Self‐similar cataclasis in the Saltville thrust zone, Knoxville, Tennessee

Abstract

Fault rocks from the Saltville thrust zone, Knoxville, Tennessee, display a fractal geometry of clast size over 3 orders of magnitude. The cataclastic fractal geometry occurs at each magnification in different clast size classes and at combined magnifications. The mean of the fractal dimension (D) measured at each of the optical photomicrographs is generally smaller than that of the scanning electron microscopy images because of the smaller clast density in the optical sections. The fractal dimensions measured on randomly selected areas of the sections cut parallel to the thrust and normal to the thrust along the dip and strike, show a normal distribution with its mean, median, and mode that correlate closely with the dimension of ideal, fractal cataclasis (DI) based on the Sierpinski carpet model. The cataclasis was a statistical random, isotropic, and homogeneous fractal process that deformed the carbonates similarly parallel and normal to the thrust plane and in different parts of the thrust zone.