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.     

Architecture of a Palaeoproterozoic Rift System: Evidence from the Fiery Creek Dome region,Mt Isa terrane

The Mt Isa Rift Event is a Palaeoproterozoic intracontinental extension event that defines the beginning of sedimentation into the Isa Superbasin in the Western Fold Belt, Mt Isa terrane. In the mildly deformed Fiery Creek Dome region, on the northwest flanks of the Mt Isa Rift, elements of the Mt Isa Rift Event rift architecture are preserved without being intensely overprinted by later deformation. In this region two discrete generations of northwest‐dipping normal faults have been identified. Early generation normal faults were active during the deposition of fluvial and immature conglomerate and sandstone of the Bigie Formation. Renewed rifting and the development of late‐generation normal faults occurred during deposition of shallow‐marine sandstone and siltstone of the lower Gunpowder Creek Formation. Differential uplift between tilt blocks formed an array of spatially and temporally discontinuous synrift unconformities on the crests of uplifted tilt blocks. Applying the domino model yields ～28% crustal extension for the entire Mt Isa Rift Event. Northwest‐striking transverse faults facilitated differential displacement along normal faults and formed boundaries to normal fault segments, creating smaller depositional compartments along half‐graben axes. Three large domes were formed during laccolith emplacement. These domes produced palaeogeographical highs that divided the region into sub‐basins and were a source for the coarse fluvial synrift sequences deposited during the early Mt Isa Rift Event. The basin architecture in the Fiery Creek Dome region is consistent with northwest‐southeast‐directed extension.     

Extension and rifting: the Zeit region,Gulf of Suez

A field analysis of faults and fractures in the Ras Gharib-Ras Gemsa region of the Gulf of Suez shows that the main Late Cenozoic extension occurred perpendicular to the rift axis. Three main types of dip-slip normal faults successively developed as the tilt of blocks bounded by antithetic normal faults increased. Determinations of the amount of extension from structural data are compatible with estimates made using subsidence data through a simplified model of lithospheric stretching. The uplift of rift shoulders is related in chronology and volume to the subsidence of the rift. The geometry of fault patterns and directions of extension suggests that the Late Cenozoic total movement corresponds to a counterclockwise rotation of 4–5° of Sinai relative to Africa, with a pole close to Cairo.     

Active transsection faults in rift transfer zones: evidence for complex stress fields and implications for crustal fragmentation processes in the western branch of the East African Rift

New structural and seismologic evidence from the Rwenzori Mountains, Uganda, indicate that continental rifts can capture and rotate fragments of the lithosphere while rift segments interact, in a manner analogous to the interaction of small-scale fractures. The Rwenzori Mountains are a basement block within the western branch of the East African Rift System that is located at the intersection of two rift segments and is apparently rotating clockwise. Structural data and new seismological data from earthquake epicentres indicate a large-scale, 20-km-long transsection fault is currently detaching the Rwenzori micro-plate on its northern margin from the larger Victoria plate (Tanzania craton), whereas it is already fully detached in the south. We propose that this fault develops due to the rotation of the Rwenzori block. In a numerical model we show how rift segment interaction, block rotation and the development of transsection faults (faults that cut through the Rwenzori Mountains) evolve through time. The model suggests that uplift of the Rwenzori block can only take place after the rift has opened significantly, and rotation leads to the development of transsection faults that connect two rift segments, so that the block is captured within the rifts. Our numerical model suggests that the majority of the uplift has taken place within the last 8 Ma.     

Control of rheological stratification on rifting geometry: a symmetric model resolving the upper plate paradox

Numerical experiments reproduce the fundamental architecture of magma-poor rifted margins such as the Iberian or Alpine margins if the lithosphere has a weak mid-crustal channel on top of strong lower crust and a horizontal thermal weakness in the rift center. During model extension, the upper crust undergoes distributed collapse into the rift center where the thermally weakened portion of the model tears. Among the features reproduced by the modeling, we observe: (1) an array of tilted upper-crustal blocks resting directly on exhumed mantle at the distal margin, (2) consistently oceanward-dipping normal faults, (3) a mid-crustal high strain zone at the base of the crustal blocks (S-reflector), (4) new ocean floor up against a low angle normal fault at the tip of the continent, (5) shear zones consistent with continentward-dipping reflectors in the mantle lithosphere, (6) the mismatch frequently observed between stretching values inferred from surface extension and bulk crustal thinning at distal margins (upper plate paradox). Rifting in the experiment is symmetric at a lithospheric scale and the above features develop on both sides of the rift center. We discuss three controversial points in more detail: (1) weak versus strong lower crust, (2) the deformation pattern in the mantle, and (3) the significance of detachment faults during continental breakup. We argue that the transition from wide rifting towards narrow rifting with a pronounced polarity towards the rift center is associated with the advective growth of a thermal perturbation in the mantle lithosphere.     

青藏高原的形成和演化机制

青藏高原是地球上最高大和最雄伟的年青隆起区。对于它的形成和演化机制,一直是国内外地质和地球物理学者注意的问题之一。 近十年来,人们认为青藏高原的形成是由于相距千里之遥的印度板块向北漂移并与欧亚板块碰撞的结果。然而,根据作者对喀喇昆仑和喜马拉雅等地的野外考察及其深部地球物理资料的研究,提出青藏高原原来是一个统一的前震旦纪陆壳区,后经震旦纪以来多次的拉开和挤压碰撞而形成的新观点。这种拉开和挤压的运动方式,是深部鳗隆和慢拗的分异作用引起的。     

Accretion of oceanic crust under conditions of oblique spreading

The accretion of oceanic crust under conditions of oblique spreading is considered. It is shown that deviation of the normal to the strike of mid-ocean ridge from the extension direction results in the formation of echeloned basins and ranges in the rift valley, which are separated by normal and strike-slip faults oriented at an angle to the axis of the mid-ocean ridge. The orientation of spreading ranges is determined by initial breakup and divergence of plates, whereas the within-rift structural elements are local and shallow-seated; they are formed only in the tectonically mobile rift zone. As a rule, the mid-ocean ridges with oblique spreading are not displaced along transform fracture zones, and stresses are relaxed in accommodation zones without rupture of continuity of within-rift structural elements. The structural elements related to oblique spreading can be formed in both rift and megafault zones. At the initial breakup and divergence of continental or oceanic plates with increased crust thickness, the appearance of an extension component along with shear in megafault zones gives rise to the formation of embryonic accretionary structural elements. As opening and extension increase, oblique spreading zones are formed. Various destructive and accretionary structural elements (nearly parallel extension troughs; basin and range systems oriented obliquely relative to the strike of the fault zone and the extension axis; rhomb-shaped extension basins, etc.) can coexist in different segments of the fault zone and replace one another over time. The Andrew Bain Megafault Zone in the South Atlantic started to develop as a strike-slip fault zone that separated the African and Antarctic plates. Under extension in the oceanic domain, this zone was transformed into a system of strike-slip faults divided by accretionary structures. It is suggested that the De Geer Megafault Zone in the North Atlantic, which separated Greenland and Eurasia at the initial stage of extension that followed strike-slip offset, evolved in the same way.     

Physical models of rifting and transform faulting, due to ridge push in a wedge-shaped oceanic lithosphere

By scaled physical modelling, we have investigated the mechanical response to gravitational forces in an oceanic lithosphere, overlying a less dense asthenosphere. In the models, an upper wedge-shaped layer of sand represented an oceanic lithosphere (0–35 Ma old, with a half-spreading velocity of 3 cm/yr), and a lower layer of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), mixed with dense wolframite powder, represented the asthenosphere. In the models, as in nature, isostatic compensation resulted in uplift of ridges and subsidence on their flanks. The resulting relief was responsible for ridge push. We tested two main configurations: straight ridges and offset ridges. In all the models, ridge push was sufficient to cause plate motion, underlying advection, and symmetrical rifting at the ridge axis. There was no need to impose plate motions through external pistons and motors. In models of straight ridges, the style of normal faults in the axial rift zone depended on the local thickness of the brittle sand layer. For thick layers, normal faults rafted out from the active zone of rifting, creating a fossil topography of tilted blocks, between faults dipping toward the ridge. In a model of an offset ridge, with thin lithosphere at the ridge crest and no embedded weakness, ridge push was responsible for a short transform fault, linking en-échelon rifts. In a similar model, but with thick lithosphere, an oblique rift formed at about 20° to the offset trace. We conclude that ridge push was not adequate to create an ideal transform fault. In a model of an offset ridge, with an embedded thin vertical layer of pure PDMS at 90° to the ridge, transform motion concentrated along this weak layer, and the resulting structural style was very similar to that in nature. On the basis of these results, we infer that, in nature, (1) ridge push can indeed drive plate motion, and (2) ridge push can drive strike-slip motion on transform faults, provided that these are weaker than the adjacent oceanic lithosphere and that they form early in the history of spreading.     

黄骅坳陷孔南地区新生代断裂特征及其与油气关系

黄骅坳陷孔南地区新生代盆地演化经历了断陷期、断坳期及坳陷期。盆地内部发育复杂断裂系统,根据断层活动特征可以分为沧东伸展断裂系统与徐西右旋走滑断裂系统。沧东断层剖面上具有铲式正断层特征,向深部滑脱,控制了孔南地区的构造变形;徐西断层可以看作是其上盘上的次级断层。在孔店组沉积期,沧东断层与徐西断层均表现出伸展正断层的特征,控制了其上盘孔店组沉积。在沙河街组三段沉积期,受基底断层右旋走滑影响,徐西断层及其上盘分支断层表现出右旋走滑特征。在伸展与走滑的共同作用下,在孔南地区中北部聚集了丰富的油气。     

Complex rift geometries resulting from inheritance of pre-existing structures: Insights and regional implications from the Barmer Basin rift

Structural studies of the Barmer Basin in Rajasthan, northwest India, demonstrate the important effect that pre-existing faults can have on the geometries of evolving fault systems at both the outcrop and basin-scale. Outcrop exposures on opposing rift margins reveal two distinct, non-coaxial extensional events. On the eastern rift margin northwest–southeast extension was accommodated on southwest- and west-striking faults that form a complex, zig-zag fault network. On the western rift margin northeast–southwest extension was accommodated on northwest-striking faults that form classical extensional geometries.Combining these outcrop studies with subsurface interpretations demonstrates that northwest–southeast extension preceded northeast–southwest extension. Structures active during the early, previously unrecognised extensional event were variably incorporated into the evolving fault systems during the second. In the study area, an inherited rift-oblique fault transferred extension from the rift margin to a mid-rift fault, rather than linking rift margin fault systems directly. The resultant rift margin accommodation structure has important implications for early sediment routing and depocentre evolution, as well as wider reaching implications for the evolution of the rift basin and West Indian Rift System. The discovery of early rifting in the Barmer Basin supports that extension along the West Indian Rift System was long-lived, multi-event, and likely resulted from far-field plate reorganisations.     

庐-枞金属矿集区深地震反射剖面解释结果——揭露地壳精细结构,追踪成矿深部过程

深地震反射剖面揭示了庐枞矿集区全地壳的精细结构,在研究火山岩盆地的深部构造、探讨成矿深部过程等方面取得了新认识。从长江至大别山下,Moho由30km左右加深至33km左右,罗河矿下方Moho错断大约3km。庐枞火山岩盆地是一个沿着罗河断裂向东发育的"耳状"非对称盆地,并不存在另外一半隐伏在红层之下的盆地。罗河铁矿对应Moho错断处,处在构造的转换带上。罗河断裂之下存在近于透明的弱反射区域,可能是地幔流体和岩浆上涌、喷发的通道。郯庐断裂、罗河-缺口断裂、长江断裂是庐枞地区的三个重要断裂。郯庐断裂带为不对称花束状构造,近于直立,切穿地壳。小岭矿与龙桥矿可能产出在一个隆起的火成岩体的两翼。     

The internal grabens of the Levant Rifts and their geodynamic significance

The Levant Rift system is a linear assemblage of rifts and their mountainous flanks that comprise three structural distinct sections. The southern Jordan Rift is built of series of secondary axial grabens that diminish in length northwards and are separated from each other by poorly rifted threshold zones. The central section of the rift system is the Lebanese Baqa’a embedded between mountainous flanks, and a splay of faults that scatter to the north-northeast; the northern section comprises the SW-trending Karasu–Hatay Rifts from which the Ghab graben branches southwards. It is suggested that the rifting of the Jordan Rift is the northern extension of the Red Sea continental break-up, while the Karasu–Tatay section correlates geodynamically with the migration of Anatolia westwards. The Baqa’a, its mountainous flanks and the fault splay mark the termination of the crustal break-up from the south, but rejuvenation of some faults indicate the effects of the Anatolian migration.     

Deformation produced by oblique rifting

With oblique rifting, both extension perpendicular to the rift trend and shear parallel to the rift trend contribute to rift formation. The relative amounts of extension and shear depend on α, the acute angle between the rift trend and the relative displacement direction between opposite sides of the rift. Analytical and experimental (clay) models of combined extension and left-lateral shear suggest the fault patterns produced by oblique rifting. If α is less than 30°, conjugate sets of steeply dipping strike-slip faults form in rifts. Sinistral and dextral strike-slip faults trend subparallel and at large angles to the rift trend, respectively. If α is about 30°, strike-slip, oblique-slip and/or normal faults form in rifts. Faults with sinistral and dextral strike slip trend subparallel and at large angles to the rift trend, respectively. Normal faults strike about 30° counterclockwise from the rift trend. If α exceeds 30°, normal faults form in rifts. They have moderate dips and generally strike obliquely to the rift trend and to the relative displacement direction between opposite sides of the rift. If α equals 90°, the normal faults strike parallel to the rift trend and perpendicularly to the displacement direction.The modeling results apply to the Gulf of California and Gulf of Aden, two Tertiary continental rift systems produced by combined extension and shear. Our results explain the presence and trends of oblique-slip and strike-slip faults along the margins of the Gulf of California and the oblique trend (relative to the rift trend) of many normal faults along the margins of both the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Aden.     

Stress and strain during fault-controlled lithospheric extension—insights from numerical experiments

Two-dimensional finite element techniques are used to study the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of stress and strain during lithospheric extension. The thermomechanical model includes a pre-existing fault in the upper crust to account for the reactivation of older tectonic elements. The fault is described using contact elements which allow for independent meshing of hanging wall and foot wall as well as simulation of large differential displacements between the fault blocks. Numerical models are run for three different initial temperature distributions representing extension of weak, moderately strong and strong lithosphere and three different extension velocities. In spite of the simple geodynamic boundary conditions selected, i.e., wholesale extension at a constant rate, stress and strain vary substantially throughout the lithosphere. In particular, in case of the weak lithosphere model, lower crustal flow towards the locus of maximum upper crustal extension results in the formation of a lower crustal dome while maintaining a subhorizontal Moho relief. The core of the dome experiences hardly any internal deformation, although it is the part of the lower crust which is exhumed the most. Stress fields in the lower crustal dome vary significantly from the regional trend underlining mechanical decoupling of the lower crust from the rest of the lithosphere. These differences diminish if cooler temperatures and, hence, stronger rheologies are considered. Lithospheric strength also exerts a profound control on the basin architecture and the surface expressions of extension, i.e., rift flank uplift and basin subsidence. If the lower crust is sufficiently weak, its flow towards the region of extended upper crust can provide a threshold value for the maximum subsidence which can be achieved during the syn-rift stage. In spite of continuous regional extension, corresponding burial history plots show exponentially decreasing subsidence rates which would traditionally be interpreted in terms of lithospheric cooling during the post-rift stage. The models provide templates to genetically link the surface and sub-surface expressions of lithospheric extension, for which usually no contemporaneous observations are possible. In particular, they help to decipher the information on the physical state of the lithosphere at the time of extension which is stored in the architecture and subsidence record of sedimentary basins.     

Off-axis structures of spreading zones according to results of experimental modeling

The off-axis topography of spreading ridges is a result of tectonic and magmatic processes occurring in the axial zone and operating off the ridge axis during further evolution of the crust. The results of physical and numerical simulations have shown that differences in topography roughness, rift valley depth, frequency and amplitude of normal faults, and geometric stability of the rift axis are determined by (a) the rate of extension and accretion of the new crust, (b) the thickness of the brittle lithospheric layer, and (c) the temperature of the underlying asthenosphere. Under conditions of the fast spreading, the stationary axial magma chamber in the crust predetermines the existence of the thinner and weakened lithosphere. As a result, the axis jumps for a short distance and the axis geometry remains almost rectilinear. The destruction of the thin axial lithosphere with a low mechanical strength results in formation of frequent and low-amplitude normal faultings. All these factors lead to the formation of the characteristic poorly dissected topography of fast-spreading ridges. Without a stationary axial magmatic chamber in the crust of slow-spreading ridges and with a thick and strong lithosphere, a deeply dissected axial and off-axis topography arises. The axis jumps for a significant distance within the rift valley, giving rise to geometric instability of the axis and development of transform and nontransform offsets.     

Formation of sedimentary basins of graben type by extension of the continental crust

A mechanism for causing graben-like subsidence by crustal stretching in response to tension is suggested, based partly on previous hypotheses of Vening Meinesz, Artemjev and Artyushkov, Bott and Fuchs. The mechanism requires rheological subdivision of the crust into a brittle upper layer about 10–20 km thick overlying a ductile lower crust. The brittle layer responds to tension by normal faulting and wedge subsidence; the ductile layer responds by local or regional thinning and by lateral flow of material from beneath the subsiding wedge causing complementary uplift by horst formation or elastic upbending. A graben width of between 30 and 60 km is predicted in absence of basement inhomogeneity. Computations of the energy budget indicate that sedimentary basins of more than 5 km thickness can form by the mechanism provided that water pressure reduces the friction on the faults. The mechanism can explain relatively rapid beginning and end of subsidence, and spasmodic sinking may occur. A wide variety of observed graben-like basins can be explained by the hypothesis, including classical rift valleys and the Mesozoic basins of UK and the North Sea, but it is inapplicable to broad unfaulted cratonic or shelf subsidence.     

下刚果盆地盐下构造特征及其对油气成藏的控制作用

摘要：通过对下刚果盆地不同构造部位地震剖面的解释,总结了下刚果盆地盐下构造特征,认为下刚果盆地盐下发育一中央隆起带,该隆起带将下刚果盆地划分为内裂谷带和外裂谷带,大西洋枢纽断裂(带)是中央隆起带和外裂谷带的分界线。内、外裂谷带均发育次级凸起和凹陷,呈“两凸三凹”的构造格局。下刚果盆地盐下隆坳格局控制着烃源岩、储层、盖层的类型和分布范围,控制着油气成藏组合和成藏模式。在上述研究的基础上,指出下刚果盆地盐下油气成藏的主要控制因素为断裂控制的基底构造高部位,下一步勘探方向应以寻找基底构造高垒块为主。     

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.     

Shear structural paragenesis and its role in continental rifting of the East Asian margin

The spatial-genetic relationships between transit fault systems of the East Asian global shear zone (EAGSZ) are analyzed. It is established that the EAGSZ internal structure between the Okhotsk and South China seas is identical to that of world-known natural and experimental shear zones, which confirms its development as an integral structure. The structural-kinematic analysis included the Tan-Lu-Sikhote-Alin (TS) system of left-lateral strike-slip faults (NNE 25°–30°) and the Bohai-Amur (BA) system of updip-strike-slip faults (NE 50°–70°). It is shown that these systems were formed as structural parageneses during two stages. The first and shear-thrust stage (Jurassic-Early Cretaceous) was marked by general NNW-oriented compression with the formation of the TS system of left-lateral strike-slip faults and their structural parageneses (compression structures) such as the BA system of updip-thrusts. The second, strike-slip-pull apart stage (Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic) was characterized by SE-directed tangential compression, which was generated by the SW left-lateral displacement of the continental crust along the Central Sikhote-Alin deep-seated fault. In such dynamic settings, the updip-thrust kinematics of the BA system gave way to that of left-lateral strike-slip faults. The strike-slip faults were formed in the transtension regime (shear with extension), which determined the development of pull-apart structures, where the left-lateral shear extension component played the decisive role. Simultaneously, the extension involved the Tan-Lu strike-slip fault with the formation of the rift valley and the discrete development of sedimentary basins along the latter.