W-dipping Faults Research Articles

A step forward to understanding the development of volcanotectonic rifts: the structure of the Fremrinamar Fissure Swarm (Iceland)

We analysed all the Holocene structures defining the Fremrinamar Fissure Swarm (FFS), in the Northern Volcanic Zone of Iceland, through the interpretation of aerial photos, orthomosaics and Digital Surface Models (DSMs), and field surveys. We measured the strike, dip, length and kinematics of 761 normal faults and reconstructed the slip profile of 76 main faults (length >2 km), with the purpose of evaluating the overall direction of along-axis rift propagation. We also measured the strike of 146 eruptive fissures and 1,128 extension fractures. A total of 421 faults dip towards the east and 340 dip towards the west, mainly striking N0°-10°E. Maximum fault length is 14.2 km, and W-dipping faults are longer than E-dipping faults. The majority of eruptive fissures strike N10°-20°E, and are concentrated in the southern part of the FFS, around the Fremrinamar central volcano. Extension fractures mainly strike N0°-10°E, with a maximum length of 2,508 m. We evaluated the variation of strike, fracture density and spacing along the FFS, and observed a change of its trend from NNE-SSW in the central-southern part, to NNW-SSE in the northern part. We interpret this evidence as the effect of the intersection with the Grimsey Lineament. The tapering of fault slip profiles indicates a main northward propagation of the rift, and thus of the deformation, interpreted as the effect of lateral propagation of dykes from the magma chamber below the central volcano towards the north. Such interpretation is also supported by the distribution of normal faults, vertical offset and dilation values, and also by the rift width, which tend to decrease towards the north.

The influence of the Precambrian Mughese Shear Zone structures on strain accommodation in the northern Malawi Rift

Precambrian shear zones have been recognized as regions that affect the propagation, segmentation, and location of continental rifts. However, it is still unclear how the orientation of these shear zones influence strain accommodation along the rifts. In this study, we investigated the influence of the Mughese Shear Zone (MSZ) on strain accommodation within the young magma-poor Malawi Rift, a seismically-active segment of the Western Branch of the East African Rift System. We used Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Models (DEM), aeromagnetic data, and mapped mesoscopic-scale structures within the Precambrian MSZ and younger rocks in the Karonga area. We found that in the northern portion of the Karonga Fault Zone, a fault zone that accommodates the majority of extension in this region, one major fault is oriented 32°/59° SE and cuts across the Precambrian foliation that has an orientation of 301°/79° NE. South of the city of Karonga, the Precambrian foliation is sub-vertical and has a strike of 321°. Here, the Karonga fault splays from a main fault with a 2km damage zone to several distinct E-and W-dipping faults over a 10km zone that strike in the general direction of the foliation planes of the MSZ. Recent seismicity is distributed within this zone. The faults formed in reactivated foliation planes of the MSZ. The N-striking Karoo rift horsts and grabens and their associated rock formations might have also been reactivated in this area. These relationships suggest that within the northern Malawi Rift, extension was accommodated differently based on the nature and orientation of the pre-existing structures. The orientation of the Precambrian MSZ influences strain accommodation in the Karonga area and has important implications for seismic hazards. We conclude that the Karonga area is an important seismically active zone based on favorably-oriented and reactivated pre-existing structures.

Structural Constraints and Localization of Gold Mineralization in Leather Jacket Lodes, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

Gold mineralization at the Ballarat East deposit, central Victoria, Australia, is hosted in lodes that are historically known as “leather jackets.” These are quartz-dominant vein arrays related to low-displacement, W-dipping faults (≤45°) that transect the core and/or eastern limb of tight, asymmetric N-S-trending anticlines. The leather jacket lodes typically have dip extents from 5 to 65 m, widths of ≤20 m, and strike lengths up to hundreds of meters, but their along-strike continuity is disrupted by oblique, low-displacement listric faults known as “cross courses.” The gold lodes are characterized by distinct phases of sulfide paragenesis with minor gold + arsenopyrite + pyrite defining the early sulfide stage. Late-stage coarse gold was precipitated with galena + sphalerite ± pyrrhotite ± chalcopyrite (late pyrite also occurs). The gold mineralization events are linked to low-strain mineralized fracture networks, which are closely related to the final deformation stages and the amplification of the major folds enclosing the lodes. This amplification produced domal fold culminations, with plunges ≤30°, and localized minor parasitic folds with shallower plunges (≤10°). A network of dilation sites, on the W-dipping faults, preferentially developed in the cores of anticlines, particularly in zones where there are changes in strike of bedding or fault bifurcation and refraction through contrasting sandstone and interbedded packages of sandstone and shale. Numerical three-dimensional simulations were undertaken to test our geologic observations and replicate conditions controlling the emplacement of the leather jacket lodes. Two different scenarios were investigated: first, to determine how changes in the local stress field orientation influences dilation and fluid infiltration; secondly, to test variations in fault geometry during the last stages of deformation—that is, within the final 2% of shortening, when most of the mineralized sites were created. Results show that strain and fluid flow localized along refracted sections of faults and around changes in dip, specifically on the shallower dipping sections within subvertical sandstone units. This is consistent with the observation that high-grade gold-bearing quartz is associated with localized changes in fault dip in thicker sandstone and sandstone-shale packages. There was also a component of strike-slip motion and near-field NW-to-SE or N-to-S stress fields, which can be attributed to the development of a component of out-of-plane motion during the development of fold culminations. The preferred model for the distribution of the high-grade auriferous vein arrays defining the leather jacket lodes is one of fold amplification and extension parallel to the fold axes, which produced an increasing out-of-plane relaxation. The main fluid conduits responsible for the leather jacket style of mineralization involve infiltration along steep bedding-parallel faults and veins that link up with the arrays of low-displacement W-dipping faults.

Triassic–Liassic Western Moroccan synrift basins in relation to the Central Atlantic opening

Abstract The Upper Triassic–Lower Liassic sequence of the Atlantic margin of Morocco is primarily composed of fine-grained detrital sedimentary rocks containing basaltic intercalations. Its age is Carnian to Hettangian. Well data, outcrop observations and seismic sequence analysis suggest that rifting started earlier (Carnian) in the eastern and southern parts of the margin, and later proceeded towards the west and the north, resulting in the formation of the Central Atlantic rift. On the Moroccan margin, the rift was composed of: (i) eastern basins, relatively narrow and bounded by E-dipping faults, which are reactivated Hercynian structures; (ii) a central horst; and (iii) western basins bounded by W-dipping faults. The 020° trending basins are separated by W-dipping faults. The 020° trending basins are separated by 070° striking transfer faults. Estimations of the amount of lithospheric extension along the Moroccan external rift system show a thinning ratio decreasing northward and probably associated to a necking of the lithosphere. Rift evolution on the part of the Moroccan margin shows good correlation to the conjugate North American margin.

Anatomy of late orogenic extension: The Northern Apennines case

Late orogenic extensional structures overprint the compressional structures of the Northern Apennines fold and thrust belt. The Tyrrhenian Sea is the result of major continental extension and rifting which started in the thickened zone of the Apulian/ Corso-Sardinian collision. It is believed to have commenced as early as in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene in the Corsica basin. Extension post-dates the collision by approximately 20 Ma. The extensional stress field observed in the internal part of the Northern Apennines co-exists with compression in the foreland part of the belt. Field, borehole and refraction and reflection data were used to investigate the geometry of extension and how it affected the compressional abric in the Northern Apennines. Analysis of the collected data has revealed a complex geometry for the extension across the belt. A geological cross-section from the island of Elba, to the west of the Italian Peninsula, to Ancona, in the east, as well as a geodynamic model for the evolution of the Northern Apennines is presented and discussed. From the Early Miocene stretching of the collision-thickened crust created a N-S rift which evolved into the present Northern Tyrrhenian Sea. Typically, two sets of extensional faults, a low-angle E-dipping and a W-dipping one are observed across the chain. Usually the W-dipping faults have similar attitudes to those of the older reverse faults, reactivating some of the thrusts as normal faults. The E-dipping normal faults, however, cut down-section through the pre-existing thrusts and, in the internal part of the belt, accommodate most of the displacement associated with extension. A change in fault polarity occurs in the Tuscan region and major faults dip towards the west. A-type subduction of the Apulian crust under the Corso-Sardinian block occurred after collision leading to the delamination of the Apulian lithospheric mantle away from the crust. Collision-induced delamination of the mantle lithosphere away from the zone of collision resulted in mechanical thinning of the lithosphere beneath the orogenic belt. This process induced late orogenic crustal stretching in the internal zone of the Northern Apennines. As the convergence between the Apulian and Corso-Sardinian blocks continued the extensional and compressional fronts, accompanied by the delamination, migrated from the hinterland towards the foreland of the orogen.