scholarly journals Thin-skinned thrust-fault tectonics offshore south-west Vietnam

1969 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 99-102
Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen ◽  
Lars Ole Boldreel ◽  
Emil Bach Madsen ◽  
Mette Bjerkvig Filtenborg ◽  
Lars Henrik Nielsen

In the c. 40 000 km2 large Phu Quoc basin south-west of Vietnam reflection seismic data suggest a thin-skinned thrust-fault complex concealed by Neogene marine sediments (Fig. 1; Fyhn et al. 2010). The deformed sedimentary succession in the complex is of Early Cretaceous age, which is documented by biostratigraphical studies of outcrops and a 500 m deep well on the Phu Quoc island. A model for the thrust-fault deformation suggests that piggy-back basins were formed during displacement along the thrust faults. The translation was 3–8 km from east to west. The model is based on detailed structural analyses of 36 seismic sections that cover the Phu Quoc basin (Fig. 1). The main structural elements in the complex are flats and ramps with hanging-wall anticlines developed above the ramps. The crests of the hanging-wall anticlines occur as remnants of partially eroded structural highs. This paper describes the thin-skinned thrust-fault structures that form the basis for the interpretation of the concealed fold-belt complex in the Phu Quoc basin.

2005 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen

Pedersen, S.A.S. 2005: Structural analysis of the Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex, Vendsyssel, northern Denmark. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Bulletin 8, 192 pp. The Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex is a thin-skinned thrust-fault complex that was formed during the advance of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (30 000 – 26 000 B.P.); it is well exposed in a 6 km long coastal profile bordering the North Sea in northern Denmark. The glaciotectonic thrust-fault deformation revealed by this cliff section has been subjected to detailed structural analysis based on photogrammetric measurement and construction of a balanced cross-section. Thirteen sections are differentiated, characterising the distal to proximal structural development of the complex. The deformation affected three stratigraphic units: the Middle Weichselian arctic marine Stortorn Formation, the mainly glaciolacustrine Lønstrup Klint Formation and the dominantly fluvial Rubjerg Knude Formation; these three formations are formally defined herein, together with the Skærumhede Group which includes the Stortorn and Lønstrup Klint Formations. The Rubjerg Knude Formation was deposited on a regional unconformity that caps the Lønstrup Klint Formation and separates pre-tectonic deposits below from syntectonic deposits above. In the distal part of the complex, the thrust-fault architecture is characterised by thin flatlying thrust sheets displaced over the footwall flat of the foreland for a distance of more than 500 m. Towards the proximal part of the complex, the dip of the thrust faults increases, and over long stretches they are over-steepened to an upright position. The lowest décollement zone is about 40 m below sea level in the proximal part of the system, and shows a systematic step-wise change to higher levels in a distal (southwards) direction. The structural elements are ramps and flats related to hanging-wall and footwall positions. Above upper ramp-hinges, hanging-wall anticlines developed; footwall synclines are typically related to growth-fault sedimentation in syntectonic piggyback basins, represented by the Rubjerg Knude Formation. Blocks and slump-sheets constituting parts of the Lønstrup Klint Formation were derived from the tips of up-thrusted thrust sheets and slumped into the basins. Mud diapirs are a prominent element in the thrust-fault complex, resulting from mud mobilisation mainly at hanging-wall flats and ramps. Shortening during thrust-fault deformation has been calculated as 50%. Only about 11% of the initial stratigraphic units subjected to thrust faulting has been lost due to erosion. The thrust-fault deformation was caused by gravity spreading of an advancing ice sheet. Overpressured mud-fluid played an important role in stress transmission. The average velocity of thrust-fault displacement is estimated at 2 m per year, which led to compression of a 12 km stretch of flat-lying sediments, c. 40 m in thickness, into a thrust-fault complex 6 km in length. The thrust-fault complex is truncated by a glaciotectonic unconformity, formed when the advancing ice sheet finally overrode the complex. When this ice sheet melted away, a hilland- hole pair was formed, and meltwater deposits derived from a new ice-advance (NE-Ice) filled the depression. The NE-Ice overran the complex during its advance to the main stationary line situated in the North Sea. When this ice in turn melted away (c. 19 000 – 15 000 B.P.), the glacial landscape was draped by arctic marine deposits of the Vendsyssel Formation (new formation defined herein).


2020 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 171-193
Author(s):  
Line Bayer Winslow ◽  
Stig A. Schack pedersen ◽  
Lars Ole Boldreel ◽  
Egon Nørmark

Wrench-fault structures below Danian limestone and Palaeogene marl, and an overlying structural framework of Quaternary glacial deposits in north-east Sjælland, Denmark, are interpreted from two vibro-seismic sections recorded to 600 msec TWT depth. The main seismic section is 6.3 km long, N–S oriented, and intersected by a 0.7 km long, E–W oriented satellite seismic section. In addition, boreholes in the vicinity of the seismic profile are used for the interpretation. The sections were acquired in 2014 along the western shoreline of the lake Esrum Sø in the Gribskov area. In the lower part of the seismic section (the interval 100–300 msec TWT), parallel-bedded geological layers occur along most of the profile apart from six locations, where six wrench-fault structures displace the upper part of the Chalk Group and lower Palaeogene marl. The northernmost of the six wrench-fault locations correlates to the eastern slope of the buried Esrum–Alnarp valley, which suggests that the valley is an inherited tectonic feature. The location of the wrench- fault structures supports the outline of faults related to the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone on previous geological maps, which had almost no seismic data from the area. Above the stratigraphic level presented by the Danian limestone and lower Palaeogene marl, a composite glaciotectonic complex comprising two glaciodynamic sequences is recognized by e.g. thrust-fault structures and the lithostratigraphy of glacial successions recorded in the wells. In parts of the seismic sections, the lowermost level of the glaciotectonic complex inherited the wrench-tectonic fault structures, most significantly seen in the northern segment. The advance of the Scandinavian ice sheet caused the glaciotectonic structures displayed in the seismic section. The two sequences represent events related to the Norwegian and the Swedish glacial advances. From the interpretation of the seismic section it is found that the glaciotectonic complex conceals the wrench-tectonic flower structures.


Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen ◽  
Lars Ole Boldreel

Cross sections of glaciotectonic complexes are exposed in coastal cliff s in Denmark, which allow structural studies of the architecture of thin-skinned thrust-fault deformation (Pedersen 2014). However, the basal part of the thrust-fault complex is never exposed, because it is located 50 to 100 m below sea level. It is in the basal part the most important structure – the décollement zone – of the complex is found. Th e décollement zone constitutes the more or less horizontal surface that separates undeformed bedrock from the displaced thrust-sheet units along the décollement level. One of the most famous exposures of glaciotectonic deformations in Denmark is the Møns Klint Glaciotectonic Complex. Th e structures above sea level are well documented, whereas the structures below sea level down to the décollement level are poorly known. Modelling of deep structures was carried out by Pedersen (2000) but still needs documentation. A glaciotectonic c omplex aff ecting comparable rock units, such as the chalk at Møns Klint, was recently recognised in seismic sections from Jammerbugten in the North Sea (Fig. 1). Th ese sections provide an excellent opportunity for comparable studies of the upper and lower structural levels in thin-skinned thrust-fault deformation, which is discussed in this paper with examples from three major glaciotectonic complexes.


1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2356-2364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Hudec ◽  
Gregory A. Davis

In southeastern Glacier National Park the Lewis thrust is discordant to structures in its hanging wall, strongly suggesting that it formed out of sequence. Faults that are truncated downward against the Lewis thrust are inferred to have originally soled into a structurally lower thrust fault, in which case displacement must have shifted out of sequence from this original fault (here named the Lewis I thrust) to the present-day, structurally higher surface (the Lewis II thrust) at some time during the evolution of the Lewis thrust system. Because of variations in the geometry of the Lewis thrust system along its 450 km strike length, it is likely that the formation of such out-of-sequence thrusts varied in time and in space. Consequently the present-day Lewis thrust may be a composite surface, composed of numerous segments that were not all active at the same time.Many of the fold and fault structures in the study area that are truncated downward agains the Lewis thrust lie within the Spot Mountain duplex, in the basal part of the Lewis allochthon. The Spot Mountain duplex is noteworthy in that both its roof thrust (the Spot Mountain fault) and its floor thrust (the Lewis thrust) formed out of sequence, after most of the structures within the duplex. The term "duplex" in this case has no genetic connotations but refers only to a geometry in which the highly deformed rocks constituting the base of the Lewis thrust plate are separated from less deformed rocks by an enveloping pair of thrust faults.


2005 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stig A. Schack Pedersen

The Rubjerg Knude Glaciotectonic Complex is a thin-skinned thrust-fault complex that was formed during the advance of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (30 000 – 26 000 B.P.); it is well exposed in a 6 km long coastal profile bordering the North Sea in northern Denmark. The glaciotectonic thrust-fault deformation revealed by this cliff section has been subjected to detailed structural analysis based on photogrammetric measurement and construction of a balanced cross-section. Thirteen sections are differentiated, characterising the distal to proximal structural development of the complex. The deformation affected three stratigraphic units: the Middle Weichselian arctic marine Stortorn Formation, the mainly glaciolacustrine Lønstrup Klint Formation and the dominantly fluvial Rubjerg Knude Formation; these three formations are formally defined herein, together with the Skærumhede Group which includes the Stortorn and Lønstrup Klint Formations. The Rubjerg Knude Formation was deposited on a regional unconformity that caps the Lønstrup Klint Formation and separates pre-tectonic deposits below from syntectonic deposits above. In the distal part of the complex, the thrust-fault architecture is characterised by thin flatlying thrust sheets displaced over the footwall flat of the foreland for a distance of more than 500 m. Towards the proximal part of the complex, the dip of the thrust faults increases, and over long stretches they are over-steepened to an upright position. The lowest décollement zone is about 40 m below sea level in the proximal part of the system, and shows a systematic step-wise change to higher levels in a distal (southwards) direction. The structural elements are ramps and flats related to hanging-wall and footwall positions. Above upper ramp-hinges, hanging-wall anticlines developed; footwall synclines are typically related to growth-fault sedimentation in syntectonic piggyback basins, represented by the Rubjerg Knude Formation. Blocks and slump-sheets constituting parts of the Lønstrup Klint Formation were derived from the tips of up-thrusted thrust sheets and slumped into the basins. Mud diapirs are a prominent element in the thrust-fault complex, resulting from mud mobilisation mainly at hanging-wall flats and ramps. Shortening during thrust-fault deformation has been calculated as 50%. Only about 11% of the initial stratigraphic units subjected to thrust faulting has been lost due to erosion. The thrust-fault deformation was caused by gravity spreading of an advancing ice sheet. Overpressured mud-fluid played an important role in stress transmission. The average velocity of thrust-fault displacement is estimated at 2 m per year, which led to compression of a 12 km stretch of flat-lying sediments, c. 40 m in thickness, into a thrust-fault complex 6 km in length. The thrust-fault complex is truncated by a glaciotectonic unconformity, formed when the advancing ice sheet finally overrode the complex. When this ice sheet melted away, a hilland-hole pair was formed, and meltwater deposits derived from a new ice-advance (NE-Ice) filled the depression. The NE-Ice overran the complex during its advance to the main stationary line situated in the North Sea. When this ice in turn melted away (c. 19 000 – 15 000 B.P.), the glacial landscape was draped by arctic marine deposits of the Vendsyssel Formation (new formation defined herein).


Solid Earth ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 837-849 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Díaz ◽  
A. Maksymowicz ◽  
G. Vargas ◽  
E. Vera ◽  
E. Contreras-Reyes ◽  
...  

Abstract. The crustal-scale west-vergent San Ramón thrust fault system, which lies at the foot of the main Andean Cordillera in central Chile, is a geologically active structure with manifestations of late Quaternary complex surface rupture on fault segments along the eastern border of the city of Santiago. From the comparison of geophysical and geological observations, we assessed the subsurface structural pattern that affects the sedimentary cover and rock-substratum topography across fault scarps, which is critical for evaluating structural models and associated seismic hazard along the related faults. We performed seismic profiles with an average length of 250 m, using an array of 24 geophones (Geode), with 25 shots per profile, to produce high-resolution seismic tomography to aid in interpreting impedance changes associated with the deformed sedimentary cover. The recorded travel-time refractions and reflections were jointly inverted by using a 2-D tomographic approach, which resulted in variations across the scarp axis in both the velocities and the reflections that are interpreted as the sedimentary cover-rock substratum topography. Seismic anisotropy observed from tomographic profiles is consistent with sediment deformation triggered by west-vergent thrust tectonics along the fault. Electrical soundings crossing two fault scarps were used to construct subsurface resistivity tomographic profiles, which reveal systematic differences between lower resistivity values in the hanging wall with respect to the footwall of the geological structure, and clearly show well-defined east-dipping resistivity boundaries. These boundaries can be interpreted in terms of structurally driven fluid content change between the hanging wall and the footwall of the San Ramón fault. The overall results are consistent with a west-vergent thrust structure dipping ~55° E in the subsurface beneath the piedmont sediments, with local complexities likely associated with variations in fault surface rupture propagation, fault splays and fault segment transfer zones.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja H. Wadas ◽  
David C. Tanner ◽  
Ulrich Polom ◽  
Charlotte M. Krawczyk

Abstract. In November 2010, a large sinkhole opened up in the urban area of Schmalkalden, Germany. To determine the key factors which benefited the development of this collapse structure and therefore the subrosion, we carried out several shear wave reflection seismic profiles around the sinkhole. In the seismic sections we see evidence of the Mesozoic tectonic movement, in the form of a NW–SE striking, dextral strike-slip fault, known as the Heßleser Fault, which faulted and fractured the subsurface below the town. The strike-slip faulting created a zone of small blocks (


Geophysics ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. G8-G15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laust B. Pedersen ◽  
M. Bastani ◽  
L. Dynesius

Radiomagnetotelluric (RMT) (14–250 kHz) combined with controlled-source magnetotelluric (CSMT) (1–12 kHz) measurements were applied to the exploration of groundwater located in sandy formations at depths as great as 20 m below thick clay lenses. A combination of approximately 30 radio frequencies and controlled-source frequencies is essential for penetrating the thick clay layers. The electromagnetic transfer functions of impedance tensor and tipper vectors point toward a structure that is largely two-dimensional, although clear three-dimensional effects can be observed where the sandy formation is close to the surface. The determinant of the impedance tensor was chosen for inversion using two-dimensional models. The final two-dimensional model fits the data to within twice the estimated standard errors, which is considered quite satisfactory, given that typical errors are on the level of 1% on the impedance elements. Comparison with bore-hole results and shallow-reflection seismic sections show that the information delivered by the electromagnetic data largely agrees with the former and provides useful information for interpreting the latter by identifying lithological boundaries between the clay and sand and between the sand and crystalline basement.


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