A mid-crustal linked ductile thrust zone, Breaghy Head, NW Donegal, Ireland

Abstract

A discrete syn-metamorphic ductile thrust zone, in NW Donegal is documented. The imbricates link to a common detachment, have well developed ramp-flat geometries, and duplicate a relatively simple well defined stratigraphic package. Similar in scale and geometry to imbricate zones in foreland thrust belts, the ductile thrusts carry regionally significant displacement. Timing of imbrication with respect to development of major penecontem-poraneous ductile thrusts and folds, is consistent with a regional piggy-back northwest-propagating sequence of major syn-metamorphic (D2 age) structures in NW Donegal.