scholarly journals River patterns reveal two stages of landscape evolution at an oblique convergent margin, Marlborough Fault System, New Zealand

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison R. Duvall ◽  
Sarah A. Harbert ◽  
Phaedra Upton ◽  
Gregory E. Tucker ◽  
Rebecca M. Flowers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Damage Zone ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
Plate Boundary Deformation ◽  
Channel Steepness

Abstract. Here we examine the landscape of New Zealand's Marlborough Fault System (MFS), where the Australian and Pacific plates obliquely collide, in order to study landscape evolution and the controls on fluvial patterns at a long-lived plate boundary. We present maps of drainage anomalies and channel steepness, as well as an analysis of the plan-view orientations of rivers and faults, and we find abundant evidence of structurally controlled drainage that we relate to a history of drainage capture and rearrangement in response to mountain-building and strike-slip faulting. Despite clear evidence of recent rearrangement of the western MFS drainage network, rivers in this region still flow parallel to older faults, rather than along orthogonal traces of younger, active strike-slip faults. Such drainage patterns emphasize the importance of river entrenchment, showing that once rivers establish themselves along a structural grain, their capture or avulsion becomes difficult, even when exposed to new weakening and tectonic strain. Continued flow along older faults may also indicate that the younger faults have not yet generated a fault damage zone with the material weakening needed to focus erosion and reorient rivers. Channel steepness is highest in the eastern MFS, in a zone centered on the Kaikōura ranges, including within the low-elevation valleys of main stem rivers and at tributaries near the coast. This pattern is consistent with an increase in rock uplift rate toward a subduction front that is locked on its southern end. Based on these results and a wealth of previous geologic studies, we propose two broad stages of landscape evolution over the last 25 million years of orogenesis. In the eastern MFS, Miocene folding above blind thrust faults generated prominent mountain peaks and formed major transverse rivers early in the plate collision history. A transition to Pliocene dextral strike-slip faulting and widespread uplift led to cycles of river channel offset, deflection and capture of tributaries draining across active faults, and headward erosion and captures by major transverse rivers within the western MFS. We predict a similar landscape will evolve south of the Hope Fault, as the locus of plate boundary deformation migrates southward into this region with time.

scholarly journals River patterns reveal landscape evolution at the edge of subduction, Marlborough Fault System, New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison R. Duvall ◽  
Sarah A. Harbert ◽  
Phaedra Upton ◽  
Gregory E. Tucker ◽  
Rebecca M. Flowers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Drainage Network ◽  
Drainage Pattern ◽  
Plan View ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tectonic Boundaries ◽  
Channel Steepness

Abstract. Here we examine the landscape of New Zealand's Marlborough Fault System, where the Australian and Pacific plates obliquely collide, in order to consider landscape evolution and the controls on fluvial patterns at complicated plate tectonic boundaries. Based on topographic patterns, we divide the study area into two geomorphic domains, the Kaikōura and Inland Marlborough regions. We present maps of drainage anomalies and channel steepness, as well as an analysis of the plan view orientations of rivers and faults, and find abundant evidence of structurally-controlled drainage and a history of capture and rearrangement. Channel steepness is highest in a zone centered on the Kaikōura domain, including within the low-elevation valleys of main stem rivers and at tributaries near the coast. This pattern is consistent with an increase in rock uplift rate toward a subduction front that is locked on its southern end. Based on these results and a wealth of previous geologic studies, we propose two broad stages of landscape evolution over the last 25 million years of orogenesis. In the Kaikōura domain, Miocene folding above blind thrust or reverse faults generated prominent mountain peaks and formed major transverse rivers early in the plate collision history. A transition to Pliocene dextral strike-slip faulting and widespread uplift led to cycles of river channel offset, deflection and capture of tributaries draining across active faults, and headward erosion and captures by major transverse rivers within the Inland Marlborough domain. Despite clear evidence of recent rearrangement of the Inland Marlborough drainage network, rivers in this domain still flow parallel to the older faults, rather than along orthogonal traces of younger, active faults. Continued flow in the established drainage pattern may indicate that younger faults are not yet mature enough to generate the damage and weakening needed to reorient rivers. We conclude that faulting, uplift, river capture and drainage network entrenchment all dictate drainage patterns and that each factor should be considered when assessing tectonic strain from landscapes, particularly at long-lived and complex tectonic boundaries.

Landscape Records 25 Million Years of Tectonic Evolution at an Oblique Convergent Margin, Marlborough Fault System, New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Duvall ◽  
Phaedra Upton ◽  
Camille Collett ◽  
Sarah Harbert ◽  
Seth Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Plate Collision ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
Landscape Response ◽  
Oblique Convergent

<p>The landscape at the NE end of the South Island, New Zealand, records oblique plate collision over the last 25 million years. Using low-temperature thermochronology, geomorphic analyses, and cosmogenic <sup>10</sup>Be data, we document the landscape response to tectonics over long (10<sup>6</sup>) and short (10<sup>2</sup> – 10<sup>3</sup>) timescales in the Marlborough Fault System (MFS) and related Kaikōura Mountains. Our results indicate two broad stages of landscape evolution that reflect a changing plate boundary through time. In the eastern MFS, Miocene folding above blind thrust faults generated prominent Kaikōura Mountain peaks and formed major transverse rivers early in the plate collision history. By the Pliocene, rotation of the plate boundary led to a transition to dextral strike-slip faulting and widespread uplift that led to cycles of river channel offset, deflection and capture of tributaries draining across active faults, and headward erosion and captures by major transverse rivers within the western MFS. Despite clear evidence of recent rearrangement of the western MFS drainage network, rivers in this region still flow parallel to older faults, rather than along orthogonal traces of younger, active strike-slip faults. Such drainage patterns emphasize the importance of river entrenchment, showing that once rivers establish themselves along a structural grain, their capture or avulsion becomes difficult, even when exposed to new weakening and tectonic strain. Over short timescales (hundreds to thousands of years), apparent catchment-wide average erosion rates derived from <sup>10</sup>Be data show an increase from SW to NE, along strike of the Seaward Kaikōura Range. These rates mirror spatial increases in elevation, slope, channel steepness, and coseismic landslides, demonstrating that both landscape and geochronology patterns are consistent with an increase in rock uplift rate toward a subduction front that is presently locked on its southern end. Remarkably, the form of the topography, hillslopes, and rivers across much of the MFS appears to faithfully record the complex and changing tectonic history of a long-lived, oblique convergent plate boundary.</p>

scholarly journals Propagation of a strike-slip plate boundary within an extensional environment: the westward propagation of the North Anatolian Fault

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. 1416-1439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xavier Le Pichon ◽  
A.M. Celâl Şengör ◽  
Julia Kende ◽  
Caner İmren ◽  
Pierre Henry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Sea Of Marmara ◽  
The North ◽  
Gulf Of Corinth ◽  
Northern Border ◽  
North Aegean ◽  
Narrow Plate

We document the establishment of the Aegea–Anatolia/Eurasia plate boundary in Pliocene–Pleistocene time. Before 2 Ma, no localized plate boundary existed north of the Aegean portion of the Anatolia plate and the shear produced by the motion of Anatolia–Aegea with respect to Eurasia was distributed over the whole width of the Aegean – West Anatolian western portion. In 4.5 Ma, a shear zone comparable to the Gulf of Corinth was formed in the present Sea of Marmara. The initial extensional basins were cut by the strike-slip Main Marmara Fault system after 2.5 Ma. Shortly after, the plate boundary migrated west of the Sea of Marmara along the northern border of Aegea from the North Aegean Trough, to the Gulf of Corinth area and to the Kefalonia Fault. There, it finally linked with the northern tip of the Aegean subduction zone, completing the system of plate boundaries delimiting the Anatolia–Aegea plate. We have related the change in the distribution of shear from Miocene to Pliocene to the formation of a relatively undeforming Aegea block in Pliocene that forced the shear to be distributed over a narrow plate boundary to the north of it. We attribute the formation of this block to the northeastward progression of the oceanic Ionian slab. We propose that the slab cuts the overlying lithosphere from asthenospheric sources and induces a shortening environment over it.

Joint multidisciplinary study of the Saint-Sauveur–Donareo fault (lower Var valley, French Riviera): a contribution to seismic hazard assessment in the urban area of Nice

2011 ◽  
Vol 182 (4) ◽  
pp. 323-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Larroque ◽  
Bertrand Delouis ◽  
Jean-Claude Hippolyte ◽  
Anne Deschamps ◽  
Thomas Lebourg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Hazard ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Focal Depth ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Geophysical Investigation ◽  
Lateral Strike Slip ◽  
North East

AbstractThe lower Var valley is the only large outcropping zone of Plio-Quaternary terrains throughout the southwestern Alps. In order to assess the seismic hazard for the Alps – Ligurian basin junction, we investigated this area to provide a record of earthquakes that have recently occurred near the city of Nice. Although no historical seismicity has been indicated for the lower Var valley, our main objective was to identify traces of recent faulting and to discuss the seismogenic potential of any active faults. We organized multidisciplinary observations as a microseismic investigation (the PASIS survey), with morphotectonic mapping and imagery, and subsurface geophysical investigations. The results of the PASIS dense recording survey were disappointing, as no present-day intense microseismic activity was recorded. From the morphotectonic investigation of the lower Var valley, we revealed several morphological anomalies, such as drainage perturbations and extended linear anomalies that are unrelated to the lithology. These anomalies strike mainly NE-SW, with the major Saint-Sauveur – Donareo lineament, clearly related to faulting of the Plio-Pleistocene sedimentary series. Sub-surface geophysical investigation (electrical resistivity tomography profiling) imaged these faults in the shallow crust, and together with the microtectonic data, allow us to propose the timing of recent faulting in this area. Normal and left-lateral strike-slip faulting occurred several times during the Pliocene. From fault-slip data, the last episode of faulting was left-lateral strike-slip and was related to a NNW-SSE direction of compression. This direction of compression is consistent with the present-day state of stress and the Saint-Sauveur–Donareo fault might have been reactivated several times as a left-lateral fault during the Quaternary. At a regional scale, in the Nice fold-and-thrust belt, these data lead to a reappraisal of the NE-SW structural trends as the major potentially active fault system. We propose that the Saint-Sauveur–Donareo fault belongs to a larger system of faults that runs from near Villeneuve-Loubet to the southwest to the Vésubie valley to the north-east. The question of a structural connection between the Vésubie – Mt Férion fault, the Saint-Sauveur–Donareo fault and its possible extension offshore through the northern Ligurian margin is discussed.The Saint-Sauveur–Donareo fault shows two en-échelon segments that extend for about 8 km. Taking into account the regional seismogenic depth (about 10 km), this fault could produce M ~6 earthquakes if activated entirely during one event. Although a moderate magnitude generally yields a moderate seismic hazard, we suggest that this contribution to the local seismic risk is high, taking into account the possible shallow focal depth and the high vulnerability of Nice and the surrounding urban areas.

scholarly journals Geodynamic and seismotectonic model of a long-lived transverse structure: The Schio-Vicenza Fault System (NE Italy)

Solid Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 1967-1986
Author(s):  
Dario Zampieri ◽  
Paola Vannoli ◽  
Pierfrancesco Burrato
Keyword(s):  
Active Faults ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Southern Alps ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Slip Activity ◽  
Seismological Data ◽  
Moderate Seismicity ◽  
Northern Segment

Abstract. We make a thorough review of geological and seismological data on the long-lived Schio-Vicenza Fault System (SVFS) in northern Italy and present for it a geodynamic and seismotectonic interpretation. The SVFS is a major and high-angle structure transverse to the mean trend of the eastern Southern Alps fold-and-thrust belt, and the knowledge of this structure is deeply rooted in the geological literature and spans more than a century and a half. The main fault of the SVFS is the Schio-Vicenza Fault (SVF), which has a significant imprint in the landscape across the eastern Southern Alps and the Veneto-Friuli foreland. The SVF can be divided into a northern segment, extending into the chain north of Schio and mapped up to the Adige Valley, and a southern one, coinciding with the SVF proper. The latter segment borders to the east the Lessini Mountains, Berici Mountains and Euganei Hills block, separating this foreland structural high from the Veneto-Friuli foreland, and continues southeastward beneath the recent sediments of the plain via the blind Conselve–Pomposa fault. The structures forming the SVFS have been active with different tectonic phases and different styles of faulting at least since the Mesozoic, with a long-term dip-slip component of faulting well defined and, on the contrary, the horizontal component of the movement not being well constrained. The SVFS interrupts the continuity of the eastern Southern Alps thrust fronts in the Veneto sector, suggesting that it played a passive role in controlling the geometry of the active thrust belt and possibly the current distribution of seismic release. As a whole, apart from moderate seismicity along the northern segment and few geological observations along the southern one, there is little evidence to constrain the recent activity of the SVFS. In this context, the SVFS, and specifically its SVF strand, has accommodated a different amount of shortening of adjacent domains of the Adriatic (Dolomites) indenter by internal deformation produced by lateral variation in strength, related to Permian–Mesozoic tectonic structures and paleogeographic domains. The review of the historical and instrumental seismicity along the SVFS shows that it does not appear to have generated large earthquakes during the last few hundred years. The moderate seismicity points to a dextral strike-slip activity, which is also corroborated by the field analysis of antithetic Riedel structures of the fault cropping out along the northern segment. Conversely, the southern segment shows geological evidence of sinistral strike-slip activity. The apparently conflicting geological and seismological data can be reconciled considering the faulting style of the southern segment as driven by the indentation of the Adriatic plate, while the opposite style along the northern segment can be explained in a sinistral opening “zipper” model, where intersecting pairs of simultaneously active faults with a different sense of shear merge into a single fault system.

scholarly journals Geomorphic expression and slip rate of the Fairweather fault, southeast Alaska, and evidence for predecessors of the 1958 rupture

Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Witter ◽  
Adrian M. Bender ◽  
Katherine M. Scharer ◽  
Christopher B. DuRoss ◽  
Peter J. Haeussler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Active Faults ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Tectonic Deformation ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Slip Rates ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
The Past ◽  
Show Evidence

Active traces of the southern Fairweather fault were revealed by light detection and ranging (lidar) and show evidence for transpressional deformation between North America and the Yakutat block in southeast Alaska. We map the Holocene geomorphic expression of tectonic deformation along the southern 30 km of the Fairweather fault, which ruptured in the 1958 moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Digital maps of surficial geology, geomorphology, and active faults illustrate both strike-slip and dip-slip deformation styles within a 10°–30° double restraining bend where the southern Fairweather fault steps offshore to the Queen Charlotte fault. We measure offset landforms along the fault and calibrate legacy 14C data to reassess the rate of Holocene strike-slip motion (≥49 mm/yr), which corroborates published estimates that place most of the plate boundary motion on the Fairweather fault. Our slip-rate estimates allow a component of oblique-reverse motion to be accommodated by contractional structures west of the Fairweather fault consistent with geodetic block models. Stratigraphic and structural relations in hand-dug excavations across two active fault strands provide an incomplete paleoseismic record including evidence for up to six surface ruptures in the past 5600 years, and at least two to four events in the past 810 years. The incomplete record suggests an earthquake recurrence interval of ≥270 years—much longer than intervals <100 years implied by published slip rates and expected earthquake displacements. Our paleoseismic observations and map of active traces of the southern Fairweather fault illustrate the complexity of transpressional deformation and seismic potential along one of Earth’s fastest strike-slip plate boundaries.

scholarly journals Geodynamic and seismotectonic model of a long-lived transverse structure: The Schio-Vicenza Fault System (NE Italy)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario Zampieri ◽  
Paola Vannoli ◽  
Pierfrancesco Burrato
Keyword(s):  
Active Faults ◽  
Strike Slip ◽  
Southern Alps ◽  
Field Analysis ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Geological Evidence ◽  
Slip Activity ◽  
Moderate Seismicity ◽  
Northern Segment

Abstract. We make a thorough review of geological and seismological data on the long-lived Schio-Vicenza Fault System (SVFS) in northern Italy and present for it a geodynamic and seismotectonic interpretation. The SVFS is a major and high angle structure transverse to the mean trend of the Eastern Southern Alps fold-and-thrust belt, and the knowledge of this structure is deeply rooted in the geological literature and spans for more than a century and a half. The main fault of the SVFS is the Schio-Vicenza Fault (SVF), which has a significant imprint in the landscape across the Eastern Southern Alps and the Veneto-Friuli foreland. The SVF can be divided into a northern segment, extending into the chain north of Schio and mapped up to the Adige Valley, and a southern one, coinciding with the SVF proper. The latter segment borders to the east the Lessini, Berici Mts. and Euganei Hills block, separating this foreland structural high from the Veneto-Friuli foreland, and continues southeastward beneath the recent sediments of the plain via the blind Conselve-Pomposa fault. The structures forming the SVFS have been active with different tectonic phases and different style of faulting at least since the Mesozoic, with a long-term dip-slip component of faulting well defined and, on the contrary, the horizontal component of the movement not well constrained. The SVFS interrupts the continuity of the Eastern Southern Alps thrust fronts in the Veneto sector, suggesting that it played a passive role in controlling the geometry of the active thrust belt and possibly the current distribution of seismic release. As a whole, apart from moderate seismicity along the northern segment and few geological observations along the southern one, there is little evidence to constrain the recent activity of the SVFS. In this context, the SVFS, and specifically its SVF strand, has been referred to as a sinistral strike-slip boundary of the northeastern Adriatic indenter. The review of the historical and instrumental seismicity along the SVFS shows that it does not appear to have generated large earthquakes during the last few hundred years. The moderate seismicity point to a dextral strike-slip activity, which is also corroborated by the field analysis of antithetic Riedel structures of the fault cropping out along the northern segment. Conversely, the southern segment shows geological evidence of sinistral strike-slip activity. The geological and seismological apparently conflicting data can be reconciled considering the faulting style of the southern segment as driven by the indentation of the Adriatic plate, while the opposite style along the northern segment can be explained in a sinistral opening "zipper" model, where intersecting pairs of simultaneously active faults with different sense of shear merge into a single fault system via a zippered section.

scholarly journals Present-day stress state in northwestern Syria

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-316
Author(s):  
Mohamad Khir Abdul-Wahed ◽  
Mohammed ALISSA
Keyword(s):  
Fault Plane ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Active Faults ◽  
Plate Boundary ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
P Wave ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Fault Plane Solutions ◽  
Stress Regime

Northwestern Syria is a key area in the eastern Mediterranean to study the active tectonics and stress pattern across the Arabia-Eurasia convergent plate boundary. This study aims to outline the present-day stress regime in this region of Syria using the fault plane solutions of the largest events recorded by the Syrian National Seismological Network from 1995 to 2011. A dataset of fault-plane solutions was obtained for 48 events having at least 5 P-wave polarities. The tectonic regime for most of these events is extensional and produces normal mechanisms in agreement with the local configurations of the seismogenic faults in the region. Strike-slip mechanisms are more scarce and restricted to certain areas, such as the northern extension of the Dead Sea fault system. The results of the current study reveal the spatial variations of SHmax orientation across the northwestern Syria region. This spatial variation of the present-day stress field highlights the role of main geometrically complex shear zones in the present-day stress pattern of northwestern Syria. However, these results show, regardless of the relatively small magnitudes of the studied events, they provide a picture of the local stress deviations that have currently been taking place along the local active faults.

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