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

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

<p>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 Structural mapping and unpublished apatite fission track (AFT) data show that the Hornocal normal fault was reactivated and inverted during the Miocene.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.</p>

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

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

<p>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.</p>

Quantifying fault reactivation risk in the western Gippsland Basin using geomechanical modelling

2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Swierczek ◽  
Cui Zhen-dong ◽  
Simon Holford ◽  
Guillaume Backe ◽  
Rosalind King ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Model ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault Reactivation ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Co2 Injection ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Surface Geometry ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Fault Surface ◽  
Gippsland Basin

The Rosedale Fault System (RFS) bounds the northern margin of the Gippsland Basin on the Southern Australian Margin. It comprises an anastomosing system of large, Cretaceous-age normal faults that have been variably reactivated during mid Eocene-Recent inversion. A number of large oil and gas fields are located in anticlinal traps associated with the RFS, and in the future these fields may be considered as potential storage sites for captured CO2. Given the evidence for geologically recent fault reactivation along the RFS, it is thus necessary to evaluate the potential impacts of CO2 injection on fault stability. The analysis and interpretation of 3D seismic data allowed the authors to create a detailed structural model of the western section of the RFS. Petroleum geomechanical data indicates that the in-situ stress in this region is characterised by hybrid strike-slip to reverse faulting conditions where SHmax (40.5 MPa/km) > SV (21 MPa/km) ~ Shmin (20 MPa/km). The authors performed geomechanical modelling to assess the likelihood of fault reactivation assuming that both strike-slip and reverse-stress faulting regimes exist in the study area. The authors’ results indicate that the northwest to southeast and east-northeast to west-southwest trending segments of the RFS are presently at moderate and high risks of reactivation. The authors’ results highlight the importance of fault surface geometry in influencing fault reactivation potential, and show that detailed structural models of potential storage sites must be developed to aid risk assessments before injection of CO2.

Basement-involved inversion at the Appalachian structural front, western Newfoundland: an interpretation of seismic reflection data with implications for petroleum prospectivity

2004 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen S. Stockmal ◽  
Art Slingsby ◽  
John W.F. Waldron
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Hydrocarbon Exploration ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Apparent Magnitude ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
New Interpretation

Abstract Recent hydrocarbon exploration in western Newfoundland has resulted in six new wells in the Port au Port Peninsula area. Port au Port No.1, drilled in 1994/95, penetrated the Cambro-Ordovician platform and underlying Grenville basement in the hanging wall of the southeast-dipping Round Head Thrust, terminated in the platform succession in the footwall of this basement-involved inversion structure, and discovered the Garden Hill petroleum pool. The most recent well, Shoal Point K-39, was drilled in 1999 to test a model in which the Round Head Thrust loses reverse displacement to the northeast, eventually becoming a normal fault. This model hinged on an interpretation of a seismic reflection survey acquired in 1996 in Port au Port Bay. This survey is now in the public domain. In our interpretation of these data, the Round Head Thrust is associated with another basement-involved feature, the northwest-dipping Piccadilly Bay Fault, which is mapped on Port au Port Peninsula. Active as normal faults in the Taconian foreland, both these faults were later inverted during Acadian orogenesis. The present reverse offset on the Piccadilly Bay Fault was previously interpreted as normal offset on the southeast-dipping Round Head Thrust. Our new interpretation is consistent with mapping on Port au Port Peninsula and north of Stephenville, where all basement-involved faults are inverted and display reverse senses of motion. It also explains spatially restricted, enigmatic reflections adjacent to the faults as carbonate conglomerates of the Cape Cormorant Formation or Daniel’s Harbour Member, units associated with inverted thick-skinned faults. The K-39 well, which targeted the footwall of the Round Head Thrust, actually penetrated the hanging wall of the Piccadilly Bay Fault. This distinction is important because the reservoir model invoked for this play involved preferential karstification and subsequent dolomitization in the footwalls of inverted thick-skinned faults. The apparent magnitude of structural inversion across the Piccadilly Bay Fault suggests other possible structural plays to the northeast of K-39.

scholarly journals The Stratigraphy and Structure of the Madamar-Salakh-Qusaybah Range and Natif-Fahud Area in the Oman Mountains

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.S. Hanna ◽  
J.D. Smewing
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Debris Flows ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Void Space ◽  
The South ◽  
Oman Mountains ◽  
Oil Flow ◽  
Structural Growth ◽  
Positive Feature

Melanges and debris flows with clasts derived from the top of the Natih Formation found in shales in the base of the Aruma Group indicate that a period of Structural growth on the platform took place during Aruma deposition in the Late Cretaceous. In this respect the platform in the Jebel Salakh area may have undergone a similar period of structural growth in the Late Cretaceous to the Fahud area where a syn-Aruma normal fault down throwing to the South accounts for a difference in the stratigraphic thickness of the Aruma of 1 km. A younger series of debris flows in the Aruma of the Sufrat al Khays area to the South of Jehel Salakh is dated as Campanian/Maastrichtian. The clasts in these flows were derived exclusively from the Simsima limestones. Natih-derived elasts are conspicuously absent. This is taken to indicate that the Madamar-Salakh Qusaybah range was covered by Aruma sediments at this time and did not form the distinctive positive feature seen at present - i.e. Madamar-Salakh-Qusaybah range folding though partly Late Cretaceous is mainly Post-Manslrichtian in age. This Post Maastrichtian event in the Madamar-Salakh-Qusaybah range produced a series of doubly-plunging anticlines in the Cretaceous strata- These folds show a high degree of brittle extension in the form of normal faults and extensional fractures, The faults are delineated by fault gouge with visibly interconnected void space. In the subsurface, if such fractures were developed in a fold closure similar to those seen at the surface in the Madamar-Salakh-Qusaybah range. then they could provide preferred conduits for oil flow and the harrier to fluid flow provided by the Aruma shale seal could lead to a hydrocarbon accumulation.

scholarly journals Hurricane Fault

Geosites ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Robert Biek
Keyword(s):  
East Coast ◽  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Fault Scarp ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
The Town

The Hurricane fault is the big earthquake fault in southwestern Utah. It stretches at least 155 miles (250 km) from south of the Grand Canyon northward to Cedar City and is capable of producing damaging earthquakes of about magnitude 7.0. The Hurricane fault is a “normal” fault, a type of fault that forms during extension of the earth’s crust, where one side of the fault moves down relative to the other side. In this case, the down-dropped side (the hanging wall) is west of the fault; the upthrown side (the footwall) lies to the east. Like most long normal faults, the Hurricane fault is composed of discrete segments that tend to rupture independently (figure 1). The fault lies at or near the base of the Hurricane Cliffs, which form an impressive, little-eroded fault scarp several hundred feet high. Conspicuous, west-tilted, faulted slivers of mostly Triassic and Jurassic red beds are locally exposed at the base of the cliffs, and contrast strongly with gray Permian carbonates exposed in the cliffs themselves. Several Pleistocene basaltic lava flows flowed across and are now offset by the fault zone, dramatically recording long-term slip rates. Should you make the mistake of pronouncing the name “Hurricane” as one would when describing a mighty storm on the East Coast, you should stand to be corrected, for locals pronounce it as “Hurricun” even though pioneers named the town after ferocious winds common to the local area.

scholarly journals Descriptive text to the Geological map of Greenland, 1:100 000, Kilen 81 Ø.1 Syd

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kristian Svennevig ◽  
Peter Alsen ◽  
Pierpaolo Guarnieri ◽  
Jussi Hovikoski ◽  
Bodil Wesenberg Lauridsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
The South ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Basin Inversion ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Map ◽  
Surrounding Areas

The geological map sheet of Kilen in 1:100 000 scale covers the south-eastern part of the Carboniferous– Palaeogene Wandel Sea Basin in eastern North Greenland. The map area is dominated by the Flade Isblink ice cap, which separates several minor isolated landmasses. On the semi-nunatak of Kilen, the map is mainly based on oblique photogrammetry and stratigraphical field work while in Erik S. Henius Land, Nordostrundingen and northern Amdrup Land the map is based on field data collected during previous, 1:500 000 scale regional mapping. Twenty-one Palaeozoic–Mesozoic mappable units were identified on Kilen, while the surrounding areas comprise the Late Cretaceous Nakkehoved Formation to the north-east and the Late Carboniferous Foldedal Formation to the south-west. On Kilen, the description of Jurassic–Cretaceous units follows a recently published lithostratigraphy. The Upper Palaeozoic–lowermost Cretaceous strata comprise seven formations and an informal mélange unit. The overlying Lower–Upper Cretaceous succession comprises the Galadriel Fjeld and Sølverbæk Formations, which are subdivided into six and five units, respectively. In addition, the Quaternary Ymer Formation was mapped on south-east Kilen. The Upper Palaeozoic to Mesozoic strata of Kilen are faulted and folded. Several post-Coniacian NNW–SSE-trending normal faults are identified and found to be passively folded by a later N–S compressional event. A prominent subhorizontal fault, the Central Detachment, separates two thrust sheets, the Kilen Thrust Sheet in the footwall and the Hondal Elv Thrust Sheet in the hanging wall. The style of deformation and the structures found on Kilen are caused by compressional tectonics resulting in post-extensional, presumably Early Eocene, folding and thrusting and basin inversion. The structural history of the surrounding areas and their relation to Kilen await further studies.

Structure and genesis of the Boulder-Weld allochthon, Denver Basin, Colorado - Gravity slide or Laramide thrust sheet?

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-304
Author(s):  
Edward J. Sterne
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Denver Basin ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Pierre Shale ◽  
Transport Direction ◽  
Tear Fault ◽  
Gravity Slide

This study was undertaken to determine the structure and genesis of the Boulder-Weld allochthon (BWA), the 216 mi2 (559 km2) remnant of a once larger feature, that moved east from the flank of the Front Range into the western part of the Denver Basin. This review of surface and subsurface data revealed new aspects of the BWA, especially in its western part. There, the decollement of the BWA ramps 900 feet up-section to the east from a near bedding-parallel detachment low in the upper transition member of the Pierre Shale to a bedding-parallel detachment near the base of the Fox Hills Formation. Repeated sections found in wells east of the decollement ramp demonstrate up to two miles of translation in the system. Secondary faults in the hanging wall of the allochthon include antithetic thrusts bounding pop-up structures and occasional normal faults that almost exclusively overprint the decollement ramp. The hanging wall is also cut by a postulated tear fault separating areas exhibiting different amounts of translation. The western, trailing edge of the decollement shows attenuation in its hanging wall that increases to the west. This part of the decollement either represents a very low-angle breakaway normal fault or a thrust fault cutting slightly down-section in the direction of transport. Past studies perceived a southeast transport direction for the BWA in contrast to the northeast slip directions on nearby Laramide thrusts, a difference used to interpret the allochthon as a gravity slide. However, similar east-west oriented slickenlines on thrusts across the western part of the allochthon and into the neighboring Front Range leave open the possibility the BWA originated as a Laramide thrust sheet. Furthermore, both the BWA and Laramide thrusts in the neighboring Front Range utilized detachments near the top of the Pierre Shale, suggesting a possible common genesis. Given the available data, both the gravity slide and Laramide thrust models provide viable explanations for the BWA.

Descriptive text to the Geological map of Greenland, 1:100 000, Kilen 81 Ø.1 Syd

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kristian Svennevig ◽  
Peter Alsen ◽  
Pierpaolo Guarnieri ◽  
Jussi Hovikoski ◽  
Bodil Wesenberg Lauridsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
The South ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Basin Inversion ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Map ◽  
Surrounding Areas

NOTE: This Map Description was published in a former series of GEUS Bulletin. Please use the original series name when citing this series, for example: Svennevig, K., Alsen, P., Guarnieri, P., Hovikoski, J., Wesenberg Lauridsen, B., Krarup Pedersen, G., Nøhr-Hansen, H., & Sheldon, E. (2018). Descriptive text to the Geological map of Greenland, 1:100 000, Kilen 81 Ø.1 Syd. Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland Map Series 8, 1-29. https://doi.org/10.34194/geusm.v8.4526 _______________ The geological map sheet of Kilen in 1:100 000 scale covers the south-eastern part of the Carboniferous–Palaeogene Wandel Sea Basin in eastern North Greenland. The map area is dominated by the Flade Isblink ice cap, which separates several minor isolated landmasses. On the semi-nunatak of Kilen, the map is mainly based on oblique photogrammetry and stratigraphical field work while in Erik S. Henius Land, Nordostrundingen and northern Amdrup Land the map is based on field data collected during previous, 1:500 000 scale regional mapping. Twenty-one Palaeozoic–Mesozoic mappable units were identified on Kilen, while the surrounding areas comprise the Late Cretaceous Nakkehoved Formation to the north-east and the Late Carboniferous Foldedal Formation to the south-west. On Kilen, the description of Jurassic–Cretaceous units follows a recently published lithostratigraphy. The Upper Palaeozoic–lowermost Cretaceous strata comprise seven formations and an informal mélange unit. The overlying Lower–Upper Cretaceous succession comprises the Galadriel Fjeld and Sølverbæk Formations, which are subdivided into six and five units, respectively. In addition, the Quaternary Ymer Formation was mapped on south-east Kilen. The Upper Palaeozoic to Mesozoic strata of Kilen are faulted and folded. Several post-Coniacian NNW–SSE-trending normal faults are identified and found to be passively folded by a later N–S compressional event. A prominent subhorizontal fault, the Central Detachment, separates two thrust sheets, the Kilen Thrust Sheet in the footwall and the Hondal Elv Thrust Sheet in the hanging wall. The style of deformation and the structures found on Kilen are caused by compressional tectonics resulting in post-extensional, presumably Early Eocene, folding and thrusting and basin inversion. The structural history of the surrounding areas and their relation to Kilen await further studies.

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