Fault zone development and strain partitioning in an extensional strike-slip duplex: A case study from the Mesozoic Atacama fault system, Northern Chile

Upper crustal strike-slip duplexes provide an excellent opportunity to address the fundamental question of fault zone development and strain partitioning in an evolving system. Detailed field mapping of the Mesozoic Atacama fault system in the Coastal Cordillera of Northern Chile documents the progressive development of second- and third-order faults forming a duplex at a dilational jog between two overstepping master faults: the sinistral strike-slip, NNW-striking, Jorgillo and Bolfin faults. These are constituted by a meter-wide core of foliated S-C ultracataclasite and cataclasite, flanked by a damage zone of protocataclasite, splay faults and veins. Lateral separation of markers along master faults is on the order of a few kilometers. Second-order, NW-striking, oblique-slip subsidiary fault zones do not show foliated ultracataclasite; lateral sinistral separations are in the range of  10 to 200 m with a relatively minor normal dip-slip component. In turn, third-order, east–west striking normal faults exhibit centimetric displacement. Oblique-slip (sinistral–normal) fault zones located at the southern termination of the Bolfin fault form a well-developed imbricate fan structure. They exhibit a relatively simple architecture of extensional and extensional-shear fractures bound by low displacement shear fractures. Kinematic analysis of fault slip data from mesoscopic faults within the duplex area, document that the NW-striking and the EW-striking faults accommodate transtension and extension, respectively. Examination of master and subsidiary faults of the duplex indicates a strong correlation between total displacement and internal fault structure. Faults started from arrays of en echelon extensional/extensional-shear fractures that then coalesced into throughgoing strike-slip faults. Further displacement leads to the formation of discrete bands of cataclasite and ultracataclasite that take up a significant part of the total displacement. We interpret that the duplex formed by progressive linkage of horsetail-like structures at the southern tip of the Bolfin fault that joined splay faults coming from the Jorgillo and Coloso faults. The geometry and kinematics of faults is compared with that observed in analog models to gain an insight into the kinematic processes leading to complex strike-slip fault zones in the upper crust.     

Kinematic model for out-of-sequence thrusting: Motion of two ramp-flat faults and the production of upper plate duplex systems

Kinematic models developed here suggest a bewildering array of structural styles can be generated during out-of-sequence thrusting. Many of these structures would be difficult to distinguish from a normally stacked thrust sequence and the process can produce younger-on-older faults that could easily be misinterpreted as normal faults. This paper considers a small subset of this problem within a large model space by considering structures that develop along a pair of ramp-flat faults that are moving simultaneously, or sequentially. Motion on the lower ramp warps the structurally higher fault due to fault-bend folding and when the fault ruptures through the warp it transfers a horse to the upper hanging wall. Continuity of the process generates what is referred to here as an “upper plate duplex” to distinguish the structure from a conventional duplex. Kinematic parameters are developed for two models within this general problem: 1) a system with a fixed ramp in the lower thrust, overridden by an upper thrust; and 2) a double-duplex system where a conventional duplex develops along the lower fault at the same time as an upper plate duplex is formed along the upper fault. The theory is tested with forward models using 2D Move software and these tests indicate different families of structural styles form in association with relative scaling of ramp systems, slip-ratio between faults, and aspect ratios of horse blocks formed in the upper-plate duplex. A first-order result of the analysis is that an upper plate duplex can be virtually indistinguishable from a conventional duplex unless the trailing branch lines of the horses are exposed or imaged; a condition seldom met in natural exposures. Restoration of an upper-plate duplex produces counterintuitive fault geometry in the restored state, and thus, restorations of upper plate duplexes that erroneously assume a conventional duplex model would produce restored states that are seriously in error. In addition, in most of the models some fault segments place younger rocks on older rocks which could be easily misinterpreted as normal fault systems. In some models younger-on-older juxtapositions are significant and if scaled to crustal scale would produce core-complex style structures that would be difficult to recognize as contractional features. Collectively, these observations imply that many areas where simultaneous contraction and extension are inferred may be entirely contractional with younger-on-older relationships generated by out-of-sequence thrust systems. Examples where this process may have occurred are in southwestern North America and the Moine thrust system and future studies should evaluate these systems in light of these models. Distinguishing upper plate duplex from conventional duplex is potentially important in economic evaluations of thrust systems because fluid migration paths would be very different in the two alternatives. The process may also be important in seismogenic mechanisms, particularly in subduction megathrusts, because faults warping faults could produce fault irregularities that would form transient asperities along the fault.     

Strike-slip duplexes

Strike-slip fault systems often contain zones of steep imbricate faults geometrically similar to imbricate fans and duplexes in dip-slip, thrust and normal, fault systems. They are evident in map view rather than in vertical sections. Examples of duplexes are cited from both active and ancient systems and from theoretical and physical models. Duplexes may form at bends on strike-slip faults by a process kinematically analogous to the sequential imbrication of ramps on dip-slip faults. However some may form, and many may initiate, as non-sequential ‘Riedel’ fractures at fault offsets or on straight fault segments. This process is more marked than in dip-slip systems where primary anisotropy such as bedding exerts more control on fault geometry.Strike-slip duplexes may be shunted along the fault system parallel to the regional slip vector. However, duplexes or individual horses will usually also move up or down perpendicular to the slip vector because of the unconstrained upper surface to the fault system. These factors mean that no section through a strike-slip system should be expected to area balance. The faults of strike-slip duplexes and imbricate fans may root in kinematically necessary low-dip faults or may converge downwards and appear in vertical sections as flower structures.     

Pseudotachylyte-bearing strike-slip duplex structures in the Fort Foster Brittle Zone,S. Maine

Detailed (1:60 scale) mapping of the Fort Foster Brittle Zone in the mylonitic Rye Formation of southernmost Maine has revealed the intricate internal duplex structure of a system of probable Paleozoic-age dextral strike-slip faults that have produced abundant pseudotachylyte and minor breccia. The internal configuration of this brittle zone consists of a mosaic of individual pseudotachylyte generation zones as slab-duplex structures. Individual duplex zones are up to 100 m in length and 1 m or less in width and are defined by pairs of layer-parallel slip surfaces along which frictional melts were produced. These slab-duplex structures are interpreted as zones of displacement transfer between long, overlapping, layer-parallel en échelon strike-slip fault surfaces. Contractional duplexes develop layer-parallel compressional structures that tend to shorten and thicken the fault-bounded slabs by the formation of lateral ramps and conjugate faults, kinks and asymmetric folds. Extensional duplexes develop layer-parallel stretching and thinning by the formation of oblique dextral shears, high-angle conjugate pairs and localized fault breccias. The production of pseudotachylyte by friction melting along layer-parallel fault surfaces in these exposures is attributed to rapid slip during paleoseismic events. The rupture structures developed during these events may be characteristic of fault structure and mechanics at near-focal depths in a strike-slip seismogenic zone.     

Oblique rifting in Salina, Lipari and Vulcano islands (Aeolian islands, southern Italy)

A structural analysis carried out on the volcanic products of the islands of Salina, Lipari and Vulcano (Aeolian archipelago) points out that the large-scale tectonic setting is dominated by NW-SE trending right-lateral extensional strike-slip faults and by N-S to NE-SW trending normal faults and fractures. This fault pattern generates pull-apart type structures, developing between different right-hand overlapping fault segments and a characteristic extensional imbricate fan geometry at the tip of the major strike-slip faults. All the structures, representing the surface expression of an active crustal discontinuity which controls the evolutionary history of the magmatism of the three islands, are kinematically compatible with a N100°E extension related to a rifting process affecting southern Italy.     

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

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

Structure of Palaeogene sediments in east Ellesmere Island: Constraints on Eurekan tectonic evolution and implications for the Nares Strait problem

The “Nares Strait problem” represents a debate about the existence and magnitude of left-lateral movements along the proposed Wegener Fault within this seaway. Study of Palaeogene Eurekan tectonics at its shorelines could shed light on the kinematics of this fault. Palaeogene (Late Paleocene to Early Eocene) sediments are exposed at the northeastern coast of Ellesmere Island in the Judge Daly Promontory. They are preserved as elongate SW–NE striking fault-bounded basins cutting folded Early Paleozoic strata. The structures of the Palaeogene exposures are characterized by broad open synclines cut and displaced by steeply dipping strike-slip faults. Their fold axes strike NE–SW at an acute angle to the border faults indicating left-lateral transpression. Weak deformation in the interior of the outliers contrasts with intense shearing and fracturing adjacent to border faults. The degree of deformation of the Palaeogene strata varies markedly between the northwestern and southeastern border faults with the first being more intense. Structural geometry, orientation of subordinate folds and faults, the kinematics of faults, and fault-slip data suggest a multiple stage structural evolution during the Palaeogene Eurekan deformation: (1) The fault pattern on Judge Daly Promontory is result of left-lateral strike-slip faulting starting in Mid to Late Paleocene times. The Palaeogene Judge Daly basin formed in transtensional segments by pull-apart mechanism. Transpression during progressive strike-slip shearing gave rise to open folding of the Palaeogene deposits. (2) The faults were reactivated during SE-directed thrust tectonics in Mid Eocene times (chron 21). A strike-slip component during thrusting on the reactivated faults depends on the steepness of the fault segments and on their obliquity to the regional stress axes.Strike-slip displacement was partitioned to a number of sub-parallel faults on-shore and off-shore. Hence, large-scale lateral movements in the sum of 80–100 km or more could have been accommodated by a set of faults, each with displacements in the order of 10–30 km. The Wegener Fault as discrete plate boundary in Nares Strait is replaced by a bundle of faults located mainly onshore on the Judge Daly Promontory.     

Seismic reflection imaging of active faults and their tectonic behavior in the Northern Moroccan margin. Is the Nekor fault a pure strike-slip fault?

The study of 1000-km seismic reflection profiles, along the Northern Moroccan margin, allowed browsing new imaging in detail about the regional geological structures and their functioning. To achieve this goal, we elaborated a high-resolution depth model and a global tectonic sketch. The influence of recent tectonic activity is manifested by normal and strike-slip faults, trending mainly 70° N and 125° N. In this segment, the Nekor strike-slip fault seems to be connected to a secondary major fault system that changes direction from 30° N to 70° N, and changing behavior to left-lateral strike-slip fault with normal component. Analysis of local seismic activity recorded from 1990 to 2014 with moderate magnitudes activity shows alignments in clear superposition with the detected active faults in seismic reflection lines.     

一种板内小尺度走滑断层平面分段研究方法——以塔里木盆地顺北5号断层中北段为例

近年来在顺北地区1号和5号走滑断层带上获得了重大的油气突破,证明了在塔里木盆地内发育的小尺度走滑断层对断控油气藏具有控藏、控储的特征。该类走滑断层在剖面上贯穿多套古生代地层,纵向结构复杂,在空间上为深层线性走滑叠加浅层雁列正断层的构造样式,钻井揭示在断层带上不同分段的井产能差异明显,表明走滑断层在奥陶系碳酸盐岩顶界面的分段性对油气成藏具有重要的控制作用。本文选取顺北5号断层中北段作为研究对象,针对深层不同层系线性走滑断层分段特征差异明显这一特征,基于不同尺度下断层的断距与分段长度之间的相关性及多断层演化理论,提出了利用沿着走向等间距统计断层的垂向断距变化的方法对深层线性走滑断层开展分段性研究工作,该方法综合了断层的活动强度、演化程度和剖面构造形态来分析断层的分段特征,适用于不同性质的断层分段性特征研究。研究表明5号断层中北段在奥陶系碳酸盐岩顶界面可划分为14段,在寒武系膏盐岩层顶界面可划分为10段,两个层系的断层分段性在空间上具有继承性与差异演化的特点,其中寒武系膏盐岩滑脱构造中的膏盐逃逸对油气的疏导具有破坏作用,奥陶系碳酸盐岩顶断层活动强度、分段叠接样式、断层分段不同位置对断控缝洞型储层发育规模具有重要的控制作用,揭示了断层在平面上的分段特征及纵向结构对断控缝洞型油气成藏具有重要的控制作用。     

塔里木盆地顺南地区走滑断裂发育特征及演化

顺南地区位于塔里木盆地塔中隆起北部.受多期构造应力影响,该地区以走滑断裂大量发育为典型特征.对三维地震资料的精细解释和深入分析结果表明,研究区走滑断裂具有垂向分层、平面分段、多期次构造叠加的特征.顺南地区主要发育北东、北东东和北西向3组走滑断裂.北东向断裂活动性强,平面上发育雁列式断层及马尾状构造,剖面上主要发育对称花状、正花状与负花状上下分层叠置的复合花状构造.北东东和北西向断裂活动性较弱,剖面上以单条直立走滑断裂为主,平面上呈线性延伸或由多段同向走滑断层连接而成.根据断层构造样式和受力性质,将顺南1断裂沿走向划分为4段：2个复合花状-拉张段和2个简单花状-挤压段,拉张段和挤压段沿走向交替出现.顺南走滑断裂的形成主要经历了5期构造运动：加里东早期、加里东中期Ⅰ幕、加里东中期Ⅲ幕、加里东晚期-海西早期和海西晚期.其中,加里东中期Ⅰ幕和加里东中期Ⅲ幕为该区主要断层活动期.     

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

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

辽东湾北部地区走滑构造特征与油气富集规律

辽东湾北部地区右行走滑构造特征较为典型,主要表现为:沿走滑断裂带发育雁行式伸展断裂;剖面上发育花状构造;走滑断裂沿走向呈“S”型或反“S”型波状弯曲;沿走滑断裂带断槽与断鼻构造相间分布。分析认为,渐新世晚期,辽东湾北部地区南北向拉张、东西向挤压的区域应力场控制了右行走滑构造的形成,断槽与断鼻构造相间分布是由于沿走滑断裂带局部应力场性质发生改变所致。右行走滑断裂的“S”型弯曲部位为增压弯部位,走滑断裂两侧断块在此汇聚,地层因应力集中而形成断鼻构造;右行走滑断裂的反“S”型弯曲部位为释拉张部位,走滑断裂两侧断块在此离散,地层因拉张而发生断陷形成断槽。受走滑构造所控制,油气沿走滑断层自断槽向断鼻方向运移、聚集而成藏。研究走滑构造发育特征,对于预测圈闭分布以和研究油气富集规律具有重要意义。     

Basin inversion by distributed deformation: the southern margin of the Bristol Channel Basin, England

Several models of basin inversion described in the literature are tested in a study of Triassic and Early Jurassic strata exposed along the southern margin of the Bristol Channel Basin in Somerset, England that has been exhumed by <3 km. Two key features of the superbly exposed normal faults are that they formed at several times during basin evolution—not during Triassic to Early Jurassic growth, but during Late Jurassic rifting, and during and after inversion; and that >95% of them are still in net extension, despite widespread kinematic evidence for reverse reactivation. When coupled with the general absence of thin-skinned thrusts and the widespread occurrence of regional contractional folds, it appears that none of three main inversion models—the fault-reactivation model, the thin-skinned model and the buttress model—are by themselves applicable. We erect a new model of basin inversion, the distributed deformation model, which consists of three stages of basin inversion. Stage one involved early partial reactivation of large-displacement steep normal faults. Stage two was dominated by folding, wherein fault blocks underwent oblique (non-coaxial) shortening by map scale folding, accompanied by formation of outer arc normal faults, minor cleavage and neoformed thrusts. Stage three involved reverse reactivation of outer arc normal faults and activation of oblique and strike-slip faults that partitioned deformation into compartments.     

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.     

Tectonic geomorphology of the easternmost extension of the Gulf of Corinth (Beotia, Central Greece)

The easternmost sector of the Gulf of Corinth, the Beotia area in Central Greece, is an area with active normal faults located between the two major rift structures of Central Greece, the Gulf of Corinth and the North Gulf of Evia. These active normal faults include WNW to E–W and NE to ENE-trending faults affect the landscape and generate basin and range topography within the Beotia. We study four normal fault zones and drainage basin geometry in the easternmost sector of the Gulf of Corinth to document the impact of active tectonics on the landscape evolution. Fault and drainage geometry are investigated based on detailed field mapping and high-resolution digital elevation models. Tectonic geomorphic analysis using several parameters of active tectonics provides information concerning the relative tectonic activity and fault growth. In order to detect areas of lateral stream migration that could indicate recent tectonic activity, the Transverse Topographic Symmetry Factor and the Asymmetry Factor are used to analyse drainage basin geometry in six large drainage basins and a drainage domain covering the study area. Our results show that vertical motions and tilting associated with normal faulting influence the drainage geometry and its development. Values of stream-gradient indices (S_L) are relatively high close to the fault traces of the studied fault zones suggesting high activity. Mountain-front sinuosity (S_mf) mean values along the fault zones ranges from 1.08 to 1.26. Valley floor width to valley height ratios (V_f) mean values along the studied fault zones range between 0.5 and 1.6. Drainage basin shape (B_S) mean values along the fault zones range from 1.08 to 3.54. All these geomorphic parameters and geomorphological data suggest that the analyzed normal faults are highly active. Lateral fault growth was likely produced by primarily eastward propagation, with the WNW to E–W trending faults being the relatively more active structures.     

辽河东部凹陷走滑构造及其与火山岩分布的关系

走滑构造可分为压扭和张扭两类,平面上主干走滑断裂都表现为一条贯通性的走滑构造带,剖面上前者表现为正花状构造(向上撒开的逆断层组),后者表现为负花状构造(向上散开的正断层组)。它们的伴生构造在平面上分别表现为与主干走滑断裂共生的雁列褶皱、雁列逆断层(压扭)和雁列正断层(张扭)。在实际剖面中由于构造应力场的变化还常见由正—负花状构造组合的复合花状构造。在平行于走滑构造带方向,有时断层面倾角会变化,直至倾向相反(丝带效应);走滑断裂带各点所受的应力可从挤压(褶皱)—逆断变为伸展—正断(海豚效应)。走滑断裂在火山岩盆地中普遍发育,是构造—火山作用关系研究的重要方面。研究区走滑断裂系统由贯通性主干走滑断裂和伴生构造两部分组成。主干走滑断裂平面上侧向延伸长,其附近多为与之成锐角相交的雁列正断层组;剖面上同时出现负花状构造和正花状构造,断层面陡倾且有时两侧地层厚度不等。根据雁列构造与主干断层间锐角指示方向和断层切割层位可判别,该区于古近纪主要发育右旋走滑断裂系。火山岩分布明显受走滑断裂带控制,火山喷发中心沿主干断裂呈串珠状分布;火山岩厚度于主干断裂附近最大,向两侧减薄,多终止于次级断裂附近;厚度大于1 km的火山岩距主干断裂通常在2 km范围内。     

Active right-lateral strike-slip fault zone along the southern margin of the Japan Sea

We describe an active right-lateral strike-slip fault zone along the southern margin of the Japan Sea, named the Southern Japan Sea Fault Zone (SJSFZ). Onshore segments of the fault zone are delineated on the basis of aerial photograph interpretations and field observations of tectonic geomorphic features, whereas the offshore parts are interpreted from single-/multichannel seismic data combined with borehole information. In an effort to evaluate late Quaternary activity along the fault zone, four active segments separated by uplifting structures are identified in this study. The east–northeast-trending SJSFZ constitutes paired arc-parallel strike-slip faults together with the Median Tectonic Line (MTL), both of which have been activated by oblique subduction of the Philippine Sea plate during the Quaternary. They act as the boundaries of three neotectonic stress domains around the eastern margin of the Eurasian plate: the near-trench Outer zone and NW–SE compressive Inner zone of southwest Japan arc, and the southern Japan Sea deformed under E–W compression from south to north.     

Anomalously high uplift rates along the Ventura—Santa Barbara Coast, California—tectonic implications

The NW—SE trending segments of the California coastline from Point Arena to Point Conception (500 km) and from Los Angeles to San Diego (200 km) generally parallel major right-lateral strike-slip fault systems. Minor vertical crustal movements associated with the dominant horizontal displacements along these fault systems are recorded in local sedimentary basins and slightly deformed marine terraces. Typical maximum uplift rates during Late Quaternary time are about 0.3 m/ka, based on U-series ages of corals and amino-acid age estimates of fossil mollusks from the lowest emergent terraces.In contrast, the E–W-trending segments of the California coastline between Point Conception and Los Angeles (200 km) parallel predominantly northward-dipping thrust and high-angle reverse faults of the western Transverse Ranges. Along this coast, marine terraces display significantly greater vertical deformation. Amino-acid age estimates of mollusks from elevated marine terraces along the Ventura—Santa Barbara coast imply anomalously high uplift rates of between 1 and 6 m/ka over the past 40 to 100 ka. The deduced rate of terrace uplift decreases from Ventura to Los Angeles, conforming with a similar trend observed by others in contemporary geodetic data.The more rapid rates of terrace uplift in the western Transverse Ranges reflect N—S crustal shortening that is probably a local accommodation of the dominant right-lateral shear strain along coastal California.     

南海西缘结合带的贯通性

为了探讨南海西缘结合带的构造贯通性, 在系统分析其地质-地球物理资料的基础上, 剖析了该带的分段性和深-浅部构造几何学特征, 对该带的哀牢山-红河-越东-万纳-卢帕尔各段进行了全面的构造几何学及构造运动学上的对比分析, 提出该带是一条相互贯通的走滑断裂系统, 其各部分在构造几何学上符合走滑构造的基本构架, 构造运动学上具有同时性, 浅部各段具有共同相连的深部的"根", 表现出明显的时空上的贯通性与构造上的一致性.      

Geometry and impact of transpressional faulting in polyphasic metamorphic orogenic belts: the Viù Deformation Zone (inner Western Alps)

This article describes the geometry and structural architecture of the Viù Deformation Zone (VDZ), a brittle-ductile to brittle structure affecting the metamorphic units of the inner Western Alps, and its role in modifying the pre-existing syn-metamorphic structural setting. The VDZ reactivates and displaces the contact between two different oceanic units, the Lanzo Ultramafic Complex and the Lower Susa–Lanzo Valleys Unit, characterized by polyphase syn-metamorphic deformation. It shows a strike-slip duplex geometry, constituted by N–S reverse-dextral faults linked by NW–SE antithetical sinistral-reverse faults, and represents a contractional step-over zone along a N–S regional dextral-reverse structure, the Col del Lis-Trana Deformation Zone. Formation of these transpressional structures steepened the Lanzo Ultramafic Complex during the last stages of its exhumation. The 3D geometry of the VDZ was strongly controlled by the reactivation of pre-existing structures, such as the buried western edge of the Ivrea body and metamorphic foliations. Brittle reactivation also induced block rotation along the VDZ, causing anomalous kinematic relations between the VDZ-associated faults. This study, hence, shows that in metamorphic orogens the mechanisms generating strike-slip duplexes may be different from those classically provided by the literature, with brittle reactivation and block rotation strongly prevailing on newly formed faults. In such orogens, moreover, rotations induced by transpressional faulting may sometimes be mistaken for steep syn-metamorphic shear zones. Underestimating the effects of later brittle deformation and associated rotations may cause erroneous interpretations of the tectonic evolution of orogens.