Abstract

Strike-slip faulting in the Builth Ordovician Inlier is demonstrated by large-scale maps of the Llanelwedd Quarries near Builth Wells, and by fault plane and slickenline data. In the main quarry steep NNW-striking strike-slip faults dominate the structure, together with significant strike-slip displacement on the W-dipping bedding surfaces and bedding-parallel faults. A zone of steep N-striking extensional dip-slip faults links two of the strike-slip strands and there is a weaker E-striking set of strike-slip faults. When the four fault sets are rotated so that the regional bedding is horizontal, three become vertical and one horizontal, probably their attitude during active life in late Ordovician to early Silurian time. They formed a linked fault system capable of accommodating three-dimensional bulk strain. The fault flats have the same kinematic role in a strike-slip system as lateral ramps or transfer faults in dip-slip systems. In the nearby Gelli Cadwgan quarry strike-slip faults are again dominant but strike E or ESE. This heterogeneity of fault pattern in the southern Builth Inlier resolves into more homogeneous domains with areas of 0.1 to 0.5 km 2 separated by E to NE-striking dextral strike-slip faults: Domainal structure, an important general feature of strike-slip tectonics, may be present on a variety of scales.

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