A new Miocene detachment from Antiparos Island (Cyclades, Greece)

Numerous studies throughout the world have focused on the structure and evolution of metamorphic core complexes and the exhumation of subducted rocks in back-arc areas of orogenic belts. The Cycladic Islands (central Aegean Sea, Greece) are key areas for studying mechanisms of high-pressure rock exhumation. In that domain, the highly attenuated upper plate is preserved only as sparse extensional allochthons in the hanging wall of crustal-scale detachments. Several detachment systems have been identified on a number of islands indicating overall bivergent extension during the late Oligocene&#8211;Miocene. The island of Antiparos is situated at the center of the Cyclades, SW of the larger Paros Island where the top-to-N Paros-Naxos Detachment has exhumed pre-Alpine basement and metamorphosed Permian-Mesozoic rocks of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit (CBU). The tectonostratigraphic relationship of an enigmatic element, the Dryos Unit, remains unclear.Detailed mapping in Antiparos revealed the existence of a sub-horizontal normal fault along the eastern coast of the island. This fault juxtaposes CBU in the footwall against the Dryos Unit and scarce (?)late Miocene clastic sediments in the hanging wall.The CBU occupies most of the island and consists of marble alternating with schists and gneiss layers. The earlier HP assemblages are totally overprinted by mainly amphibolite facies metamorphism. An axial plane foliation to NE-SW isoclinal folds is accompanied by NE-SW stretching lineation. As indicated by recrystallization of feldspars and high-grade deformation mechanisms these structures formed under amphibolite facies conditions. Towards the detachment the foliation is reworked by a brittle-ductile mylonitic foliation and a brittle-ductile S -C&#8217; fabric can be observed.Numerous kinematic indicators such as &#963;- and &#948;-clasts, Riedel shears, flanking structures S-C&#8217; fabric, observed within the ultramylonitic rocks of the footwall and the mylonites/cataclasites of the hanging wall indicate top-to-NE sense of shear, comparable to the sense of shear in the Paros-Naxos detachment.The Dryos Unit is observed only along the central eastern coast of Antiparos, above the low-angle detachment and comprises lower grade (greenschist facies) metabasite, calc-phyllite and pink marble. Deformation in the structurally upper part is characterized by intense refolding and a steep axial plane foliation. At the structurally lower part a strong mylonitic foliation prevails, overprinted by intense cataclastic deformation. The stretching lineation is mostly NW-SE but in the lower part and towards the detachment it rotates to NE-SW. The late Miocene sediments are found adjacent to the Dryos rocks in two localities, comprising mainly sandstone, mudstone and conglomerate in which, large blueschist clasts are abundant.The new data presented in this study combined with existing data from Paros Island substantially add to the continuation and structure of the complex Paros-Naxos detachment system, domed at an island scale. Furthermore, it suggests that most probably the Dryos Unit is not an upper part of the Cycladic Blueschist Unit but belongs to a different unit, possibly of Pelagonian origin.

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Exhumation history of the Lomas de Olmedo basin: constraining multi-phase deformation using low-temperature thermochronology

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12429 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Willemijn S.M.T. van Kooten ◽

Edward R. Sobel ◽

Cecilia del Papa ◽

Patricio Payrola ◽

Alejandro Bande ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Low Temperature ◽

Late Miocene ◽

Hanging Wall ◽

Normal Fault ◽

Fault Reactivation ◽

Normal Faults ◽

Northwestern Part ◽

Rift Basin ◽

The South ◽

Northern Margin

The Cretaceous period in NW Argentina is dominated by the formation of the Salta rift basin, an intracontinental rift basin with multiple branches extending from the central Salta-Jujuy High. One of these branches is the ENE-WSW striking Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin, which hosts up to 5 km of syn- and post-rift deposits of the Salta Group, accommodated by substantial throw along SW-NE striking normal faults and subsequent thermal subsidence during the Cretaceous-Paleogene. Early compressive movement in the Eastern Cordillera led to the formation of a foreland basin setting that was further dissected in the Neogene by the uplift of basement-cored ranges. As a consequence, the northwestern part of the Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin was disconnected from the Andean foreland and local depocenters such as the Cianzo basin were formed, whereas the eastern sub-basin area is still part of the Andean foreland. Thus, the majority of the Salta Group to the east is located in the subsurface and has been extensively explored for petroleum, while in northwestern part of the sub-basin, the Salta Group is increasingly deformed and is fully exposed in the km-scale Cianzo syncline of the Hornocal ranges. The SW-NE striking Hornocal fault delimits the Cianzo basin to the south and the Cianzo syncline to the north. During the Cretaceous, it formed the northern margin of the Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin, which is indicated by an increasing thickness of the syn-rift deposits towards the Hornocal fault, as well as a lack of syn-rift deposits on the footwall block. Structural mapping and unpublished apatite fission track (AFT) data show that the Hornocal normal fault was reactivated and inverted during the Miocene. Although structural and sedimentary features of the Cianzo basin infill provide information about the relative timing of fault activity, there is a lack of low-temperature thermochronology. Herein, we aim to constrain the exhumation of the Lomas de Olmedo sub-basin during the Cretaceous rifting phase, as well as the onset and magnitude of fault reactivation in the Miocene. We collected 74 samples for low-temperature thermochronology along two major NW-SE transects in the Cianzo basin and adjacent areas. Of these samples, 59 have been analyzed using apatite and/or zircon (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology (AHe, ZHe). Furthermore, 49 samples have been prepared for AFT analysis. The ages are incorporated in thermo-kinematic modelling using Pecube in order to test the robustness of uplift and exhumation scenarios. On the hanging wall block of the N-S striking east-vergent Cianzo thrust north of the Hornocal fault, Jurassic ZHe ages are attributed to pre-Salta Group exhumation. However, associated thrusts to the south show ZHe ages as young as Eocene-Oligocene, which might indicate early post-rift activity along those thrusts. AHe data from the Cianzo syncline show a direct age-elevation relationship with Late Miocene-Pliocene cooling ages, indicating the onset of rapid exhumation along the Hornocal fault in the Miocene. This is consistent with regional data and suggests that pre-existing extensional structures were reactivated during Late Miocene-Pliocene compressive movement within this part of the Central Andes.

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Morphotectonic Analysis along the Northern Margin of Samos Island, Related to the Seismic Activity of October 2020, Aegean Sea, Greece

Geosciences ◽

10.3390/geosciences11020102 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 102

Author(s):

Paraskevi Nomikou ◽

Dimitris Evangelidis ◽

Dimitrios Papanikolaou ◽

Danai Lampridou ◽

Dimitris Litsas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fault Zone ◽

Seismic Activity ◽

Volcanic Rocks ◽

Active Tectonics ◽

Normal Fault ◽

Aegean Sea ◽

Northern Margin ◽

The North ◽

Eastern Aegean ◽

Half Graben

On 30 October 2020, a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.0 occurred north of Samos Island at the Eastern Aegean Sea, whose earthquake mechanism corresponds to an E-W normal fault dipping to the north. During the aftershock period in December 2020, a hydrographic survey off the northern coastal margin of Samos Island was conducted onboard R/V NAFTILOS. The result was a detailed bathymetric map with 15 m grid interval and 50 m isobaths and a morphological slope map. The morphotectonic analysis showed the E-W fault zone running along the coastal zone with 30–50° of slope, forming a half-graben structure. Numerous landslides and canyons trending N-S, transversal to the main direction of the Samos coastline, are observed between 600 and 100 m water depth. The ENE-WSW oriented western Samos coastline forms the SE margin of the neighboring deeper Ikaria Basin. A hummocky relief was detected at the eastern margin of Samos Basin probably representing volcanic rocks. The active tectonics characterized by N-S extension is very different from the Neogene tectonics of Samos Island characterized by NE-SW compression. The mainshock and most of the aftershocks of the October 2020 seismic activity occur on the prolongation of the north dipping E-W fault zone at about 12 km depth.

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New constraints on the exhumation history of the western Tauern Window (European Alps) from thermochronology, thermokinematic modeling, and topographic analysis

International Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1007/s00531-021-02094-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Reinhard Wolff ◽

Ralf Hetzel ◽

István Dunkl ◽

Aneta A. Anczkiewicz

Keyword(s):

Hanging Wall ◽

Thermal Relaxation ◽

Slip Rate ◽

Normal Fault ◽

European Alps ◽

Valley Bottom ◽

Topographic Analysis ◽

Tauern Window ◽

History Of ◽

Exhumation History

AbstractThe Brenner normal fault bounds the Tauern Window to the west and accommodated a significant portion of the orogen-parallel extension in the Eastern Alps. Here, we use zircon (U–Th)/He, apatite fission track, and apatite (U–Th)/He dating, thermokinematic modeling, and a topographic analysis to constrain the exhumation history of the western Tauern Window in the footwall of the Brenner fault. ZHe ages from an E–W profile (parallel to the slip direction of the fault) decrease westwards from ~ 11 to ~ 8 Ma and suggest a fault-slip rate of 3.9 ± 0.9 km/Myr, whereas AFT and AHe ages show no spatial trends. ZHe and AFT ages from an elevation profile indicate apparent exhumation rates of 1.1 ± 0.7 and 1.0 ± 1.3 km/Myr, respectively, whereas the AHe ages are again spatially invariant. Most of the thermochronological ages are well predicted by a thermokinematic model with a normal fault that slips at a rate of 4.2 km/Myr between ~ 19 and ~ 9 Ma and produces 35 ± 10 km of extension. The modeling reveals that the spatially invariant AHe ages are caused by heat advection due to faulting and posttectonic thermal relaxation. The enigmatic increase of K–Ar phengite and biotite ages towards the Brenner fault is caused by heat conduction from the hot footwall to the cooler hanging wall. Topographic profiles across an N–S valley in the fault footwall indicate 1000 ± 300 m of erosion after faulting ceased, which agrees with the results of our thermokinematic model. Valley incision explains why the Brenner fault is located on the western valley shoulder and not at the valley bottom. We conclude that the ability of thermokinematic models to quantify heat transfer by rock advection and conduction is crucial for interpreting cooling ages from extensional fault systems.

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Analysis of Petrinja 2020 Earthquake (Croatia) and First 500 Aftershocks >M1.0, Identification of Their Sources and Seismogenic Faults

10.21203/rs.3.rs-308069/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tihomir Marjanac ◽

Marina Čalogović ◽

Karlo Bermanec ◽

Ljerka Marjanac

Keyword(s):

Hanging Wall ◽

Normal Fault ◽

Seismic Energy ◽

Seismic Events ◽

Surface Cracks ◽

Surface Phenomena ◽

Slip Mechanism ◽

Seismogenic Faults ◽

Water Activation ◽

Major Fault

Abstract Strong earthquake of M6.4 stroke Petrinja and neighbouring cities of Sisak and Glina in Croatia on December 29th 2020. It was preceded by two foreshocks of M5.2 and M5.0, and followed by a series of aftershocks of various magnitudes and intensities. We have analysed first 500 earthquakes and aftershocks of > M1.0 which occurred from December 28th 2020 to January 19th 2021, their frequency, focal depths, and coseismic surface phenomena. Correlation of focal depths revealed the source of earthquakes was faulting of hanging wall of a listric normal fault with NW-SE strike and dip towards NE. Major fault seems to have caused earthquakes with only minor magnitudes. The strongest two earthquakes of M6.4 and M5.2 were initiated on synthetic fault, whereas M5.0 earthquake was initiated on an antithetic fault. Almost 50% of all seismic energy of the first 500 analysed seismic events over M1.0 was released on 1 km and 10 km deep hypocentres. Focal mechanisms of major earthquakes and strong fore- and aftershocks indicate dextral-slip mechanism, which is also in accordance with the orientation of surface cracks, land faulting and sand volcano trains. Co-seismic surface phenomena are land cracks and fissures, land faults, sand volcanoes, eruptive springing of ground water, activation of landslides, and formation of dozens of collapse sinkholes which continued to form and grow for about a month following the major earthquake.

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Validation of Coupled FDM-DEM Approach on the Soil-Raft Foundation Interaction Subjected to Normal Faulting

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-9783 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fang Ru-Ya ◽

Lin Cheng-Han ◽

Lin Ming-Lang

Keyword(s):

Active Fault ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Hanging Wall ◽

Normal Fault ◽

Small Scale ◽

Foot Wall ◽

Normal Faulting ◽

Raft Foundation ◽

Overburden Soil

Recent earthquake events have shown that besides the strong ground motions, the coseismic faulting often caused substantial ground deformation and destructions of near-fault structures. In Taiwan, many high-rise buildings with raft foundation are close to the active fault due to the dense population. The Shanchiao Fault, which is a famous active fault, is the potentially dangerous normal fault to the capital of Taiwan (Taipei). This study aims to use coupled FDM-DEM approach for parametrically analyzing the soil-raft foundation interaction subjected to normal faulting. The coupled FDM-DEM approach includes two numerical frameworks: the DEM-based model to capture the deformation behavior of overburden soil, and the FDM-based model to investigate the responses of raft foundation. The analytical approach was first verified by three&#160; benchmark cases and theoretical solutions. After the verification, a series of small-scale sandbox model was used to validate the performance of the coupled FDM-DEM model in simulating deformation behaviors of overburden soil and structure elements. The full-scale numerical models were then built to understand the effects of relative location between the fault tip and foundation in the normal fault-soil-raft foundation behavior. Preliminary results show that the raft foundation located above the fault tip suffered to greater displacement, rotation, and inclination due to the intense deformation of the triangular shear zone in the overburden soil. The raft foundation also exhibited distortion during faulting. Based on the results, we suggest different adaptive strategies for the raft foundation located on foot wall and hanging wall if the buildings are necessary to be constructed within the active fault zone. It is the first time that the coupled FDM-DEM approach has been carefully validated and applied to study the normal fault-soil-raft foundation problems. The novel numerical framework is expected to contribute to design aids in future practical engineering.Keywords: Coupled FDM-DEM approach; normal faulting; ground deformation; soil-foundation interaction; raft foundation.

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The Late Miocene-Early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusting event: new insights into the tectonic evolution of the southern Apennines (Italy)

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-803 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Vitale Stefano ◽

Prinzi Ernesto Paolo ◽

Francesco D'Assisi Tramparulo ◽

Sabatino Ciarcia

Keyword(s):

Late Miocene ◽

Hanging Wall ◽

Early Pleistocene ◽

Normal Faults ◽

Southern Apennines ◽

Campania Region ◽

Early Pliocene ◽

Upper Miocene ◽

Thrust System ◽

Tectonic Windows

We present a structural study on late Miocene-early Pliocene out-of-sequence thrusts affecting the southern Apennine chain. The analyzed structures are exposed in the Campania region (southern Italy). Here, leading thrusts bound the N-NE side of the carbonate ridges that form the regional mountain backbone. In several outcrops, the Mesozoic carbonates are superposed onto the unconformable wedge-top basin deposits of the upper Miocene Castelvetere Group, providing constraints to the age of the activity of this thrusting event. We further analyzed the tectonic windows of Giffoni and Campagna, located on the rear of the leading thrust. We reconstructed the orogenic evolution of this part of the orogen. The first was related to the in-sequence thrusting with minor thrusts and folds, widespread both in the footwall and in the hanging wall. A subsequent extension has formed normal faults crosscutting the early thrusts and folds. All structures were subsequently affected by two shortening stages, which also deformed the upper Miocene wedge top basin deposits of the Castelvetere Group. We interpreted these late structures as related to an out-of-sequence thrust system defined by a main frontal E-verging thrust and lateral ramps characterized by N and S vergences. Associated with these thrusting events, LANFs were formed in the hanging wall of the major thrusts. Such out-of-sequence thrusts are observed in the whole southern Apennines and record a thrusting event that occurred in the late Messinian-early Pliocene. We related this tectonic episode to the positive inversion of inherited normal faults located in the Paleozoic basement. These envelopments thrust upward crosscut the allochthonous wedge, including, in the western zone of the chain, the upper Miocene wedge-top basin deposits. Finally, we suggest that the two tectonic windows are the result of the formation of an E-W trending regional antiform, associated with a late S-verging back-thrust, that has been eroded and crosscut by Early Pleistocene normal faults.

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Apatite composition and the fugacities of HF and HC1 in metamorphic fluids

Mineralogical Magazine ◽

10.1180/minmag.1985.049.350.10 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 49 (350) ◽

pp. 77-79 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Bruce W. D. Yardley

Keyword(s):

Experimental Data ◽

Amphibolite Facies ◽

Lower Grade ◽

Two Samples ◽

Metamorphic Fluids ◽

Independent Estimate ◽

Grade Rock ◽

Acceptable Agreement

AbstractMicroprobe analyses of the halogen contents of apatites from two samples of amphibolite-facies schist from Connemara, Ireland, have been used to calculate the fugacity ratios fHCl/fH2O and fHF/fH2O using the experimental data of Korzhinskiy. The results imply fugacities for both acids in the range 0.03 to 0.1 bars, but whereas for the lower grade rock fHF > fHCl, the migmatitic sample gives fHF⋍fHCl. An independent estimate of fHF/fH2O from the biotite composition in one sample is in acceptable agreement with the result obtained from apatite.

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Dating metamorphism and tectonic juxtaposition on Andros Island (Cyclades, Greece): results of a Rb–Sr study

Geological Magazine ◽

10.1017/s001675680600241x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 143 (5) ◽

pp. 609-620 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

M. BRÖCKER ◽

L. FRANZ

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

Large Scale ◽

Hanging Wall ◽

Normal Fault ◽

Conclusive Evidence ◽

Greenschist Facies ◽

Metamorphic Overprint ◽

Lower Unit ◽

Wide Range ◽

Tectonic Contact

This paper reports new geochronological data from the island of Andros, one of the less-studied islands of the Cycladic blueschist belt in the central Aegean Sea. On Andros, two tectonic units can be distinguished, the Makrotantalon unit and the Lower unit, which are separated by a low-angle normal fault, related to large-scale regional extension. Mineral assemblages indicate greenschist-facies P–T conditions for the last metamorphic overprint of both units. In contrast to the structurally lower unit, unambiguous indications for an earlier high-pressure stage were not recognized in rocks collected above the tectonic contact. Owing to a polyphase metamorphic evolution and incomplete resetting of the Rb–Sr isotope system during overprinting, phengite geochronology indicates a wide range in dates between c. 104 and 21 Ma for the Makrotantalon unit, as observed in rocks of similar structural position elsewhere in the Cyclades. The new Rb–Sr data support the interpretation, but are not conclusive evidence, that tectonic slices within the hanging wall were affected by two periods of Cretaceous metamorphism (c. 100–90 Ma and c. 80–70 Ma) and a Miocene event (c. 21 Ma). Tectonic juxtaposition was accomplished around c. 21 Ma. The Lower unit is correlative with the Cycladic high-pressure occurrences. Rb–Sr phengite dating yielded the same range in ages as determined elsewhere in the region for white mica of high-pressure rocks (c. 50–40 Ma) and their overprinted, greenschist-facies derivatives (c. 23–21 Ma). An age gradient towards the tectonic contact with the overlying Makrotantalon unit is not developed. The new results fit well into the previously established chronological framework for the larger study area. Indications for regional differences in the timing of the HP stage and/or the greenschist-facies overprint have not yet been found.

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