Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Tectonics and Structure
Correlation of geological complexes of the Khan-Tengri Mountain massif
Published: 2022-12-09
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Researchers of the border regions of Xinjiang and the Central Asian countries are actively discussing two alternative models for the relationships between the main structural units of the Tianshan mountains. Most researchers believe that the Kyrgyz Middle Tianshan wedges out to the east along the Atbashi-Inylchek-Nalati marginal fault. According to the second hypothesis, the structures of the [...]
Evolution of intraplate magmatism atop a mantle plume: geochemical and chronological analysis of Shawahit Basalt, Harrat Rahat, Saudi Arabia
Published: 2022-11-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Harrat Rahat is the largest volcanic eld in Saudi Arabia and has been active from ~10 Ma to the present day. Due to its close proximity to important population centres, Harrat Rahat's recent eruptions, the Medinah lava flows (< 1.7 Ma), have been extensively studied to identify volcanic risk. However, the evolution of Harrat Rahat's most extensive and oldest lava flows, known collectively as the [...]
Kinematic and rheological controls on rift-related fault evolution
Published: 2022-11-07
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Tectonics and Structure
Continental extension is primarily accommodated by the evolution of normal fault networks. Rifts are shaped by complex tectonic processes and it has historically been difficult to determine the key rift controls using only observations from natural rifts. Here, we use 3D thermo-mechanical, high-resolution (<650 m) forward models of continental extension to investigate how fault network patterns [...]
Tectonics is a hologram
Published: 2022-11-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
A hologram is an image in which each area contains almost all the information about the entire system. It is a metaphor commonly used for complex systems in which the whole is bigger than the sum of the parts because of self-organization. And also the whole is smaller than the sum of the parts, since the collective organization limits the behavior of dynamic features. The tectonic evolution of [...]
A review of structural inheritance in rift basin formation
Published: 2022-11-04
Subjects: Geology, Tectonics and Structure
In the context of rift basin formation, structural inheritance describes the influence of pre-existing basement structures on new, rift-related structures, including faults. Examples of basin features influenced by inheritance include rift localisation and segmentation at the plate scale, as well as variations in the geometries, orientations, and kinematics of individual rift-related faults. [...]
Salt tectonics in intracontinental sedimentary basins: Triassic – Jurassic salt movement in the Baltic sector of the North German Basin and its relation to post-Permian regional tectonics
Published: 2022-11-03
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Tectonics and Structure
The formation and structural evolution of complex intracontinental basins, like the North German Basin, mark fundamental earth processes. Understanding these is not only essential to basic research but also of socioeconomic importance because of the multitude of resources, potential hazards and subsurface use capability in such basins. As part of the Central European Basin System, major [...]
Impact of Deccan Volcanism on Reorganization of the Indian plate kinematics
Published: 2022-10-29
Subjects: Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Western Indian Ocean basin shows one of the most complex signatures of the ocean floor anomalies by juxtaposition of the rapidly evolving, multiple spreading ridges, subduction systems and microcontinental slivers. This study based on ocean floor magnetic anomalies, gravity gradient map, tomographic profiles and geometrical kinematic models reports a significant westward drift of the Central [...]
Phanerozoic cooling events in the continental rims of the Central Atlantic Ocean.
Published: 2022-10-28
Subjects: Geology, Geomorphology, Sedimentology, Tectonics and Structure
In this review, we have digitized and georeferenced over 7000 Low-Temperature Thermochronology (LTT) data points and 750 Time-Temperature Modelling (TTM) results from 252 published works. The study area includes the continental crusts adjacent to the rifted margins (~Late Triassic to Early Jurassic) of the Central Atlantic Ocean and its direct neighbours. Our main intention is to map out the [...]
Short Communication: The Wasserstein distance as a dissimilarity metric for comparing detrital age spectra, and other geological distributions
Published: 2022-10-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geomorphology, Stratigraphy, Tectonics and Structure
Distributional data such as detrital age populations or grain size distributions are common in the geological sciences. As analytical techniques become more sophisticated, increasingly large amounts of distributional data are being gathered. These advances require quantitative and objective methods, such as multidimensional scaling (MDS), to analyse large numbers of samples. Crucial to such [...]
Fault Friction Derived from Fault Bend Influence on Coseismic Slip During the 2019 Ridgecrest Mw 7.1 Mainshock
Published: 2022-10-18
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The variation of stress on faults is important for our understanding of fault friction and the dynamics of earthquake ruptures. However, we still have little observational constraints on their absolute magnitude, or their variations in space and in time over the seismic cycle. Here we use a new geodetic imaging technique to measure the 3D coseismic slip vectors along the 2019 Ridgecrest surface [...]
Investigating the Eastern Alpine–Dinaric transition with teleseismic receiver functions: Evidence for subducted European Crust
Published: 2022-10-08
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Characterising the internal structural complexity of the Southern North Sea Zechstein Supergroup Evaporites
Published: 2022-10-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Tectonics and Structure
The internal complexity present within layered evaporite sequences is often an overlooked feature in sedimentary basins, with attention frequently concentrating on the external geometries that salt bodies form. Through the availability of large areas of 3D seismic data and new seismic imaging techniques the opportunity to view the internal structures that form within layered evaporites allows for [...]
Rapid fault healing after seismic slip
Published: 2022-09-01
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Tectonics and Structure
Fault strength recovery (healing) following an earthquake is a key process in controlling the recurrence of future events; however, the rates and mechanisms of fault healing are poorly constrained. Here, by performing high-velocity friction experiments at seismic slip rates (0.57 m/s), we show that granite and gabbro fault gouges recover their strength rapidly after experiencing dynamic [...]
A genetic model of the magnetite-apatite deposits on El Laco volcano by extrusion of iron-rich melt
Published: 2022-08-25
Subjects: Dynamical Systems, Earth Sciences, Fluid Dynamics, Geochemistry, Geology, Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Magnetite-apatite deposits are important sources of iron and other metals. A prominent exam- ple are the magnetite lavas at the El Laco volcano, Northern Chile. Their formation processes remain debated. Here, we test the genetic hypothesis that an Fe-rich melt separated from silicate magma and ascended along collapse-related fractures. We complement recent analy- ses with thermodynamic modelling [...]
Drift velocity partitioning indicates anomalous high westward drift component for the Indian plate during ~65 ± 2 Ma
Published: 2022-08-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Tectonics and Structure
Rapid northward drift of the Indian plate after 130 Ma has also recorded significant plate rotations due to the torques resulting from multiple vector force components. Seismic tomography of the Indian Ocean and palaeomagnetic database of the Deccan Traps are used here to constrain drift velocities at different temporal snapshots, resulting into estimates of 263.2 to 255.7 mmyr-1 latitudinal [...]