Transform faults in Island

Abstract

In Iceland the mid-Atlantic ridge rises above sea-level for a north-south-extension of 350 km. One or two east-west-directed transform faults may be expected on land in Iceland, since the mid-Atlantic ridge is offset by transform faults every 100–200 km. Two of these faults, the Reykjanes Fracture Zone in southern Iceland, and the Tjornes Fracture Zone in northern Iceland, have been located by recent seismological activity (Ward, 1971). There are no strike-slip faults within the Tjomes Fracture Zone that support transform faulting on land. En echolon faults may indicate a status nascendi of lateral offset for the Reykjanes Fracture Zone. A third transform fault, the Snaefellsnes-Vatnajokull Fracture Zone, however, was already active about 3 m.y. ago, when the rift system in southern Iceland began to spread faster than in northern Iceland. The features resulting from this process can be observed in (1) a change in strike from a northerly trend in northern Iceland to a north-easterly direction in southern Iceland; (2) the separation of the rift axis in southern Iceland into two branches; (3) right lateral strike-slip movements along the Snaefellsnes-Vatnajokull Fracture Zone with an offset of about 100 km. Field mapping and observations from air photographs have enabled the construction of a detailed tectonic pattern for the latter zone. The Pleistocene to Postglacial volcanic activity, the offset of magnetic anomalies, and recent active seismicity support the mechanism of transform faulting. At least 3 m.y. ago the west-wandering Icelandic Rift System started with higher spreading rates, revealing a trend to connect directly the Reykjanes- and the Iceland-Jan Mayen Rift Systems. Since that time three crustal plates proceeded from the Vatnajokull Triple Junction with different drift velocities, inducing the activity of the Snaefellsnes-Vatnajokull Transform Fault, which separates the north-western from the south-western Icelandic plate.