Along-strike Gradients Research Articles

Links between foreland rheology and the growth and evolution of a young mountain belt in New Guinea

SUMMARYWe have studied the active and recent tectonics of New Guinea, using earthquake source modelling, analysis of gravity anomalies, seismic reflection profiles, and thermal and mechanical models. Our aim is to investigate the behaviour and evolution of a young continental deformation belt, and to explore the effects of lateral variations in foreland rheology on the deformation. We find that along-strike gradients in the lithosphere thickness of the southern foreland have resulted in correlated changes in seismogenic thickness, likely due to the effects on the temperature structure of the crust. The resulting variation in the strength of the foreland means that in the east, the foreland is broken through on thrust faults, whereas in the west it is relatively intact. The lack of correlation between the elevation of the mountain belt and the seismogenic thickness of the foreland is likely to be due to the time taken to thicken the crust in the mountains following changes in the rheology of the underthrusting foreland, as the thinned passive margin of northern Australia is consumed. The along-strike variation in whether the force exerted between the mountains and the lowlands is able to break the foreland crust enables us to estimate the effective coefficient of friction on foreland faults to be in the range of 0.01–0.28. We use force-balance calculations to show that the recent tectonic re-organization in western New Guinea is likely to be due to the development of increasing curvature in the Banda Arc, and that the impingement of continental material on the subduction zone may explain the unusually low force it exerts on western New Guinea.

FinDerS(+): Real-Time Earthquake Slip Profiles and Magnitudes Estimated from Backprojected Displacement with Consideration of Fault Source Maturity Gradient

The Finite-Fault Rupture Detector (FinDer) algorithm computes rapid line-source rupture models from high-frequency seismic acceleration amplitudes (PGA). In this paper, we propose two extensions to FinDer, called FinDerS and FinDerS+, which have the advantage of taking into account a geological property of the source fault, its structural maturity, as well as its relation to the earthquake slip distribution. These two new algorithms calculate real-time earthquake slip profiles by backprojecting seismic and/or geodetic displacement amplitudes onto the FinDer line-source. This backprojection is based on a general empirical equation established in previous work that relates dynamic peak ground displacement (PGD) at the stations to on-fault coseismic slip. While FinDerS projects PGD onto the current FinDer line-source, FinDerS+ allows the rupture to grow beyond the current model extent to predict future rupture evolution. For an informed interpolation and smoothing of the estimated slip values, FinDerS and FinDerS+ both employ a generic empirical function that has been shown to relate the along-strike gradient of structural maturity of the ruptured fault, the earthquake slip distribution, and the rupture length. Therefore, while FinDer derives magnitudes from a relatively uncertain and general empirical rupture length-magnitude relations, FinDerS and FinDerS+ provide alternate and better informed magnitude estimates using the mean slip of the profiles derived from the integration of fault source maturity. The two new algorithms can incorporate both seismic strong-motion and geodetic displacement data. In order to recover PGD from strong-motion instruments, we double-integrate and high-pass filter (>0.075 Hz) the seismic acceleration records. Together, the three algorithms exploit the full spectrum of ground-motions, including high frequencies to derive a source fault model (FinDer) and low frequencies to determine the static offsets along this model (FinDerS and FinDerS+). We test the three algorithms for the 2019 MW7.1 Ridgecrest (California), 2016 MW7.0 Kumamoto (Japan), and 2008 MW7.9 Wenchuan (China) earthquakes. Conclusively, low-frequency PGD data and integration of the fault maturity gradient do not speed-up calculations for these events, but provide additional information on slip distribution and final rupture length, as well as alternative estimates of magnitudes that can be useful to check for consistency across the algorithm suite. The FinDer algorithms systematically outperform previously established real-time PGD-based magnitude estimates in terms of speed and accuracy. The resulting slip distributions can be useful for improved ground-motion prediction given the observed relationship between seismic radiation and fault maturity.

Determining the Slip Rate and Earthquake Recurrence Interval on the Tip of a Foreberg in the Gobi-Altai, Mongolia

Abstract ––The Gobi-Altai, Mongolia, includes high mountain ranges that have accommodated the compressional stresses derived from the collision between the Eurasian and Indian Plates. The Gurvan Bogd, which is one of the main mountain ranges in the Gobi-Altai, is a restraining bend along the Bogd sinistral fault. Although surface ruptures did not form near the Artz Bogd during the Mw = 8.1 Gobi-Altai earthquake of 1957, it is still active, as evidenced by a growing topography (i.e., forebergs). Six foreberg ridges have formed in the foreland of the Artz Bogd, which are considered to be the result of surface deformation of alluvial fans due to thrusting. One stream has cut down to expose a foreberg tip, providing the opportunity to explore the slip evolution of the region. Here we map a growing fault structure related to blind thrusting. We identify five faulting events from an analysis of the outcrop and apply optically stimulated luminescence dating to the faulted sedimentary layers, yielding an average slip rate of 0.045 ± 0.007 m/kyr and an earthquake recurrence interval of 5.8 ± 0.5 kyr over the last ~32 kyr. Furthermore, the long-term (~600 kyr) uplift rate of the foreberg is 0.067 ± 0.007 m/kyr, as deduced by dividing the vertical displacement of the alluvial fan surface by the 10Be surface exposure ages of boulders on the fan. The discrepancy (20–30%) between these two deformation rates may be due to the different timescales they cover and an along-strike gradient in slip rate.

Far-field strain transmission and contractional step-overs

In contractional (subduction/collisional) settings, convergence is accommodated by the formation of thin- and thick-skinned thrust and fold belts. The transmission of such deformation over larger distances into orogenic foreland areas is influenced by the inherited rheological characteristics of continental lithosphere. Lateral rheological variations parallel to the strike of continental foreland areas creates contrasting geometries and sequences of deformation that interact during orogenic build-up. We investigate the far-field transmission of strain within a continental lithosphere characterized by a laterally variable rheology through physical analogue modelling. Rheological weak crustal zones were introduced at distance from an advancing backstop to study the progressive along strike linkage and interference of structures during contraction. The results reveal that rheologically weak crustal zones localise far-field contractional deformation. When the size of weak zones, by means of their horizontal extend to depth ratio, is large, deformation localises at the boundaries of the weak zone where they lead to the formation of large-offset faults. Subsequently the faults migrate along-strike into areas that are rheologically stronger. When the size of the weak zone is reduced, a large-scale contractional step-over forms in orogenic forelands, where rheologically contrasting domains transmit out-of-sequence deformation by a gradual migration of thrust offsets and fold amplitudes along their strike. These results show that crustal scale orogenic step-overs do not always reflect variations in the geometry of the plate boundary (indenter) or along-strike gradients in shortening rates. Such features may also form in response to variations in rheology, as the ones created by inherited extensional basins situated at large distances from plate boundaries in the orogenic foreland.

Along-strike variation in catchment morphology and cosmogenic denudation rates reveal the pattern and history of footwall uplift, Main Gulf Escarpment, Baja California

Topography is expected to record tectonic, climatic, and rock strength controls on long-term denudation rates in active margins. We test this hypothesis in the Sierra San Pedro Martir, Mexico—the footwall of the normal-faulted, western margin of the Gulf of California rift system—by relating topographic metrics with 10 Be-derived catchment-averaged denudation rates. Denudation rates and topographic metrics record along-strike gradients in rock uplift relative to base level that increase asymmetrically from fault tips to maxima within the northern half of the range. Surface uplift of an Eocene erosional surface and slope-break knickpoints found at increasingly higher elevations in the northern segments of the Sierra San Pedro Martir fault system suggest that range asymmetry is due to a recent northward acceleration in the rate of rock uplift relative to base level. By characterizing the relationship between channel steepness and cosmogenic denudation rates, we extrapolate millennial-scale denudation rates to million-year time scales and estimate ages for the transient increase in rock uplift rates and the initial onset of normal faulting. We infer that the Sierra San Pedro Martir fault system initiated during the middle Miocene (ca. 16–14 Ma) in the center of the range and ca. 12–8 Ma near the fault tips. Recent increases in rock uplift rates during the late Pliocene (ca. 3–2 Ma) coincide with lithospheric rupture in the Delfin basins to the east and represent a westward migration of strain from hanging-wall detachments to the Sierra San Pedro Martir fault system. Age estimates are consistent with independent geologic constraints and show that pairing of carefully selected cosmogenic denudation rates with topographic analysis can be used to extract tectonic signals from topography over million-year time scales.

Linking deep and shallow crustal processes during regional transtension in an exhumed continental arc, North Cascades, northwestern Cordillera (USA)

The North Cascades orogen (northwestern USA) provides an exceptional natural laboratory with which to evaluate potential temporal and kinematic links between processes operating at a wide range of crustal levels during collapse of a continental arc, and particularly the compatibility of strain between the upper and lower crust. This magmatic arc reached a crustal thickness of ≥55 km in the mid-Cretaceous. Eocene collapse of the arc during regional transtension was marked by magmatism, migmatization, ductile flow, and exhumation of deep crustal (8–12 kbar) rocks in the Cascades crystalline core coeval with subsidence and rapid deposition in nonmarine basins adjacent to the core, and intrusion of dike complexes. The Skagit Gneiss Complex is the larger of two regions of exhumed deep crust with Eocene cooling ages in the Cascades core, and it consists primarily of tonalitic orthogneiss emplaced mainly in two episodes of ca. 73–59 Ma and 50–45 Ma. Metamorphism, melt crystallization, and ductile deformation of migmatitic metapelite overlap the orthogneiss emplacement, occurring (possibly intermittently) from ca. 71 to 53 Ma; the youngest orthogneisses overlap 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite dates, compatible with rapid cooling. Gently to moderately dipping foliation, subhorizontal orogen-parallel (northwest-southeast) mineral lineation, sizable constrictional domains, and strong stretching parallel to lineation of hinges of mesoscopic folds in the Skagit Gneiss Complex are compatible with transtension linked to dextral-normal displacement of the Ross Lake fault zone, the northeastern boundary of the Cascades core. The other deeply exhumed domain, the 9–12 kbar Swakane Biotite Gneiss, has a broadly north-trending, gently plunging lineation and gently to moderately dipping foliation, which are associated with top-to-the-north noncoaxial shear. This gneiss is separated from overlying metamorphic rocks by a folded detachment fault. The Eocene Swauk and Chumstick basins flank the southern end of the Cascades core. In the Swauk basin, sediments were deposited in part at ca. 51 Ma, folded shortly afterward, and then covered by ca. 49 Ma Teanaway basalts and intruded by associated mafic dikes. Directly after dike intrusion, the fault-bounded Chumstick basin subsided rapidly. Extension directions from these dikes and from Eocene dikes that intruded the Cascades core are dominantly oblique to the overall trend of the orogen (275°–310° versus ∼320°, respectively) and to the northwest-southeast to north-south ductile flow direction in the Skagit and Swakane rocks. This discordance implies that coeval extensional strain was decoupled between the brittle and ductile crust. Strain orientations at all depths in the Cascades core contrast with the approximately east-west extension driven by orogenic collapse in coeval metamorphic core complexes ∼200 km to the east. Arc-oblique to arc-parallel flow in the Cascades core probably resulted in part from dextral shear along the plate margin and from along-strike gradients in crustal thickness and temperature.

Role of climate and vegetation density in modulating denudation rates in the Himalaya

Abstract Vegetation has long been hypothesized to influence the nature and rates of surface processes. We test the possible impact of vegetation and climate on denudation rates at orogen scale by taking advantage of a pronounced along-strike gradient in rainfall and vegetation density in the Himalaya. We combine 12 new 10 Be denudation rates from the Sutlej Valley and 123 published denudation rates from fluvially-dominated catchments in the Himalaya with remotely-sensed measures of vegetation density and rainfall metrics, and with tectonic and lithologic constraints. In addition, we perform topographic analyses to assess the contribution of vegetation and climate in modulating denudation rates along strike. We observe variations in denudation rates and the relationship between denudation and topography along strike that are most strongly controlled by local rainfall amount and vegetation density, and cannot be explained by along-strike differences in tectonics or lithology. A W–E along-strike decrease in denudation rate variability positively correlates with the seasonality of vegetation density ( R = 0.95 , p 0.05 ), and negatively correlates with mean vegetation density ( R = − 0.84 , p 0.05 ). Vegetation density modulates the topographic response to changing denudation rates, such that the functional relationship between denudation rate and topographic steepness becomes increasingly linear as vegetation density increases. We suggest that while tectonic processes locally control the pattern of denudation rates across strike of the Himalaya (i.e., S–N), along strike of the orogen (i.e., E–W) climate exerts a measurable influence on how denudation rates scatter around long-term, tectonically-controlled erosion, and on the functional relationship between topography and denudation.

Relating orogen width to shortening, erosion, and exhumation during Alpine collision

We investigate along-strike width changes of the thickened, accreted lower plate (TALP) in the Central and in the Eastern Alps. We set the width of the TALP in relation to the inferred amount of collisional shortening and exhumation along six orogen-scale cross sections. Taking the present-day, along-strike gradients in the amount of collisional shortening to represent the temporal evolution of the collisional wedge, it may be concluded that the cross-sectional area of the TALP diminishes during ongoing shortening, indicating that the erosional flux outpaced the accretionary flux. Higher amounts of collisional shortening systematically coincide with smaller widths of the TALP and dramatic increases of the reconstructed eroded rock column. Higher amounts of shortening also coincide with larger amplitudes of orogen-scale, upright folds, with higher exhumation and with higher exhumation rates. Hence, erosion did play a major role in reducing by >30 km the vertical crustal thickness in order to accommodate and allow shortening by folding. Long-term climate differences cannot explain alternating changes of width by a factor of almost 2 along straight segments of the orogen on length scales less than 200 km, as observed from the western Central Alps to the easternmost Eastern Alps. Sedimentary or paleontological evidences supporting such paleo-climatic differences are lacking, suggesting that erosional processes did not directly control the width of the orogen.

Toward understanding tectonic control on the Mw 8.8 2010 Maule Chile earthquake

The Maule earthquake of 27th February 2010 (Mw=8.8) affected ~500km of the Nazca-South America plate boundary in south-central Chile producing spectacular crustal deformation. Here, we present a detailed estimate of static coseismic surface offsets as measured by survey and continuous GPS, both in near- and far-field regions. Earthquake slip along the megathrust has been inferred from a joint inversion of our new data together with published GPS, InSAR, and land-level changes data using Green's functions generated by a spherical finite-element model with realistic subduction zone geometry. The combination of the data sets provided a good resolution, indicating that most of the slip was well resolved. Coseismic slip was concentrated north of the epicenter with up to 16m of slip, whereas to the south it reached over 10m within two minor patches. A comparison of coseismic slip with the slip deficit accumulated since the last great earthquake in 1835 suggests that the 2010 event closed a mature seismic gap. Slip deficit distribution shows an apparent local overshoot that highlight cycle-to-cycle variability, which has to be taken into account when anticipating future events from interseismic observations. Rupture propagation was obviously not affected by bathymetric features of the incoming plate. Instead, splay faults in the upper plate seem to have limited rupture propagation in the updip and along-strike directions. Additionally, we found that along-strike gradients in slip are spatially correlated with geometrical inflections of the megathrust. Our study suggests that persistent tectonic features may control strain accumulation and release along subduction megathrusts.

Dynamics of diffuse oceanic plate boundaries: insensitivity to rheology

SUMMARY Diffuse plate boundaries, which are zones of deformation hundreds to thousands of kilometres wide, occur in both continental and oceanic lithosphere. Here, we build on our prior work in which we described analytic approximations to simple dynamical models that assume that the vertically averaged viscous force resisting deformation in diffuse oceanic plate boundaries (DOPBs) is described by either a linear Newtonian viscous rheology or a yield-stress (high-exponent power-law) rheology. An important observation is that the poles of relative rotation of adjacent component plates tend to lie in the diffuse plate boundary that separates them. A key cause of this tendency is that a faster spin is needed to balance a component of torque through the middle of a diffuse plate boundary than to balance an equal component of torque lying 90° from the middle of the diffuse boundary. The strength of that tendency depends on rheology, however, with the tendency being stronger for a yield-stress rheology than for a Newtonian viscous rheology. For the special case of the pole of rotation lying outside of and along the strike of the boundary, these large differences can be simply explained in terms of the distribution of boundary-perpendicular normal forces acting across the boundary. In the Newtonian case, the distribution of forces has an along-strike gradient that can balance a component of torque about the middle of the boundary, while in the yield-stress case, the distribution of forces has zero along-strike gradient and cannot balance a component of torque about the middle of the diffuse plate boundary. To expand our analysis to intermediate power laws of geophysical interest (i.e. power-law exponents of 3 to 30), as well as to investigate more thoroughly the behaviour for a high-exponent power law, we numerically integrate the force distribution to obtain the torques. Results for intermediate power laws resemble the yield-stress rheology much more than they resemble the Newtonian rheology and depend only weakly on the width of the deforming zone. To quantify the probability that a pole of rotation lies in a diffuse plate boundary, we numerically integrate the expectation assuming that all orientations of torque are equally probable. For a power-law exponent of n= 10: 49 per cent of possible torque orientations produce angular velocities outside the diffuse plate boundary if the boundary is 55° long (similar in length to the boundary between the Nubian and Somalian component plates); 21 per cent of possible torque orientations produce angular velocities outside the diffuse plate boundary if the boundary is 30° long (similar in length to the boundary between the Indian and Capricorn component plates and to that between the Capricorn and Australian component plates); and 6 per cent of possible torque orientations produce angular velocities outside the diffuse plate boundary if the boundary is 15° long (similar in length to the boundary between the North American and South American component plates and to that between the Macquarie and Australian component plates). These results reinforce the prior conclusion that the pole is more strongly locked into the boundary if a DOPB is short than if it is long. For all boundary lengths, but even more so for short boundaries, the relationship between angular velocity and torque depends only weakly on the power-law exponent of the rheology as long as n≥ 3. From this, we conclude that orientation of the relative torque across a DOPB can be inferred from the location of the pole of rotation without precise knowledge of the appropriate power-law exponent.

Late Quaternary strike slip on the eastern part of the Awatere fault, South Island, New Zealand

New Zealand straddles the obliquely convergent boundary between the Pacific and Australian plates. In central South Island, plate motion is accommodated by oblique collision of continental crust along the Alpine fault in the Southern Alps, and in North Island by subduction of oceanic crust beneath the continental Hikurangi margin. Between these two zones, oblique convergence is accommodated across the ∼150-km-wide Marlborough fault system, which is transitional between the two different styles of margins. Dextral slip in the Marlborough fault system is partitioned among four principal faults, of which the Awatere fault is one. Our data on the eastern part of the Awatere fault provide insight into styles of surface faulting and active deformation in continental transpression zones. We (1) document the segmentation and kinematics of oblique slip on the fault, including a discrepency between long-term and short-term accumulation of vertical motion; (2) describe an along-strike gradient in the degree of slip partitioning of oblique plate motion; (3) measure late Quaternary strike-slip rates of 6–8 mm/yr at several sites along the fault, rates that decrease eastward to

Lithospheric flexure and bending of the Central Andes

Gravity anomaly and topography data are used to define the effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere, T e , in the bend region of the Central Andes. Values of T e increase from nearly zero, north and south of the bend, to values greater than 50 km at the bend in Bolivia. There is a close correlation between T e and the style and magnitude of the shortening in the Central Andes since the Late Miocene. In the bend region, where the lithosphere is flexurally strong with large T e , foreland deformation is concentrated into a thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt above a basal décollement which has absorbed more than 100 km of shortening. Further north and south, where the lithosphere is flexurally weak with low T e , foreland deformation is more complex, involves basement and has absorbed less shortening. The along-strike gradients in foreland shortening have accommodated both clockwise and anticlockwise rotations about a vertical axis of almost the entire width of the Bolivian Andes. We speculate that the observed variation in T e is related to the proximity of the Brazilian shield and has been an important factor in controlling the nature and amount of foreland deformation, and hence bending of the Central Andes. The flexural properties of the lithosphere may play an important role in determining the large-scale evolution of mountain belts.