Kinematic interpretation of mylonitic rocks in part of the Columbia River fault zone, Shuswap terrane, British Columbia

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard L. Brown ◽  
Donald C. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Regional Metamorphism ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Thick Section ◽  
Mylonite Zone ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Igneous Texture

Mylonitic rocks of the Columbia River fault zone have been examined in a 600 m thick section, 20 km north of Revelstoke, British Columbia. At this locality coarse-grained granite with well-preserved igneous texture lies in the hanging wall of the fault zone. Adjacent to the boundary of the mylonite zone the granite is foliated and mineral segregation gives rise to well-defined compositional layering. The foliation (Sf) is defined by oriented mineral grains and flattened porphyroclasts. In areas of intense strain compositional layering (Sc) is parallel to Sf. At the boundary of the mylonite zone and in weakly deformed areas within the mylonite zone Sc and Sf are inclined at angles up to 30°. Sf is taken to be a plane of flattening, and Sc appears to parallel a plane of shear. After correction for effects of late-stage flexural slip folding the angular relationship of Sc to Sf may be used to determine sense of shear in the mylonitc zone; the hanging-wall rocks have been displaced toward the east relative to the footwall. Formation of mylonitic fabrics and associated displacement of the Selkirk allochthon eastward relative to the underlying Monashee Complex occurred after the Middle Jurassic peak of regional metamorphism and before brittle reactivation and uplift in the Tertiary.

scholarly journals Sevier Fault at Red Canyon

Geosites ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Robert Biek
Keyword(s):  
Lava Flow ◽  
Fault Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
The North ◽  
Total Displacement ◽  
Reflection Data

The Sevier fault is spectacularly displayed on the north side of Utah Highway 12 at the entrance to Red Canyon, where it offsets a 500,000-year-old basaltic lava flow. The fault is one of several active, major faults that break apart the western margin of the Colorado Plateau in southwestern Utah. The Sevier fault is a “normal” fault, a type of fault that forms during extension of the earth’s crust, where one side of the fault moves down relative to the other side. In this case, the down-dropped side (the hanging wall) is west of the fault; the upthrown side (the footwall) lies to the east. The contrasting colors of rocks across the fault make the fault stand out in vivid detail. Immediately south of Red Canyon, the 5-million-year-old Rock Canyon lava flow, which erupted on the eastern slope of the Markagunt Plateau, flowed eastward and crossed the fault (which at the time juxtaposed non-resistant fan alluvium against coarse-grained volcaniclastic deposits) (Biek and others, 2015). The flow is now offset 775 to 1130 feet (235-345 m) along the main strand of the fault, yielding an anomalously low vertical slip rate of about 0.05 mm/yr (Lund and others, 2008). However, this eastern branch of the Sevier fault accounts for only part of the total displacement on the fault zone. A concealed, down-to-the-west fault is present west of coarse-grained volcaniclastic strata at the base of the Claron cliffs. Seismic reflection data indicate that the total displacement on the fault zone in this area is about 3000 feet (900 m) (Lundin, 1987, 1989; Davis, 1999).

Columbia River fault zone: southeastern margin of the Shuswap and Monashee complexes, southern British Columbia

1981 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1127-1145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter B. Read ◽  
Richard L. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Columbia River ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Monashee Complex ◽  
Southeastern Margin ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
Slip Displacement ◽  
Fault Scarps

The Columbia River fault zone extends for 250 km from south of Nakusp, through Revelstoke, to north of Bigmouth Creek. It is a composite fault zone, which dips 20–30° easterly and separates major tectonic elements. The structurally lowest element is the Monashee Complex, which includes the culminations of Pinnacle Peaks, Thor–Odin, and Frenchman Cap. At Hoskins Creek, the Monashee décollement splays westward from the fault zone and then runs southward along the western margin of the Monashee Complex. On the east side, the Selkirk allochthon is a composite of four tectonic slices. Its western part consists of Clachnacudainn, Goldstream, and French Creek slices forming the hanging wall of the Columbia River fault zone. The remainder of the allochthon forms the highest and largest Illecillewaet slice, which may be composite.The fault zone retains evidence of a long history of movement extending from the mid-Mesozoic to Eocene. Early deformation formed a mylonite zone up to 1 km wide in which rocks recrystallized under greenschist facies conditions. The displacement truncated major folds and metamorphic isograds that had developed in the Middle Jurassic. Orientation of slickensides, fiber growth, and strain features in the mylonite indicates normal, dip-slip displacement with the slices of the hanging wall moving eastward. South of Revelstoke, the Galena Bay stock, dated at 150 Ma, apparently intruded the zone and gives a minimum age for early displacement that must be in the Late Jurassic.Late displacement caused intense fracturing, folding of mylonite, and development of gouge zones. These features are well exposed at the Revelstoke damsite, continue north of Revelstoke, but diminish in importance southward. Late movement was again normal, dip-slip with the hanging wall moving eastward; it probably ended in the Eocene. No fault scarps or disrupted drainages have been observed, and at several localities glacial sediments lie undisturbed across the fault zone, indicating a lack of postglacial movement.Metamorphic zones, juxtaposed along the fault, imply a minimum dip-slip displacement of 15–25 km. Displacement in this range poses stratigraphic and metamorphic problems, which are alleviated if displacement is in excess of 80 km. The tectonic slices east of the Columbia River fault zone are part of an allochthonous cover that was transported at least tens of kilometres eastward over the Shuswap and Monashee complexes during the Late Jurassic.

Aeromagnetic expression of faults that offset basin fill, Albuquerque basin, New Mexico

Geophysics ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 707-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. J. S. Grauch ◽  
Mark R. Hudson ◽  
Scott A. Minor
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Magnetic Layer ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Secondary Process ◽  
Aeromagnetic Data ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Magnetic Layers ◽  
Basin Fill

High‐resolution aeromagnetic data acquired over the Albuquerque basin show widespread expression of faults that offset basin fill and demonstrate that the aeromagnetic method can be an important hydrogeologic and surficial mapping tool in sediment‐filled basins. Aeromagnetic expression of faults is recognized by the common correspondence of linear anomalies to surficial evidence of faulting across the area. In map view, linear anomalies show patterns typical of extensional faulting, such as anastomosing and en echelon segments. Depths to the tops of faulted magnetic layers showing the most prominent aeromagnetic expression range from 0 to 100 m. Sources related to subtler fault expressions range in depths from 200 to 500 m. We estimate that sources of the magnetic expressions of the near‐surface faults likely reside within the upper 500–600 m of the subsurface. The linear anomalies in profile form show a range of shapes, but all of them can be explained by the juxtaposition of layers having different magnetic properties. One typical anomaly differs from the expected symmetric fault anomaly by exhibiting an apparent low over the fault zone and more than one inflection point. Although the apparent low could easily be misinterpreted as representing multiple faults or an anomalous fault zone, geophysical analysis, magnetic‐property measurements, and geologic considerations lead instead to a “thin‐thick model” in which magnetic layers of different thickness are juxtaposed. The general geometry of this model is a thin magnetic layer on the upthrown block and a thick magnetic layer on the downthrown block. The thin‐thick model can be represented geologically by growth faulting and syntectonic sedimentation, where relatively coarse‐grained sediment (which is more magnetic than fine‐grained material) has accumulated in the hanging wall. This implies that the aeromagnetic data have potential for mapping growth faults and locating concentrations of coarse‐grained material that may have high hydraulic transmissivity. Although cementation along fault zones is common in portions of the area, we found no evidence that this secondary process results in measurable aeromagnetic anomalies. This observation differs from the findings in other sedimentary basins suggesting that magnetic anomalies arise from secondary magnetization along fault planes.

scholarly journals Crustal deformation and regional metamorphism across a terrane boundary, Coast Plutonic Complex, British Columbia

Tectonics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Crawford ◽  
L. S. Hollister ◽  
G. J. Woodsworth
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Crustal Deformation ◽  
Regional Metamorphism ◽  
Plutonic Complex ◽  
Coast Plutonic Complex

Eocene age for Ag–Pb–Zn–Au vein and replacement deposits of the Kokanee Range, southeastern British Columbia

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Beaudoin ◽  
J. C. Roddick ◽  
D. F. Sangster
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Middle Eocene ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Spatial Association ◽  
High Heat ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Genetic Link ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Magmatic Event

The Ag–Pb–Zn–Au vein and replacement deposits of the Kokanee Range, southeastern British Columbia, are hosted by the Middle Jurassic Nelson batholith and surrounding Cambrian to Triassic metasedimentary rocks in the hanging wall of the transcrustal Slocan Lake Fault, Field relations indicate that mineralization is younger than the Nelson batholith and a Middle Jurassic foliation in the Ainsworth area but coeval or older than Eocene unroofing of the Valhalla metamorphic core complex in the footwall of the Slocan Lake Fault. Lamprophyre and gabbro dykes are broadly coeval with mineralization and have biotite and hornblende K–Ar ages defining a short-lived Middle Eocene alkaline magmatic event between 52 and 40 Ma. An older, Early Cretaceous alkaline magmatic event (141 – 129 Ma) is possible but incompletely documented.K–Ar and step-heating 40Ar/39Ar analyses on hydrothermal vein and alteration muscovite indicate that hydrothermal fluids were precipitating vein and replacement deposits 58–59 Ma ago. Crosscutting relationships with lamprophyre dykes indicate the Kokanee Range hydrothermal system lasted for more than 15 Ma. Eocene crustal extension resulted in a high heat flow and structures which were probably responsible for hydrothermal fluid movement and flow paths.A 100 Ma time interval is documented between batholith emplacement and spatially associated mineralization, ruling out any genetic link between the two. Similar large age differences between granite intrusion and peripheral mineralization have recently been documented for two world-sea le Ag–Pb–Zn vein districts, which suggest that spatial association between granite and Ag–Pb–Zn mineralization is not sufficient to infer a genetic link.

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