Rift zone-parallel extension during segmented fault growth: application to the evolution of the NE Atlantic

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Authors

Alodie Bubeck, Richard Walker , Jonathan Imber, Bob Holdsworth, Chris MacLeod, David Holwell

Abstract

The mechanical interaction of propagating normal faults is known to influence the linkage geometry of first-order 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 (Koaʻe, Island of Hawaiʻi and Krafla, northern Iceland) to illustrate the importance of horizontal-plane extension (heave) gradients, and associated vertical axis rotations, in evolving continental rift systems. Second order 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 (3D) 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 oblique- 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 Koaʻe and Krafla rift zones with data from exhumed contemporaneous fault and dike systems developed within a >5x10e4 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.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/k6g2e

Subjects

Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure

Keywords

rifting, normal fault, relay zone, Heave gradient, Non co-axial deformation, Vertical axis rotation

Dates

Published: 2017-10-25 20:17

License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International