Normal fault growth influenced by basement fabrics: The importance of preferential nucleation from pre‐existing structures

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Collanega ◽  
Katherine Siuda ◽  
Christopher A.‐L. Jackson ◽  
Rebecca E. Bell ◽  
Alexander J. Coleman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Normal Fault ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Preferential Nucleation ◽  
Fault Growth

scholarly journals A new model for the growth of normal faults developed above pre-existing structures

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma K. Bramham ◽  
Tim J. Wright ◽  
Douglas A. Paton ◽  
David M. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Early Period ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Constant Length ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Fault Growth

Constraining the mechanisms of normal fault growth is essential for understanding extensional tectonics. Fault growth kinematics remain debated, mainly because the very earliest phase of deformation through recent syn-kinematic deposits is rarely documented. To understand how underlying structures influence surface faulting, we examined fault growth in a 10 ka magmatically resurfaced region of the Krafla fissure swarm, Iceland. We used a high-resolution (0.5 m) digital elevation model derived from airborne lidar to measure 775 fault profiles with lengths ranging from 0.015 to 2 km. For each fault, we measured the ratio of maximum vertical displacement to length (Dmax/L) and any nondisplaced portions of the fault. We observe that many shorter faults (<200 m) retain fissure-like features, with no vertical displacement for substantial parts of their displacement profiles. Typically, longer faults (>200 m) are vertically displaced along most of their surface length and have Dmax/L at the upper end of the global population for comparable lengths. We hypothesize that faults initiate at the surface as fissure-like fractures in resurfaced material as a result of flexural stresses caused by displacements on underlying faults. Faults then accrue vertical displacement following a constant-length model, and grow by dip and strike linkage or lengthening when they reach a bell-shaped displacement-length profile. This hybrid growth mechanism is repeated with deposition of each subsequent syn-kinematic layer, resulting in a remarkably wide distribution of Dmax/L. Our results capture a specific early period in the fault slip-deposition cycle in a volcanic setting that may be applicable to fault growth in sedimentary basins.

Influence of normal fault growth and linkage on the evolution of a rift basin: A case from the Gaoyou depression of the Subei Basin, eastern China

AAPG Bulletin ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 101 (02) ◽  
pp. 265-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin Liu ◽  
Qinghua Chen ◽  
Xi Wang ◽  
Kai Hu ◽  
Shaolei Cao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eastern China ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Rift Basin ◽  
Fault Growth

scholarly journals Contrasting geomorphic and stratigraphic responses to normal fault development during single and multi-phase rifting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofia Pechlivanidou ◽  
Anneleen Geurts ◽  
Guillaume Duclaux ◽  
Robert Gawthorpe ◽  
Christos Pennos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Normal Fault ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
Surface Processes ◽  
Extension Direction ◽  
Multi Phase ◽  
Fault Growth ◽  
Stratigraphic Evolution ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Topographic Evolution ◽  
Previous Phase

Understanding the impact of tectonics on surface processes and the resultant stratigraphic evolution in multi-phase rifts is challenging, as patterns of erosion and deposition related to older phases of extension are overprinted by the subsequent extensional phases. In this study, we use a one-way coupled numerical modelling approach between a tectonic and a surface processes model to investigate topographic evolution, erosion and basin stratigraphy during single and multi-phase rifting. We compare the results from the single and the multi-phase rift experiments for a 5 Myr period during which they experience equal amounts of extension, but with the multi-phase experiment experiencing fault topography inherited from a previous phase of extension. Our results demonstrate a very dynamic evolution of the drainage network that occurs in response to fault growth and linkage and, to depocentre overfilling and overspilling. However, we observe profound differences between topographic and depocenter development during single and multi-phase rifting with implications for sedimentary facies development. Our quantitative approach, enables us to better understand the impact of changing extension direction on the distribution of sediment source areas and the syn-rift stratigraphic development through time and space.

Displacement and interaction of normal fault segments branched at depth: Implications for fault growth and potential earthquake rupture size

2008 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1288-1299 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Soliva ◽  
A. Benedicto ◽  
R.A. Schultz ◽  
L. Maerten ◽  
L. Micarelli
Keyword(s):  
Normal Fault ◽  
Earthquake Rupture ◽  
Fault Growth

Normal fault growth and segment linkage in a gravitationally detached delta system: evidence from 3D seismic reflection data from the Ceduna Sub-basin, Great Australian Bight

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 467
Author(s):  
Alexander Robson ◽  
Rosalind King ◽  
Simon Holford
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Fault Plane ◽  
Structural Evolution ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
Listric Fault ◽  
Dip Angle ◽  
Fault Growth

The authors used three-dimensional (3D) seismic reflection data from the central Ceduna Sub-Basin, Australia, to establish the structural evolution of a linked normal fault assemblage at the extensional top of a gravitationally driven delta system. The fault assemblage presented is decoupled at the base of a marine mud from the late Albian age. Strike-linkage has created a northwest–southeast oriented assemblage of normal fault segments and dip-linkage through Santonian strata, which connects a post-Santonian normal fault system to a Cenomanian-Santonian listric fault system. Cenomanian-Santonian fault growth is on the kilometre scale and builds an underlying structural grain, defining the geometry of the post-Santonian fault system. A fault plane dip-angle model has been created and established through simplistic depth conversion. This converts throw into fault plane dip-slip displacement, incorporating increasing heave of a listric fault and decreasing in dip-angle with depth. The analysis constrains fault growth into six evolutionary stages: early Cenomanian nucleation and radial growth of isolated fault segments; linkage of fault segments by the latest Cenomanian; latest Santonian Cessation of fault growth; erosion and heavy incision during the continental break-up of Australia and Antarctica (c. 83 Ma); vertically independent nucleation of the post-Santonian fault segments with rapid length establishment before significant displacement accumulation; and, continued displacement into the Cenozoic. The structural evolution of this fault system is compatible with the isolated fault model and segmented coherent fault model, indicating that these fault growth models do not need to be mutually exclusive to the growth of normal fault assemblages.

scholarly journals River profile response to normal fault growth and linkage: An example from the Hellenic forearc of south-central Crete, Greece

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean F. Gallen ◽  
Karl W. Wegmann
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Drainage Area ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Stream Power ◽  
River Incision ◽  
South Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fault Growth

Abstract. Topography is a reflection of the tectonic and geodynamic processes that act to uplift the Earth's surface and the erosional processes that work to return it to base level. Numerous studies have shown that topography is a sensitive recorder or tectonic signals. A quasi-physical understanding of the relationship between river incision and rock uplift has made the analysis of fluvial topography a popular technique for deciphering relative, and some argue absolute, histories of rock uplift. Here we present results from a study of the fluvial topography from south-central Crete demonstrating that river longitudinal profiles indeed record the relative history of uplift, but several other processes make it difficult to recover quantitative uplift histories. Prior research demonstrates that the south-central coastline of Crete is bound by a large (~100 km long) E-W striking composite normal fault system. Marine terraces reveal that it is uplifting between 0.1–1.0 mm yr−1. These studies suggest that two normal fault systems, the offshore Ptolemy and onshore South-Central Crete faults linked together in the recent geologic past (Ca. 0.4–1 Myrs bp). Fault mechanics predicts that when adjacent faults link into a single fault the uplift rate in the linkage zone will increase rapidly. Using river profile analysis we show that rivers in south-central Crete record the relative uplift history of fault growth and linkage, as theory predicts that they should. Calibration of the commonly used stream power incision model shows that the slope exponent, n, is ~ 0.5, contrary to most studies that find n ≥ 1. Analysis of fluvial knickpoints shows that migration distances are not proportional to upstream contributing drainage area, as predicted by the stream power incision model. Maps of the transformed stream distance variable, χ, indicate that drainage basin instability, drainage divide migration and river capture events complicate river profile analysis in south-central Crete. Waterfalls are observed in southern Crete and appear to operate under less efficient and different incision mechanics than assumed by the stream power incision model. Drainage area exchange and waterfall formation are argued to obscure linkages between empirically derived metrics and quasi-physical descriptions of river incision, making is difficult to quantitatively interpret rock uplift histories from river profiles in this setting. Karst hydrology, break down of assumed drainage area-discharge scaling and chemical weathering might also contribute to the failure of the stream power incision model to adequately predict the behavior of the fluvial system in south-central Crete.

scholarly journals Normal fault growth and linkage in the Whakatane Graben, New Zealand, during the last 1.3 Myr

2004 ◽  
Vol 109 (B2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanna K. Taylor ◽  
Jonathan M. Bull ◽  
Geoffroy Lamarche ◽  
Philip M. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Fault Growth
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