Neotectonics and large-scale geomorphology of Canada

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 248-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Adams ◽  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
Tectonic Events ◽  
Mountain Systems

Canada includes active convergent and strike-slip plate boundaries, several major mountain systems, two passive continental margins, and a stable craton. Neotectonic activity, as indicated by earthquake occurrence, is highest along the west coast and lowest in the interior of the country. Correlations between tectonics and physiography are strongest in the west. Here, the landscape bears a strong imprint of convergent and strike-slip plate regimes. Late Mesozoic and early Cenozoic tectonic events established the setting in which the present physiography of western Canada developed, but the landscape acquired its present form much more recently, in Pliocene and Quaternary time. In contrast, the neotectonic imprint in eastern and northern Canada is enigmatic, and although major concentrations of earthquakes in many areas are associated with reactivated, early Phanerozoic structures, there has been only limited late Quaternary faulting. The vast Canadian craton, despite its very low seismicity, is deforming isostatically at a moderate rate due to melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet thousands of years ago.

Structural and metamorphic relationships between the Mount Ida and Monashee Groups at Mara Lake, British Columbia

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent C. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Ductile Deformation ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
The North ◽  
Phase Deformation ◽  
Metamorphic Core

Mara Lake, British Columbia straddles the boundary between the Monashee Group on the east and the Mount Ida Group on the west. Correlation of units across the southern end of Mara Lake indicates lithologic continuity between parts of the groups. Both groups have experienced four phases of deformation. Phases one and two are tight and recumbent, trending to the north and to the west, respectively. Phases three and four are open to closed and upright, trending northwest and northeast, respectively. Second-phase deformation includes large-scale tectonic slides that separate areas of consistent vergence. Slide surfaces are folded by third- and fourth-phase structures and outline domal outcrop patterns. Metamorphic grade increases from north to south along the west side of Mara Lake. Calc-silicate reactions involving the formation of diopside are characteristic. From west to east increasing grade is evident in the reaction of muscovite + quartz producing sillimanite + K-feldspar + water. These prograde reactions are related to relative position in the second-phase structure. The highest grade is located near the lowest slide surface. Greenschist conditions accompanied phase-three deformation. Fourth phase is characterized by hydrothermal alteration, brittle fracturing, and local faulting. First-phase deformation appears to be pre-Late Triassic whereas second and third phases are post-Late Triassic and pre-Cretaceous. The fourth phase is part of a regional Tertiary event. The third folding event is correlated with the development of the Chase antiform and the second-phase folding is related to the pervasive east–west fabric of the Shuswap Complex. The timing of these events indicates that the metamorphic core zone of the eastern Cordillera was relatively rigid during the late Mesozoic foreland thrust development. Ductile deformation significantly preceded thrusting and developed a fabric almost at right angles to the trend of the thrust belt.

scholarly journals Late Pleistocene Tephrostratigraphy of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Region, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David Alaric Manning
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Volcanic Centre ◽  
The West ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Climate Indicator ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
Block Faulting

<p>This thesis has produced the compilation of a complete tephrostratigraphic record of the eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. About fifty Late Pleistocene tephras (i.e. those older than the Rotoiti eruption), ranging in age from c. 600 to 50 ka, are recorded in a terrestrial sequence of loess and paleosols in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Tephra correlations are based on the distinctive physical characteristics of the airfall beds and confirmed by microprobe analysis of glass shards ("fingerprinting"). Chemical analysis of hornblendes and titanomagnetites is used as a supplementary correlation tool where the tephras are too weathered to retain glass. The eastern bay of Plenty deposits are divided into seven subgroups with their boundaries marked either by major tephras or by significant changes in the paleo-climate indicator deposits such as loess and paleosols. These subgroups, and their estimated age ranges, are: Age control on the eastern Bay of Plenty tephras has been obtained by fitting the paleoclimatic information inferred from field observations to the Low Latitude Stack (LLS) and SPECMAP oxygen isotope curves, with correlations to a few well dated eruptives providing key time planes within this record; in particular, the Mamaku Ignimbrite (correlates to the Kutarere Tephra), and the Kaingaroa (Kaingaroa), Matahina (Matahina) and Rangitaiki (Kohioawa) Ignimbrites. Tentative correlations of several eastern Bay of Plenty tephras to the western, coastal central, and Southeast-central Bay of Plenty areas (Tauranga Matata cliffs and Reporoa, respectively) have been achieved. Three additional subgroups are proposed: the Welcome Bay (with at least 6 tephras) in the west, the Ohinekoao (14 tephras) in the coastal central, and the Reihana (13 tephras) in the southeast-central Bay of Plenty; all of which overlap in time with the eastern Bay of Plenty stratigraphy. The tephras recorded in the Bay of plenty have been used to estimate the ages of formation and uplift rates for many of the landforms that are observed throughout the region. A tectonic regime of subsidence in the west towards Tauranga, block faulting on either side of the subsiding Whakatane Graben in the central Bay of Plenty, and further large scale block faulting towards the far eastern margin of the Bay of Plenty has been proposed. Activity at the Okataina Volcanic Centre is now thought to have initiated at or before c. 370 ka, with the eruption of the Paerata Tephra. This tephra has a distribution pattern consistent with an Okataina source, and contains abundant cummingtonite, which is a signature mineral within tephras from the Okataina Volcanic Centre during the late Quaternary time period. However, the much older, but less well understood, Reeves-A and Wilson Tephras - both with estimated ages of c. 0.5 Ma - also contain cummingtonite, which indicates that activity may have been initiation at a much earlier time, or that a volcanic centre other than Okataina has produced cummingtonite. Activity in the Rotorua Volcanic Centre prior to the eruption of the Mamaku Ignimbrite is also indicated, as is activity at the Reporoa Volcanic Centre prior to the Kaingaroa Ignimbrite eruption.</p>

Tectonic evolution of strike-slip zones on continental margins and their impact on the development of submarine landslides (Storegga Slide, northeast Atlantic)

2020 ◽  
Vol 132 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 2397-2414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Song ◽  
T.M. Alves ◽  
K.O. Omosanya ◽  
T.C. Hales ◽  
Tao Ze
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault Reactivation ◽  
Slope Instability ◽  
Continental Margins ◽  
Submarine Landslides ◽  
The South ◽  
Borehole Data ◽  
Northeast Atlantic

Abstract Submarine landslides have affected the mid-Norwegian margin since the Last Glacial Maximum. However, the role of tectonic movements, and most especially fault reactivation, in generating landslides offshore Norway is largely unconstrained. This study uses high-quality three-dimensional seismic and borehole data to understand how landslide development is controlled by faults propagating within the uplifted south Modgunn arch. Variance and structural maps above the south Modgunn arch show that: (1) local scarps of recurrent landslides were formed close to the largest faults, and mainly above strike-slip faults; (2) distinct periods of fault generation were associated with tectonic events, such as the breakup of the northeast Atlantic Ocean, and those events forming the south Modgunn arch; and (3) important fluid-flow features coincide with faults and sill intrusions. In total, 177 faults were analyzed to demonstrate that fault throw values vary from 10 ms to 115 ms two-way traveltime (8 m to 92 m). We propose that the long-term activity of faults in the study area has contributed to fluid migration, weakened post-breakup strata, and controlled the development of submarine slope instability. In particular, strike-slip faults coincide with the locations of several Quaternary landslide scars near the modern seafloor. Similar processes to those documented in Norway may explain the onset of large-scale landslides on other continental margins.

scholarly journals Late Pleistocene Tephrostratigraphy of the Eastern Bay of Plenty Region, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
David Alaric Manning
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Volcanic Centre ◽  
The West ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Climate Indicator ◽  
Far Eastern ◽  
Block Faulting

<p>This thesis has produced the compilation of a complete tephrostratigraphic record of the eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. About fifty Late Pleistocene tephras (i.e. those older than the Rotoiti eruption), ranging in age from c. 600 to 50 ka, are recorded in a terrestrial sequence of loess and paleosols in the eastern Bay of Plenty. Tephra correlations are based on the distinctive physical characteristics of the airfall beds and confirmed by microprobe analysis of glass shards ("fingerprinting"). Chemical analysis of hornblendes and titanomagnetites is used as a supplementary correlation tool where the tephras are too weathered to retain glass. The eastern bay of Plenty deposits are divided into seven subgroups with their boundaries marked either by major tephras or by significant changes in the paleo-climate indicator deposits such as loess and paleosols. These subgroups, and their estimated age ranges, are: Age control on the eastern Bay of Plenty tephras has been obtained by fitting the paleoclimatic information inferred from field observations to the Low Latitude Stack (LLS) and SPECMAP oxygen isotope curves, with correlations to a few well dated eruptives providing key time planes within this record; in particular, the Mamaku Ignimbrite (correlates to the Kutarere Tephra), and the Kaingaroa (Kaingaroa), Matahina (Matahina) and Rangitaiki (Kohioawa) Ignimbrites. Tentative correlations of several eastern Bay of Plenty tephras to the western, coastal central, and Southeast-central Bay of Plenty areas (Tauranga Matata cliffs and Reporoa, respectively) have been achieved. Three additional subgroups are proposed: the Welcome Bay (with at least 6 tephras) in the west, the Ohinekoao (14 tephras) in the coastal central, and the Reihana (13 tephras) in the southeast-central Bay of Plenty; all of which overlap in time with the eastern Bay of Plenty stratigraphy. The tephras recorded in the Bay of plenty have been used to estimate the ages of formation and uplift rates for many of the landforms that are observed throughout the region. A tectonic regime of subsidence in the west towards Tauranga, block faulting on either side of the subsiding Whakatane Graben in the central Bay of Plenty, and further large scale block faulting towards the far eastern margin of the Bay of Plenty has been proposed. Activity at the Okataina Volcanic Centre is now thought to have initiated at or before c. 370 ka, with the eruption of the Paerata Tephra. This tephra has a distribution pattern consistent with an Okataina source, and contains abundant cummingtonite, which is a signature mineral within tephras from the Okataina Volcanic Centre during the late Quaternary time period. However, the much older, but less well understood, Reeves-A and Wilson Tephras - both with estimated ages of c. 0.5 Ma - also contain cummingtonite, which indicates that activity may have been initiation at a much earlier time, or that a volcanic centre other than Okataina has produced cummingtonite. Activity in the Rotorua Volcanic Centre prior to the eruption of the Mamaku Ignimbrite is also indicated, as is activity at the Reporoa Volcanic Centre prior to the Kaingaroa Ignimbrite eruption.</p>

The role of strain dependent rheology on formation of divergent plate boundaries

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Ulvrova ◽  
Taras Gerya
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Cartesian Geometry ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
Narrow Plate ◽  
Strain Dependent

&lt;p&gt;Surface of the Earth is divided into distinct plates that move relative to each other. However, formation and evolution of new plate boundaries is still challenging to numerically produce and predict. In particular, regional lithospheric models as well as large scale convection models lack realistic strike slip plate boundaries that would arise self-consistently in such models. Here, we investigate the role of different rheologies on the inception and dynamic evolution of the new divergent plate boundaries and their offset by strike-slip faulting. We compare visco-plastic rheology and strain dependent rheology and their capacity to localise deformation into narrow plate limits. We use high-resolution 3D thermo-mechanical numerical models in&amp;#160; cartesian geometry to infer the conditions under which realistic divergent plate boundaries develop.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Late Quaternary Relative Sea-Level Change on the West Coast of Newfoundland*

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 129-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Bell ◽  
Julia Daly ◽  
Martin J. Batterson ◽  
David G.E. Liverman ◽  
John Shaw ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
The West ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Rate Of Emergence ◽  
Harbour Area

Abstract Two revised relative sea-level (RSL) curves are presented for the Port au Choix to Daniel’s Harbour area of the Great Northern Peninsula, northwestern Newfoundland. Both curves are similar, showing continuous emergence of 120-140 m between 14 700 cal BP and present. The half-life of exponential curves fit to the RSL data is 1400 years and the rate of emergence varies from ~2.3 m per century prior to 10 000 cal BP to ~0.13 m per century since 5000 cal BP. The curves fit a general pattern of RSL history along the west coast of Newfoundland, where there is a southward transition from solely emergence to emergence followed by submergence. Isostatic depression curves are generated for four RSL records spanning the west coast. Almost double the crustal depression is recorded to the northwest, reflecting the greater glacioisostatic loading by the Laurentide Ice Sheet over southern Labrador and Québec compared to a smaller loading centre by a regional ice complex over Newfoundland. Only the St. George’s Bay RSL record in the southwest appears to show evidence for a proglacial forebulge, when at 6000 cal BP an isostatic ridge of 4 m amplitude begins to collapse.

Strain-partitioning and mechanics of deformation during oblique indentation: Inferences from the SE external Dinarides post- middle Miocene evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nil Feliu ◽  
Vedad Demir ◽  
Liviu Matenco ◽  
Milica Mrdak ◽  
Slobodan Radusinović ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Miocene ◽  
Tectonic Setting ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Tectonic Events ◽  
Kinematic Analyses ◽  
Thrust Sheets ◽  
Partitioning Pattern ◽  
External Dinarides

&lt;p&gt;Late-stage orogenic evolution often leads to multiple segmented slab systems, where the relative motion along oblique plate boundaries partitions the crustal strain into strike-slip and reverse faulting. The strain partitioning patterns and mechanics of deformation are thought to be closely related to the rheology inherited from previous tectonic events that affected various orogenic areas. The SE External Dinarides is one place to study such strain partitioning in a less understood tectonic setting. The Dinarides orogenic build-up is characterised by top SW thrusting during Late Cretaceous to Oligocene times. Subsequently, the N to NE indentation of the Adria microplate took place in this area after an early - middle Miocene period of generalized extension and was characterised by N-S to NNE-SSW oriented contraction, which is oblique to the inherited NW-SE oriented structural grain. We have studied the interplay between various structures creating strain partitioning during the Adria indentation in a SE External Dinarides region situated between the Trebinje city in SE Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Tivat city of SW Montenegro.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The post- middle Miocene orogenic evolution is characterised by regional NNW-SSE to N-S dextral strike-slip faulting associated with strain partitioning by the reactivation of NW-SE inherited rheological weak zones (former thrusts, nappe contacts or rheologically weak sediments). Kinematic analyses along individual structures define the strain partitioning pattern by a number of fault groups. The kinematically constrained mechanics of deformation (correlated to strain partition groups) in focus areas depict a gradual SE-ward transfer of deformation in the external thrust sheets of Montenegro. Such migration of deformation is done by an interplay between strike-slip, high-angle reverse faults and thrusts, which are locally associated with moderate block rotations (CW and CCW). The overall analysis demonstrates that oblique motions in advanced orogenic stages do not constrain a single paleostress field, and therefore they should be analysed by an improved kinematic approach aimed to understand strain partitioning and their effects superposed over an inherited structural grain.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Colisional deformations of the Dnieper-Donets Basin. Part 2. Geodynamic modes and kinematic mechanism of tectonic inversion

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A.V. Bartashchuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Cover ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Donets Basin ◽  
Geodynamic Setting ◽  
The West ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
Tectonic Inversion ◽  
Orogenic Uplift ◽  
Kinematic Mechanism

The tectonic inversion of the Dnieper-Donets Basin and the Donets Foldbelt began in the Late Hercynian epoch under the influence of collisional movements of the left-sided knematics of the compression orogen on the edge of the Paleotethis. It is shown that as a result of gently inclined disruptions in the Paleozoic platform cover of the West Donets Graben, a thrust lattice was formed, which controlled the processes of collisional buckling of the horizons in the thrust and strike-slip modes. As a result of the displacement of geomasses from the axial zones of maximum compression to the zones of "geodynamic shadow" - in the direction of the Basin borders in the northern and axial parts of the Graben, linear uplift folds were formed, and in the southern - thrust covers. At the Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic, in the mode of interference of the uplift-thrust and strike-slip fields of the reverse, right-sided kinematics of movements, deformations of the Hercynian thrust lattice and the dynamically conjugated linear near-fault folding took place with the formation of coulisse articulated upthrust-fold zones and en-echelonly overthrust covers. The geodynamic setting of the grouping of the compression axes in the western part of the Donbass, which was experiencing orogenic uplift, caused the thrust of allochthonous geomasses to the syneclise related autochthon of the southeastern segment of the depression. In the West Donets Graben, this caused an increase in the section beyond the Hercynian Neoautochthon and the Cimmerian-Alpine allochthon with the formation of a clinoform wedging Segment. Along the main strike-slip faults, which form the tectonic rails of its invasion, geodynamic zones of geomass squeezing out, formed by curvilinear, en-echelonly upthrow folds, were formed. In the foreland of the Segment, at the ends of dynamically coupled thrust and strike-slip faults, a forward compression fan is formed; in the hinterland, on the roots of thrust covers, folded suture zones are formed. Based on the results of the kinematic analysis of the Hercynian and Alpine deformation structures, a new kinematic model of the tectonic inversion of the riftogenic structure of the Southeastern Segment of the Dnieper-Donets Basin has been developed. In accordance with it, the deformations of the sedimentary cover of the West Donets Graben were carried out according to the kinematic mechanism of a transverse orocline of pushing geomasses of the sub-thrust type, under the pressure of the tectonic stamp of the Donets Foldbelt.

scholarly journals The Borborema Strike-Slip Shear Zone System (NE Brazil): Large-Scale Intracontinental Strain Localization in a Heterogeneous Plate

Lithosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (Special 6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio P. Neves ◽  
Andréa Tommasi ◽  
Alain Vauchez ◽  
Thais Andressa Carrino
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Main Stage ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Deformation Localization ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Dextral Shear

Abstract Large-scale strike-slip faults are fundamental tectonic elements of the continental lithosphere. They constitute plate boundaries (continental transforms), separate terranes with contrasting geological histories within accretionary orogens, or accommodate heterogeneous deformation in intracontinental settings. In ancient orogens, where deeper levels of the crust are exposed, these faults are expressed as shear zones materialized by up to tens of km-wide mylonitic belts. The Borborema shear zone system in northeastern Brazil is one of the largest and best-exposed intracontinental strike-slip shear zone systems in the world, cropping out over 250,000 km2. Here, we review its main geophysical, structural, petrologic, and geochronologic characteristics and discuss the factors controlling its development. This complex continental scale shear zone system is composed of a set of NE- to NNE-trending dextral shear zones from which there are two major E-trending dextral shear zones with horse-tail terminations into the transpressional belt branch, as well as several smaller E-trending dextral and NE-trending dextral and sinistral shear zones. The major shear zones are marked by extensive linear or curvilinear magnetic gradients, implying their continuation at depth. The major shear zones are materialized by migmatite to amphibolite-facies mylonites, but the entire system shows evidence of late deformation at lower temperatures. The system developed during the late stages of the Neoproterozoic Brasiliano (Pan-African) orogeny (mainly from 590 to 560 Ma), postdating by more than 20 Ma the main stage of contractional deformation. Localization of strike-slip shearing in this intraplate setting was controlled by rheological contrasts between blocks with distinct Paleoproterozoic histories, the presence of preorogenic Neoproterozoic rifts, the craton geometry, and zones of enhanced magmatic activity, highlighting the importance of rheological heterogeneity in controlling shear zone nucleation and evolution.

scholarly journals Colonial management as a social field: The Palestinian remaking of Israel’s system of spatial control

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212110246
Author(s):  
Walid Habbas ◽  
Yael Berda
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
The West ◽  
Social Field ◽  
Spatial Control ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
The Everyday

This article delves into the everyday dynamics of colonial rule to outline a novel way of understanding colonized–colonizer interactions. It conceives colonial management as a social field in which both the colonized and colonizers negotiate and exchange resources, despite their decidedly unequal positions within a racial hierarchy. Drawing their example from the West Bank, the authors argue that a Palestinian economic elite has proactively participated in the co-production of the colonial management of spatial mobility, a central component of Israeli colonial rule. The study employs interviews and document analysis to investigate how the nexus between Palestine’s commercial-logistical needs and Israel’s security complex induced large-scale Palestinian producers to exert agency and reorder commercial mobility. The authors describe and explain the evolution of a ‘Door-to-Door’ logistical arrangement, in which large-scale Palestinian traders participate in extending Israeli’s system of spatial control in exchange for facilitating logistical mobility. This horizontal social encounter that entails pay-offs is conditioned, but not fully determined, by vertical relations of domination and subordination.

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