Extensional Detachment Faults Research Articles

EXHUMATION OF THE HELLENIC ACCRETIONARY PRISM – EVIDENCE FROM FISSION-TRACK THERMOCHRONOLOGY

Below the Potamos extensional detachment fault exposed in northern Kythera, the phyllite-quartzite unit (PQU) shows very consistent zircon FT cooling ages of c.11 Ma reflecting the time just after the rapid exhumation through the brittle-ductile transition. In contrast, a wide range of Mesozoic and some Paleozoic zircon FT cooling ages from Eocene-Oligocene Tripolis and Pindos flysch sandstones from above the detachment reflect sedimentary source ages. Early Miocene apatite fissiontrack cooling ages characterize the flysch sandstones, and show that early Miocene exhumation affected rocks above the detachment. The thermotectonic evolution of the flysch of Tripolis and Pindos units within the rocks above the Potamos detachment on Kythera is reconstructed using zircon and apatite fission-track (FT) thermochronology. The apatite FT data provide evidence for a burial depth of at least 6km for the samples, which were reset. Burial was not deeper than 11km, since the zircon fission-track system in the same rocks was not reset. The exposed rocks of Tripolis and Pindos flysch on Kythera represent part of an accretionary wedge with a burial shortly after deposition in or near the subduction trench, and a cooling history due to exhumation of the flysch in the early Miocene. The subsequent Mid-Late Miocene exhumation of the PQU unit follows from beneath the (mostly carbonate) Tripolis and Pindos sedimentary rocks.

Evidence of hydrothermal fluid flow in a hyperextended rifted margin: the case study of the Err nappe (SE Switzerland)

This paper investigates hydrothermal fluid circulation in pre- and syn-tectonic sediments associated with detachments faults. The study area, located in the Err Nappe (SE-Switzerland), preserves a portion of the Adriatic distal margin. Two sites were studied in combining fieldwork, petrography, geochemistry and fluid inclusion analysis: the Piz Val Lunga and Fuorcla Cotschna areas. Both preserve relationships between a spectacularly exposed rift-related extensional detachment fault and its footwall and hangingwall that consist of extensional allochthons and syn- to post-tectonic sediments. These areas register a complex fluid flow history characterized by dolomitization, de-dolomitization, calcite cementation, dolomite and quartz veining and diffuse silicification. Meso- and micro-scale observations allow defining two steps in fluid evolution, which are related to Jurassic rift activity. A first carbonate-rich event occurred before the exhumation of the granitic basement, and this was followed by a second event marked by a change in the fluid towards a silica-dominated chemistry. Homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions (average Th = 120−130 °C), negative δ18O values and a radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr signatures of carbonate minerals support the hypothesis that both the pre-tectonic rocks constituting the allochthons and the syn-tectonic sediments overlying the detachment fault were crossed by a flux of over-pressured hydrothermal fluids originating from seawater that penetrated into the basement through fault and fracture systems. Field relationships show that this fluid circulation started latest in middle Early Jurassic time, when fault activity migrated from the proximal to the future distal margin. We propose that it evolved chemically as a result of the involvement of the granitic basement forming the footwall of the extensional detachment system. Hydrothermal activity continued until the Middle/Late Jurassic, when tectonic activity shifted outwards leading to the exhumation of mantle rocks. This paper provides an original contribution to better understand the complex evolution of hyperextended continental rift domains and to constrain their thermal regimes.

Tectonometamorphic evolution of Seram and Ambon, eastern Indonesia: Insights from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology

The island of Seram, eastern Indonesia, experienced a complex Neogene history of multiple metamorphic and deformational events driven by Australia–SE Asia collision. Geological mapping, and structural and petrographic analysis has identified two main phases in the island's tectonic, metamorphic, and magmatic evolution: (1) an initial episode of extreme extension that exhumed hot lherzolites from the subcontinental lithospheric mantle and drove ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism and melting of adjacent continental crust; and (2) subsequent episodes of extensional detachment faulting and strike-slip faulting that further exhumed granulites and mantle rocks across Seram and Ambon. Here we present the results of sixteen 40Ar/39Ar furnace step heating experiments on white mica, biotite, and phlogopite for a suite of twelve rocks that were targeted to further unravel Seram's tectonic and metamorphic history. Despite a wide lithological and structural diversity among the samples, there is a remarkable degree of correlation between the 40Ar/39Ar ages recorded by different rock types situated in different structural settings, recording thermal events at 16Ma, 5.7Ma, 4.5Ma, and 3.4Ma. These frequently measured ages are defined, in most instances, by two or more 40Ar/39Ar ages that are identical within error. At 16Ma, a major kyanite-grade metamorphic event affected the Tehoru Formation across western and central Seram, coincident with ultrahigh-temperature metamorphism and melting of granulite-facies rocks comprising the Kobipoto Complex, and the intrusion of lamprophyres. Later, at 5.7Ma, Kobipoto Complex rocks were exhumed beneath extensional detachment faults on the Kaibobo Peninsula of western Seram, heating and shearing adjacent Tehoru Formation schists to form Taunusa Complex gneisses. Then, at 4.5Ma, 40Ar/39Ar ages record deformation within the Kawa Shear Zone (central Seram) and overprinting of detachment faults in western Seram. Finally, at 3.4Ma, Kobipoto Complex migmatites were exhumed on Ambon, at the same time as deformation within the Kawa Shear Zone and further overprinting of detachments in western Seram. These ages support there having been multiple synchronised episodes of high-temperature extension and strike-slip faulting, interpreted to be the result of Western Seram having been ripped off from SE Sulawesi, extended, and dragged east by subduction rollback of the Banda Slab.

Shortening in the upper plate of the Buckskin-Rawhide extensional detachment fault, southwestern U.S., and implications for stress conditions during extension

Commonwealth Post-graduate Research Award; U.S. Geological Survey National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program under STATEMAP [G11AC20455]

Reply to: Bonev N, Spikings R and Marchev P (2016) Comment on Georgiev et al. “Structure and U–Pb zircon geochronology of an Alpine nappe stack telescoped by extensional detachment faulting (Kulidzhik area, Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria)”

Of the four superposed tectonic units in the study area, the uppermost (Unit IV) is lithologically similar to the lowermost (Unit I). Both are formed dominantly by orthogneiss. In an earlier article, Bonev et al. (2010) had shown that the orthogneisses of units I and IV display similar trace element patterns and therefore interpreted Unit IV as an equivalent of Unit I emplaced by an overthrust on top of the other units. Our new U–Pb zircon dating, however, showed that the orthogneiss of Unit I was formed from a Late Carboniferous protolith, and the orthogneiss of Unit IV from a Neoproterozoic protolith. These rocks are of different ages, and their lithological and geochemical similarity is a mere coincidence. In their comment, Bonev et al. (2016) again demonstrate the geochemical similarity (their Fig. 1) and write that this “allows some caution to be expressed relative to the age of 581 Ma” determined by us. We do not share this opinion. On the contrary, we think that more caution would be necessary in interpreting geochemical data. To illustrate this, we show in Fig. 1 the compositions of the three orthogneisses that Bonev et al. (2016) show in their Fig. 1b (in order to demonstrate their similarity), together with the average composition of the upper continental crust (thick blue line) after Wedepohl (1995) and the composition of JG-1 (thick red line), a common granodiorite standard from Japan after Ando et al. (1971). The similarity between the patterns of the three Bulgarian orthogneisses is not larger than the similarity between any of them and the granodiorite from Japan, and all of them are similar to the average composition of the upper continental crust. These concentrations reflect fundamental differentiation of our planet and are not capable of fingerprinting a certain origin. Introduction

Comment on Georgiev et al. “Structure and U–Pb zircon geochronology of an Alpine nappe stack telescoped by extensional detachment faulting (Kulidzhik area, Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria)

In this discussion, we evaluate the field, chemical, sedimentary, structural and metamorphic data related to the Kulidzhik area tectonic proposal.

Fault systems at hyper-extended rifted margins and embryonic oceanic crust: Structural style, evolution and relation to magma

The study of seismic sections derived from the magma-poor Australia-Antarctica rifted margins enables to investigate the structural style and evolution of fault systems and their relation to magmatic additions during final rifting and lithospheric breakup. The aim of this study is thus to better characterize fault systems, their organization in time and space as well as their relationship to magmatic systems. Our observations show that extensional detachment faults related to mantle exhumation form out-of-sequence, and initiate as normal upward concave faults. The observations can be best explained by an alternation between a pure shear mode (development of symmetric arrays of normal faults) and a simple shear mode (development of detachment faults), with a continuous delocalization and re-localization of the deformation in the footwall of the previous exhumation fault. This model suggests that the asthenospheric uplift is slow and decoupled from the deformation in the brittle and serpentinized upper basement layer. The presence of such a décollement level, possibly formed by the serpentinisation front, has a major control on the style and organization of faulting. The polyphase, out-of-sequence organization of faults can explain that despite mantle exhumation is accommodated along multiple asymmetric exhumation faults, the overall exhumed mantle domain is mostly symmetric at the scale of both margins.

Structure and U–Pb zircon geochronology of an Alpine nappe stack telescoped by extensional detachment faulting (Kulidzhik area, Eastern Rhodopes, Bulgaria)

The Rhodope Metamorphic Complex is a stack of allochthons assembled during obduction, subduction, and collision processes from Jurassic to Paleogene and overprinted by extensional detachment faults since Middle Eocene. In the study area, the following nappes occur in superposition (from base to top): an orthogneiss-dominated unit (Unit I), garnet-bearing schist with amphibolite and serpentinite lenses (Unit II), greenschist, phyllite, and calcschist with reported Jurassic microfossils (Unit III), and muscovite-rich orthogneiss (Unit IV). U–Pb dating of zircons from a K-feldspar augengneiss (Unit I) yielded a protolith age of ca. 300 Ma. Garnet-bearing metasediment from Unit II yielded an age spectrum with distinct populations between 310 and 250 Ma (detrital), ca. 150 Ma, and ca. 69 Ma (the last two of high-grade metamorphic origin). An orthogneiss from Unit IV yielded a wide spectrum of ages. The youngest population gives a concordia age of 581 ± 5 Ma, interpreted as the age of the granitic protolith. Unit I represents the Lower Allochthon (Byala Reka-Kechros Dome), Unit II the Upper Allochthon (Krumovitsa-Kimi Unit), Unit III the Uppermost Allochthon (Circum-Rhodope Belt), and Unit IV a still higher, far-travelled unit of unknown provenance. Telescoping of the entire Rhodope nappe stack to a thickness of only a few 100 m is due to Late Eocene north directed extensional shearing along the newly defined Kulidzhik Detachment which is part of a major detachment system along the northern border of the Rhodopes. Older top-to-the south mylonites in Unit I indicate that Tertiary extension evolved from asymmetric (top-to-the-south) to symmetric (top-to-the-south and top-to-the-north), bivergent unroofing.

How can asymmetric detachment faults generate symmetric Ocean Continent Transitions?

AbstractAsymmetry or symmetry of magma‐poor rifted margins refers commonly to the crustal architecture and the occurrence or absence of large‐scale extensional detachment faults. While distal parts of magma‐poor rifted margins are often considered to be asymmetric, the observation of downlapping sedimentary sequences over exhumed mantle domains at conjugate margins suggests a symmetric evolution during mantle exhumation. On the basis of seismic observations along the Iberia–Newfoundland and Australia–Antarctica margins, we propose that their most distal parts show evidence for the development of multiple, out‐of‐sequence asymmetric detachment faults. We present evidence for cyclic delocalization and re‐localization of deformation, resulting in an apparent symmetry of the exhumed mantle domain. The interaction between out‐of‐sequence detachment systems and the successive rise of the asthenosphere may explain the observed transition from fault‐controlled to magma‐controlled strain accommodation and the transition to more symmetric and localized accretion associated with the formation of a stable spreading center.

Tracing mantle‐reacted fluids in magma‐poor rifted margins: The example of Alpine Tethyan rifted margins

AbstractThe thinning of the crust and the exhumation of subcontinental mantle in magma‐poor rifted margins is accompanied by a series of extensional detachment faults. We show that exhumation along these detachments is intimately related to migration of fluids leading to changes in mineralogy and chemistry of the mantle, crustal, and sedimentary rocks. Using field observation and analytical methods, we investigate the role of fluids in the fossil distal margins of the Alpine Tethys. Using Cr‐Ni‐V, Fe, and Mn as tracers, we show that fluids used detachment faults as pathways and interacted with the overlying crust and sediments. These observations allow us to discuss when, where, and how this interaction happened during the formation of the rifted margin. The results show that: (i) serpentinization of mantle rocks during their exhumation results in the depletion of elements and migration of mantle‐reacted fluids that are channeled along active detachment system; (ii) in earlier‐stages, these fluids affected the overlying syntectonic sediments by direct migration from the underlying detachments;(iii) in later‐stages, these fluids arrived at the seafloor, were introduced into, or “polluted” the seawater and were absorbed by post tectonic sediments. We conclude that a significant amount of serpentinization occurred underneath the hyperextended continental crust, and that the mantle‐reacted fluids might have modified the chemical composition of the sediments and seawater. We propose that the chemical signature of serpentinization related to mantle exhumation is recorded in the sediments and may serve as a proxy to date serpentinization and mantle exhumation at present‐day magma‐poor rifted margins.

Dynamics of intraoceanic subduction initiation: 1. Oceanic detachment fault inversion and the formation of supra‐subduction zone ophiolites

AbstractSubduction initiation is a critical link in the plate tectonic cycle. Intraoceanic subduction zones can form along transform faults and fracture zones, but how subduction nucleates parallel to mid‐ocean ridges, as in e.g., the Neotethys Ocean during the Jurassic, remains a matter of debate. In recent years, extensional detachment faults have been widely documented adjacent to slow‐spreading and ultraslow‐spreading ridges where they cut across the oceanic lithosphere. These structures are extremely weak due to widespread occurrence of serpentine and talc resulting from hydrothermal alteration, and can therefore effectively localize deformation. Here, we show geochemical, tectonic, and paleomagnetic evidence from the Jurassic ophiolites of Albania and Greece for a subduction zone formed in the western Neotethys parallel to a spreading ridge along an oceanic detachment fault. With 2‐D numerical modeling exploring the evolution of a detachment‐ridge system experiencing compression, we show that serpentinized detachments are always weaker than spreading ridges. We conclude that, owing to their extreme weakness, oceanic detachments can effectively localize deformation under perpendicular far‐field forcing, providing ideal conditions to nucleate new subduction zones parallel and close to (or at) spreading ridges. Direct implication of this, is that resumed magmatic activity in the forearc during subduction initiation can yield widespread accretion of suprasubduction zone ophiolites at or close to the paleoridge. Our new model casts the enigmatic origin of regionally extensive ophiolite belts in a novel geodynamic context, and calls for future research on three‐dimensional modeling of subduction initiation and how upper plate extension is associated with that.

Forearc hyperextension dismembered the south Tibetan ophiolites

Suprasubduction zone ophiolites are relics of oceanic upper plate forearcs and are typically preserved as discontinuous belts with discrete massifs along suture zones. Ophiolites usually contain an incomplete condensed section compared to average modern oceanic lithosphere. The incompleteness and discontinuity of ophiolites are frequently attributed to dismemberment, but tectonic causes remain poorly constrained. Here we show new paleomagnetic and field geological evidence for the preservation of extensional detachment faults that thinned and dismembered the south Tibetan ophiolite belt during the Early Cretaceous. Similar to those documented in modern slow- and ultraslow-spreading ridges, these detachments exhumed lithospheric mantle, and subophiolitic melange, to the seafloor, which became unconformably covered by Asia-derived forearc strata. We call this mechanism forearc hyperextension, whereby widespread detachment faults accommodate upper plate extension above a subduction zone. We propose that hyperextension is the key mechanism responsible for dismemberment of the south Tibetan ophiolitic belt shortly after its magmatic accretion.

Curved grooves at the Godzilla Megamullion in the Philippine Sea and their tectonic significance

Deep-sea core complexes are characterized by remarkably well developed grooves that formed below extensional detachment faults and reveal plate-divergence direction during asymmetric plate spreading. The Godzilla Megamullion in the Parece Vela Basin in the Philippine Sea contains the longest known grooves on an oceanic core complex, with individual groove lengths up to 60 km. Over much of the complex, curved grooves reveal a 10° change in plate-divergence direction during Miocene back arc spreading behind the Mariana island arc. Evaluation of groove and transform-fault orientations indicates that the curved grooves do not reflect plate displacement about a fixed pole of rotation, but rather reflect a change in the position of the rotation pole. This in turn was associated with increasingly significant left-lateral transform motion in the back-arc Parece Vela Basin.

A major synmetamorphic Early Devonian thrust and extensional fault system in the Mid Norway Caledonides: relevance to exhumation of HP and UHP rocks

AbstractThe study of complex orogenic belts commonly begins in the frontal regions with well-defined tectonostratigraphy, and relatively simple structure and metamorphism, and proceeds into the progressively more complex hinterland, which nevertheless may contain the best geochronological record of the most intense orogenic events. The northern part of the Western Gneiss Region in the hinterland of the Scandian orogen contains a robust U–Pb zircon geochronological framework on rocks subjected to high-pressure (HP) and ultra-high-pressure (UHP) metamorphism that has implications for tectonic development both there and towards the foreland. HP and UHP eclogite crystallization occurred at 415–410 Ma (Early Devonian, Lochkovian to Pragian), followed by pegmatite crystallization at c. 395 Ma (Late Emsian) during exhumation and return to amphibolite-facies conditions, thus limiting the process to 15–20 myr. The nature and sequence of events are much more complex than in the foreland, causing difficulty in correlation, yet the combined tectonics in the two regions provides the necessary context to explain, for example, how rocks were subjected to deep-seated, high-temperature metamorphism and then exhumed to shallower levels. Here, we suggest how a recently recognized extensional detachment fault and a recently recognized out-of-sequence thrust might be linked to the timing of HP metamorphism and later exhumation. The postulated Agdenes extensional detachment in its footwall has basement gneisses containing Mesoproterozoic igneous titanite fully reset at 395 Ma, as well as Devonian pegmatites, and in the hanging wall Ordovician to Early Silurian granitoids of the Støren Nappe containing igneous titanite barely influenced by Devonian recrystallization and no evidence of post-Ordovician melts. This implies removal of a significant crustal section on a large-scale detachment. Rocks both above and below are overprinted by the same late, subhorizontal, sinistral ductile extensional fabric, obscuring any fabrics produced during development of the detachment itself. Eastern Trollheimen escaped the late, strong, subhorizontal overprint, and shows: (1) early emplacement of thrust nappes of Lower and Middle Allochthons over Baltican basement and its Late Neoproterozoic quartzite cover; (2) major, SE-directed, recumbent folding of the entire thrust-imbricated sequence; and (3) major, out-of-sequence, SE-directed thrusting (Storli Thrust), for an 80 km minimum transport across-strike, of the recumbent-folded sequence over deeper, less deformed, lower basement gneisses and unconformable Neoproterozoic quartzite cover. The upper basement contains boudins of eclogite and garnet-corona gabbro lacking in the lower basement. Similar basement imbrications occurred in the Tømmerås window, the Skarddøra Antiform, the Mullfjället Antiform and the Grong–Olden Culmination, up to 240 km NE of Trollheimen, as well as in the Reksdalshesten antiform 100 km west, all within the postulated minimum 400×180 km area of the Agdenes detachment.

Mantle composition controls the development of an Oceanic Core Complex

AbstractThe thickness and continuity of oceanic crust is variable. Slow‐spreading ridge segments often contain areas of ‘amagmatic’ or tectonic extension, exposing areas of lower‐crust and upper‐mantle, and having little or no recent volcanism. These are interspersed with areas of ‘normal’ volcanic crust generated by ‘robust’ magmatic accretion. Tectonic spreading is accommodated by displacement on low‐angle extensional detachment faults, forming Oceanic Core Complexes. Although ‘amagmatic’ extension appears to be common at slow spreading rates, little is known about the mechanisms that drive the transition from magmatic spreading. Here, we report results from a detailed study of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge (13°N–14°N) and show, paradoxically, that despite the presence of several Core Complexes, melt production remains similar along the present‐day spreading axis, which erupts homogeneous ‘normal’ mid‐ocean ridge basalt. However, melt production during formation of the older crust off‐axis was derived from substantially lower degrees of melting of a heterogeneous mantle. During this magmatically restricted phase, melt production was limited by source composition. Small volumes of an enriched basalt (M1) were produced, derived from low‐fraction melts of enriched compositional heterogeneities embedded in an otherwise compositionally depleted upper‐mantle, which, in turn, erupted low‐fraction incompatible‐element‐poor basalts (M2). As a consequence of low magma flux, the crust was thin and insufficient to fully accommodate seafloor spreading. Faulting of this thin crust resulted in the development of detachment faults and the formation of OCCs. Thus, we propose that periods of low melt production, resulting directly from depleted, heterogeneous mantle drives the transition from magmatic to amagmatic spreading.

The Mesozoic Tectonic Dynamics and Chronology in the Eastern North China Block

Mesozoic tectonic events in different areas of the eastern North China Block (NCB) show consistency in tectonic time and genesis. The Triassic collision between NCB and Yangtze results in the nearly S-N strong compression in the Dabie, Jiaodong, and west Shandong areas in Middle Triassic-Middle Jurassic. Compression in the Yanshan area in the north part of NCB was mainly affected by the collision between Mongolia Block and NCB, as well as Siberia Block and North China-Mongolia Block in Late Triassic-Late Jurassic. However, in the eastern NCB, compressive tectonic system in Early Mesozoic was inversed into extensional tectonic system in Late Mesozoic. The extension in Late Mesozoic at upper crust mainly exhibits as extensional detachment faults and metamorphic core complex (MCC). The deformation age of extensional detachment faults is peaking at 120–110 Ma in Yanshan area and at 130–110 Ma in the Dabie area. In the Jiaodong area eastern to the Tan-Lu faults, the compression thrust had been continuing to Late Mesozoic at least in upper crust related to the sinistral strike slipping of the Tan-Lu fault zone.The extensional detachments in the eastern NCB would be caused by strong crust-mantle action with upwelling mantle in Late Mesozoic.

Miocene core complex development and coeval supradetachment basin evolution of Paros, Greece, insights from (U–Th)/He thermochronometry

The Aegean region of Greece hosts a series of crustal-scale extensional detachment systems that have accommodated the southward retreating Hellenic subduction zone. Extension has overprinted and dissected the Alpine nappe pile and locally exhumed Cordilleran-type metamorphic core complexes. On the island of Paros, a low-angle extensional detachment fault separates metamorphic footwall rocks from an unmetamorphosed sedimentary succession of the hanging wall. Basement orthogneisses were extensionally sheared in the footwall of the detachment until after 16Ma (zircon U–Pb age of a slightly deformed granite), but pervasive ductile deformation had ceased by 7Ma (zircon U–Pb age of an undeformed rhyolite dike that intrudes gneisses). Apatite and zircon (U–Th)/He ages from the gneisses confirm a period of cooling at rates >100°C/Ma from 16 to 7Ma. In the upper-plate, the basal sedimentary unit yields reset detrital apatite (U–Th)/He (DAHe) ages from 17 to 7Ma and detrital zircon (U–Th)/He (DZHe) ages ranging from 270 to 18Ma. DAHe ages from the stratigraphically higher fanglomerate units are reset to 10–7Ma. The DZHe data have a primary thermal signature of 12–7Ma, but preserve ages up to 113Ma. The uppermost conglomerates exhibit completely reset DAHe ages of 15–9Ma and reset DZHe ages from 10 to 8Ma, with DZHe ages up to 104Ma. Reset DAHe ages indicate late exposure of the footwall and constrain the depositional age of most sedimentary rocks on Paros to be from 14 to 7Ma. Unreset DZHe ages preserve thermal signatures from the major Mesozoic–Tertiary tectonic events in the Aegean Region: [1] Cretaceous Pelagonian-type metamorphism; [2] Eocene peak HP metamorphism; and [3] Miocene Barrovian overprinting. Preservation of these signatures indicates long-term upper-plate recycling prior to syn-extensional deposition. The Paros supradetachment basin represents a classic inverted unroofing sequence deposited during progressive core complex exhumation in the Middle to Late Miocene.

Oligo‐Miocene extensional tectonics and fluid flow across the Northern Snake Range detachment system, Nevada

The Northern Snake Range (Nevada) represents a spectacular example of a metamorphic core complex and exposes a complete section from the mylonitic footwall into the hanging wall of a fossil detachment system. Paired geochronological and stable isotopic data of mylonitic quartzite within the detachment footwall reveal that ductile deformation and infiltration of meteoric fluids occurred between 27 and 23 Ma. 40Ar/39Ar ages display complex recrystallization‐cooling relationships but decrease systematically from 26.9 ± 0.2 Ma at the top to 21.3 ± 0.2 Ma at the bottom of footwall mylonite. Hydrogen isotope (δD) values in white mica are very low (−150 to −145 ‰) within the top 80–90 m of detachment footwall, in contrast to values obtained from the deeper part of the section where values range from −77 to −64 ‰, suggesting that time‐integrated interaction between rock and meteoric fluid was restricted to the uppermost part of the mylonitic footwall. Pervasive mica‐water hydrogen isotope exchange is difficult to reconcile with models of 40Ar loss during mylonitization solely by volume diffusion. Rather, we interpret the 40Ar/39Ar ages of white mica with low‐δD values to date syn‐mylonitic hydrogen and argon isotope exchange, and we conclude that the hydrothermal system of the Northern Snake Range was active during late Oligocene (27–23 Ma) and has been exhumed by the combined effects of ductile strain, extensional detachment faulting, and erosion.

Gently dipping normal faults identified with Space Shuttle radar topography data in central Sulawesi, Indonesia, and some implications for fault mechanics

Space-shuttle radar topography data from central Sulawesi, Indonesia, reveal two corrugated, domal landforms, covering hundreds to thousands of square kilometers, that are bounded to the north by an abrupt transition to typical hilly to mountainous topography. These domal landforms are readily interpreted as metamorphic core complexes, an interpretation consistent with a single previous field study, and the abrupt northward transition in topographic style is interpreted as marking the trace of two extensional detachment faults that are active or were recently active. Fault dip, as determined by the slope of exhumed fault footwalls, ranges from 4° to 18°. Application of critical-taper theory to fault dip and hanging-wall surface slope, and to similar data from several other active or recently active core complexes, suggests a theoretical limit of three degrees for detachment-fault dip. This result appears to conflict with the dearth of seismological evidence for slip on faults dipping less than ~ 30°. The convex-upward form of the gently dipping fault footwalls, however, allows for greater fault dip at depths of earthquake initiation and dominant energy release. Thus, there may be no conflict between seismological and mapping studies for this class of faults.

Surprisingly young Rb/Sr ages from the Simav extensional detachment fault zone, northern Menderes Massif, Turkey

The present paper demonstrates that exposed semi-brittle–brittle detachment fault zones, in addition to footwall mylonites and syn-extensional granitoids, can be used to date the timing of faulting and constrain the history and evolution of metamorphic core complexes. We employed Rb–Sr geochronology on micas, sampled directly from a part of the Simav detachment fault (SDF) zone in the northern Menderes Massif (western Turkey). The exposed part of the fault zone is marked by ∼3-m thick zone of low-grade mylonites/foliated cataclasites, in which mylonitic fabrics in orthogneisses are overprinted by fabrics of semi-brittle deformation. The low-grade mylonites/foliated cataclasites are characterized by coexistence of brown and green biotites. Rb–Sr ages on muscovite and brown and green biotite from the low-grade mylonites/foliated cataclasites are ca. 30 Ma, 17–13 Ma and 12–10 Ma, respectively; green biotite ages are interpreted as dating fluid-assisted deformation-induced dynamic recrystallization and suggest that a part of the SDF was active during a 12–10 Ma interval. The ca. 30 Ma muscovite ages date dynamic crystallization and probably beginning of extensional exhumation of the northern Menderes Massif. The coexistence of brown and green biotites in the same sample indicates retrogressive processes associated within a detachment faulting during which green biotites have recrystallized from primary brown biotites with an age of 19 ± 2 Ma in this area. This further means that the isotopic system became opened during faulting and that the green biotite ages therefore record the activity of the SDF. We have also dated an orthogneiss sample exposed well away from the detachment fault zone (devoid of any retrogressive processes); muscovites and biotites from this sample yield Rb–Sr ages of 45.7 ± 0.6 and 18.17 ± 0.18 Ma, respectively. The biotite age is in accord with regional biotite ages (19 ± 2 Ma) and record cooling of the footwall rocks of the detachment fault. We argue that the ca. 46 Ma muscovite age record synkinematic recrystallization during, and lend credibility to interpretation of, the prograde Barrovian-type regional Main Menderes Metamorphism as an Eocene event and that, prior to the onset of extensional detachment formation, the northern Menderes Massif (or at least the rocks we measured) experienced Eocene temperatures in excess of 500 °C to get this age. New brown biotite and secondary green biotite ages together with previously published age data argues that the footwall rocks reached to biotite cooling temperature conditions by ca. 18 Ma and stayed at similar conditions for a longer period until ca. 12 Ma. The ca. 18–12 Ma time interval corresponds to a period of tectonic quiescence during the Neogene and is attributed to the locking of SDF activity by the intrusion and rapid cooling of I-type syn-extensional granites. Secondary green biotite Rb–Sr ages indicate that the fault then become active during 12–10 Ma. Published low-temperature apatite–zircon fission track and apatite (U–Th)/He ages further suggest that displacement along the entire fault zone has continued until 8.0 ± 0.5 Ma. Combined with previous radiometric and low-temperature thermochronologic ages, the new ages argue for episodic core-complex formation and the Simav detachment fault activity between ca. 30 and 8 Ma. The data therefore argues for a complex history of core-complex formation in the northern Menderes Massif; it occurs in pulses and involves periods of alternating rapid and slow cooling/denudation rates.