| Abstract: | Finite strain data from the Kuopio mantled gneiss domes are described. Synclines located between two domes have flattening-type strains while those situated between more than two domes exhibit constrictional strains. Cleavage trajectory patterns show that cleavage tends to parallel the dome boundaries and encloses characteristic points termed “cleavage triple points”, at junctions of synclines. The stretching lineation is generally steeply plunging in a mean southwest direction. Folds range from inclined to reclined. Their asymmetry is apparently related to irregularities in the cover-basement boundary. Two shear components of the deformation have been deduced from available data. The major one is steeply plunging and is well exhibited by cleavage fans, steeply plunging lineations and finite-strain gradients. The second shear component is horizontal, as deduced from asymmetric folds and other small-scale structures, and is controlled by bosses and dimples in the cover-basement boundaries.The described structural features are explained in terms of interference between progressively inflating neighbouring diapirs. Furthermore, some of these features, such as cleavage triple points, flattening between two domes and constriction between three or more domes, and horizontal shear components controlled by cover-basement boundary irregularities, could be used as criteria of diapirism. A model of progressive dome interference is presented in which each dome inflates and interacts with neighbours. Such a model could possibly be applied to other orogenic situations with closely spaced diapirs, e.g., Archean greenstone belts or granite-rich orogenic belts. |
