scholarly journals The Capo Castello Shear Zone (Eastern Elba Island): Deformation at the Contact between Oceanic and Continent Tectonic Units

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Caterina Bianco
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Strain Localization ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Mature Stage ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Regional Tectonic ◽  
Elba Island ◽  
Tectonic Contact

Low-grade mylonitic shear zones are commonly characterized by strain partitioning, with alternating low strain protomylonite and high strain mylonite and ultramylonite, where the shearing is most significant. In this paper the capo Castello shear zone is analyzed. It has developed along the contact between continental quartzo-feldspathic, in the footwall, and oceanic ophiolitic units, in the hangingwall. The shear zone shows, mostly within the serpentinites, a heterogeneous strain localization, characterized by an alternation of mylonites and ultramylonites, without a continuous strain gradient moving from the protolith (i.e., the undeformed host rock) to the main tectonic contact between the two units. The significance of this mylonitic shear zone is examined in terms of the dominant deformation mechanisms, and its regional tectonic frame. The combination of the ultramafic protolith metamorphic processes and infiltration of derived fluids caused strain softening by syntectonic metamorphic reactions and dissolution–precipitation processes, leading to the final formation of low strength mineral phases. It is concluded that the strain localization, is mainly controlled by the rock-fluid interactions within the ophiolitic level of the Capo Castello shear zone. Regarding the regional setting, this shear zone can be considered as an analogue of the initial stage of the post-collisional extensional fault, of which mature stage is visible along the Zuccale fault zone, a regional structure affecting eastern Elba Island.

Strain localization mechanism of graphitic carbon-bearing rocks: Constraints from microstructure, texture and graphite geothermometry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meixia Lyu ◽  
Shuyun Cao
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Strain Localization ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Graphitic Carbon ◽  
Maximum Temperature ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
High Grade ◽  
Grade Metamorphism ◽  
Average Temperature

<p><strong>Abstracts:</strong></p><p>Graphitic carbon-bearing rocks can occur in low- to high-grade metamorphic units. In low-grade matamorphic rocks, graphitic carbon is often associated with brittle fault gouge whereas in middle- to high-grade metamorphic rocks, graphitic carbon commonly occurs in marble, schist or paragneiss. Previous studies showed that carbonaceous material gradually ordered from the amorphous stage, e.g. graphitization, is mainly controlled by increasing thermal metamorphism and has a good correlation with the metamorphic temperature. Besides, this ordered process is irreversible and the resulting structure is not affected by late metamorphism. Subsequently, the degree of graphitization is believed to be a reliable indicator of peak temperature conditions in the metamorphic rock. In this contribution, based on detailed field observations, the variably deformed and metamorphosed graphitic gneisses to phyllites, located within the footwall and hanging-walls unit of the Cenozoic Ailaoshan-Red River strike-slip shear zone are studied. According to lithological features and temperature determined by Raman spectra of carbonaceous material, these graphitic rocks and deformation fabrics are divided into three types. Type I is represented by medium–grade metamorphism and strongly deformed rocks with an average temperature of 509 °C and a maximum temperature of 604 °C. Type II is affected by low-grade metamorphism and deformed rocks with an average temperature of 420 °C. Type III is affected by lower–grade metamorphism and occurs in weakly deformed/undeformed rocks with an average temperature of 350 °C. Slip–localized micro–shear zone and laterally continuous or discontinuous slip planes constituted by graphitic carbon aggregates are developed in Types I and II. The electron back–scattered diffraction (EBSD) lattice preferred orientation (LPO) patterns of graphitic carbon grains were firstly observed in comparison with LPO patterns of quartz and switch from basal <a>, rhomb <a> to prism <a> slip systems, which indicate increasing deformation temperatures. According to the graphitic slip–planes, micro–shear zones and mylonitic foliation constituted by graphitic carbon minerals, we also propose that the development of fine–grained amorphous carbon plays an important role in rheological weakening of the whole rock during progressive ductile shearing.</p><p><strong>Key Words:</strong> graphitic carbon, strain localization, graphitic thermometry, slip–localized micro–shear zone, rheological weakening</p>

Regional setting and kinematic features of the Needle Falls Shear Zone, Trans-Hudson Orogen

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1338-1354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mel R. Stauffer ◽  
John F. Lewry
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Simple Shear ◽  
Country Rock ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Lake Zone ◽  
Shear Sense ◽  
Regional Tectonic ◽  
Ductile Shear ◽  
Shear Sense Indicators

Needle Falls Shear Zone is the southern part of a major northeast-trending ductile shear system within the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen in Saskatchewan. Throughout its exposed length of ~400 km, the shear zone separates reworked Archean continental crust and infolded Paleoproterozoic supracrustals of the Cree Lake Zone, to the northwest, from mainly juvenile Paleoproterozoic arc terrains and granitoid plutons of the Reindeer Zone, to the southeast. It also defines the northwest margin of the ca. 1855 Ma Wathaman Batholith, which forms the main protolith to shear zone mylonites. Although not precisely dated, available age constraints suggest that the shear zone formed between ca. 1855 and 1800 Ma, toward the end of peak thermotectonism in this part of the orogen.In the Needle Falls study area, shear zone mylonites exhibit varied, sequentially developed, ductile to brittle fabric features, including C–S fabrics, winged porphyroclasts (especially delta type), small-scale compressional and extensional microfaults ranging from thin ductile shear zones to late brittle faults, early isoclinal and sheath folds, later asymmetric folds related to compressional microfaults, and variably rotated and (or) folded quartz veins. All ductile shear-sense indicators suggest dextral displacement, as do most later ductile–brittle transition and brittle features. In conjunction with a gently north–northeast-plunging extension lineation, such data indicate oblique east-side-up dextral movement across the shear zone. However, preexisting structures in country rock protoliths rotate into the shear zone in a sense contrary to that predicted by ideal dextral simple shear, a feature thought to reflect significant flattening across the shear zone. Other ductile to brittle fabric elements in the mylonites are consistent with general noncoaxial strain, rather than ideal simple shear. Amount of displacement cannot be measured but indirect estimates suggest approximately 40 ± 20 km.The Needle Falls Shear Zone is too small and has developed too late in regional tectonic history to be considered a crustal suture. Rather, it is interpreted as either a late-tectonic oblique collisional structure or as the result of counterclockwise oroclinal rotation of the southern part of the orogen.

Rheological properties of the shallow subduction interface: insights from the Chugach Complex, Alaska

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Braden ◽  
Whitney Behr
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Flow ◽  
Rheological Properties ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Strain Localization ◽  
High Strain ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Fluid Injection ◽  
Structural Mapping ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Shallow Subduction

<p>The plate interface in subduction zones accommodates a wide range of seismic styles over different depths as a function of pressure-temperature conditions, compositional and fluid-pressure heterogeneities, deformation mechanisms, and degrees of strain localization. The shallow subduction interface (i.e. ~2-10 km subduction depths), in particular, can exhibit either slow slip events (e.g. Hikurangi) or megathrust earthquakes (e.g. Tohoku). To evaluate the factors governing these different slip behaviors, we need better constraints on the rheological properties of the shallow interface. Here we focus on exhumed rocks within the Chugach Complex of southern Alaska, which represents the Jurassic to Cretaceous shallow subduction interface of the Kula and North American plates. The Chugach is ideal because it exhibits progressive variations in subducted rock types through time, minimal post-subduction overprinting, and extensive along-strike exposure (~250 km). Our aims are to use field structural mapping, geochronology, and microstructural analysis to examine a) how strain is localized in different subducted protoliths, and b) the deformation processes, role of fluids, and strain localization mechanisms within each high strain zone. We interpret these data in the context of the relative ‘strengths’ of different materials on the shallow interface and possible styles of seismicity.  </p><p>Thus far we have characterized deformation features along a 1.25-km-thick melange belt within the Turnagain Arm region southeast of Anchorage.  The westernmost melange unit is sediment poor and consists of deep marine rocks with more chert, shale and mafic rocks than units to the east. The melange fabric is variably developed (weakly to strongly) throughout the unit and is steeply (sub-vertical) west-dipping with down-dip lineations. Quartz-calcite-filled dilational cracks are oriented perpendicular to the main melange fabric.</p><p>Drone imaging and structural mapping reveals 3 major discrete shear zones and 6-7 minor shear zones within the melange belt, all of which exhibit thrust kinematics. Major shear zones show a significant and observable strain gradient into a wide (~1 m) region of high strain and deform large blocks while minor shear zones are generally developed in narrow zones (~10-15 cm) of high strain between larger blocks. One major shear zone is developed in basalt and has closely-spaced, polished slip surfaces that define a facoidal texture; the basalt shear zone is ~1 m thick. Preserved pillows are observable in lower strain areas on either side of the shear zone but are deformed and indistinguishable within the high strain zone. The other two major shear zones are developed in shale and are matrix-supported with wispy, closely-spaced foliation and rotated porphyroclasts of chert and basalt; the shale shear zones are ~0.5-2 m thick.  </p><p>Abundant quartz-calcite veins parallel to the melange fabric and within shale shear zones record multiple generations of fluid-flow; early veins appear to be more silicic and later fluid flow involved only calcite precipitation. At the west, trench-proximal end of the mélange unit there is a 5-10 m thick silicified zone of fluid injection that is bound on one side by the basalt shear zone. Fluid injection appears to pre-date or be synchronous with shearing.</p>

Carbon ordering in an aseismic shear zone: implications for crustal weakening and Raman spectroscopy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Kedar ◽  
Clare Bond ◽  
David Muirhead
Keyword(s):  
Raman Spectroscopy ◽  
Organic Carbon ◽  
Shear Zone ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Carbonaceous Material ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Increasing Temperature ◽  
Two Peaks

<p>Multi-layered stratigraphic sequences present ample opportunity for the study of strain localization and its complexities. By constraining mechanisms of crustal weakening, it is possible to gain a sounder understanding of the dynamic evolution of the Earth’s crust, especially when applied to realistic, field-based scenarios. One such mechanism is that of strain-related carbon ordering. This is the process whereby the amorphous nanostructure of fossilized organic matter contained within the rock is progressively organized towards a more sheet-like structure, similar to that of graphite. One common method of studying this process is through Raman spectroscopy. This is a non-destructive tool which makes use of the relative positions and intensities of two key spectral peaks, where one peak represents graphitic carbon and the other disordered (or amorphous) carbon. The intensity ratio between these two peaks suggests the degree to which the carbon has progressed from its original kerogen-like structure towards that of graphite. This progression can be due to increasing temperature or increasing strain, and until now, these two contributory factors have been difficult to separate, particularly in field examples.</p><p>Previous field-based studies have focused on carbon ordering on fault planes, while experimental studies have monitored the effects of strain-related ordering in organic carbon on both fault surfaces and more distributed shear zones. These studies confirmed the occurrence of strain-related ordering at seismic rates, particularly in the form of graphitization of carbon. However, these experiments showed the effects of strain-related ordering at aseismic rates to be limited when distributed shear zones were considered, in part due to the geological timescales required to emulate true conditions.</p><p>In this study, Raman spectroscopy is used to compare the relative nanostructural order of organic carbon within a recumbent isoclinal fold formed of interbedded limestones and marls. The central, overturned fold limb forms a 170m wide, 1km long aseismic shear zone, with evidence of increased strain recorded in calcite grains relative to the upper and lower limbs. Raman spectroscopy intensity ratios (I[d]/I[g]) are compared across the fold, showing a marked 23% decrease in the overturned limb. Such a decrease in I[d]/I[g] suggests increased carbon ordering within the overturned limb, which in combination with evidence for increased strain in calcite, suggests that the carbon ordering here is derived directly from strain-related ordering. This has important implications. We infer, from previous studies, that strain-related carbon ordering encourages further strain partitioning in carbonaceous material, and may enhance zones of weakness in the rock. This ordering in aseismic shear zones has so far been unreported in nature, and so our field-based results are significant in supporting previous experimental evidence for this phenomenon. Our results also have implications for understanding dynamic crustal evolution, and will play an important role in the development of Raman thermobarometry, especially since current methods do not distinguish between strain-related and temperature-related ordering.</p>

scholarly journals Early Neoproterozoic Deformation Kinematics in the Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex (Eastern India): Evidence from the Curvilinear Hundru Falls Shear ZoneAnalysis

Lithosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Sequeira ◽  
Abhijit Bhattacharya
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Ratio Method ◽  
Strain Partitioning ◽  
Gneiss Complex ◽  
Deformation Kinematics ◽  
Detachment Zone ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Early Neoproterozoic

Abstract Curvilinear steep shear zones originate in different tectonic environments. In the Chottanagpur Gneiss Complex (CGC), the steeply dipping, left-lateral and transpressive Early Neoproterozoic Hundru Falls Shear Zone (HFSZ) with predominantly north-down kinematics comprises two domains, e.g., an arcuate NW-striking (in the west) to W-striking (in the east) domain with gently plunging stretching lineation that curves into a W-striking straight-walled domain with down-dip lineation. The basement-piercing HFSZ truncates a carapace of flat-lying amphibolite facies paraschist and granitoid mylonites, and recumbently folded anatectic gneisses. The carapace—inferred to be a midcrustal regional-scale low-angle detachment zone—structurally overlies an older basement of Early Mesoproterozoic anatectic gneisses intruded by Mid-Mesoproterozoic/Early Neoproterozoic granitoids unaffected by the Early Neoproterozoic extensional tectonics. The mean kinematic vorticity values in the steep HFSZ-hosted granitoids computed using the porphyroclast aspect ratio method are 0.74–0.83 and 0.51–0.65 in domains with shallow and steep lineations, respectively. The granitoid mylonites show a chessboard subgrain microstructure, but lack evidence for suprasolidus deformation. The timing relationship between the two domains is unclear. If the two HFSZ domains were contemporaneous, the domain of steep lineations with greater coaxial strain relative to the curvilinear domain formed due to strain partitioning induced by variations in mineralogy and/or temperature of the cooling granitoid plutons. Alternately, the domain of gently plunging lineations in the HFSZ was a distinct shear zone that curved into a subsequent straight-walled shear zone with steeply plunging lineation due to a northward shift in the convergence direction during deformation contemporaneous with the Early Neoproterozoic accretion of the CGC and the Singhbhum Craton.

Upper Carboniferous-Permian tectonics in Central Mediterranean: an updated revision

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Molli ◽  
Andrea Brogi ◽  
Alfredo Caggianelli ◽  
Enrico Capezzuoli ◽  
Domenico Liotta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Sedimentary Facies ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Central Mediterranean ◽  
Upper Carboniferous ◽  
Fold And Thrust Belt ◽  
Splay Faults

<p>An updated revision of the upper Carboniferous-Permian tectonics recorded in Corsica, Calabria and Tuscany is here proposed. We combine our and literature data to document how the sedimentary, tectono-metamorphic and magmatic upper Carboniferous-Permian record fits with a regional-scale tectonic scenario characterized by trascurrent fault systems associated with stretched crustal domains in which extensional regional structures, magmatism and transtensional basins developed. In Corsica, altogether with well-known effusive and intrusive Permian magmatism, the alpine S.Lucia nappe exposes a kilometer-scale portion of the Permian lower to mid-crust, with many similarities to the Ivrea-Verbano zone. The two distinct Mafic and Leucogranitic complexes, which characterize this crustal domain are juxtposed by an oblique-slip shear zone named as S.Lucia Shear Zone. Structural and petrological data document interaction between magmatism, metamorphism and shearing during Permian in the c. 800-400 °C temperature range. In Calabria (Sila, Serre and Aspromonte), a continuous pre-Mesozoic crustal section is exposed. The lower crust portion of such section is mainly made up of granulites and migmatitic paragneisses with subordinate marbles and metabasites. The mid-crustal section includes an up to 13 km thick sequence of granitoids of tonalitic to granitic composition, emplaced between 306 and 295 Ma and progressively deformed during retrograde extensional shearing to end with a final magmatic activity between 295 and 277 Ma, consisting in the injection of shallower dykes in a transtensional regime. The section is completed by an upper crustal portion mainly formed by a Paleozoic succession deformed as a low-grade fold and thrust belt, locally overlaying medium-grade paragneiss units, and therefore as a whole reminiscent of the external/nappe zone domains of Sardinia Hercynian orogen. In Tuscany we document, how late Carboniferous/Permian shallow marine to continental sedimentary basins characterized by unconformity and abrupt change in sedimentary facies (coal-measures, red fanglomerate deposits) and acid magmatism well fit a transtensional setting with a mid-crustal shear zone linked with a system of E-W trending (in present orientation) upper crust splay faults. We will frame the whole dataset in a regional framework of first-order transcurrent shear zones network which includes a westernmost S.Lucia Shear Zone and an easternmost East Tuscan Shear Zone, with intervening crustal domains in which extensional to transtensional shearing occured.</p>

scholarly journals Switching deformation mode and mechanisms during subduction of continental crust: a case study from Alpine Corsica

Solid Earth ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Molli ◽  
Luca Menegon ◽  
Alessandro Malasoma
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Ambient Pressure ◽  
Deformation Mode ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Stick Slip ◽  
Brittle Ductile Transition

Abstract. The switching in deformation mode (from distributed to localized) and mechanisms (viscous versus frictional) represent a relevant issue in the frame of crustal deformation, being also connected with the concept of the brittle–ductile transition and seismogenesis. In a subduction environment, switching in deformation mode and mechanisms and scale of localization may be inferred along the subduction interface, in a transition zone between the highly coupled (seismogenic zone) and decoupled deeper aseismic domain (stable slip). However, the role of brittle precursors in nucleating crystal-plastic shear zones has received more and more consideration being now recognized as fundamental in some cases for the localization of deformation and shear zone development, thus representing a case in which switching deformation mechanisms and scale and style of localization (deformation mode) interact and relate to each other. This contribution analyses an example of a millimetre-scale shear zone localized by brittle precursor formed within a host granitic protomylonite. The studied structures, developed in ambient pressure–temperature (P–T) conditions of low-grade blueschist facies (temperature T of ca. 300 °C and pressure P ≥ 0. 70 GPa) during involvement of Corsican continental crust in the Alpine subduction. We used a multidisciplinary approach by combining detailed microstructural and petrographic analyses, crystallographic preferred orientation by electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and palaeopiezometric studies on a selected sample to support an evolutionary model and deformation path for subducted continental crust. We infer that the studied structures, possibly formed by transient instability associated with fluctuations of pore fluid pressure and episodic strain rate variations, may be considered as a small-scale example of fault behaviour associated with a cycle of interseismic creep and coseismic rupture or a new analogue for episodic tremors and slow-slip structures. Our case study represents, therefore, a fossil example of association of fault structures related to stick-slip strain accommodation during subduction of continental crust.

Geology of the shear-hosted Brookbank gold prospect in the Beardmore–Geraldton belt, Wabigoon subprovince, Ontario

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 925-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry C DeWolfe ◽  
Bruno Lafrance ◽  
Greg M Stott
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Alteration Zone ◽  
Gold Deposition ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Metasedimentary Rocks ◽  
Polymictic Conglomerate

The Beardmore–Geraldton belt consists of steeply dipping, intercalated panels of metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks along the southern margin of the granite–greenstone Wabigoon subprovince in the Archean Superior Province, Ontario. It is an important past-producing gold belt that includes classic epigenetic iron-formation-hosted deposits near Geraldton and turbidite-hosted deposits, north of Beardmore. The Brookbank gold prospect belongs to a third group of related gold deposits that formed along dextral shear zones localized at contacts between panels of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. The Brookbank prospect occurs along a steeply dipping shear zone at the contact between footwall polymictic conglomerate and hanging-wall calc-alkaline arc basalt. Early during shearing the basalt acted as a structural and chemical trap that localized brittle deformation, veining, and gold deposition, ankerite–sericite–chlorite–epidote–pyrite alteration, and the replacement of metamorphic magnetite and ilmenite by gold-bearing pyrite. This produced a low grade (≤5 g/t Au) ankerite-rich alteration zone that extends up to 20 m into the hanging-wall basalt. Later during shearing, gold was deposited within higher grade (≤20 g/t Au) quartz–orthoclase–pyrite alteration zones superimposed on the wider ankerite-rich alteration zone. Auriferous quartz–carbonate veins oriented clockwise and counter-clockwise to the shear zone walls are folded and boudinaged, respectively, consistent with dextral slip along the shear zone. A key finding of the study is that different groups of gold deposits in the belt, including epigenetic iron formation gold deposits near Geraldton, formed during post-2690 Ma regional dextral transpression across the belt.

Kanairiktok shear zone: the boundary between the Paleoproterozoic Makkovik Province and the Archean Nain Province, Labrador, Canada.

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1245-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Culshaw ◽  
T Brown ◽  
P H Reynolds ◽  
J WF Ketchum
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Quartz Vein ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Greenschist Facies ◽  
Amphibolite Facies ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Oblique Convergence ◽  
Andean Type ◽  
Early Activity

The polyphase Kanairiktok shear zone (KNSZ) separates gneissic rocks of the Archean Nain craton from their reworked equivalents in the Paleoproterozoic Kaipokok domain of the Makkovik Province. In its early stages, the KNSZ bounded the Kaipokok domain as it was thermally softened by 1895-1870 Ma Andean-type magmatism, accompanied by dextral oblique convergence and resultant penetrative deformation. The amphibolite-facies tectonite that developed in this stage was widely overprinted by greenschist-facies mylonite. Laserprobe and spectral 40Ar/39Ar ages of recrystallized and porphyroclastic muscovite, from the greenschist-facies mylonite and from muscovite in a syntectonic quartz vein, bracket the age of deformation between 1740 and 1710 Ma with the best estimate at 1715 Ma. These ages are similar to those of A-type granites within the Makkovik Province and amphibole cooling ages from the province interior. Together with the petrological similarity of the greenschist-facies mylonite to localized low-grade shear zones elsewhere in the Makkovik Province, they are suggestive of a widespread, lithosphere-scale event. The 40Ar/39Ar data do not provide good constraints on the early activity of the KNSZ. However, preservation of relationships between granitoid sheets correlated with the 1895-1870 Ma Island Harbour Bay plutonic suite and early fabrics imply that the granites were emplaced syntectonically in the KNSZ. Thus, the KNSZ was a major, long-lived structure in the Makkovik Province that decoupled events in the reactivated Nain craton from an inert cratonic region.

Ductile shearing of Apennine allochtonous units and Messinian terrigenous deposits on top of the Inner Apulian Platform (Monte Alpi, Southern Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Prosser ◽  
Fabrizio Agosta ◽  
Alessandro Giuffrida ◽  
Claudia Belviso ◽  
Francesco Cavalcante
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Geological Mapping ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Ductile Shearing ◽  
Shear Sense

<p>Mylonites are common structural elements in basement complexes. There, strain localization within shear zones occurs at amphibolite to greenschist facieses. More rarely, it also takes place at low-grade to anchizonal conditions in the external portions of orogenic belts. In the present contribution, we document the large-scale architecture, micro-structure, and mineralogy of a prominent shear zone exposed along the southern flank of the Monte Alpi Unit, southern Apennines, Italy. Deformation localized within the Messinian sedimentary protolith topping the carbonates of the Apulian Platform, and in the lowermost tectonic units of the Apennine allochton. Integration of results achieved after field geological mapping, outcrop structural analyses, optical and SEM micropscopy, and X-Ray diffrattometry permits to assess the time-space evolution of the main deformation mechanisms in the aforementioned shear zone. The shear zone involved Messinian shale, sandstones and conglomerates originally deposited in a foreland basin system, and Mesozoic claystones, limestones, and marls that formed in deep basinal environments. Now days, the mylonitic foliation is sub-parallel to the tectonic contact between the Messinian sedimentary cover of the Apulian carbonates and the overlying allochton. Shear-related deformation produced a foliated mylonitic fabric dipping ca. 20° S, and a well-developed, east-trending stretching lineation defined by aligned quartz and/or calcite grains. The conglomeratic levels were boudinaged, and the individual elongated pebbles re-oriented along slip direction. The microstructure of mylonites is characterized by a fine-grained calcite matrix, which shows an intense foliation due to dark bands made up of oxides, organic matter, and minor phyllosilicates. X-ray diffraction data performed on the Messinian shales and Mesozoic claystones, indicate the presence of mixed layer illite/smectite with 80-90% of illite and R1/R3 ordering thus suggesting an high digenetic grade (temperature: 120-140 °C). The two analyzed lithologies mainly differ in the presence of kaolinite, which occurs in the more proximal Messinian facies. Altogether, outcrop-scale kinematic markers such as shear bands, rootles folds and asymmetric porphyroclasts show a consistent top-to-the-east shear sense. Mineralogical and microstructural data indicate that shearing took place at a depth of 6-7 km during the Early Pliocene emplacement of the Apennine allochton on the Apulian Platform, and then exhumed by Late Pliocene low-angle normal faulting, Lower Pleistocene transpression, and Middle-Pleistocene-Holocene high-angle extensional faulting. In summary, the eastward motion of the allochton produced intense and localized low-temperature shearing in sediments on top of the Apulian Platform and in the overlying allochton. A subsequent reactivation of this shear zones as low-angle normal fault during late Pliocene exhumation is envisioned.</p>

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