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.     

Fault population investigation and estimating magnitude of extension in Guma Graben, Central Afar, Ethiopia

Extension in the Afar depression occurs on steeply dipping normal faults of many scales. An estimate for cumulative extension can be derived by summing the heave of these faults using digital topographic data, supplemented by field observations of fault dip. If it can be established that the distribution of faults exhibits self-similarity, an estimate of the contribution from faults too small to appear on the digital imagery can be incorporated into the integrated estimate for cumulative extension. A field study of faulting was undertaken within the Dobe and Guma grabens of Central Afar. A fractal dimension of 0.48 was obtained for the measured population of fault throws (n = 92) in 3 traverses totaling 42 km, a value interpreted to represent the dominant contribution to extension from faults with large throw. The local extension rate across Guma graben is estimated to be between 0.06 and 0.24 mm/year. The higher topographic position of the floor of Guma graben, relative to the sediment filled, adjacent floors of Dobe and Immino grabens is perhaps an indication of a slower rate of extension across Guma graben as compared to Dobe and Immino grabens, assuming they all initiated at the same time.     

Polygonal deformation bands

We report for the first time the occurrence of polygonal faults in sandstone, which is compelling given that layer-bound polygonal fault systems have been observed so far only in fine-grained sediments such as clay and chalk. The polygonal faults are shear deformation bands that developed under shallow burial conditions via strain hardening in dm-wide zones. The edges of the polygons are 1–5 m long. The shear deformation bands are organized as conjugate faults along each edge of the polygon and form characteristic horst-like structures. The individual deformation bands have slip magnitudes ranging from a few mm to 1.5 cm; the cumulative average slip magnitude in a zone is up to 10 cm. The deformation bands heaves, in aggregate form, accommodate a small isotropic horizontal extension (strain <0.005). The individual shear deformation bands show abutting T-junctions, veering, curving, and merging where they mechanically interact. Crosscutting relationships are rare. The interactions of the deformation bands are similar to those of mode I opening fractures. The documented fault networks have important implications for evaluating the geometry of km-scale polygonal fault systems in the subsurface, top seal integrity, as well as constraining paleo-tectonic stress regimes.     

Transtensional deformation in the Lake Tahoe region, California and Nevada, USA

Dextral transtensional deformation is occurring along the Sierra Nevada–Great Basin boundary zone (SNGBBZ) at the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada microplate. In the Lake Tahoe region of the SNGBBZ, transtension is partitioned spatially and temporally into domains of north–south striking normal faults and transitional domains with conjugate strike-slip faults. The normal fault domains, which have had large Holocene earthquakes but account only for background seismicity in the historic period, primarily accommodate east–west extension, while the transitional domains, which have had moderate Holocene and historic earthquakes and are currently seismically active, primarily record north–south shortening. Through partitioned slip, the upper crust in this region undergoes overall constrictional strain.Major fault zones within the Lake Tahoe basin include two normal fault zones: the northwest-trending Tahoe–Sierra frontal fault zone (TSFFZ) and the north-trending West Tahoe–Dollar Point fault zone. Most faults in these zones show eastside down displacements. Both of these fault zones show evidence of Holocene earthquakes but are relatively quiet seismically through the historic record. The northeast-trending North Tahoe–Incline Village fault zone is a major normal to sinistral-oblique fault zone. This fault zone shows evidence for large Holocene earthquakes and based on the historic record is seismically active at the microearthquake level. The zone forms the boundary between the Lake Tahoe normal fault domain to the south and the Truckee transition zone to the north.Several lines of evidence, including both geology and historic seismicity, indicate that the seismically active Truckee and Gardnerville transition zones, north and southeast of Lake Tahoe basin, respectively, are undergoing north–south shortening. In addition, the central Carson Range, a major north-trending range block between two large normal fault zones, shows internal fault patterns that suggest the range is undergoing north–south shortening in addition to east–west extension.A model capable of explaining the spatial and temporal partitioning of slip suggests that seismic behavior in the region alternates between two modes, one mode characterized by an east–west minimum principal stress and a north–south maximum principal stress as at present. In this mode, seismicity and small-scale faulting reflecting north–south shortening concentrate in mechanically weak transition zones with primarily strike-slip faulting in relatively small-magnitude events, and domains with major normal faults are relatively quiet. A second mode occurs after sufficient north–south shortening reduces the north–south S_hmax in magnitude until it is less than S_v, at which point S_v becomes the maximum principal stress. This second mode is then characterized by large earthquakes on major normal faults in the large normal fault domains, which dominate the overall moment release in the region, producing significant east–west extension.     

Structural and Stratigraphic Evolution of the Rio Grande Rift,Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado

The well-known Pliocene to Quaternary Rio Grande rift of northern New Mexico and southern Colorado is distinctly different from the Miocene rift, especially in structural style. Prior to approximately 21 Ma, there was little extension or rift-basin development. Uppermost Oligocene and Lower Miocene strata were deposited as broad volcaniclastic aprons, with no significant evidence of syn-depositional faulting, in contrast to younger deposits. The only documented areas of extensional faulting and stratal rotation older than 21 Ma occur within or close to magmatic centers. Early rift basins (21-10 Ma) developed as half grabens progressively tilted in hanging walls of normal faults that primarily reactivated Laramide (Eocene) reverse faults: (1) the San Luis basin tilted eastward as the Sangre de Cristo normal fault reactivated westward-dipping Laramide reverse faults; (2) the Tesuque basin tilted westward as normal faults reactivated eastward-dipping Laramide reverse faults of Sierra Nacimiento and related features; and (3) the Belen basin experienced complex tilting as diverse normal faults reactivated variably dipping Laramide reverse faults. Some of these early-rift faults remain active, whereas others became inactive starting near 10 Ma, as new faults broke across Laramide and early-rift features. The Embudo transfer zone linked normal faults along the east side of the San Luis basin to the Pajarito, La Bajada, San Francisco, and Rincon fault zones at this time. Normal faults along the northwest side of the Miocene Tesuque basin became inactive at the same time that rapid uplift of the Sandia Mountains as a footwall block began at about 10 Ma. This shifting of normal-fault activity resulted in reversal of tilt direction from westward for the Miocene Tesuque basin to eastward for the modern Albuquerque basin. Uplift and erosion of early-rift deposits along the northwest side of the Albuquerque basin have resulted.

This two-stage model for evolution of the Rio Grande rift in north-central New Mexico and southern Colorado is fundamentally different from previous two-stage models, which described Oligo-Miocene volcaniclastic aprons as “early rift deposits,” and related them to extensional structures. Rather, development of half grabens began around 21 Ma, with dominance of negative inversion of Laramide reverse and thrust faults. Regional change in extension direction led to the abandonment of some faults and the initiation of new faults at 10-8 Ma in the Rio Grande rift. The biggest change occurred in the Tesuque basin, as the western boundary fault became inactive during growth of the Jemez volcanic field, and the Sandia Mountains began their rapid rise as the northern Albuquerque basin tilted to the east. Continued regional uplift, and integration and incision of the Rio Grande and tributaries, have occurred during the last 5 million years, with the course of the river tending to follow the downdropped side of each modern half graben.     

Three-dimensional compressional deformations in the Zailiski Alatau mountains,Kazakstan

Abstract

The classical model of faulting predicts that slip planes occur in two conjugate sets. Theoretically, more sets can be contemporarily active if pre-existing structures are reactivated in a three-dimensional strain field. Four to six sets of faults have been active in the Holocene in the Zailiski Alatau mountain range, Kazakstan. Faults strike with the highest frequency ENE and ESE and show mostly left-lateral reverse and right-lateral reverse motions, respectively. These faults have a bimodal distribution of dips, forming four sets arranged in orthorhombic symmetry. Locally, NNW- to NNE- striking vertical faults have also been active in the Holocene and show right-lateral strike-slip and left-lateral strike-slip motions, respectively. All these fault sets accommodated the general three-dimensional deformation, given by N-S-directed horizontal shortening, vertical extension, and E-W-directed horizontal extension. Field evidence also shows that the reverse motions, even if with a minor strike-slip component, occurred on high-angle planes with inclination of 65°-85°. ENE- and ESE-striking faults reactivated older fracture zones, whereas the other sets are newly formed. Comparison of these field results with the structures obtained from published analogue models shows a strong similarity of fault geometry and kinematics.     

中国西北帕米尔东北缘的活动断裂研究

在卫星遥感图像的详细地质解译分析基础上，结合野外地质与地貌观察，对帕米尔东北缘山前与印度－亚欧大陆碰撞相关的活动断层进行了分析。研究结果指出，NW－NWW走向的断层主要表现为南倾逆冲断层，并伴随有强烈的右旋走滑分量。流经活动断层带的水系显示出右旋累积位错：小水系的水平位错量为4.0-20.0m，大河流的水平位错量达8－12km。沿断层带的上新世至早更新世地层也显示出一致的水平位错，位错量为8－12km。这些证明表明，帕米尔东南山前的NW－NWW走向的断层很可能开始于上新世末期至早更新世早期（2.2-3Ma)。研究结果首次厘定了帕米尔东北缘山前与向北逆冲相伴随的右旋走滑速率在第四纪期间达4.0-6.8mm/a。根据与现代地震活动相关的活断层分析，推测帕米尔东北缘山前7级以上地震重复周期为1000a左右。     

Salinia revisited: a crystalline nappe sequence lying above the Nacimiento fault and dispersed along the San Andreas fault system,central California

Salinia, as originally defined, is a fault-bounded terrane in westcentral California. As defined, Salinia lies between the Nacimiento fault on the west, and the Northern San Andreas fault (NSAF) and the main trace of the dextral SAF system on the east. This allochthonous terrane was translated from the southern part of the Sierra Nevada batholith and adjacent western Mojave Desert region by Neogene-Quaternary displacement along the SAF system. The Salina crystalline basement formed a westward promontory in the SW Cordilleran Cretaceous batholithic belt, relative to the Sierra Nevada batholith to the north and the Peninsular Ranges batholith to the south, making Salinia batholithic rocks susceptible to capture by the Pacific plate when the San Andreas transform system developed. Proper restoration of offsets on all branches of the San Andreas system is a critical factor in understanding the Salinia problem. When cumulative dextral slip of 171 km (106 mi) along the Hosgri–San Simeon–San Gregorio–Pilarcitos fault zone (S–N), or dextral slip of 200 km (124 mi) along the Hosgri–San Simeon–San Gregorio–Pilarcitos–northern San Andreas fault system, is added to the cumulative dextral slip of 315–322 km (196–200 mi) along the main trace of the SAF north of the San Emigdio–Tehachapi mountains, central California, there is a minimum amount of cumulative dextral slip of 486 km (302 mi) or a maximum amount of cumulative dextral slip of 522 km (324 mi) along the entire SAF system north of the Tehachapi Mountains. When these sums are compared with the offset distance (610–675 km or 379–420 mi) between the batholithic rocks associated with the Navarro structural discontinuity (NSD) in northern California, and those in the ‘tail’ of the southern Sierra Nevada granitic rocks in the San Emigdio–Tehachapi mountains, central California, a minimum deficit of from ～100 km (～62 mi) to a maximum deficit of ～189 km (～118 mi) is needed to restore the crystalline rocks associated with the NSD with the crystalline terranes within the San Emigdio and Tehachapi mountains – the enigma of Salinia. Two principal geologic models compete to explain the enigma (i.e. the discrepancy between measured dextral slip along traces of the SAF system and the amount of separation between the Sierra Nevada batholithic rocks near Point Arena in northern California and the Mesozoic and older crystalline rocks in the San Emigdio and Tehachapi mountains in southern California). (i) One model proposes pre-Neogene (>23 Ma), Late Cretaceous or Maastrichtian (<ca. 71 Ma) to early Palaeocene or Danian (ca. 66 Ma) sinistral slip of 500–600 km (311–373 mi) along the Nacimiento fault and of the western flank of Salinia from the eastern flank of the Peninsular Ranges (sinistral slip but in the opposite sense to later Neogene (<23 Ma) dextral slip along and within the SAF system. (ii) A second model proposes that the crystalline rocks of Salinia comprise a series of 100 km- (60 mi-) scale allochthonous (extensional) nappes that rode southwestward above the Rand schist–Sierra de Salinas (SdS) shear zone subduction extrusion channels. The allochthonous nappes are from NW–SE: (i) Farallon Islands–Santa Cruz Mountains–Montara Mountain, and adjacent batholithic fragments that appear to have been derived from the top of the deep-level Sierra Nevada batholith of the western San Emigdio–Tehachapi mountains; (ii) the Logan Quarry–Loma Prieta Peak fragments that appear to have been derived from the top of a buried detachment fault that forms the basement surface beneath the Maricopa sub-basin of the southernmost Great Valley; (iii) The Pastoria plate–Gabilan Range massif that appears to have been derived from the top of the deep-level SE Sierra Nevada batholith; and (iv) the Santa Lucia–SdS massif, which appears to be lower batholithic crust and underlying extruded schist that were breached westwards from the central to western Mojave Desert region. In this model, lower crustal batholithic blocks underwent ductile stretching above the extrusion channel schists, while mid- to upper-crustal level rocks rode southwestwards and westwards along trenchward dipping detachment faults. Salinian basement rocks of the Santa Lucia Range and the Big Sur area record the most complete geologic history of the displaced terrane. The oldest rocks consist of screens of Palaeozoic marine metasedimentary rocks (the Sur Series), including biotite gneiss and schist, quartzite, granulite gneiss, granofels, and marble. The Sur Series was intruded during Cretaceous high-flux batholithic magmatism by granodiorite, diorite, quartz diorite, and at deepest levels, charnockitic tonalite. Local nonconformable remnants of Campanian–Maastrichtian marine strata lie on the deep-level Salinia basement, and record deposition in an extensional setting. These Cretaceous strata are correlated with the middle to upper Campanian Pigeon Point (PiP) Formation south of San Francisco. The Upper Cretaceous strata, belonging to the Great Valley Sequence, include clasts of the basement rocks and felsic volcanic clasts that in Late Cretaceous time were brought to a coastal region by streams and rivers from Mesozoic felsic volcanic rocks in the Mojave Desert. The Rand and SdS schists of southern California were underplated beneath the southern Sierra Nevada batholith and the adjacent Salinia-Mojave region along a shallow segment of the subducting Farallon plate during Late Cretaceous time. The subduction trajectory of these schists concluded with an abrupt extrusion phase. During extrusion, the schists were transported to the SW from deep- to shallow-crustal levels as the low-angle subduction megathrust surface was transformed into a mylonitic low-angle normal fault system (i.e. Rand fault and Salinas shear zone). The upper batholithic plate(s) was(ere) partially coupled to the extrusion flow pattern, which resulted in 100 km-scale westward displacements of the upper plate(s). Structural stacking, temporal and metamorphic facies relations suggest that the Nacimiento (subduction megathrust) fault formed beneath the Rand-SdS extrusion channel. Metamorphic and structural relations in lower plate Franciscan rocks beneath the Nacimiento fault suggest a terminal phase of extrusion as well, during which the overlying Salinia underwent extension and subsidence to marine conditions. Westward extrusion of the subduction-underplated rocks and their upper batholithic plates rendered these Salinia rocks susceptible to subsequent capture by the SAF system. Evidence supporting the conclusion that the Nacimiento fault is principally a megathrust includes: (i) shear planes of the Nacimiento fault zone in the westcentral Coast Ranges locally dip NE at low angles. (ii) Klippen and/or faulted klippen are locally present along the trace of the Nacimiento fault zone from the Big Creek–Vicente Creek region south of Point Sur near Monterey, to east of San Simeon near San Luis Obispo in central California. Allochthonous detachment sheets and windows into their underplated schists comprise a composite Salinia terrane. The nappe complex forming the allochthon of Salinia was translated westward and northwestward ～100 km (～62 mi) above the Nacimiento megathrust or Franciscan subduction megathrust from SE California between ca. 66 and ca. 61 Ma (i.e. latest Cretaceous–earliest Palaeocene time). Much, or all, of the westward breaching of the Salinia batholithic rocks likely occurred above the extrusion channels of the Rand-SdS schists; following this event, the Franciscan Sur-Obispo terrane was thrust beneath the schists, perhaps during the final stages of extrusion in the upper channel. Later, the Sur-Obispo terrane was partially extruded from beneath the Salinia nappe terrane, during which time the upper plate(s) underwent extension and subsidence to marine conditions. Attenuation of the Salinia nappe sequence during the extrusion of the Franciscan Complex thinned the upper crust, making the upper plates susceptible to erosion from the top of the Franciscan Complex near San Simeon, where it is now exposed. In the San Emigdio Mountains, the relatively thin structural thickness of the upper batholithic plates made them susceptible to late Cenozoic flexural folding and disruption by high-angle dip–slip faults. The ～100 km (～62 mi) of westward and northwestward breaching of the Salinia batholithic rocks above the Rand-SdS channels, and the underlying Nacimiento fault followed by ～510 km (～320 mi) of dextral slip from ～23 Ma to Holocene time along the SAF system, allow for the palinspastic restoration of Salinia with the crystalline rocks of the San Emigdio–Tehachapi mountains and the Mojave terrane, resolving the enigma of Salinia.     

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.     

鲁西地块NW走向断层的活动特征及裂变径迹证据

不同于华北克拉通东部普遍存在的NE走向断层,鲁西地块广泛发育一组特征明显的NW走向断层,包括非控盆断层和控盆断层两类。前者位于鲁西地块最南部,倾角相对较陡,错开了古生界及以下地层,下盘太古宇中发育韧性剪切带,断层碎裂岩指示断层存在多期活动;后者位于非控盆断层以北,除蒙山断层外韧性剪切带不发育,倾角相对较缓,控制了中生代以来的沉积。磷灰石/锆石裂变径迹证据分析得出NW走向断层的活动存在差异。断层上、下盘样品磷灰石裂变径迹表观年龄在在67±5~35±2Ma之间,径迹直方图表明样品在冷却过程中没有受到热扰动。通过平均径迹长度-年龄(或香蕉图)图、单颗粒峰值年龄、径迹年龄谱模式以及热史反演模拟综合分析来约束断层的活动时间,结果表明非控盆断层可能在早侏罗世约184Ma开始活动,之后在晚白垩世80~75Ma以及新生代~61Ma和51~43Ma活动,43Ma之后不再活动。控盆断层活动时间稍晚,于早白垩世约141Ma、晚白垩世80~75Ma活动,新生代活动时间为约61Ma、49~42Ma以及36~32Ma。总体上,NW走向断层由早到晚由南向北发育,非控盆断层活动时间早、结束早;控盆断层活动晚、结束晚,并控制了凹陷的向北发育。中生代以来区域构造应力场的变化和郯庐断裂带的走滑作用是导致两类NW走向断层差异演化的根本原因,在深部则受控于晚三叠世以来华北、扬子板块陆陆碰撞和古太平洋板块俯冲方向和速度的改变。印支期后挤压到伸展的转变,加上郯庐断裂带的左行走滑,使靠近华北克拉通南缘的前端NW走向断层首先发育,因倾角较大故不控制盆地发育;向北的后端相对伸展,成为控盆断层,后经早白垩世约141Ma期间的伸展、晚白垩世末80~75Ma和新生代的发育断层最终成型。NW走向断层的这种大致向北迁移的规律,隐示华北克拉通破坏可能始于早侏罗世或晚侏罗世,且由南向北逐渐拆沉。     

North Chilean forearc tectonics and cenozoic plate kinematics

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

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

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

Active faults and magnitudes of left-lateral displacement along the northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

The northern margin of the Tibetan Plateau (NMTP) is a major intracontinental Cenozoic transpressional zone that comprises a series of active strike-slip faults and thrust faults. It is important to document cumulative horizontal displacements along the NMTP in order to understand quantitatively strain partitioning in East Asia since the India–Eurasia collision. Based on an analysis of horizontal slip along major active faults, the total amount of horizontal displacements is estimated up to 700 km between the Tibetan Plateau and the Tarim Basin since the convergence of India and Eurasia. Along the western and middle segment of the Altyn Tagh fault to the northern margin of the Qaidam Basin, there are abundant evidence that show that the net displacement is 400 km since 40–35 Ma, and along the Shulenan Shan and southeast of middle Qilian Shan since 25–17 Ma, the amount of offset is 150 km. The largest horizontal slip in Qilian Shan–Hexi Corridor to the northeast of the Altyn Tagh fault is also 150 km since late Oligocene to early Miocene. It decreases to only 60 km along the Haiyuan fault (since late Miocene) and to 25 km along the Zhongwei–Tongxin fault since the Pliocene (about 5.3–3.4 Ma), at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. This clearly implies northeastward diminishing of the total horizontal displacement and temporal getting younger of the fault slip along the NMTP. However, this tendency is very complicated at different times and different segments as a result of the uplift, growth and rotation of different segments of the NMTP at different stages during the convergence of India and Eurasia.     

Epithermal mineralization controlled by synextensional magmatism in the Guazapares Mining District of the Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province,Mexico

We show here that epithermal mineralization in the Guazapares Mining District is closely related to extensional deformation and magmatism during the mid-Cenozoic ignimbrite flare-up of the Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province, Mexico. Three Late Oligocene–Early Miocene synextensional formations are identified by detailed volcanic lithofacies mapping in the study area: (1) ca. 27.5 Ma Parajes formation, composed of silicic outflow ignimbrite sheets; (2) ca. 27–24.5 Ma Témoris formation, consisting primarily of locally erupted mafic-intermediate composition lavas and interbedded fluvial and debris flow deposits; (3) ca. 24.5–23 Ma Sierra Guazapares formation, composed of silicic vent to proximal ignimbrites, lavas, subvolcanic intrusions, and volcaniclastic deposits. Epithermal low-to intermediate-sulfidation, gold–silver–lead–zinc vein and breccia mineralization appears to be associated with emplacement of Sierra Guazapares formation rhyolite plugs and is favored where pre-to-synvolcanic extensional structures are in close association with these hypabyssal intrusions.Several resource areas in the Guazapares Mining District are located along the easternmost strands of the Guazapares Fault Zone, a NNW-trending normal fault system that hosts most of the epithermal mineralization in the mining district. This study describes the geology that underlies three of these areas, which are, from north to south: (1) The Monte Cristo resource area, which is underlain primarily by Sierra Guazapares formation rhyolite dome collapse breccia, lapilli-tuffs, and fluvially reworked tuffs that interfinger with lacustrine sedimentary rocks in a synvolcanic half-graben bounded by the Sangre de Cristo Fault. Deposition in the hanging wall of this half-graben was concurrent with the development of a rhyolite lava dome-hypabyssal intrusion complex in the footwall; mineralization is concentrated in the high-silica rhyolite intrusions in the footwall and along the syndepositional fault and adjacent hanging wall graben fill. (2) The San Antonio resource area, underlain by interstratified mafic-intermediate lavas and fluvial sandstone of the Témoris formation, faulted and tilted by two en echelon NW-trending normal faults with opposing dip-directions. Mineralization occurs along subvertical structures in the accommodation zone between these faults. There are no silicic intrusions at the surface within the San Antonio resource area, but they outcrop ∼0.5 km to the east, where they are intruded along the La Palmera Fault, and are located ∼120 m-depth in the subsurface. (3) The La Unión resource area, which is underlain by mineralized andesite lavas and lapilli-tuffs of the Témoris Formation. Adjacent to the La Unión resource area is Cerro Salitrera, one of the largest silicic intrusions in the area. The plug that forms Cerro Salitrera was intruded along the La Palmera Fault, and was not recognized as an intrusion prior to our work.We show here that epithermal mineralization is Late Oligocene to Miocene-age and hosted in extensional structures, younger than Laramide (Cretaceous-Eocene) ages of mineralization inferred from unpublished mining reports for the region. We further infer that mineralization was directly related to the emplacement of silicic intrusions of the Sierra Guazapares formation, when the mid-Cenozoic ignimbrite flare-up of the Sierra Madre Occidental swept westward into the study area about 24.5–23 Ma ago.     

Seismogenic basin and range and intra‐arc normal faulting in the central Mexican Volcanic Belt,Querétaro,México

North‐northwest normal faults intersect ENE normal faults in the vicinity of Querétaro City, in central México, affecting the Miocene–Pliocene northern‐central sector of the Mexican Volcanic Belt province. This intersection produced an orthogonal arrangement of grabens, half‐grabens and horsts that include the Querétaro graben. The NNW faults are part of the Taxco–San Miguel de Allende fault system, which is proposed here as part of the southernmost Basin and Range province in México. The ENE to E–W faults are part of the E–W oriented Chapala–Tula fault zone, which has been interpreted as an active intra‐arc fault system of the Mexican Volcanic Belt. Seventy‐four normal faults were mapped, of which the NNW faults are the largest and have the best morphological expression in the region. More numerous, although shorter, are the ENE faults. Total length of the ENE faults is greater than the total length of the NNW faults. Both sets are dominantly normal faults, indicating ENE extension for the NNW set and NNW extension for the ENE set. Field data indicate that displacement on the two fault sets has overlapped in time, as some NNW faults are younger than some ENE faults, which are supposed to be the younger ones. Seismicity in 1998 on a NNW fault indicates ENE active extension on the NNW faults. These observations support our interpretation that the northern Mexican Volcanic Belt lies on the boundary between the Basin and Range province, which is undergoing ENE extension, and the central Mexican Volcanic Belt province, which is undergoing northerly extension. The apparent overlap in space and time of displacements on the two fault sets reflects the difference in stress regime between the two provinces. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Late Cretaceous-Paleocene Extensional Collapse and Disaggregation of the Southernmost Sierra Nevada Batholith

Geobarometric studies have documented that most of the metasedimentary wall rocks and plutons presently exposed in the southernmost Sierra Nevada batholith south of the Lake Isabella area were metamorphosed and emplaced at crustal levels significantly deeper (～15 to 30 km) than the batholithic rocks exposed to the north (depths of ～3 to 15 km). Field and geophysical studies have suggested that much of the southernmost part of the batholith is underlain along low-angle faults by the Rand Schist. The schist is composed mostly of metagraywacke that has been metamorphosed at relatively high pressures and moderate temperatures. NNW-trending compositional, age, and isotopic boundaries in the plutonic rocks of the central Sierra Nevada appear to be deflected westward in the southernmost part of the batholith. Based on these observations, in conjunction with the implicit assumption that the Sierra Nevada batholith formerly continued unbroken south of the Garlock fault, previous studies have inferred that the batholith was tectonically disrupted following its emplacement during the Cretaceous. Hypotheses to account for this disruption include intraplate oroctinal bending, W-vergent overthrusting, and gravitational collapse of overthickened crust. In this paper, new geologic data from the eastern Tehachapi Mountains, located adjacent to and north of the Garlock fault in the southernmost Sierra Nevada, are integrated with data from previous geologic studies in the region into a new view of the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene tectonic evolution of the region. The thesis of this paper is that part of the southernmost Sierra Nevada batholith was unroofed by extensional faulting in Late Cretaceous-Paleocene time. Unroofing occurred along a regional system of low-angle detachment faults. Remnants of the upper-plate rocks today are scattered across the southern Sierra Nevada region, from the Rand Mountains west to the San Emigdio Mountains, and across the San Andreas fault to the northern Salinian block.

Batholithic rocks in the upper plates of the Blackburn Canyon fault of the eastern Tehachapi Mountains, low-angle faults in the Rand Mountains and southeastern Sierra Nevada, and the Pastoria fault of the western Tehachapi Mountains are inferred to have been removed from a position structurally above rocks exposed in the southeastern Sierra Nevada and transported to their present locations along low-angle detachment faults. Some of the granitic and metamorphic rocks in the northern part of the Salinian block are suggested to have originated from a position structurally above deep-level rocks of the southwestern Sierra Nevada. The Paleocene-lower Eocene Goler Formation of the El Paso Mountains and the post-Late Cretaceous to pre-lower Miocene Witnet Formation in the southernmost Sierra Nevada are hypothesized to have been deposited in supradetachment basins that formed adjacent to some of the detachment faults.

Regional age constraints for this inferred tectonic unroofing and disaggregation of the southern Sierra Nevada batholith suggest that it occurred between ～90 to 85 Ma and ～55 to 50 Ma. Upper-plate rocks of the detachment system appear to have been rotated clockwise by as much as 90° based on differences in the orientation of foliation and contacts between inferred correlative hanging-wall and footwall rocks. Transport of the upper-plate rocks is proposed to have occurred in two stages. First, the upper crust in the southern Sierra Nevada extended in a south to southeast direction, and second, the allochthonous rocks were carried westward at the latitude of the Mojave Desert by a mechanism that may include W-vergent faulting and/or oroclinal bending. The Late Cretaceous NNW extension of the upper crust in the southernmost Sierra Nevada postulated in this study is similar to Late Cretaceous, generally NW-directed, crustal extension that has been recognized to the northeast in the Funeral, Panamint, and Inyo mountains by others. Extensional collapse of the upper crust in the southern Sierra Nevada batholith may be closely linked to the emplacement of Rand Schist beneath the batholith during Late Cretaceous time, as has been suggested in previous studies.     

Insight into the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Qaidam Basin, Northwest China from fracture information

Fractures can provide valuable information for tectonic evolution. According to the data of outcrops, cores, thin sections and well logs, the tectonic fractures in the Qaidam Basin can be divided into four types: small faults (including small normal fault and small reverse fault), vertical open fracture, bedding plane slip fracture and horizontal open fracture. Our fracture observations provide new constraints on the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Qaidam Basin. Syn-sedimentary small normal faults in the Paleogene strata indicate the extension deformation during the Paleogene. Small reverse faults, vertical open fractures and bedding plane slip fractures occurred in the Paleogene and Neogene strata have genetic relationship. According to the burial history and homogenization temperature of fluid inclusions of gypsum and calcite filled in the vertical open fractures, it can be deduced that the vertical open fractures being formed mainly from the late Miocene Shangyoushashan Formation with age of 5.1?Ma to the end of Pliocene Shizigou Formation with age of 2.6?Ma, indicating small reverse faults, vertical open fractures and bedding plane slip fractures were simultaneously formed in the Neogene. These fractures were resulted from the compression deformation. The horizontal open fractures occurred in the Paleogene, Neogene and Quaternary strata with apertures and intensities decreasing with depth were formed by the large-scale quick uplift and denudation resulted from the strong compression deformation since the Quaternary.     

Recent crustal movements in the Sierra Nevada—Walker lane region of California—Nevada: Part i, rate and style of deformation

This review of geological, seismological, geochronological and paleobotanical data is made to compare historic and geologic rates and styles of deformation of the Sierra Nevada and western Basin and Range Provinces. The main uplift of this region began about 17 m.y. ago, with slow uplift of the central Sierra Nevada summit region at rates estimated at about 0.012 mm/yr and of western Basin and Range Province at about 0.01 mm/yr. Many Mesozoic faults of the Foothills fault system were reactivated with normal slip in mid-Tertiary time and have continued to be active with slow slip rates. Sparse data indicate acceleration of rates of uplift and faulting during the Late Cenozoic. The Basin and Range faulting appears to have extended westward during this period with a reduction in width of the Sierra Nevada.The eastern boundary zone of the Sierra Nevada has an irregular en-echelon pattern of normal and right-oblique faults. The area between the Sierra Nevada and the Walker Lane is a complex zone of irregular patterns of hörst and graben blocks and conjugate normal-to right- and left-slip faults of NW and NE trend, respectively. The Walker Lane has at least five main strands near Walker Lake, with total right-slip separation estimated at 48 km. The NE-trending left-slip faults are much shorter than the Walker Lane fault zone and have maximum separations of no more than a few kilometers. Examples include the 1948 and 1966 fault zone northeast of Truckee, California, the Olinghouse fault (Part III) and possibly the almost 200-km-long Carson Lineament.Historic geologic evidence of faulting, seismologic evidence for focal mechanisms, geodetic measurements and strain measurements confirm continued regional uplift and tilting of the Sierra Nevada, with minor internal local faulting and deformation, smaller uplift of the western Basin and Range Province, conjugate focal mechanisms for faults of diverse orientations and types, and a NS to NE—SW compression axis (σ₁) and an EW to NW—SE extension axis (σ₃).     

An analytical model of continental rift fault patterns

Two proposed mechanisms of rift initiation are crustal uplift alone and a combination of crustal uplift and regional horizontal extension. A three-dimensional, thick-plate, elastic analysis has been used to model the crustal stress state and the fault patterns associated with these mechanisms. Small ratios of uplift width to crustal thickness (<10) necessitate the thick-plate approach.For the crustal uplift model, the surface fault pattern is characterized by normal faults trending parallel to the major uplift axis at the uplift center and radial normal faults toward the ends of the major uplift axis. Zones of compressional structures (e.g., strikeslip and thrust faults) may develop at the periphery of the uplift. Superposition of regional horizontal tension with the stresses produced by crustal uplift eliminates the compressive stresses at the uplift periphery producing normal faults parallel to the major uplift axis at the uplift center and normal faults perpendicular to the major uplift axis at the uplift periphery.A comparison of these predicted fault patterns with the faults of the Rhine graben suggests that the combination of crustal uplift and regional horizontal extension contributed to the formation of that rift system. The stresses produced by crustal uplift promoted the formation of the central graben and the fan-shaped troughs toward the ends of the major uplift axes, while superposed regional horizontal tension eliminated the large compressive stresses at the uplift periphery promoting the normal faulting and dike intrusions observed on the Rhine graben flanks.     

福建漳州盆地活动断裂研究

本文从形态学和运动学的角度,确定并系统地研究了二十条主要活动断裂。北西向断裂以正-左行走滑型为主,北东向断裂以右行走滑-逆断层为主,两组断裂构成活动断裂网络。用 C¹⁴年龄数据计算得到了最近5990—1870年以来,各取样点地壳平均升降速率的变化范围是+3.53mm/a 至-0.65mm/a。用布仑法求得的九龙江活动断裂现代平均滑动速率是1.7mm/a。更新世至现代构造应力场的最大主压应力是以缓倾角、走向为 NW290°左右为特征的。350m 深处最大主压应力是700—760bar。两组断裂交汇形成的高渗透率带,对形成对流型中、低温热水型热田是十分有利的。此外,对该区的地震活动性亦进行了讨论。