scholarly journals Kinematic partitioning in the Southern Andes (39° S–46° S) inferred from lineament analysis and reassessment of exhumation rates

Author(s):  
Paul Leon Göllner ◽  
Jan Oliver Eisermann ◽  
Catalina Balbis ◽  
Ivan A. Petrinovic ◽  
Ulrich Riller

AbstractThe Southern Andes are often viewed as a classic example for kinematic partitioning of oblique plate convergence into components of continental margin-parallel strike-slip and transverse shortening. In this regard, the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone, one of Earth’s most prominent intra-arc deformation zones, is believed to be the most important crustal discontinuity in the Southern Andes taking up margin-parallel dextral strike-slip. Recent structural studies, however, are at odds with this simple concept of kinematic partitioning, due to the presence of margin-oblique and a number of other margin-parallel intra-arc deformation zones. However, knowledge on the extent of such zones in the Southern Andes is still limited. Here, we document traces of prominent structural discontinuities (lineaments) from the Southern Andes between 39° S and 46° S. In combination with compiled low-temperature thermochronology data and interpolation of respective exhumation rates, we revisit the issue of kinematic partitioning in the Southern Andes. Exhumation rates are maximal in the central parts of the orogen and discontinuity traces, trending predominantly N–S, WNW–ESE and NE–SW, are distributed across the entire width of the orogen. Notably, discontinuities coincide spatially with large gradients in Neogene exhumation rates and separate crustal domains characterized by uniform exhumation. Collectively, these relationships point to significant components of vertical displacement on these discontinuities, in addition to horizontal displacements known from published structural studies. Our results agree with previously documented Neogene shortening in the Southern Andes and indicate orogen-scale transpression with maximal vertical extrusion of rocks in the center of the transpression zone. The lineament and thermochronology data call into question the traditional view of kinematic partitioning in the Southern Andes, in which deformation is focused on the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone.

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 1025-1040 ◽  
Author(s):  
QiYun Lei ◽  
PeiZhen Zhang ◽  
WenJun Zheng ◽  
ChiZhang Chai ◽  
WeiTao Wang ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 906 (1) ◽  
pp. 012109
Author(s):  
D.A. Vasiliev ◽  
A.V. Prokopiev ◽  
N.N. Ermakov

Abstract The study area is located in the central part of the regional-scale Adycha-Taryn fault zone separating the Adycha-El’gi and Nera anticlinoria in the hinterland of the Verkhoyansk fold-and-thrust belt (central part of the Verkhoyansk-Kolyma orogenic belt). Detailed structural studies were conducted in large quarries in the lower reaches of the El’gi River (Indigirka R. basin). In the Adycha-El’gi anticlinorium, several generations of folds, faults, and cleavage are recorded. The intensity of deformation here is found to gradually increase in NE direction. The NE wall of the Adycha-Taryn fault is thought to be more strongly deformed. The results of our investigations revealed three structural parageneses. The first paragenesis includes thrusts, reverse faults, and intense NW-striking folds of the first generation. The second paragenesis consists of less intense superposed folds of the second generation, with subvertical axes, as well as sinistral strike-slip faults. The previously made assumption is confirmed about manifestation in the study area of at least two deformation stages. We also presuppose the existence of the third deformation stage in which dextral strike-slip faults were formed. A change in the intensity of tectonic deformations both along and across the Adycha-Taryn fault zone is first established. On the southwestern side of the fault zone, the intensity of deformation structures decreases from NW to SE. On the northeastern side, the deformation intensity first increases in that same direction but then tends to diminish. An assumption is made about a growing importance of reverse faults in NW direction, along the Adycha-Taryn fault zone. Orientation of paleostress axes responsible for the formation of tectonic structures in the study area is first determined. Folds and thrusts of the first deformation stage were formed under subhorizontal compression in NE direction. Sinistral strike slips and associated folds of the second deformation stage resulted from WE-oriented subhorizontal compression. The following dextral strike-slip motions occurred in the conditions of NW-directed subhorizontal compression and NE-oriented subhorizontal extension. The studied tectonic deformations were formed in Late Mesozoic time as a result of collision-accretion events in the central part of the Verkhoyansk-Kolyma orogenic belt.


2008 ◽  
Vol 453 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 44-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiming Lin ◽  
Ken-ichi Kano ◽  
Jianming Guo ◽  
Tadashi Maruyama

1991 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-130
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Yelin ◽  
Howard J. Patton

Abstract Portland, Oregon, lies in the southern half of an approximately rectangular basin measuring 30 by 50 km. Since 1969, there have been no earthquakes with M ≥ 4.0 in or on the margins of the Portland basin, but this level of seismicity may not be characteristic of the region. Using microseismicity data collected by the University of Washington regional short-period seismograph network for the period mid-1982 through 1989, we have determined P-wave focal mechanisms for four individual earthquakes and three groups of earthquakes. We have also relocated the 6 November 1962, MW = 5.2 Portland earthquake and analyzed regional surface-wave recordings of this event, using the seismic moment-tensor inversion technique. The results of these seismic analyses, along with geologic and other geophysical data, are integrated into a seismotectonic model of the Portland basin. The P-wave mechanisms are compatible with dextral strike-slip motion along approximately NW-striking fault zones bounding the eastern and western margins of the basin. We speculate that there is a dextral strike-slip fault zone, which we call the Frontal Fault Zone, along the eastern margin of the Portland basin. The western margin has been previously recognized as a zone of dextral strike-slip faulting, known as the Portland Hills Fault Zone. The epicenter of the 1962 earthquake is located between the two fault zones and lies approximately 15 km NE of downtown Portland. Our preferred mechanism is normal faulting on NE- or NNE-trending fault planes. These results support the hypothesis posed by previous investigators that the Portland basin is a pull-apart basin and are evidence for contemporary crustal extension between the Frontal and Portland Hills fault zones.


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