Controls on Stylolite Development: Morphologic, Lithologic, and Temporal Evidence from Bedding-Parallel and Transverse Stylolites from the U.S. Appalachians

Abstract

Quantification of morphology of bedding-parallel and transverse (or tectonic) stylolites from the southern Appalachians reveals that, regardless of tectonic setting or stylolite orientation, lithologic heterogeneity controls stylolite development. For example, stylolites in more heterogeneous carbonate lithologies (packstones and grainstones) are more serrate than those in wackestones and mudstones. Similarly, early-forming stylolites are more serrate than late-forming stylolites, and computer simulations suggest that decreases in porosity or other lithologic heterogeneity cause the less serrate nature of late-forming stylolites. The linkage of a stylolite's morphology to its time of development should allow field estimation of timing of stylolitization and thus of timing of loading or compression. Although bedding-parallel and transverse stylolites generally result from different kinds of compression, morphological relations indicate that their development follows the same fundamental patterns. Bedding...