Interrelations of mesoscopic structures and strain across a small regional fold, Virginia Appalachians

Abstract

Small regional folds, such as the Clover Hollow anticline of the Narrows thrust-sheet in southwest Virginia, U.S.A., are considered to be large buckle folds expressing lateral shortening above a subsurface décollement. Cleavage, mesoscopic and regional folds, and contraction faults have developed in these rocks under anchimetamorphic conditions, in a single, protracted deformation during thrust-sheet emplacement. The contraction faults dominate the structure at all scales. Three fault associations (isolated contraction faults, contraction faults in series and complex fault zones with intense folding) determine the pattern and intensity of local structures. Regional displacement transfer of strain along and across faults has produced local variations in structural style. Duplex-like systems of second-order faults terminate laterally into zones of intense folding and third-order faulting. Fold tightness, cleavage intensity, strain magnitude and total longitudinal strain ( ε T) are maximum in these regions. Contraction faults in this thrust-sheet have propagated along zones of high strain rate associated with mesoscopic folding and intense cleavage. Regional hinge migration, and greater structural complexity along the southeast limb of the Clover Hollow anticline, are considered to be due to emplacement of the adjacent thrust-sheet.