Basin inversion in tectonic wedges: Insights from analogue modelling and the Alpine-Carpathian fold-and-thrust belt

Granado, Pablo; Ferrer, Oriol; Muñoz, Josep Antón; Thöny, Wolfgang; Strauß, Philipp

doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2017.02.022

Cited by 50 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In comparison to other inverted basins in fold-and-thrust belts (e.g. Bond and McClay 1995;Mencos et al 2015;Granado et al 2017) transport along the shortcut thrust documented in this study is more pronounced and represents a later deformation stage when compared to the foreland basins described by these authors.…”

Section: Discussion and Structural Evolutioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Deformation around a detached half-graben shoulder during nappe stacking (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

2018

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This study describes the inversion of a rift-related graben shoulder during emplacement and transport of a major thrust sheet in the external part of the western Northern Calcareous Alps (NCA). Structural fieldwork was carried out along the Lechtal thrust, separating the tectonically deeper Allgäu thrust sheet from the Lechtal thrust sheet. An irregularly shaped Early Jurassic normal fault and an adjacent basin are present in the immediate footwall of the Lechtal thrust. The Early Jurassic age of the basin formation is indirectly established by thickness differences in the syntectonic deposits. Scaly fabric and small-scale drag folds document top S to top SW kinematics at the normal fault. During Alpine orogeny the Lechtal thrust is forced to recess around the graben shoulder in the footwall. A transpressive, dextral tear-fault develops in the hanging wall to compensate for lateral differences of shortening. The normal fault is too steep for inversion, and a shortcut thrust across the half-graben shoulder developed at a shallower angle. It transports the detached half-graben shoulder into the neighbouring basin. Albian to Paleogene transport of the Lechtal thrust sheet caused deformation below the Lechtal thrust, creating a shear zone with isoclinal folds, break thrusts, boudinaged beds and development of S-C fabric. Kinematic analyses of S-C fabrics and small-scale fold axes along the Lechtal thrust show consistent top NW to top N shortening directions in accordance with Cretaceous to Paleogene thrust directions in the NCA. Keywords Jurassic normal faulting Á Basin inversion Á Thrust tectonics Á Northern Calcareous Alps Editorial handling: K. Saric.

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Section: Discussion and Structural Evolutioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Deformation around a detached half-graben shoulder during nappe stacking (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

2018

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“…There are two mechanisms to explain the evolution of these structures in the conceptual framework of a singly‐vergent, critically‐tapered orogenic wedge, in which deformation is dominated by the translation of material along a shallowly‐dipping basal décollement beneath an internally deforming fold‐thrust belt (e.g., Chapple, ; Dahlen, ; Davis et al, ). The first involves the formation of a basement‐involved thrust by down‐stepping of the basal décollement to deeper crustal levels and incorporating crystalline basement from the downgoing plate into the orogenic wedge (e.g., Lacombe & Bellahsen, ; McQuarrie, ), perhaps through normal‐fault reactivation (e.g., Bellanger et al, ; Granado et al, ). The second mechanism produces a basement‐involved thrust by the underthrusting of the wedge beneath the crystalline basement of the overriding continent, which serves as a backstop that limits back‐thrusting and development of a retrowedge (e.g., Byrne et al, ; Rossetti et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Greater Caucasus Basement and Formation of the Main Caucasus Thrust, Georgia

et al. 2020

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Along the northern margin of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone in the western Greater Caucasus, the Main Caucasus Thrust (MCT) juxtaposes Paleozoic crystalline basement to the north against Mesozoic metasedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks to the south. The MCT is commonly assumed to be the trace of an active plate-boundary scale structure that accommodates Arabia-Eurasia convergence, but field data supporting this interpretation are equivocal. Here we investigate the deformation history of the rocks juxtaposed across the MCT in Georgia using field observations, microstructural analysis, U-Pb and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology, and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and (U-Th)/He thermochronology. Zircon U-Pb analyses show that Greater Caucasus crystalline rocks formed in the Early Paleozoic on the margin of Gondwana. Low-pressure/temperature amphibolite-facies metamorphism of these metasedimentary rocks and associated plutonism likely took place during Carboniferous accretion onto the Laurussian margin, as indicated by igneous and metamorphic zircon U-Pb ages of~330-310 Ma. 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of~190-135 Ma from muscovite in a greenschist-facies shear zone indicate that the MCT likely developed during Mesozoic inversion and/or rifting of the Caucasus Basin. A Mesozoic 40 Ar/ 39 Ar biotite age with release spectra indicating partial resetting and Cenozoic (<40 Ma) apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He ages imply at least~5-8 km of Greater Caucasus basement exhumation since~10 Ma in response to Arabia-Eurasia collision. Cenozoic reactivation of the MCT may have accommodated a fraction of this exhumation. However, Cenozoic zircon (U-Th)/He ages in both the hanging wall and footwall of the MCT require partitioning a substantial component of this deformation onto structures to the south. Plain Language Summary Collisions between continents cause deformation of the Earth's crustand the uplift of large mountain ranges like the Himalayas. Large faults often form to accommodate this deformation and may help bring rocks once buried at great depths up to the surface of the Earth. The Greater Caucasus Mountains form the northernmost part of a zone of deformation due to the ongoing collision between the Arabian and Eurasian continents. The Main Caucasus Thrust (MCT) is a fault juxtaposing old igneous and metamorphic (crystalline) rocks against younger rocks that has often been assumed to be a major means of accommodating Arabia-Eurasia collision. This study examines the history of rocks along the MCT with a combination of field work, study of microscopic deformation in rocks, and dating of rock formation and cooling. The crystalline rocks were added to the margins of present-day Eurasia about 330-310 million years ago, and the MCT first formed about 190-135 million years ago. The MCT is likely at most one of many structures accommodating present-day Arabia-Eurasia collision.

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“…There have been other attempts to model specific structures using analogue experiments: some have reported a diversity of structural geometries resulting from different experimental setups that explore the impact of inherited structures. For example, Granado et al (2017) use three different initial model configurations to explore structural evolution in the Höflein high in the western Carpathian foldthrust belt. Their models incorporate complex halfgraben geometries that are deformed above a deepseated detachment.…”

Section: Validation Confirmation and Structural Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notwithstanding the work of Granado et al (2017) and several others (e.g. Del Ventisette et al 2006 and discussions thereof;Yagupsky et al 2008;Bonini et al 2012) to investigate structural inheritance in thrust systems, the array of published analogue models for thrust systems is strongly weighted to 'thin-skinned' systems (Graveleau et al 2012), but is this array representative of the diversity of natural thrust systems, or do the limitations of experimental design bias interpretations of natural thrust belts to conform with those portrayed on analogue models?…”

Section: Validation Confirmation and Structural Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Henry Cadell's ‘Experimental researches in mountain building’: their lessons for interpreting thrust systems and fold–thrust structures

Butler¹,

Bond²,

Cooper³

2020

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In 1888, inspired by fieldwork in what has become known as the Moine Thrust Belt, NW Scotland, Henry Cadell conducted a pioneering series of analogue deformation experiments to investigate the structural evolution of fold-thrust belts. Some experiments showed that imbricate thrusts build up thrust wedges of variable form, without requiring precursor folding. Others demonstrated a variety of fold-thrust structures and how heterogeneities in basement can localize thrust structures. These experiments are described here and used to draw lessons on how analogue deformation experiments are used to inform the interpretation of fold-thrust structures. Early adopters used Cadell's results as guides to structural styles when constructing cross-sections in thrust belts. His models and the host of others created since serve to illustrate part of the range of structural geometries in thrust belts. However, as with much subsequent work, Cadell's use of a deformation apparatus, with a fixed basal slip surface, biases perceptions of fold-thrust belts to be necessarily 'thin-skinned' (experimental design bias) and can simply reinforce established interpretations of natural systems (confirmation bias). So analogue deformation experiments may be unreliable guides to the deterministic interpretations of specific fold-thrust structures in the sub surface of the real world.From: HAMMERSTEIN, J. A., DI CUIA, R., COTTAM, M. A.,

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Basin inversion in tectonic wedges: Insights from analogue modelling and the Alpine-Carpathian fold-and-thrust belt

Cited by 50 publications

References 55 publications

Deformation around a detached half-graben shoulder during nappe stacking (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

Deformation around a detached half-graben shoulder during nappe stacking (Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria)

Evolution of the Greater Caucasus Basement and Formation of the Main Caucasus Thrust, Georgia

Henry Cadell's ‘Experimental researches in mountain building’: their lessons for interpreting thrust systems and fold–thrust structures

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