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1.
《Basin Research》2018,30(Z1):363-381
Inversion of pre‐existing extensional fault systems is common in rift systems, back‐arc basins and passive margins. It can significantly influence the development of structural traps in hydrocarbon basins. The analogue models of domino‐style basement fault systems shown in this paper produced, on extension, characteristic hangingwall growth stratal wedges that, when contracted and inverted, formed classic inversion harpoon geometries and asymmetric hangingwall contractional fault‐propagation folds. Segmented footwall shortcut faults formed as the basement faults were progressively back‐rotated and steepened. The pre‐existing extensional fault architectures, basement fault geometries and the relative hangingwall and footwall block rotations exerted fundamental controls on the inversion styles. Digital image correlation (DIC) strain monitoring illustrated complex vertical fault segmentation and linkage during inversion as the major faults were reactivated and strain was progressively transferred onto footwall shortcut faults. Hangingwall deformation during inversion was dominated by significant back‐rotation as the inversion progressed. The mechanical stratigraphy of the cover sequences strongly influenced the fold and fault evolution of the reactivated fault systems. The implications of the experimental results for the interpretation and analysis of inversion structures are discussed and are compared with natural examples of inverted basement‐involved extensional faults observed in seismic datasets.  相似文献   

2.
In this work, we explore by means of analogue models how different basin-bounding fault geometries and thickness of a viscous layer within the otherwise brittle pre-rift sequence influence the deformation and sedimentary patterns of basins related to extension. The experimental device consists of a rigid wooden basement in the footwall to simulate a listric fault. The hangingwall consists of a sequence of pre-rift deposits, including the shallow interlayered viscous layer, and a syn-rift sequence deposited at constant intervals during extension. Two different geometries exist of listric normal faults, dip at 30 and 60° at surface. This imposes different geometries in the hangingwall anticlines and their associated sedimentary basins. A strong contrast exists between models with and without a viscous layer. With a viscous décollement, areas near the main basement fault show a wide normal drag and the hangingwall basin is gently synclinal, with dips in the fault side progressively shallowing upwards. A secondary roll-over structure appears in some of the models. Other structures are: (1) reverse faults dipping steeply towards the main fault, (2) antithetic faults in the footwall, appearing only in models with the 30° dipping fault and silicone-level thicknesses of 1 and 1.5 cm and (3) listric normal faults linked to the termination of the detachment level opposite to the main fault, with significant thickness changes in the syn-tectonic units. The experiments demonstrate the importance of detachment level in conditioning the geometry of extensional sedimentary basins and the possibility of syncline basin geometries associated with a main basement fault. Comparison with several basins with half-graben geometries containing a mid-level décollement supports the experimental results and constrains their interpretation.  相似文献   

3.
The geological features now exposed at Mormon Point, Death Valley, reveal processes of extension that continue to be active, but are concealed beneath the east side of Death Valley. Late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks at Mormon Point crop out in the hangingwall of the Mormon Point low-angle normal fault zone, a fault zone that formed within a releasing bend of the oblique-slip (right-normal slip) fault zone along the east side of Death Valley. The late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks were part of the valley when the low-angle fault zone was active, but during late Quaternary time they became part of the Black Mountains block and were uplifted. Rocks and structures exposed at Mormon Point are an example of the types of features developed in a releasing bend along the margins of a major pull-apart structure, and in this example they are very similar to features associated with regional detachment faults. The oldest sedimentary rocks in the hangingwall of the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone dip steeply to moderately east or north-east and were faulted and rotated in an extensional kinematic environment different from that recorded by rocks and structures associated with younger rocks in the hangingwall. Some of the younger parts of the late Cenozoic sedimentary rocks were deposited, faulted and rotated during movement on the Mormon Point low-angle normal fault. Progressively, strata are less faulted and less rotated. The Mormon Point low-angle normal fault has an irregular fault surface whose segments define intersections that plunge 18°-30°, N10°-40°W, with a maximum of 22°, N22°W that we interpret to be the general direction of slip. Thus, even though Death Valley trends north, movement on the faults responsible for its formation was at least locally north-northwest. Gouge and disrupted conglomerates along the faults are interpreted to have formed either as adjustments to accommodate space problems at the corners of blocks or along faults that bounded blocks during their displacement and rotation. The younger units of the late Cenozoic sedimentary rock sequence and the geomorphic surfaces developed on them are rarely faulted, not rotated, and overlap the Mormon Point low-angle faults. Active faults cut Holocene alluvium north of the late Cenozoic rocks and form the present boundary between Mormon Point and the Black Mountains. The distribution of active faults defines a releasing bend that mimics the older releasing bend formed by the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone. Rocks and structures similar to those exposed above the Mormon Point low-angle fault zone are probably forming today beneath the east side of Death Valley north-west of Mormon Point.  相似文献   

4.
The Sub-Balkan graben system of central Bulgaria   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
The Sub-Balkan graben system in central Bulgaria forms the present northern boundary of the Aegean extensional region. This east-trending graben system lies along the southern flank of the Stara Planina range and consists mainly of half-grabens. The sedimentary fill in the grabens ranges in age from late Miocene to Recent and records the initiation and evolution of the graben system. The sedimentary fill in the grabens is oldest in the central graben and becomes progressively younger to the west and east, indicating a diachronous development of the grabens. Grabens are formed in the hangingwalls of south-dipping low-angle normal faults which have been displaced by younger higher angle normal faults along the foot of the Stara Planina. Hangingwall rocks have been complexly faulted and rotated such that some graben fill has been rotated down-to-the-north. The Sredna Gora range south of the grabens is part of a complexly faulted and rotated hangingwall block bounded on the south by south-dipping normal faults forming the northern boundary of the Thracian Basin. The Stara Planina range has been formed by uplift and rotation due to footwall unloading along the low-angle normal faults and forms the northern margin of the graben system. Most of the topography of Bulgaria south of the Sub-Balkan graben system is the result of late Miocene to Recent extensional processes linked to the Aegean region that have been superposed on convergent features and earlier extensional features that extend back to late Eocene time.  相似文献   

5.
Exceptional 3‐D exposures of fault blocks forming a 5 km × 10 km clastic sediment‐starved, marine basin (Carboneras subbasin, southeast Spain) allow a test of the response of carbonate sequence stratigraphic architectures to climatic and tectonic forcing. Temperate and tropical climatic periods recorded in biofacies serve as a chronostratigraphic framework to reconstruct the status of the basin within three time‐slices (late Tortonian–early Messinian, late Messinian, Pliocene). Structural maps and isopach maps trace out the distribution of fault blocks, faults, and over time, their relative motions, propagational patterns and life times, which demonstrate a changing layout of the basin because of a rotation of the regional transtensional stress field. Progradation of early Messinian reefal systems was perpendicular to the master faults of the blocks, which were draped by condensed fore‐slope sediments. The hangingwall basins coincided with the toe‐of‐slope of the reef systems. The main phase of block faulting during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian influenced the palaeogeography until the late Pliocene (cumulative throw < 150–240 m), whereas displacements along block bounding faults, which moved into the hangingwall, died out over time. An associated shift of the depocentres of calciturbidites, slump masses and fault scarp degradation breccias reflects 500–700 m of fault propagation into the hangingwall. The shallow‐water systems of the footwall areas were repeatedly subject to emergence and deep peripheral erosion, which imply slow net relative uplift of the footwall. In the dip‐slope settings, erosional truncations of tilted proximal deposits prevail, which indicate rotational relative uplift. Block movements were on the order of magnitude of third order sea‐level fluctuations during the late Tortonian and earliest Messinian. We suggest that this might be the reason for the common presence of offlapping geometries in early Messinian reef systems of the Betic Cordilleras. During the late Pliocene, uplift rates fell below third order rates of sea‐level variations. However, at this stage, the basin was uplifted too far to be inundated by the sea again. The evolution of the basin may serve as a model for many other extensional basins around the world.  相似文献   

6.
We use three‐dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data to analyse the architecture of the footwall of a listric fault, in a gravitationally driven extensional system, in the north‐western Niger Delta. In contrast to conventional listric normal fault models with a single master listric fault plane the level of detachment switches from a deeper to shallower level. The footwall evolves through the generation of new master detachment faults and detachments, which transfers hanging wall rocks into the footwall. New detachments form by branching off pre‐existing detachment levels, cutting‐up through stratigraphy to the next mechanical weakness, separating discrete sections of extended strata. As a consequence a deeper, older array of seaward‐dipping, tilted extensional fault blocks is now located in the footwall beneath the master listric detachment fault. The structural complexity located below the master detachment fault highlights extensional episodes on separate detachment faults that are not captured in conventional listric models. We speculate that changes in the level of the detachment are caused by mechanical weaknesses controlled by lithology, pore pressure and episodes of sediment loading related to deltaic progradation.  相似文献   

7.
Faulting exerts an important control upon drainage development in active extensional basins and thus helps determine the architecture of the sedimentary infill to a synrift basin. Examples of the interaction between faulting and drainage from the western United States and central Greece may be grouped into a relatively small number of classes based upon the structural position of a drainage catchment: footwall, hangingwall, fault offset and axial. Our examples illustrate the diversity of erosional effects that might arise because of variations in the spacing, orientation and segmentation of faults and their interactions. Where basement lithology is similar, footwall catchments are generally smaller, shorter and steeper than those of the hangingwall. Footwall-sourced alluvial fans and fan deltas are: generally smaller in area than those sourced from similar lithologies in the hangingwall. Wide fault offsets often give rise to large drainage catchments in the footwall. The development of axial drainage depends upon the breaching of transverse bedrock ridges by headward stream erosion or by lake overflow. Once breaching has occurred the direction of axial stream flow is controlled by the potential developed between basins of contrasting widths. Fault migration and propagation leads to the uplift, erosion and resedimentation of the sedimentary infill to formerly active basins, leading to the cutting of footwall unconformities. The outward sediment flux from structurally controlled catchments is modulated in an important way by lithology and runoff. The greatest contrasts in basement lithology arise when fault migration and propagation have occurred, such that the sedimentary fill to previously active basins is uplifted, incised and eroded by the establishment of large new drainage systems in the footwalls of younger faults. Drainage patterns in areas where faults interact can shed light on the relative timing of activity and therefore the occurrence of fault migration and propagation. Facies and palaeocurrent trends in ancient grabens may only be correctly interpreted when observations are made on a length scale of 10–20 km, comparable to that of the largest fault segments.  相似文献   

8.
Miocene strata of the Shadow Valley Basin rest unconformably on the upper plate of the Kingston Range - Halloran Hills detachment fault system in the eastern Mojave desert, California. Basin development occurred in two broad phases that we interpret as a response to changes in footwall geometry. In southern portions of the basin, south of the Kingston Range, phase one began with near synchronous initiation of detachment faulting, volcanism and basin sedimentation shortly after 13.4 Ma. Between c. 13.4 and c. 10 Ma, concordantly bedded phase one strata were deposited onto the subsiding hangingwall of the detachment fault as it was translated 5–9 km south-westward with only limited internal deformation. Phase two (c. 10 to 8–5 Ma) is marked by extensional dismemberment of the detachment fault's upper plate along predominantly west-dipping normal faults. Phase two sediments were deposited synchronously with upper-plate normal faulting and unconformably overlie phase one deposits, displaying progressive shallowing in dip and intraformational onlap. Northern portions of the basin, in the Kingston Range, experienced a similar two-phase development compressed into a shorter interval of time. Here, phase one occurred between c. 13.4 and 12.8–12.5 (?) Ma, whereas phase two probably lasted for no more than a few 100000 years immediately prior to c. 12.4 Ma. Differences in the duration of basin development in and south of the Kingston Range apparently relate to position with respect to the detachment fault's breakaway; northern basin exposures overlie the upper plate adjacent to the breakaway (0–15 km) whereas southern basin exposures occur far from the breakaway (20–40 km). We interpret the phase one to phase two transition as recording breakup of the detachment fault's hangingwall during footwall uplift. We propose a model for supradetachment basin evolution in which early, concordantly bedded basin strata are deposited on the hangingwall as it translates intact above a weakly deforming footwall. With continuing extension, tectonic denudation along the detachment fault leads to an increasing flexural isostatic footwall response. We suggest that isostatic footwall uplift may drive internal breakup of the upper plate as the detachment fault is rotated to a shallow dip, mechanically unfavourable for simple upper-plate translation. Additionally, we argue that continuing hangingwall thinning during phase two places geometrical constraints on the timing, amount and, thus, rate of footwall uplift. Kinematically determined footwall uplift rates (0.5–4.5 mm/yr) are comparable with rates determined independently by thermochronological and geobarometric methods.  相似文献   

9.
We describe the tectono‐sedimentary evolution of a Middle Jurassic, rift‐related supra‐detachment basin of the ancient Alpine Tethys margin exposed in the Central Alps (SE Switzerland). Based on pre‐Alpine restoration, we demonstrate that the rift basin developed over a detachment system that is traced over more than 40 km from thinned continental crust to exhumed mantle. The detachment faults are overlain by extensional allochthons consisting of upper crustal rocks and pre‐rift sediments up to several kilometres long and several hundreds of metres thick, compartmentalizing the distal margin into sub‐basins. We mapped and restored one of these sub‐basins, the Samedan Basin. It consists of a V‐shape geometry in map view, which is confined by extensional allochthons and floored by a detachment fault. It can be restored over a minimum distance of 11 km along and about 4 km perpendicular to the basin axis. Its sedimentary infill can be subdivided into basal (initial), intermediate (widening) and top (post‐tectonic) facies tracts. These tracts document (1) formation of the basin initially bounded by high‐angle faults and developing into low‐angle detachment faults, (2) widening of the basin and (3) migration of deformation further outboard. The basal facies tract is made of locally derived, poorly sorted gravity flow deposits that show a progressive change from hangingwall to footwall‐derived lithologies. Upsection the sediments develop into turbidity current deposits that show retrogradation (intermediate facies tract) and starvation of the sedimentary system (post‐tectonic facies tract). On the scale of the distal margin, the syn‐tectonic record documents a thinning‐ and fining‐upward sequence related to the back stepping of the tectonically derived sediment source, progressive starvation of the sedimentary system and migration of deformation resulting in exhumation and progressive delamination of the thinned crust during final rifting. This study provides valuable insights into the tectono‐sedimentary evolution and stratigraphic architecture of a supra‐detachment basin formed over hyper‐extended crust.  相似文献   

10.
Our current understanding on sedimentary deep-water environments is mainly built of information obtained from tectonic settings such as passive margins and foreland basins. More observations from extensional settings are particularly needed in order to better constrain the role of active tectonics in controlling sediment pathways, depositional style and stratigraphic stacking patterns. This study focuses on the evolution of a Plio-Pleistocene deep-water sedimentary system (Rethi-Dendro Formation) and its relation to structural activity in the Amphithea fault block in the Corinth Rift, Greece. The Corinth Rift is an active extensional basin in the early stages of rift evolution, providing perfect opportunities for the study of early deep-water syn-rift deposits that are usually eroded from the rift shoulders due to erosion in mature basins like the Red Sea, North Sea and the Atlantic rifted margin. The depocentre is located at the exit of a structurally controlled sediment fairway, approximately 15 km from its main sediment source and 12 km basinwards from the basin margin coastline. Fieldwork, augmented by digital outcrop techniques (LiDAR and photogrammetry) and clast-count compositional analysis allowed identification of 16 stratigraphic units that are grouped into six types of depositional elements: A—mudstone-dominated sheets, B—conglomerate-dominated lobes, C—conglomerate channel belts and sandstone sheets, D—sandstone channel belts, E—sandstone-dominated broad shallow lobes, F—sandstone-dominated sheets with broad shallow channels. The formation represents an axial system sourced by a hinterland-fed Mavro delta, with minor contributions from a transverse system of conglomerate-dominated lobes sourced from intrabasinal highs. The results of clast compositional analysis enable precise attribution for the different sediment sources to the deep-water system and their link to other stratigraphic units in the area. Structures in the Amphithea fault block played a major role in controlling the location and orientation of sedimentary systems by modifying basin-floor gradients due to a combination of hangingwall tilt, displacement of faults internal to the depocentre and folding on top of blind growing faults. Fault activity also promoted large-scale subaqueous landslides and eventual uplift of the whole fault block.  相似文献   

11.
The Middle Devonian Kvamshesten Basin in western Norway is a late-orogenic basin situated in the hangingwall of the regional extensional Nordfjord–Sogn Detachment Zone. The basin is folded into a syncline with the axis subparallel to the ductile lineations in the detachment zone. The structural and stratigraphic development of the Kvamshesten Basin indicates that the basin history is more complex than hitherto recognized. The parallelism stated by previous workers between mylonitic lineation below the basin and intrabasinal fold axes is only partly reflected in the configuration of sedimentary units and in the time-relations between deposits on opposing basin margins. The basin shows a pronounced asymmetry in the organization and timing of sedimentary facies units. The present northern basin margin was characterized by bypass or erosion at the earliest stage of basin formation, but was subsequently onlapped and eventually overlain by fanglomerates and sandstones organized in well-defined coarsening-upwards successions. The oldest and thickest depositional units are situated along the present southern basin margin. This as well as onlap relations towards basement at low stratigraphic level indicates a significant component of southwards tilt of the basin floor during the earliest stages of deposition. The inferred south-eastwards tilt was most likely produced by north-westwards extension during early stages of basin formation. Synsedimentary intrabasinal faults show that at high stratigraphic levels, the basin was extending in an E–W as well as a N–S direction. Thus, the basin records an anticlockwise rotation of the syndepositional strain field. In addition, our observations indicate that shortening normal to the extension direction cannot have been both syndepositional and continuous, as suggested by previous authors. Through most of its history, the basin was controlled by a listric, ramp-flat low-angle fault that developed into a scoop shape or was flanked by transfer faults. The basin-controlling fault was rooted in the extensional mylonite zone. Sedimentation was accompanied by formation of a NE- to N-trending extensional rollover fold pair, evidenced by thickness variations in the marginal fan complexes, onlap relations towards basement and the fanning wedge geometry displayed by the Devonian strata. Further E–W extension was accompanied by N–S shortening, resulting in extension-parallel folds and thrusts that mainly post-date the preserved basin stratigraphy. During shortening, conjugate extensional faults were rotated to steeper dips on the flanks of a basin-wide syncline and re-activated as strike-slip faults. The present scoop-shaped, low-angle Dalsfjord fault cross-cut the folded basin and juxtaposed it against the extensional mylonites in the footwall of the Nordfjord–Sogn detachment. Much of this juxtaposition may post-date sedimentation in the preserved parts of the basin. Basinal asymmetry as well as variations in this asymmetry on a regional scale may be explained by the Kvamshesten and other Devonian basins in western Norway developing in a strain regime affected by large-scale sinistral strike-slip subparallel to the Caledonian orogen.  相似文献   

12.
Listric extensional fault systems - results of analogue model experiments   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
Abstract Analogue models are a powerful tool for investigating progressive deformation in extensional fault systems. This paper presents exciting new insights into the progressive evolution of hanging wall structures in listric extensional terranes. Analogue models, scaled to simulate deformation in a sedimentary sequence, were constructed for simple listric and ramp/flat listric extensional detachments. For each detachment geometry homogeneous sand, sand/mica and sand/clay models were used to simulate respectively, deformation of isotropic sediments, of anisotropic sediments and of sedimentary sequences with competency contrasts. Roll-over anticlines with geometrically necessary crestal collapse graben structures are characteristic of the steepening-upwards segments of listric extensional fault systems in all of our models. With progressive deformation, crestal collapse grabens show hanging wall nucleation of new faults. Variations in graben size, amount of fault rotation and throw, are dependent on detachment curvature and amount of extension. Individual faults and associated fault blocks may significantly change shape during extension. Complex and apparently conjugate fault arrays are the result of superposition of successive crestal collapse grabens. Ramp/flat listric extensional fault systems are characterized by a roll-over anticline and a crestal collapse graben system associated with each steepening-upwards segment of the detachment and a ramp zone consisting of a hanging wall syncline and a complex deformation zone with local reverse faults. The roll-over anticlines and crestal collapse graben are similar in geometry to those formed in simple listric extensional systems. The models demonstrate that the geometry of the detachments exerts a fundamental control on the evolution of hanging wall structures. Analysis of particle displacement paths for these experiments provides new insights into the mechanical development of roll-over anticlines. Two general models for deformation above simple listric and ramp/flat listric extensional detachments have been erected.  相似文献   

13.
ABSTRACT This study addresses the complex relationship between an evolving fault population and patterns of synrift sedimentation during the earliest stages of extension. We have used 3D seismic and well data to examine the early synrift Tarbert Formation from the Middle–Late Jurassic northern North Sea rift basin. The Tarbert Formation is of variable thickness across the study area, and thickness variations define a number of 1- to 5-km-wide depocentres bounded by normal faults. Seismic reflections diverge towards the bounding faults indicating that the faults were active contemporaneous with the deposition of the formation. Many of these faults became inactive during later Heather Formation times. The preservation of the Tarbert Formation in both footwall and hangingwall locations demonstrates that, during the earliest synrift, the rate of deposition balanced the rate of tectonic subsidence. Local space generated by hangingwall subsidence was superimposed upon accommodation generated due to a regional rise in relative sea-level. In basal Tarbert Formation times, transgression across the prerift coastal plain produced lagoons and bays, which became increasingly marine. During continued transgression, barrier islands moved landward across the drowned bays. In the southern part of our study area, shallow marine sediments are erosionally truncated by fluvial deposition. These fluvial systems were constrained by fault growth monoclines, and flowed parallel to the main faults. We illustrate that stratal architecture and facies distribution of early sedimentation is strongly influenced by the active short-lived faults. Local depocentres adjacent to fault displacement maxima focused channel stacking and allowed the aggradation of thick shoreface successions. These depocentres formed early in the rift phase are not necessarily related to Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous depocentres developed along the major linked normal fault systems.  相似文献   

14.
A new subtype of Gilbert-type fan deltas, ‘the trapezoidal fan delta’, characterized by the absence of bottomset deposits, is recognized in the south-western active margins of the Corinth rift in central Greece. They are formed adjacent to master extensional listric faults and developed by progradation either onto a subaqueous basin escarpment or across a subaerial platform where alluvial fans have accumulated. Simultaneously with master fault activity, displacements on counter faults along intrabasinal basement highs produced fan delta foreset deposits. Furthermore, footwall imbrication and uplift along the listric faults, as well as transfer fault displacement, have strongly influenced the pattern of fan delta sedimentation.  相似文献   

15.
We employed a discrete‐element technique to investigate the effects of cover strength and fault dip on the style of fault‐propagation folding above a blind normal fault. Deformation in the cover is initially characterised by an upward‐widening monocline that is often replaced, with continued slip on the basement fault, by a single, through‐going fault. Localisation on a single fault produces hangingwall synclines and footwall anticlines as a result of breaching of the earlier monocline and which do not represent ‘drag’ against the fault. As basement fault dip decreases the width of the monocline at the surface increases. Experiments varying the strength of the overburden material illustrate the control that cover strength has on both fault propagation and folding in the cover. Reduction of the strength of the cover results in: (1) the width of the monocline above the fault tip increasing, and (2) more marked footwall thinning and hangingwall thickening of beds. In contrast, an increase in cover strength results in a narrower monocline and rapid propagation of the basement fault into the cover. In multi‐layer (variable strength) experiments simultaneous faulting of competent layers and flow of weaker layers produces complex structural relationships. Faults in the cover die out up and down section and do not link to the basement fault at depth. Similarly, complex macroscopically ductile characteristics such as footwall thinning and hangingwall thickening can be juxtaposed against simple brittle fault cut‐offs. These relationships must be borne in mind when interpreting the field and seismic expression of such structures. We discuss the modelling results in terms of their implications for structural interpretation and the surficial expression of fault‐related folding in extensional settings.  相似文献   

16.
《Geomorphology》2002,42(1-2):97-116
Geological and geomorphological surveys have been performed in the area affected by the 1997–1998 Umbria–Marche seismic sequence (Mmax=6.0) aimed at defining the Quaternary tectonic history and the characteristics of the present tectonic regime. Data have been collected from: (1) the analysis of the remnant landsurfaces by means of aerial photos and field surveys; (2) geological surveys in the Cesi–San Martino basin and in the easternmost sector of the Colfiorito basin in order to identify deformative features affecting the Quaternary deposits; (3) the analysis of boreholes and geo-electrical data (derived from previous surveys performed in the 1960s) in order to reconstruct the top of the pre-Quaternary substratum in the Colfiorito basin. Two different successions of remnant landsurfaces have been identified along the faults bounding the basins to the east, in the hangingwall and the footwall, respectively. The difference accounts for a fault-controlled evolution of the landscape at least during the Upper Pliocene–Early Pleistocene. The deformation affecting the Quaternary deposits and landforms in the investigated basins indicates a decreasing tectonic activity along the master faults since the Middle Pleistocene. Surface deformation due to tectonics is faint and displayed by gentle warping of the landforms during the late Quaternary. As for the basin geometry, subsurface data show that two minor depressions formed in the Colfiorito Basin during the Quaternary, the oldest one close to the fault bounding the basin, while the youngest (and deepest) formed in the inner portion of the basin. Therefore, the present geometry is different from that of other fault-bounded Quaternary depressions of the central Apennines (typically half-graben basins), showing the maximum depth of the substratum in the area close to the master fault. Tectonic history may be summarised as follows: (1) origin of the Quaternary fault-bounded Colfiorito and Cesi–San Martino basins; (2) evolution of the basins with a half-graben style; (3) significant reduction of tectonic activity since the Middle Pleistocene. During the third phase, the evolution of the basins is no longer related to a half-graben style. In the case of the Colfiorito basin, a new depression is superimposed to on the previous half-graben whose evolution is related to the lowering of the inner portion of the basin through warping. Moreover, present activity does not result in fault-related surficial displacements but only in “continuous” deformation spread over the basins. These conclusions have fundamental implications for the seismotectonic framework of the 1997–1998 earthquake sequence. This deformation style is, indeed, in agreement with the coseismic deformation modelled by means of the SAR interferometry analyses carried out by other institutions during the seismic sequence, and with the lack of evident surface faulting related to the mentioned events in the investigated area. This evidence indicates that the evolution of the investigated area since the Middle Pleistocene resulted from the summation of deformative episodes similar to that which occurred during the recent seismic sequence. As a consequence, no earthquakes with magnitude larger than 6 are expected in the area.  相似文献   

17.
Extensional faults and folds exert a fundamental control on the location, thickness and partitioning of sedimentary deposits on rift basins. The connection between the mode of extensional fault reactivation, resulting fault shape and extensional fold growth is well‐established. The impact of folding on accommodation evolution and growth package architecture, however, has received little attention; particularly the role‐played by fault‐perpendicular (transverse) folding. We study a multiphase rift basin with km‐scale fault displacements using a large high‐quality 3D seismic data set from the Fingerdjupet Subbasin in the southwestern Barents Sea. We link growth package architecture to timing and mode of fault reactivation. Dip linkage of deep and shallow fault segments resulted in ramp‐flat‐ramp fault geometry, above which fault‐parallel fault‐bend folds developed. The folds limited the accommodation near their causal faults, leading to deposition within a fault‐bend synclinal growth basin further into the hangingwall. Continued fold growth led to truncation of strata near the crest of the fault‐bend anticline before shortcut faulting bypassed the ramp‐flat‐ramp structure and ended folding. Accommodation along the fault‐parallel axis is controlled by the transverse folds, the location and size of which depends on the degree of linkage in the fault network and the accumulated displacement on causal faults. We construct transverse fold trajectories by tracing transverse fold hinges through space and time to highlight the positions of maximum and minimum accommodation and potential sediment entry points to hangingwall growth basins. The length and shape of the constructed trajectories relate to the displacement on their parent faults, duration of fault activity, timing of transverse basin infill, fault linkage and strain localization. We emphasize that the considerable wavelength, amplitudes and potential periclinal geometry of extensional folds make them viable targets for CO2 storage or hydrocarbon exploration in rift basins.  相似文献   

18.
Subduction zones provide direct insight into plate boundary deformation and by studying these areas we better understand tectonic processes and variability over time. We studied the structure of the offshore subduction zone system of the Pampean flat‐slab segment (ca. 29–33°S) of the Chilean margin using seismic and bathymetric constraints. Here, we related and analysed the structural styles of the offshore and onshore western fore‐arc. Overlying the acoustic top of the continental basement, two syn‐extensional seismic sequences were recognised and correlated with onshore geological units and the Valparaíso Forearc Basin seismic sequences: (SII) Pliocene‐Pleistocene and (SI) Miocene‐Pliocene (Late Cretaceous (?) to Miocene‐Pliocene) syn‐extensional sequences. These sequences are separated by an unconformity (i.e. Valparaíso Unconformity). Seismic reflection data reveal that the eastward dipping extensional system (EI) recognised at the upper slope can be extended to the middle slope and controlled the accumulation of the older seismic package (SI). The westward dipping extensional system (EII) is essentially restricted to the middle slope. Here, EII cuts the eastward dipping extensional system (EI), preferentially parallel to the inclination of the older sequences (SI), and controlled a series of middle slope basins which are filled by the Pliocene‐Pleistocene seismic sequence (SII). At the upper slope and in the western Coastal Cordillera, the SII sequence is controlled by eastward dipping faults (EII) which are the local reactivation of older extensional faults (EI). The tectonic boundary between the middle (eastern outermost forearc block) and upper continental slope (western coastal block) is a prominent system of trenchward dipping normal fault scarps (ca. 1 km offset) that resemble a major trenchward dipping extensional fault system. This prominent structural feature can be readily detected along the Chilean erosive margin as well as the two extensional sets (EI and EII). Evidence of slumping, thrusting, reactivated faults and mass transport deposits, were recognised in the slope domain and locally restricted to some eastern dipping faults. These features could be related to gravitational effects or slope deformation due to coseismic deformation. The regional inclination of the pre‐Pliocene sequences favoured the gravitational collapse of the outermost forearc block. We propose that the structural configuration of the study area is dominantly controlled by tectonic erosion as well as the uplift of the Coastal Cordillera, which is partially controlled by pre‐Pliocene architecture.  相似文献   

19.
Active diapirs are commonly observed in sedimentary basins worldwide. Factors controlling overburden deformation processes and patterns during the active rise of active diapirs, such as sediment cohesion and overburden thickness, are not well understood. We have utilised the discrete element numerical simulation method to simulate active diapirism in models comprised of sediments with varying cohesions and roof thicknesses. We found that sediment cohesion can significantly affect overburden deformation with low-cohesion sediments favouring the generation of a broad, smooth forced fold and a symmetric graben, while high-cohesion sediments favour the formation of master reverse faults and preferentially uplifted and rotated fault blocks in their hangingwalls in the central crest, with an overall asymmetric structural geometry. Moreover, overburden thickness does not significantly affect structural styles in the overburden. Our results also suggest that the higher the sediment cohesion, the higher the amplitude (the lower the wavelength) of the forced fold above the rising diapir becomes. Our models produced a wide spectrum of deformation structures that resemble those in nature and reveal a strong link between structural styles and sediment diagenesis in the context of active diapir-piercing sediments with varying degrees of lithification.  相似文献   

20.
Field data from onshore exposures of the Oligo-Miocene Gulf of Suez Rift in the Sinai document the passive rotation of early formed mesoscale synthetic and antithetic faults and associated half-graben due to long-lived activity on large displacement (2–5 km) block-bounding faults. Early formed small-displacement (<350 m) mesoscale antithetic faults and half-graben within regional-scale fault blocks underwent progressive steepening due to footwall uplift, rotational faulting and footwall flexing on large-displacement, block-bounding faults. In contrast, mesoscale synthetic faults were progressively rotated to shallower angles. Analysis of palaeohorizontal surfaces within synrift sediments deposited in half-graben adjacent to the mesoscale faults indicate passive rotations of up to 25° about horizontal axes since deposition. Passive burial and in-filling of early formed mesoscale faults and half-graben by synrift sediments is consistent with extension being transferred from numerous mesoscale faults to few block-bounding macroscale faults as extension preceded. Furthermore, this transfer of extension appears to be associated with a marked change in basin configuration, synrift sediment dispersal patterns and facies development. Identification of early formed, passively rotated normal faults and half-graben is important for correctly reconstructing the early stages of basin palaeogeography and sediment dispersal, and for addressing models of rift basin evolution.  相似文献   

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