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.     

Late Quaternary drainage reorganization assisted by surface faulting: The example of the Katrol Hill Fault zone,Kachchh, western India

Drainage reorganization on restricted temporal and spatial scales is poorly-documented. We attempt to decode the relatively complicated mechanism of drainage realignment involving two small rivers that show structurally controlled, highly anomalous channel networks. We provide geomorphic and shallow subsurface evidence using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for the presence of a buried paleo-valley flowing northward through the wind gap and surface faulting along the range bounding Katrol Hill Fault (KHF) which correlates with the previously known three surface faulting events in last ~30 ka bp . Most of the present river channels and the KHF zone are occupied by aeolian miliolite (local name) which is stratigraphic and lithologic equivalent of the Late Quaternary carbonate rich aeolianite deposits occurring in several parts of the globe. The history of drainage evolution in the study area comprises pre-miliolite, syn-miliolite and post-miliolite phases. Geomorphic evidences show that the paleo-Gangeshwar River flowed north through the wind gap and paleo-valley, while the short paleo-Gunawari occupied the saddle zone to the east of Ler dome prior to and during the phase of miliolite deposition which ended by ~40 ka bp . Southward tilting of the Katrol Hill Range (KHR) due to surface faulting cut off the catchment of the paleo-Gangeshwar River. The abandoned catchment stream extended its channel eastward along the strike through top-down process while the paleo-Gunawari River extended its course westward by headward erosion (bottom-up process). As the channels advanced towards each other they joined to produce the “S”-shaped bend which formed the capture point. We conclude that multiple surface faulting events along the KHF in the last ~30 ka bp , resulted in uplift and tilting of the KHR which caused drainage realignment by river diversion, beheading and river capture. Our study shows that the complexity of drainage reorganization processes is more explicit on shorter rather than longer timescales.     

郯庐断裂带渤海湾北段早新生代逆冲推覆的生长褶皱证据

高分辨率的地震剖面显示辽河盆地西部凹陷深部存在一生长断层转折褶皱。本文对地震剖面的构造变形以及褶皱两翼的生长前、生长和生长后地层的变形几何关系进行详细构造解析;利用断层转折褶皱几何变形的计算机模拟技术分别对西部凹陷南段、北段的生长断层转折褶皱进行几何变形过程的模拟,提取构造特征并与实际地震反射剖面进行对比。研究结果表明,郯庐断裂带渤海湾北段分支断层台安 大洼断层在早新生代就存在逆冲推覆过程,构造活动主要发生在沙河街组三段下至馆陶组沉积前(E2s3下～N1g前),其逆冲推覆速率为 0.116 mm/a。     

High‐resolution seismic reflection profiling of neotectonic faults in Lake Timiskaming,Timiskaming Graben,Ontario‐Quebec,Canada

The Timiskaming Graben is a 400 km long, 50 km wide north‐west trending morphotectonic depression within the Canadian Shield of eastern North America and experiences frequent intraplate earthquakes. The graben extends along the border of Ontario and Quebec, connecting southward with the Nipissing and Ottawa‐Bonnechere grabens and the St. Lawrence Rift System which includes a similar structure underlying the Hudson Valley of the eastern USA. Together they form a complex failed rift system related to regional extension of North American crust during the breakup of Rodinia and, later, Pangea. The Timiskaming Graben lies within a belt of heightened seismic activity (Western Quebec Seismic Zone) with frequent moderate magnitude (greater than magnitude 5) earthquakes including a magnitude 6.2 in 1935. These events threaten aging urban infrastructure built on soft glacial sediments; post‐glacial landslides along the Ottawa Valley suggest earthquakes as large as magnitude 7. The inner part of the Timiskaming Graben is filled by Lake Timiskaming, a large 110 km long post‐glacial successor to glacial Lake Barlow that was ponded by the Laurentide Ice Sheet 9500 years ago. The effects of frequent ground shaking on lake floor sediments was assessed by collecting more than 1000 line kilometres of high‐resolution ‘chirp’ seismic profiles. Late glacial Lake Barlow glaciolacustrine and overlying post‐glacial sediments are extensively deformed by extensional faults that define prominent horsts and grabens; multibeam bathymetry data suggest that faults influence the morphology of the modern lake floor, despite high sedimentation rates, and indicate recent neotectonic deformation. The Lake Timiskaming area provides evidence of post‐glacial intracratonic faulting related to recurring earthquake activity along a weak spot within the North American plate.     

Paleostress reconstruction from calcite twin and fault–slip data using the multiple inverse method in the East Walanae fault zone: Implications for the Neogene contraction in South Sulawesi,Indonesia

A new approach for paleostress analysis using the multiple inverse method with calcite twin data including untwinned e-plane was performed in the East Walanae fault (EWF) zone in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Application of untwinned e-plane data of calcite grain to constrain paleostress determination is the first attempt for this method. Stress states caused by the collision of the south-east margin of Sundaland with the Australian microcontinents during the Pliocene were successfully detected from a combination of calcite-twin data and fault–slip data. This Pliocene NE–SW-to-E–W-directed maximum compression activated the EWF as a reverse fault with a dextral component of slip with pervasive development of secondary structures in the narrow zone between Bone Mountain and Walanae Depression.     

Fault architecture and deformation mechanisms in exhumed analogues of seismogenic carbonate-bearing thrusts

Faults in carbonates are well known sources of upper crustal seismicity throughout the world. In the outer sector of the Northern Apennines, ancient carbonate-bearing thrusts are exposed at the surface and represent analogues of structures generating seismicity at depth. We describe the geometry, internal structure and deformation mechanisms of three large-displacement thrusts from the km scale to the microscale. Fault architecture and deformation mechanisms are all influenced by the lithology of faulted rocks. Where thrusts cut across bedded or marly limestones, fault zones are thick (tens of metres) and display foliated rocks (S-CC′ tectonites and/or YPR cataclasites) characterized by intense pressure-solution deformation. In massive limestones, faulting occurs in localized, narrow zones that exhibit abundant brittle deformation. A general model for a heterogeneous, carbonate-bearing thrust is proposed and discussed. Fault structure, affected by stratigraphic heterogeneity and inherited structures, influences the location of geometrical asperities and fault strain rates. The presence of clay minerals and the strain rate experienced by fault rocks modulate the shifting from cataclasis-dominated towards pressure-solution-dominated deformation. Resulting structural heterogeneity of these faults may mirror their mechanical and seismic behaviour: we suggest that seismic asperities are located at the boundaries of massive limestones in narrow zones of localized slip whereas weak shear zones constitute slowly slipping portions of the fault, reflecting other types of “aseismic” behaviour.     

Grain boundary dissolution porosity in quartzofeldspathic ultramylonites: Implications for permeability enhancement and weakening of mid-crustal shear zones

Quartzofeldspathic ultramylonites from the Alpine Fault Zone, one of the world's major, active plate boundary-scale fault zones have quartz crystallographic preferred orientations (CPO) and abundant low-angle (<10° misorientation) boundaries, typical microstructures for dislocation creep-dominated deformation. Geometrically necessary dislocation density estimates indicate mean dislocation densities of ∼10⁹ cm⁻². A significant proportion (∼30%) of grain boundaries (>10° misorientation) are decorated by faceted pores, commonly with uniformly-oriented pyramidal shapes. Only grain boundaries with >10° misorientation angles in polymineralic aggregates are decorated by pores. Mean grain boundary pore densities are ∼5 × 10⁸ cm⁻². Grain boundary pores are dissolution pits generated during syn-deformational transient grain boundary permeability, nucleating on dislocation traces at dilatant grain boundary interfaces. They have not been removed by subsequent grain boundary closure or annealing. Pore decoration could have led to grain boundary pinning, triggering a switch in the dominant deformation mechanism to grain boundary sliding, which is supported by evidence of CPO destruction in matrix quartz. Pore-decorated grain boundaries have significantly reduced surface area available for adhesion and cohesion, which would reduce the tensile and shear strength of grain boundaries, and hence, the bulk rock. Grain boundary decoration also significantly decreased the mean distance between pores, potentially facilitating dynamic permeability. Consequently, these microstructures provide a new explanation for strain weakening and evidence of fluid flow along grain boundaries in mylonites at mid-crustal conditions.     

2008年汶川地震中断坡-滑脱断层破裂: 龙门山挤压隆升的大地测量证据

青藏高原东缘龙门山构造隆升一直存在挤压造山模式和下地壳层流模式之争.下地壳层流模型认为,龙门山隆升与水平缩短关系不大,山前断层只是高原、盆地间差异性垂直运动的结果,高原之下无需挤压模式中的大规模水平滑脱层.本文利用近场密集的同震形变数据,约束汶川地震破裂几何特征及同震滑动分布.反演结果显示汶川地震撕裂龙门山中南段近水平滑脱层, 宽度达到60～80 km,释放能量约占总标量地震矩的12%,在16～21 km深度出现两三个滑动量高达6～7 m的破裂区.深部低角度破裂往上转为高角度逆冲,沿龙门山中央断裂以约55°倾角出露地表.汶川地震破裂的几何产状和滑移幅度表明龙门山冲断带发育大规模的近水平滑脱层,是青藏高原东缘地壳缩短增厚、龙门山挤压隆升的重要证据.     

利用InSAR资料反演缅甸Mw6.8地震断层滑动分布

2011年3月24日缅甸东北部发生M_w6.8级地震.本文利用覆盖该地区的升降轨ALOS PALSAR数据,获取了该次地震的同震形变场,并采用灰度配准技术获取了其地表破裂位移.针对影像中因轨道不精确造成的非线性长波长误差,本文采用二次多项式曲面法予以去除,获取了更为精确的同震形变场.最后,基于弹性半空间形变模型反演了该地震的断层滑动分布.结果表明,该地震断层滑动以左旋走滑为主,兼具少许的倾滑运动分量,断层滑动主要集中分布在断层面0~10 km深度范围,最大滑动量达5 m,位于地表以下5 km深处.反演获得的地震标量矩为2.49×10¹⁹N·m,震级约为M_w6.8级.     

中秦岭地带重力异常特征及地壳结构的探榷

对陕西榆林—重庆鱼泉综合地球物理大断面中在陕西户县经中秦岭至镇巴测段的重力场给以分析和探讨.文中给出了中秦岭造山带（或中秦岭块体） 的地壳密度结构、Moho界面深度与山根构造特征.并重点分析研究了本测段的重力异常在其地壳结构与构造解释中所明显反应的断裂构造（带）.即中秦岭北侧断裂构造带;中秦岭中部断裂构造系;中秦岭南侧的宁陕断裂构造带;安康（石泉西南）断裂构造带;芭蕉口断裂构造;城口断裂构造带北延段;镇巴断裂构造带;鱼渡断裂构造和铁溪断裂构造.并对各断裂构造带对应的重力异常段计算其水平方向导数V_xz,给出了断裂构造的分布位置、形态、倾向等要素.最后从重力学角度对中秦岭造山带的地壳结构与断裂构造具有的衔接与过渡特征作了相应的探搉.