Fault (geology)

About: Fault (geology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26732 publications have been published within this topic receiving 744535 citations.

Dynamic deformation of the accretionary prism excites very low frequency earthquakes

Abstract: [1] We have detected anomalous very-low-frequency earthquakes within the accretionary prism along the Nankai Trough, southwestern Japan. Centroid moment tensor inversion analysis reveals that the earthquake hypocenters are distributed at ∼10 km depth above the upper surface of the subducting Philippine Sea Plate, and within 50–70 km landward of the trough axis. The focal mechanisms indicate reverse faulting. Their hypocenters are distributed beneath a deformation zone of an accretionary prism in sea-floor topography. These observations suggest that the occurrence of very-low-frequency earthquakes is related to numerous reverse fault systems within the accretionary prism, and that the earthquakes reflect the dynamics of deformation within this accretionary prism.

Cretaceous–Cenozoic tectonic history of the Jiaojia Fault and gold mineralization in the Jiaodong Peninsula, China: constraints from zircon U–Pb, illite K–Ar, and apatite fission track thermochronometry

Abstract: The Jiaojia Fault (JJF) in the Jiaodong area of eastern China is an important NNE-trending structure that is subsidiary to the regional Tancheng–Lujiang (Tan-Lu) Fault Zone, and hosts >1200 t of gold reserves contained in disseminated and stockwork ore, dominantly in the footwall of the fault. We present new zircon U–Pb, apatite fission track, and illite K–Ar data along the JJF and have delineated its tectonic history focusing on its formation and reactivation. Zircon U–Pb dating shows that the Shangzhuang granite is a composite body with ages between 132 ± 1 and 127 ± 1 Ma. Illite K–Ar ages for the fault’s gouge range from 83 ± 2 to 68 ± 2 Ma, and the measured apatite fission track ages for ores are between 55 and 21 Ma. Previous zircon U–Pb geochronology and structural studies suggest that the JJF was originally activated in the Jurassic during 160–150 Ma as a sinistral fault. The JJF was a normal fault in the Early Cretaceous due to NW–SE orientated tension and NE–SW compression, which lasted from 135 to 120 Ma. This was followed by sinistral strike–slip faulting due to NW–SE compression and NE–SW tension during 120–110 Ma, and it changed to normal displacement at ca. 110 Ma. Our apatite fission track data analysis and thermal modeling of representative samples suggest that there was a subsequent dextral reactivation of the fault at ca. 55 Ma. Previous age data of ca. 130–110 Ma for gold mineralization along the JJF coincides with the Early Cretaceous magmatism and is coeval with the transition from normal faulting to sinistral strike–slip faulting of the JJF in Early Cretaceous, which is interpreted to be due to changing direction of the subducting Pacific Plate.

Strike-slip faulting terminates the Basin and Range province in Oregon

Abstract: The pattern of faulting in southeastern Oregon is interpreted in terms of four major zones of right-lateral strike-slip faulting that separate blocks broken by normal faulting. The total amount of east-west extension is considered to decrease in the block north of each strike-slip fault zone. The right-lateral offset results from the decrease in extension. Extension essentially dies out across the northern two fault zones, which are thus considered the northern limit of the Basin and Range province. The greatest offset is apparently recorded on the next zone to the south by the displacement of the eastern edges of the Sierra Nevada and Idaho batholiths. The two southern zones offset the Pleistocene to Holocene trend of the High Cascades by 10 to 20 km in a right-lateral sense. The Brothers fault zone, one of the northern zones, is regarded as of special interest because both ends of the fault are interpreted to be exposed at the surface.