Effect of block rotation on the pitch of slickenlines

Rotation of faults or pre-existing weakness planes produce two effects on the slickenlines of fault planes. First, the rotation leads to changes in the pitch of slickenlines. As a result, the aspect of the pre-existing fault may change. For example, after rotation, a normal fault may show features of an oblique fault, a strike-slip fault, or a thrust fault. Second, due to rotation, stress states on the fault planes are different from those before the rotation. As a consequence some previous planes may be reactivated. For an isolated plane, the reactivation due to rotation can produce new sets of slickenlines. With block rotation, superimposed slickenlines can be generated in the same tectonic phase. Thus, it is not appropriate to use fault-slip data from slickenlines to analyze the stress tensor in a region where there is evidence of block rotation. As an example, we present the data of slickenlines from core samples in the Tunich area of the Gulf of Mexico. The results wrongly indicate that the calculated stress tensor deviates from the far-field stress tensor.     

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.     

The unusual 3D interplay of basement fault reactivation and fault-propagation-fold development: A case study of the Laramide-age Stillwell anticline,west Texas (USA)

Subsurface fault geometries have a systematic influence on folds formed above those faults. We use the extraordinarily well-exposed fold geometries of the Laramide-age Stillwell anticline in west Texas (USA) to develop a strain-predictive model of fault-propagation fold formation. The anticline is a 10-km long, NW-trending, NE-vergent, asymmetric fold system with an axis that displays a map-view left-stepping, en echelon pattern. We integrated field observations, geologic and structural data, cross-sections, and 2D kinematic modeling to establish an unusual 3D two-stage model of contractional fold formation, including: 1) reverse reactivation of a pre-existing, NW-striking, SW-dipping, left-stepping, en echelon normal fault system in Paleozoic basement rocks to generate monoclinal flexures in overlying layered Cretaceous carbonate rocks; and 2) the formation of a subsequent flat-ramp fault system that propagated horizontally along a mechanically-weak, clay-rich Cretaceous unit before ramping up at the hinge of the pre-existing monocline system. Strain is focused within the forelimb of the system, in front of the propagating fault tip, and is accommodated by a combination of interlayer slip, flat-ramp faulting, and fracturing proximal to planes of slip. This strain predictive model can be applied to similar, less-well-exposed contractional systems worldwide and provides a new, unusual example of Laramide-age contractional deformation.     

Analysis of faulting in three-dimensional strain field

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

Tectonic and lithological constraints on the evolution of the Karoo graben of northern Malawi (East Africa)

The results of a lithostratigraphic, tectonic and kinematic study of the Karoo deposits of northern Malawi are reported. The objective of the lithostratigraphic study is to correlate the deposits of the Karoo basins of northern Malawi with the well-known deposits of southern Tanzania, thus establishing a stratigraphic framework through which the timing of faulting can be constrained. The kinematic analysis of faulting constrains the opening direction for the Karoo graben in this area and provides basic data to discuss the Karoo graben development within the regional tectonic framework of south-eastern Africa. The studied adults are defined by moderately to steeply dipping cataclastic zones with a width of up to 15 m and are characterized by an array of slickensided fault surfaces with different orientations and slip directions. In this study, small faults (offset < 10 m) and meso-scale faults (offset > 10 m, but generally not exceeding 30–40 m) have been distinguished. Methods used to analyse the kinematic data include the ‘pressure tension’ (PT) method, which estimates the principal axes for the bulk brittle strain, and the internal rotation axis (IRA) method, which estimates the axis of bulk internal rotation and the overall sense of slip at the faults. A mass balance calculation reveals a volume increase of up to 16% during cataclastic deformation in the fault zones. The PT method shows an approximately east trending extension direction for faults that occur only in the latest Carboniferous (?) and Early Permian strata, whereas the fault kinematics from faults that cut middle Permian to Early Triassic rocks is characterized by a ESE to SE trending extension direction. The small faults yield essentially the same kinematic results as the meso-scale faults. In a transport-parallel cross-sectional view, the principal extension axes are at an acute angle of approximately 60° to the major fault planes. Given the moderate fault density, the relatively high angle between the orientation of the principal extension axis and the fault planes suggest only a moderate amount of horizontal extension across the Karoo graben of northern Malawi. Riedel structures in the fault zones formed within two conjugate sets of localized shear zones; slip on one set was top to the W/NW and, on the other, top to the E/SE. The two conjugate sets of Riedel structures have an acute angle about the regional shortening axes, implying that no pronounced rotation of the strain axes occurred. The internal rotation axes for the Riedel structures reveal a largely bimodal distribution and inferred weakly monoclinic to orthorhombic symmetry. Therefore the overall deformation during Karoo rifting in northern Malawi is interpreted to be close to a coaxial deformation with a limited amount of horizontal extension.[/p]     

Stress,strain and fault patterns

If faulting is treated as a stress-controlled phenomenon, the generation of a single fault set, or two sets in conjugate arrangement are inevitably predicted implying plane strain. Alternatively, considering faulting as a strain-controlled process, multiple-set patterns can be predicted. The analysis of multiple-set patterns requires identifying the type of fault pattern from four possibilities: Coulomb, isolated, orthorhombic and complex fault patterns.There are techniques that permit a unique solution of strain tensor for Coulomb and orthorhombic fault patterns. For isolated fault patterns, the principal paleostress directions could be used to approximate the principal strain directions. In this case, we need to assume a homogeneous stress field, independence between faults, and parallelism between shear stress and slip vector on the sliding plane.For complex fault patterns, it is not possible to uniquely determine the total strain tensor without knowledge of all the slip planes. Furthermore, inverting fault-slip data to determine the stress tensor is not correct because the assumptions of the inversion methods are not satisfied. Only a rough approximation is possible assuming that strain produced by major faults represents the total strain tensor.     

Dynamic Analysis of Deformational Structures of the Xiannüshan Fault Zone in the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River

Field investigation and laboratory work reveal that inhomogeneity of the deformation of the Xiannüshan fault is mainly characterized by lateral zonation, longitudinal segmentation and downward stratification. Based on these results, a 3-D deformational structure model of the fault was established and its geometrical and kinematic characteristics in two main deformational stages i.e. the main Yanshanian and Himalayan were discussed. The directions of principal and the differential stresses in these two stages were determined by using conjugate joints, striations of fault planes and microstructures of the fault zone. The direction of (1 is N-S in direction with differential stresses of 150(250 MPa in the Yanshanian, and N70E with a differential stress ranging from 80-120 MPa in the Himalayan.     

Multiple fault sets and three-dimensional strain: Theory and application

The widely accepted faulting theory of Anderson fails to explain three more coeval sets of faults or faults developed in a three-dimensional strain field. Reches has developed a model which suggests that four sets of faults, arranged in orthorhombic symmetry about the principal strain axes, are necessary to accommodate general, three-dimensional strain. This paper presents the odd-axis model, which recognizes certain geometric and kinematic relationships inherent in orthorhombic fault systems and in the Reches model and presents a practical method for decoding the strain significance of fault systems developed in three-dimensional strain fields. Both the odd-axis model and the Reches model are applied to an array of orthorhombic faults in the northern San Rafael Swell of central Utah with excellent agreement between predicted and observed geometric and kinematic parameters.     

Kinematics of strike-slip faulting,builth Inlier,mid-Wales

Strike-slip faulting in the Builth Ordovician Inlier is demonstrated by large-scale maps of the Llanelwedd Quarries near Builth Wells, and by fault plane and slickenline data. In the main quarry steep NNW-striking strike-slip faults dominate the structure, together with significant strike-slip displacement on the W-dipping bedding surfaces and bedding-parallel faults. A zone of steep N-striking extensional dip-slip faults links two of the strike-slip strands and there is a weaker E-striking set of strike-slip faults. When the four fault sets are rotated so that the regional bedding is horizontal, three become vertical and one horizontal, probably their attitude during active life in late Ordovician to early Silurian time. They formed a linked fault system capable of accommodating three-dimensional bulk strain. The fault flats have the same kinematic role in a strike-slip system as lateral ramps or transfer faults in dip-slip systems.In the nearby Gelli Cadwgan quarry strike-slip faults are again dominant but strike E or ESE. This heterogeneity of fault pattern in the southern Builth Inlier resolves into more homogeneous domains with areas of 0.1 to 0.5 km² separated by E to NE-striking dextral strike-slip faults: Domainal structure, an important general feature of strike-slip tectonics, may be present on a variety of scales.     

华北地区上新世至第四纪断裂作用型式与左旋扩展

华北地区包含两个新生代引张构造域,即太行山以西的鄂尔多斯周缘地堑系和以东的华北－渤海平原盆地。鄂尔多斯周缘地堑系上新世～第四纪的断裂作用表征为正向倾滑活动为主,同时具有右旋或左旋走滑分量的运动型式,指示了ＮＷ－ＳＥ向地壳引作用,华北－渤海盆地内上新世～第四纪的断裂作用发生在ＮＮＥ至ＮＥ走向的断鲜明带上,具有右旋和正向倾滑的斜向运动特征,ＥＷ走向的秦岭断裂系华北引张构造域的东界,表现为右旋走滑,与Ｅ     

Deformation within the Pisco Basin sedimentary record (southern Peru): Stratabound orthogonal vein sets and their impact on fault development

This outcrop-based study reports diffuse joints and veins, normal to strike-slip fault zones and minor folds that developed, from Miocene to Quaternary, within the clastic to siliceous sedimentary record of the forearc Pisco Basin of southern Peru. Patterns, orientations, dimensional parameters and other outcrop-scale characteristics of the various deformation features are illustrated and their genetic mechanisms and timing of development are inferred. These new structural data and interpretations allow a better constraint of the structural style and evolution of the Pisco Basin, and can represent useful guidelines for characterizing the outcrop-scale deformation affecting similar forearc basins along the Peruvian coast.Major results of this study are that the development of the documented deformation features, their patterns, dimensional parameters and kinematics seem influenced by local perturbations of the paleostress field by mechanic processes partly independent of plate tectonics forces. These processes include strain localization on both pre-existing and progressively forming new structural discontinuities, and cyclic switches of the horizontal, principal stress axes σ2 and σ3. In particular, we discuss how different normal fault patterns, from sub-parallel to multidirectional/polygonal, could form in a same deformation phase in response of the local σ2/σ3 magnitude ratio, as an evolution of stratabound, mutually orthogonal vein sets.     

Comparison of surface slip and focal mechanism slip data along normal faults: an example from the eastern Gulf of Corinth,Greece

Focal mechanism and surface slip data are used to investigate whether kinematics are similar at depth and at the surface along an active normal fault in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. We present a new database of slip data from the lateral termination of the South Alkyonides fault segment (SAFS) and the en échelon stepover between it and an adjacent fault, and use published data on surface slip and focal mechanism data pertaining to slip at depth during the 1981 Alkyonides earthquake sequence. The focal mechanisms exhibit similar fault plane orientations and kinematics to those measured at the surface. Within the stepover, both data sets show that contemporaneous c. N–S and c. E–W extension is being accommodated by c. E–W- and c. N–S-oriented normal faults, and the overall deformation is distributed oblate vertical flattening. The deviation of the surface slip direction from 350° increases with distance from the centre of the SAFS. The deviation of the focal mechanism T-axes from 350° fit well with the surface data, implying that the coseismic slip on the SAFS at depths of 7–10 km exhibits a similar kinematic pattern as that observed at the surface. Our results imply that it is critical to know the along-strike position of data on a fault if either focal mechanisms or surface slip are to be used to infer regional strain and stress trajectories.     

大巴山城口弧形断裂带右旋走滑构造特征及其意义

大巴山弧形构造带是几何学上对称平顶型、内部形迹削截的弧凸结构带,区域走向总体呈北西向延伸,其主边界城口断裂由北向南发生偏转（由近南北向→北西向→近东西向）,内部构造形迹与边界断裂呈明显削截和交切关系,弧形带凸顶方向与构造带南西向逆冲推覆极性一致。基于野外构造解析和15个样品的显微构造分析,对城口弧形断裂带右旋逆冲走滑构造特征和变形-变质特点及其沿走向的变化进行研究。宏观上,城口断裂带体现出早期近东西走向线理和平行于主断裂带弧形展布的后期线理两期世代和序列性,同时展现出强烈右旋走滑剪切变形特征,且走滑剪切变形强度由北西向南东减弱。微观构造上,断裂带构造岩普遍发生弱-中等强度变质,北段以中-高绿片岩相为主,右旋逆冲走滑剪切指向运动学标志体发育、变形强烈。断裂带南段以低绿片岩相为主,右旋走滑逆冲剪切指向运动学标志体相对稀疏、变形微弱。城口断裂带宏观与微观特征表明变质和（右旋走滑剪切）变形强度总体上由北西向南东逐渐减弱,呈非对称性。构造运动学上的非对称性和强烈右旋走滑剪切运动特征主要取决于印支期以来华南和华北板块汇聚过程中（尤其是燕山期）汉南能干性基底由南向北的强烈楔入作用。     

Inversion of fault data with low diversity for stress: Principles and applications

Although a minimum of four independent, single-phase fault data are required to solve for a unique reduced stress tensor, we prove in this paper that a smaller number of fault data are sufficient in some instances to solve for part of the reduced stress tensor. One of the principal stress directions is determinable from either two faults with a common null shear direction on the fault planes or three faults with a common intersection in a principal stress plane of the fault planes. This direction is combined with the fault data to determine the possible ranges of other principal stress directions. Determining whether the direction is for the maximum, intermediate or minimum principal stress depends upon constraints provided by slip tendency or more fault data. This approach can also be applied to a set of four or more fault data with low orientation diversity. This new method is finally applied to two different sets of fault data from along the active Chelungpu fault, western Taiwan. The stress orientations determined from the method lie in acceptable ranges for the maximum/minimum principal stresses using other existing and comparable methods, such as the right dihedra/trihedra methods. They differ moderately in the maximum/minimum principal stress directions when compared to the moment tensor method for fault kinematic analysis. The new method has advantages over the right dihedra/trihedra methods in the accuracy of stress estimate and the independence of stress estimate upon the small number of faults that are not parallel to the dominant fault set(s).     

Spatial variations in the similarity of earthquake populations: The case of the 1997 Colfiorito–Sellano (northern Apennines, Italy) seismic sequence

The spatial properties of events in the 1997 Colfiorito–Sellano seismic sequence (Northern Apennines, Italy) were investigated using coherence, a parameter derived from seismic moment tensors that quantifies the kinematic similarity between focal mechanisms. The 1997 Colfiorito–Sellano seismic sequence predominantly consists of normal faulting earthquakes, with a few strike-slip and reverse faulting episodes. This kinematic heterogeneity is possibly related to the contemporaneous activity of two different sets of faults: NW–SE normal faults and NNE–SSW sub-vertical faults, the latter inherited from the previous Miocene compressional phase. The study used two independently-derived data sets of the same seismic sequence characterized by a different number of events and by different precision of spatial localisation. Their statistical significances, assessed through a reshuffling procedure, reveal that data sets with at least some hundreds of events and good positional precision are required to obtain significant results through coherence analysis. Results from the better quality data set indicate that this seismic sequence is characterized by a rapid decrease in the kinematic similarity between earthquake pairs within 2 km of separation, particularly along directions sub-perpendicular to the normal fault strike. The decrease rate seems to be controlled by the geometric characteristics of the normal faults, given that the mean along-dip distance between fault segments is 2 km. In proximity to pre-existing tectonic lineaments the relative abundance of strike-slip and reverse faults tends to decrease the kinematic similarity between events but does not influence the coherence decrease rate. The presence of mixed focal mechanisms (normal, reverse and strike-slip) in a single seismic phase implies that mixed fault types are not restricted to polyphase tectonic histories: such heterogeneous kinematics during a single phase may be induced by the presence of inherited discontinuities.     

Gravitational potential as a source of earthquake energy

Some degree of tectonic stress within the earth originates from gravity acting upon density structures. The work performed by this “gravitational tectonics stress” must have formerly existed as gravitational potential energy contained in the stress-causing density structure.According to the elastic rebound theory (Reid, 1910), the energy of earthquakes comes from an elastic strain field built up by fairly continuous elastic deformation in the period between events. For earthquakes resulting from gravitational tectonic stress, the elastic rebound theory requires the transfer of energy from the gravitational potential of the density structures into an elastic strain field prior to the event.An alternate theory involves partial gravitational collapse of the stress-causing density structures. The earthquake energy comes directly from a net decrease in gravitational potential energy. The gravitational potential energy released at the time of the earthquake is split between the energy released by the earthquake, including work done in the fault zone and an increase in stored elastic strain energy. The stress associated with this elastic strain field should oppose further fault slip.     

Evolution of a calcite marble shear zone complex on Thassos Island, Greece: microstructural and textural fabrics and their kinematic significance

The deformation history of a monophase calcite marble shear zone complex on Thassos Island, Northern Greece, is reconstructed by detailed geometric studies of the textural and microstructural patterns relative to a fixed reference system (shear zone boundary, SZB). Strain localization within the massive marble complex is linked to decreasing P–T conditions during the exhumation process of the metamorphic core complex. Solvus thermometry indicates that temperatures of 300–350°C prevailed during part of the shear zone deformation history. The coarse-grained marble protolith outside the shear zone is characterized by symmetrically oriented twin sets due to early coaxial deformation. A component of heterogeneous non-coaxial deformation is first recorded within the adjacent protomylonite. Enhanced strain weakening by dynamic recrystallization promoted strong localization of plastic deformation in the ultramylonite of the calcite shear zone, where high strain was accommodated by non-coaxial flow. This study demonstrates that both a pure shear and a simple shear strain path can result in similar crystallographic preferred orientations (single c-axis maximum perpendicular to the SZB) by different dominant deformation mechanisms. Separated a-axis pole figures (+a- and −a-axis) show different density distributions with orthorhombic texture symmetry in the protolith marble and monoclinic symmetry in the ultramylonite marble consistently with the observed grain fabric symmetry.     

What do fault patterns reveal about the latest phase of extension within the Northern Snake Range metamorphic core complex,Nevada, USA?

The Northern Snake Range is a classic example of a metamorphic core complex, Basin-and-Range province, United States. It is composed of a plastically deformed footwall and a brittlely deformed hanging wall, separated by the Northern Snake Range low-angle detachment (NSRD). Brittle deformation, however, is not confined to the hanging wall.This paper focuses on exposures in Cove Canyon, located on the SE flank of the Northern Snake Range, where penetrative, homogeneous faults are well exposed throughout the hanging wall, footwall and NSRD, and overprint early plastic deformation. These late-stage fault sets assisted Eocene-Miocene extension. Detailed analysis of the faults reveals the following: (1) The shortening direction defined by faults is similar to the shortening direction defined by the stretching lineation in the footwall mylonites, indicating that the extensional kinematic history remained unchanged as the rocks were uplifted into the elastico-frictional regime. (2) After ∼17 Ma, extension may have continued entirely within elastic-frictional regime via cataclastic flow. (3) This latest deformation phase may have been accommodated by a single, continuous event. (3) Faults within NSRD boudins indicate that deformation within the detachment zone was non-coaxial during the latest phase of extension.