have been revealed presence in the depression, such as thrust faults (Xinlongtai, Taian-Dawa, and Chenjia faults), structural wedges, positive flower structures, and en echelon normal faults. Fault cutoffs, growth strata and the Neogene unconformity developed in the LHWD verify that the activity of right-lateral strike-slip from the late Eocene to Neogene (ca. 43–23 Ma). The study indicates that the right-lateral strike-slip played an important role in controlling the structural deformation and evolution of the LHWD in the early Cenozoic. Moreover, the front structural wedge generated the gross morphology of the Xinlongtai anticline and developed the Lengdong faulted anticline during the late Eocene, and the back structural wedge refolded the Lengdong faulted anticline zone in the late Eocene to the early Oligocene. Wrench-related structures (the Chenjia thrust fault and the en echelon normal faults) were developed during the late Oligocene. Uniform subsidence in the Neogene to Quaternary. Furthermore, the driving force of the right-lateral strike-slip deformation was originated from N–S extension stress related to the opening of the Japan Sea and NE–SW compression, as the far-field effect of India–Eurasia convergence.     

THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEFORMATION ALONG THE ALTYN TAGH FAULT ZONE AND UPLIFT OF THE ALTYN MOUNTAIN, NORTHERN TIBET

THREE-DIMENSIONAL DEFORMATION ALONG THE ALTYN TAGH FAULT ZONE AND UPLIFT OF THE ALTYN MOUNTAIN, NORTHERN TIBET     

雪峰山西侧贵州地区中生代构造特征及其演化

贵州中生代变形主要发生在燕山期,发育三幕褶皱变形、两幕逆冲和三幕走滑。根据区域对比、卷入褶皱的地层和褶皱间的叠加关系,判断三期褶皱的形成顺序依次为近东西向、北东向和南北向,时限在J3—K2之间。逆冲推覆构造主要由向北西或西逆冲的近南北向逆冲断层组成,大体与南北向褶皱同时形成; 自雪峰构造带西缘向西,依次划分出根部带、中部带和前锋带。但是,在根部带识别出两幕逆冲推覆,其它两带各识别出一幕。走滑断层也有3个方向：东西向、北东向和近南北向。东西向走滑断层呈现出右行压扭的运动学特征,而大多数北东向走滑断层是左行张扭性质的。依据各个方向断层间的切割和限制关系,推测东西向走滑断层最早形成,其次是南北向逆冲断层,北东向走滑断层最晚活动。这些断裂和褶皱特征,总体表现出贵州多重多种复合联合的构造特征,最后,探讨了本区的构造成因模式。