2017 Bubeck etal Solid Earth.pdf (6.81 MB)
Rift zone-parallel extension during segmented fault growth: application to the evolution of the NE Atlantic
journal contribution
posted on 2018-04-10, 11:01 authored by Alodie Bubeck, Richard J. Walker, Jonathan Imber, Robert E. Holdsworth, Christopher J. MacLeod, David A. HolwellThe mechanical interaction of propagating normal faults is known to influence the linkage geometry of firstorder faults, and the development of second-order faults and fractures, which transfer displacement within relay zones. Here we use natural examples of growth faults from two active volcanic rift zones (Koa‘e, island of Hawai‘i, and Krafla, northern Iceland) to illustrate the importance of horizontalplane extension (heave) gradients, and associated vertical axis rotations, in evolving continental rift systems. Secondorder extension and extensional-shear faults within the relay zones variably resolve components of regional extension, and components of extension and/or shortening parallel to the rift zone, to accommodate the inherently three-dimensional (3- D) strains associated with relay zone development and rotation. Such a configuration involves volume increase, which is accommodated at the surface by open fractures; in the subsurface this may be accommodated by veins or dikes oriented obliquely and normal to the rift axis. To consider the scalability of the effects of relay zone rotations, we compare the geometry and kinematics of fault and fracture sets in the Koa‘e and Krafla rift zones with data from exhumed contemporaneous fault and dike systems developed within a > 5×104 km2 relay system that developed during formation of the NE Atlantic margins. Based on the findings presented here we propose a new conceptual model for the evolution of segmented continental rift basins on the NE Atlantic margins.
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Citation
Solid Earth and Discussions, 2017, 8, pp. 1161–1180Author affiliation
/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/School of Geography, Geology and the EnvironmentVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
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Solid Earth and DiscussionsPublisher
European Geosciences Unionissn
1869-9510eissn
1869-9529Acceptance date
2017-10-17Copyright date
2017Available date
2018-04-10Publisher DOI
Publisher version
https://www.solid-earth.net/8/1161/2017/Language
enAdministrator link
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