duplex style and triangle zone formation insights from physical modeling duplexes are a common feature in thrust belts at many scales their geometries vary significantly from antiformal stacks with significant forethrusting in the cover e g southern pyrennes spain to triangle zones e g foreland canadian rockies to low displacement individually spaced ramp anticlines e g sub andean thrust belt bolivia we present a series of physical experiments demonstrating that the strength of the decollements relative to that of the intervening and overlying rock layers plays a significant role in controlling the duplex style the models comprise brittle layers made of dry quartz sand and decollements made of two types of viscous silicone polymers the strength of the decollements in the models is a function of the shortening rate applied to the model the relative strength of the decollements and surrounding rocks affects the development of active or passive roof duplexes triangle zones it also affects the amount of translation of individual thrust blocks and the spacing of thrust ramps which in turn determine if a duplex evolves into an antiformal stack or into individually spaced ramp anticlines model results indicate that specific associations of structural features form systematically under similar rheological and boundary conditions the presence of relatively strong decollements promotes local underthrusting of the cover individual ramp anticlines internal deformation of thrust sheets low early layer parallel shortening and sequential towards the foreland propagation of structures weak decollements promote forethrusting of the cover antiformal stacks coeval growth of structures and low internal strain with the exception of significant early layer parallel shortening no underthrusting at a regional scale occurred in any model

cyclical behavior of thrust wedges insights from high basal friction sandbox experiments scaled sandbox experiments with high basal friction simulating the growth of accretionary wedges display cycles alternating between frontal imbricate thrusting and underthrusting of long undeformed sheets by contrast low basal friction experiments with otherwise similar and constant initial conditions produce a classic frontal imbricate fan through repeated failure along frontal thrusts the cyclical behavior observed in high basal friction experiments is expressed by three quantities 1 the average spacing between frontal thrusts 2 the advance and retreat of the deformation front and 3 the frontal slope alpha of the actively deforming wedge as a long sheet is underthrust the front is steepened through slumping until the maximum critical angle is reached then frontal thrusting resumes and the accretion of imbricate slices builds the wedge forward thereby lowering the taper to the minimum critical angle at shallow tapers a long unit is underthrust and subsequently uplifts shortens and steepens the overlying wedge through backthrust deformation thus completing the cycle underthrusting of long units offers a simple mechanism for underplating overlying units it also provides a possible explanation for temporally and spatially varying wedge geometries in nature when basal frictions attain 80 90 of the internal friction

sediment deformation and hydrogeology of the nankai trough accretionary prism synthesis of shipboard results of odp leg 131 the main objective of leg 131 was to provide data on the deformational processes and associated hydrogeology of the nankai prism toe drilling succeeded for the first time in the history of ocean drilling in penetrating the complete sedimentary sequence to basaltic basement reaching 1327 mbsf metres below seafloor with good core recovery 55 excellent correlation of the lithology and structure including the frontal thrust and the decollement with seismic reflection images was also determined bedding dips faults and shear bands analyzed in the cores confirm the pattern of deformation to be mainly due to nw se shortening as expected from the plate tectonic convergence vector below the decollement no significant deformation features were observed indicating that the decollement is a sharp discontinuity in stress transmission physical properties data show major discontinuities at the decollement notably an increase in porosity below the later this may indicate excess pore pressure in the subducted section and decollement zone a less marked increase in porosity below the frontal thrust may reflect the youthfulness of this feature attempts to make downhole measurements were severely hampered by unstable hole conditions but useful constraints have been placed on the thermal regime and some calibration of laboratory physical properties toin situ conditions has been provided andin situ stress and pore pressure were measured in the uppermost sediments evidence of channelized fluid flows is inconclusive no sharp geochemical signatures or unequivocal geochemical anomalies indicative of channelized fluid flow were found thermal measurements are not significantly different from those predicted by a purely conductive heat flow model a signature of low chloride pore water near the decollement may partly be related to smectite diagenesis but may also be due to episodic fluid flow events we conclude that dewatering probably occurred dominantly through diffuse flow throughout the accreted sediments at this site

sandbox modelling of thrust wedges with fluid assisted detachments abstract we have used granular materials to model the development of thrust wedges where migrating pore fluids assisted in the formation of detachments the governing equations yield practical scales for linear dimensions stresses and time using compressed air as a pore fluid models a few centimetres thick were deformed in about half an hour model materials were sands of three different grain sizes and a loess they had suitable values of density permeability cohesion and internal friction fluid flow obeyed darcy s law at yield the materials satisfied a coulomb criterion for effective stresses models with various sequences of layers were submitted to horizontal shortening in a rectangular box compressed air entered through a sieve at the base the fluid pressure was uniform over the basal boundary in models made from a single material the style of deformation depended on the fluid pressure for no fluid flow the thrust wedge was short and high the surface slope attained large angles 30 and internal structures were mainly forethrusts for fluid pressures approaching lithostatic values thrust wedges were longer and lower and surface slopes attained smaller angles in models containing basal layers of small permeability detachments formed beneath them and the structural style was dominated by interacting forethrusts and backthrusts in multilayered models thin skinned detachments formed beneath less permeable layers in the sequence to understand how fluid flow controlled the first stages of detachment we calculated ideal vertical profiles of fluid pressure vertical normal stress effective stress and horizontal shear stress for multilayered models in the undeformed state the profiles are segmented because material properties vary from layer to layer sharp drops in shear strength occur at positions where detachments were observed in the sandbox models we infer that detachments resulted from large fluid pressures beneath relatively impermeable layers

structure of the makran subduction zone from wide angle and reflection seismic data abstract makran is one of the largest accretionary wedges on the globe formed by the convergence between the eurasian and the arabian plates it is characterised by an extremely high sediment input of 7 km and a shallow subduction angle we present seismic velocity models from four wide angle seismic lines that image the wedge sediments and the subducted oceanic crust three strike lines show complex but rather one dimensional structures where the observed seismic phases have been studied with the reflectivity method a 160 km long dip line was surveyed coincident with a mcs line collected by cambridge university in 1986 prestack depth migration of this data with the new wide angle velocities shows improved images compared to earlier results interpretation of the wide angle and the mcs data indicates that a decollement is developed along a bright reflector within the turbiditic sequence more than 3 km of sediment bypasses the first accretionary ridges underthrusting and is transported to greater depth this might help to explain the sparse earthquake activity associated with subduction here in the strike lines low velocity layers occur landward of the deformation front in zones where active thrusting or underplating takes place the oceanic crust is characterised by a strong velocity contrast between layer ii and layer iii

deformation and stability of over pressured wedges insight from sandbox models 1 in the well known and widely used critical taper model of accretionary wedges pore pressure is introduced as a first order parameter despite the fact that the importance of the pore pressure on deformation is largely accepted the theoretical predictions of the critical model has never been experimentally confirmed for over pressured wedges to fill this gap and to understand how pore pressure may influence deformation within a wedge we performed scaled experiments under conditions close to the critical taper hypothesis the wedges were built with a non cohesive sand and lied on glass microbeads layer to insure a weak decollement as we applied horizontally varying fluid pressure at the base of the model the pore pressure ratio was almost constant in the whole wedge combining these experiments with an optical image correlation technique particle imaging velocimetry we followed the strain in the model during the shortening we highlighted three different modes of deformation which are strongly influenced by the pressure ratio and the wedge taper although we found a pretty good agreement between the experimental observations and the critical taper model predictions it appears that the transition between sub critical and super critical conditions is not sharp as described by the critical taper model but continuous the distance to the critical taper condition which depends on both the topographic angle and the pressure ratio seems to control the propagation rate of the decollement and the strain localization within the wedge

mechanics of fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges cohesive coulomb theory a critically tapered fold and thrust belt or submarine accretionary wedge is one that is on the verge of coulomb failure everywhere including its base where frictional sliding along a decollement is assumed to be occurring cohesion within a wedge can add significantly to the overall strength near the toe the effect of this is to decrease the near toe taper leading to a critical topographic profile that is concave upward if the decollement is planar we obtain an approximate self consistent solution for the state of stress within a thin skinned cohesive critical coulomb wedge and determine the relationship between the wedge taper and its strength and basal friction the theory is then applied to the presently deforming fold and thrust belt of western taiwan fitting of theoretical critical wedge shapes to topographic profiles and measurements of the step up angles of thrust faults from the basal decollement are used to constrain the taiwan wedge strength parameters an attractive assertion fully consistent with all the observations is that the mechanics of fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges is governed by normal frictional and fracture strengths of rocks measured in the laboratory in particular if byerlee s law b 0 85 is adopted as the coefficient of sliding friction on the base we find a coefficient of internal friction 0 9 1 0 in the wedge and a wedge cohesion so 5 20 mpa other solutions having strengths and ambient stresses up to 4 times lower than this can also however satisfy the data

a review of brittle compressional wedge models abstract fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges form by compression of sedimentary sequences and basement rocks into forward and backward thrusts folds nappes and duplexes for over a century models have been used to investigate the essential characteristics of such brittle wedges here i review model studies of brittle thrust wedges in orthogonal compression focussing on critical taper theory analogue and numerical techniques for modelling brittle behaviour and the most commonly investigated variations in wedge model studies those in basal dip basal strength internal strength and surface processes many model results can be placed in the context of critical taper theory which provides analytical solutions for wedge taper angle and slip line orientations for a homogeneous material on the verge of failure throughout dynamic forward models have confirmed critical taper predictions of decreasing surface dip for increasing basal dip wider wedges with steeper forward thrusts and shallower backward thrusts for decreasing basal strength narrower wedges and enhanced exhumation for surface erosion and decreasing surface dip for increasing internal strength but analogue and numerical models have been able to take these results a step further by investigating the evolution of non critical thrust wedges and the effects of non homogeneous materials with decollement layers and strain weakening shear zones these results have highlighted the strong impact of heterogeneous materials on the internal structures of thrust wedges and raise the question whether the complexity of structures that are observed in many natural fold and thrust belts requires that lithological layering inherited faults or a wide range of rheologies need to be included in forward models of brittle thrust wedges

the influence of a weak upper ductile detachment on the longmen shan fold and thrust belt eastern margin of the tibetan plateau insights from sandbox experiments abstract the topic of the longmen shan fold and thrust belt has been vigorously debated due to the steep topography in contrast with the low convergence rate and earthquake hazards the longmen shan fold and thrust belt is characterized by two main detachments a strong lower detachment at 15 17 km depth in the hinterland and a weak upper detachment at 7 km depth in the sichuan basin nevertheless how the two detachments control deformation in the longmen shan remains unclear in this study we focus on the mechanical strengths of the two detachments in the study area and design three analog models to investigate the kinematics and mechanisms of the longmen shan fold and thrust belt all three model experiments have the same strong lower detachments at the basement but different upper detachments the results indicate that for model 1 with no upper detachment and model 2 with a strong frictional upper detachment the strain and deformation only concentrate near the mobile backwall and particle image velocimetry analysis reveals that both models deform in the forward in sequence style however for model 3 with a weak ductile upper detachment the strain and deformation propagate into the foreland and the model deforms in the out of sequence style consistent with the longmen shan fold and thrust belt the model results indicate that the spatial relation of strong lower detachment and weak upper detachment may be one of the important factors producing the current structural pattern and the out of sequence style of the longmen shan fold and thrust belt

physical modelling of sand injectites abstract sand injectites are structures that result from intrusion of fluidized sand into fractures we have studied them in the tampen spur area of the north sea and have reproduced them experimentally by driving compressed air through layers of sand glass microspheres and silica powder the silica powder was cohesive and capable of hydraulic fracturing whereas the sand and glass microspheres were almost non cohesive and therefore able to fluidize the models were dynamically similar to their natural counterparts for as long as equilibrium was static when the processes became dynamic so that inertial forces were significant the scaling was approximate and the corresponding reynolds numbers differed the experimental apparatus was a square box 1 m 1 m wide resting on a grid of fluid diffusers during the experiments the fluid pressure increased until it attained and surpassed the weight of overburden flat lying hydraulic fractures containing air formed within cohesive and least permeable layers heterogeneities in material properties and layer thicknesses were responsible for localizing fracture networks when any one network broke through to the surface rapid flow of air through the fractures fluidized the underlying mobile materials and even depleted some of the layers some of the fluidized material extruded at the surface through vents forming volcanoes and sheets the remainder lodged at depth forming sand injectites or laccoliths conical sand injectites formed preferentially where layers had high resistance to bending laccoliths formed nearer the surface where overlying layers had low resistance to bending the experimental sand injectites were broadly similar to those in the tampen spur area of the north sea as well as other areas

fluid pressure and effective stress in sandbox models abstract we have done a series of simple tests on sandpacks involving upward flow of compressed air through the pores and its effect on the yield strength the ultimate objective is to model deformation coupled with fluid flow in sedimentary basins for all tests we used a single batch of fontainebleau sand sieved to a grain size between 0 200 and 0 315 mm poured into a cylindrical container and then fluidized the density of this sand was 1 585 g cm3 irrespective of sand thickness the lithostatic pressure was proportional to the thickness of the sandpack a yield envelope was obtained by shearing the sandpack horizontally compressed air entered the base of the sandpack and flowed upwards through the pore spaces for 69 measurements on air flow without shearing a plot of discharge velocity versus gradient of fluid pressure is close to a straight line verifying darcy s law and yielding an intrinsic permeability of about 1 7 darcy for the sand for 72 tests on simultaneous shearing and fluid flow the estimated effective stress lithostatic stress minus estimated pore fluid pressure ranged from 0 to 1600 pa and the pore fluid ratio between air pressure and lithostatic pressure from 0 0 to 1 0 a plot of shear stress versus effective stress at failure is almost linear verifying terzaghi s principle of effective stress the best fit slope coefficient of internal friction is about 0 55 and the intercept on the shear stress axis cohesion is less than 85 pa the tests show that it is feasible to use compressed air within sandpacks as a means of modelling deformation coupled with fluid flow the next step will be to build sandbox models of layered sequences and to investigate detachments caused by abnormal fluid pressures

effect of basal friction on surface and volumetric strain in models of convergent settings measured by laser scanner abstract this paper uses measurements by a high accuracy laser scanner to investigate the role of basal friction on surface and volumetric strains in sandbox models simulating fold thrust belts and accretionary wedges we monitor progressive deformation wedge growth and strain distribution in three models with similar initial boundary conditions but with different basal frictions our analyses show that in addition to influencing the kinematics and geometry of model wedges basal friction also governs both the surface and volumetric strains of the wedge after 16 3 bulk shortening the volume decreased 5 0 5 9 5 0 5 and 12 5 0 5 in the models shortened above low intermediate and high friction decollements respectively applied to nature our model results suggest that more compaction and penetrative strain is expected in convergent settings with a high friction decollement than those shortened above a low friction decollement or a weak basal bed like the salt formation under parts of the zagros fold thrust belt this volume decrease probably reduces the porosity in the deformed lithologies

geometry kinematics and displacement characteristics of tear fault systems an example from the deep water niger delta we use three dimensional seismic reflection data and new map based structural restoration methods to define the displacement history and characteristics of a series of tear faults in the deep water niger delta deformation in the deep water niger delta is focused mostly within two fold and thrust belts that accommodate downdip shortening produced by updip extension on the continental shelf this shortening is accommodated by a series of thrust sheets that are locally cut by strike slip faults through seismic mapping and interpretation we resolve these strike slip faults to be tear faults that share a common detachment level with the thrust faults acting in conjunction these structures have accommodated a north south gradient in westward directed shortening we apply a map based restoration technique implemented in gocad to restore an upper stratigraphic horizon of the late oligocene and use this analysis to calculate slip profiles along the strike slip faults the slip magnitudes and directions change abruptly along the lengths of the tear faults as they interact with numerous thrust sheets the discontinuous nature of these slip profiles reflects the manner in which they have accommodated differential movement between the footwall and hanging wall blocks of the thrust sheets in cases for which the relationship between a strike slip fault and multiple thrust faults is unclear the recognition of this type of slip profile may distinguish thin skinned tear faults from more conventional deep seated throughgoing strike slip faults

the impact of analogue material properties on the geometry kinematics and dynamics of convergent sand wedges abstract simulation of geodynamic processes in sandbox experiments requires analogue materials with a deformation behaviour that reproduces the deformation mechanisms of typical crustal rocks we present data on the frictional strength of different sand types employing static and dynamic shear tests the sand types analysed are characterised by an elastic frictional plastic mechanical behaviour with a transient strain hardening and strain softening phase prior to transition to stable sliding this is in conflict with the standard assumption of an ideal cohesionless coulomb material with constant frictional properties the influence of the identified transient material properties on the kinematics growth mechanisms and internal deformation patterns of convergent sand wedges results in characteristic wedge segments which vary depending on material compaction between wedges with well defined segments i e frontal deformation zone frontal imbrication zone and internal accumulation zone with straight slopes and wedges with a continuous convex topographic profile for most materials only the frontal part of the wedge is critical during experimental runs taper and strength of the wedge segments can be shown to be controlled by the frictional properties of active faults wedge segmentation is controlled by a bulk strength increase toward the rear of the wedge due to fault rotation in mechanically less favourable orientations and plastic material hardening the limit between the frontal critical parts of a wedge and internal stable parts is largely controlled by a critical state of stress upon which either renewed failure or fault inactivation occurs on this basis we suggest that critical taper analysis of wedges must be restricted to specific kinematic segments comparison of the experimental results with the nankai accretionary wedge suggests that our interpretation also applies to natural convergent wedges moreover we provide constraints for the selection of adequate granular analogue materials to simulate typical crustal rocks in natural convergent wedges

effects of mass waste events on thrust wedges analogue experiments and application to the makran accretionary wedge 1 olistostromes cover large portions of active thrust wedges like makran gulf of cadiz and offshore borneo olistostrome emplacement by submarine mass flow represents an instantaneous and massive mass redistribution that may influence thrust wedge mechanics different scenarios are experimentally tested they show that the postolistostrome wedge development depends on the thickness and extent of the added load these results are discussed after the example of the iranian makran wedge situated between the arabian and eurasian plates mass redistribution caused by a late miocene mass flow may explain a change in deformation style from intense folding and thrusting to gentle folding and eventually a jump of thrust imbrication toward the frontal offshore part of this active accretionary wedge

computerized x ray tomography analysis of sandbox models examples of thin skinned thrust systems computerized x ray tomography applied to analog sandbox experiments performed in a normal gravity field makes possible the analysis of the kinematic evolution as well as the three dimensional geometry of models that simulate tectonic deformations most of the plastic or viscous analog materials generally used in a normal gravity field for such models have x ray attenuations compatible with medical scanner images models using soft cohesionless granular materials were studied faults in granular materials corresponding to dilatant zones with lower by 30 50 x ray attenuation are thus clearly visible in the tomography images kinematic analysis was done on imbricate thrust propagation in materials with an internal friction angle of 30 thrust propagation is controlled mainly by a triangular pop up structure resulting from the nucleation of two conjugate thrusts at the basal decollement the pop up structure is created immediately in front of the previous thrust three dimensional geometry analysis was tested on lateral ramps parallel to the transport direction lateral ramps were induced by changing the frictional boundary conditions at the bottom of the model though the lateral ramps strike almost parallel to the transport direction their dip angle is comparable to the dip angle of frontal ramps

model experimentation of the effect of gravity on tectonic processes summary it seems likely that many of the tectonic phenomena in the earth s crust are generated by processes within the mantle our view of such a large scale tectonic phenomenon as the evolution of orogenic belts consequently ought to reflect on the theorizing of the behaviour of the mantle the author finds it therefore appropriate to present in this symposium some results from experimental model studies related to the origin of geosynclines and orogens some models simulating convection currents in the mantle are also discussed

the coulomb critical taper theory applied to gravitational instabilities the critical coulomb wedge theory has been widely applied to the structural evolution of accretionary wedges and fold and thrust belts but it also predicts the spreading of a wedge under gravity this solution may be applied to the formation of gravitational spreading and gliding along passive margins where elevated pore fluid pressure is common following the initial hypotheses of the theory we provide an alternative expression of the exact solution for a noncohesive wedge better suited to slope instabilities our formulation allows a direct calculation of the fluid pressure required for the system to deform and predicts two kinds of gravitational deformation shallow slumping and or deep gravitational spreading rooting on the basal detachment to verify the predictions of the model we performed scaled experiments with pore pressure under conditions close to the critical taper hypotheses the good agreement between our experimental results and the theory confirms the applicability of the critical taper model to the formation of gravitational structures in sedimentary wedges subjected to pore fluid pressure

a new experimental material for modeling relief dynamics and interactions between tectonics and surface processes abstract we developed a new granular material mativ to study experimentally landscape evolution in active mountain belt piedmonts its composition and related physical properties have been determined using empirical criteria derived from the scaling of deformation erosion transport and sedimentation natural processes mativ is a water saturated composite material made up with 4 granular components silica powder glass microbeads plastic powder and graphite whose physical mechanical and erosion related properties were measured with different laboratory tests mechanical measurements were made on a modified hubbert type direct shear apparatus erosion related properties were determined using an experimental set up that allows quantifying the erosion sedimentation budget from tilted relaxation topographies for mativ we also investigated the evolution of mean erosion rates and stream power erosion law exponents in 1d as a function of slope our results indicate that mativ satisfies most of the defined criteria it deforms brittlely according to the linear mohr coulomb failure criterion and localizes deformation along discrete faults its erosion pattern is characterized by realistic hillslope and channelized processes slope diffusion mass wasting channel incision during transport eroded particles are sorted depending on their density and shape which results in stratified alluvial deposits displaying lateral facies variations to evaluate the degree of similitude between model and nature we used a new experimental device that combines accretionary wedge deformation mechanisms and surface runoff erosion processes results indicate that mativ succeeded in producing detailed morphological and sedimentological features drainage basin channel network terrace syntectonic alluvial fan geometric kinematic and dynamic similarity criteria have been investigated to compare precisely model to nature although scaling is incomplete it yields particularly informative orders of magnitude with all these characteristics mativ appears as a very promising material to investigate experimentally a wide range of scientific questions dealing with relief dynamics and interactions between tectonics erosion and sedimentation processes

critical taper model of fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges the fold and thrust belts and submarine accretionary wedges that lie along compressive plate boundaries are one of the best understood deformational features of the earth s upper crust although there is considerable natural variation among the many fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges that have been recognized and explored several features appear to be universal in cross section fold and thrust belts and accretionary wedges occupy a wedge shaped deformed region overlying a basal detachment or decollement fault the rocks or sediments beneath this fault show very little deformation the decollement fault characteristically dips toward the interior of the mountain belt or in the case of a submarine wedge toward the island arc the topography in contrast slopes toward the toe or deformation front of the wedge deformation within the wedge is generally dominated by imbricate thrust faults verging toward the toe and related fault bend folding two north american fold and thrust belts that exhibit these features are shown in figure 1 neither of these two examples is tectonically active today the southern canadian fold and thrust belt was active during the late jurassic and cretaceous 150 100 ma whereas the southern appa lachians were deformed during the late carboniferous to permian alle ghenian orogeny 300 250 ma figure 2 shows two examples that are currently active the taiwan fold and thrust belt produced by the sub duction of the eurasian plate beneath the philippine sea plate suppe 1981 1987 and the barbados accretionary wedge produced by the sub

thrust wedges and fluid overpressures sandbox models involving pore fluids the well known model for the critical taper of an accretionary wedge includes overpressure as a first order parameter fluid overpressures reduce frictional resistance at the base of a wedge but they also act as body forces on all material particles of the wedge in addition to that of gravity by means of sandbox modeling many workers have tried to verify the predictions of the critical taper model but few of them have so far incorporated true fluid pressures we have used scaled experiments in which compressed air flows through sand packs so as to model the deformation of overpressured wedges a new apparatus provides for a horizontally varying fluid pressure for example a linear variation as in the critical taper model we have done three series of experiments involving horizontal shortening of homogeneous or multilayered sand models for various gradients of fluid pressure as predicted by the critical taper model the apical angle of the resulting wedge depends on the overpressure gradient in homogeneous sand at a high overpressure gradient deformation becomes diffuse and looks ductile in multilayered models detachments form beneath layers of low permeability so that thrusts propagate rapidly toward the undeformed foreland the efficiency of a detachment and its ability to propagate depend not only on the fluid pressure but also on the permeability ratios between the various layers

fingerprinting stress stylolite and calcite twinning paleopiezometry revealing the complexity of progressive stress patterns during folding the case of the monte nero anticline in the apennines italy in this study we show for the first time how quantitative stress estimates can be derived by combining calcite twinning and stylolite roughness stress fingerprinting techniques in a fold and thrust belt first we present a new method that gives access to stress inversion using tectonic stylolites without access to the stylolite surface and compare results with calcite twin inversion second we use our new approach to present a high resolution deformation and stress history that affected meso cenozoic limestone strata in the monte nero anticline during its late miocene pliocene growth in the umbria marche arcuate ridge northern apennines italy in this area an extensive stylolite joint vein network developed during layer parallel shortening lps as well as during and after folding stress fingerprinting illustrates how stress in the sedimentary strata did build up prior to folding during lps the stress regime oscillated between strike slip and compressional during lps before ultimately becoming strike slip again during late stage fold tightening our case study shows that high resolution stress fingerprinting is possible and that this novel method can be used to unravel temporal relationships that relate to local variations of regional orogenic stresses beyond regional implications this study validates our approach as a new powerful toolbox to high resolution stress fingerprinting in basins and orogens combining joint and vein analysis with sedimentary and tectonic stylolite and calcite twin inversion techniques

fluid accumulation and channeling along the northern barbados ridge decollement thrust a volume of three dimensional seismic reflection data acquired in 1992 imaged the decollement beneath the northern barbados ridge accretionary prism revealing reflection amplitude and waveform variations attributed to fluid accumulations along the plate boundary fault we model the seismic reflection by inversion for seismic impedance the product of velocity and density throughout the 5 x 25 km survey area and thus map physical property variations in 1997 ocean drilling program leg 171a penetrated the protodecollement and decollement at five sites with a logging while drilling lwd tool to log density and other physical properties of the decollement we construct a regional map of density and inferred porosity within the decollement from seismic models calibrated with lwd density data in the sediments out in front of the trench the protodecollement forms in a radiolarian rich miocene mudstone with an anomalously high porosity 70 75 that appears as a pervasive inherent characteristic of this interval seaward of the deformation front in the decollement beneath the wedge a consolidation trend of decreasing porosity runs perpendicular to the deformation front with porosity decreasing from 70 at the wedge toe to 50 4 km from the wedge toe a second distinct trend also forms along a 10 km long 1 to 2 km wide ne sw zone in which porosity is 70 as high as it is in the protodecollement this zone can be explained as an area of the decollement where fluid accumulations develop by maintaining high fluid content we postulate that high fluid content is maintained by continuous recharge flowing into and along this channel this porosity distribution within the decollement also strongly influences fluid migration into the overlying accretionary wedge and is directly associated with fluid charging of ramps and out of sequence thrusts above the decollement

coulomb theory applied to accretionary and nonaccretionary wedges possible causes for tectonic erosion and or frontal accretion based on observations from both modem convergent margins and sandbox modeling we examine the possible conditions favoring frontal accretion and or frontal and basal tectonic erosion mean characteristic parameters t t and are used to discuss the mechanical stability of 28 transects across the frontal part of convergent margins where the coulomb theory is applicable natural observations reveal that typical accretionary wedges are characterized by low tapers with smooth surface slope and subducting plate low convergence rates and thick trench sediment while nonaccretionary wedges display large tapers with irregular surface slopes and rough subducting plate high convergence rates and almost no trench fill sandbox experiments were performed to illustrate the effects of seamounts ridges in the subduction zone on the deformation of an accretionary wedge these experiments show that a wedge of sand is first trapped and pushed in front of the seamount which acts as a moving bulldozer this is followed by a tunnelling effect of the subducting seamount through the frontal wedge material which results in considerable sand reworking at an advanced subduction stage the d6collement jumps back from a high level in the wedge to its former basal position we conclude that a high trench sedimentation rate relative to the convergence rate leads to frontal accretion in contrast several conditions may favor tectonic erosion of the upper plate first oceanic features such as grabens seamounts or ridges may trap upper plate material during their subduction process second destabilization of the upper plate material by internal fluid overpressuring causing hydrofracturing is probably another important mechanism

th pb and u pb dating of ore stage calcite and paleozoic fluid flow thorium 232 lead 208 and uranium 238 lead 206 radiometric ages for ore stage calcite show that mississippi valley type mvt ore deposits can form in distinct tectonic settings an age of 251 11 million years for the jumbo mine in kansas united states is in agreement with other ages for mvt deposits in the midcontinent of north america the similarity of ages of these deposits supports the concept that they formed in response to fluid flow during the late paleozoic alleghenian ouachita orogeny an age of 351 15 million years for twelve mile bore and bloodwood kapok deposits in australia indicates that these mvt ores were deposited in a rifting environment

geological features and origin of the huize carbonate hosted zn pb ag district yunnan south china abstract the huize zn pb ag district in the sichuan yunnan guizhou zn pb ag metallogenic region contains significant high grade zn pb ag deposits the total metal reserve of zn and pb exceeds 5 mt the district has the following geological characteristics 1 high ore grade zn pb 25 wt 2 enrichment in ag and a range of other trace elements ge in ga cd and tl with galena sphalerite and pyrite being the major carriers of ag ge cd and tl 3 ore distribution controlled by both structural and lithological features 4 simple and limited wall rock alteration 5 mineral zonation within the orebodies and 6 the presence of evaporite layers in the ore hosting wall rocks of the early carboniferous baizuo formation and the underlying basement fluid inclusion and isotope geochemical data indicate that the ore fluid has homogenisation temperatures of 165 220 c and salinities of 6 6 12 wt nacl equiv and that the ore forming fluids and metals were predominantly derived from the kunyang group basement rocks and the evaporite bearing rocks of the cover strata ores were deposited along favourable specific ore controlling structures the new laboratory and field studies indicate that the huize zn pb ag district is not a carbonate replacement deposit containing massive sulphides but rather the deposits can be designated as deformed carbonate hosted mvt type deposits detailed study of the deposits has provided new clues to the localisation of concealed orebodies in the huize zn pb ag district and of the potential for similar carbonate hosted sulphide deposits elsewhere in ne yunnan province as well as the sichuan yunnan guizhou zn pb ag metallogenic region

modelling the geometry of coulomb thrust wedges internal geometry and detachment of coulomb thrust wedges is examined in a combined gravity and pressure force field under various boundary conditions and coulomb parameters frontally buttressed sand wedges accreted with narrow tapers above soles with negligible friction in these models serial imbricates stepped up in conjugate sets which operated synchronously or serially with increases in sole friction model coulomb wedges accreted in piggyback style with enhanced taper but narrower spacing of imbricates in this mode flat topped box fold anticlines nucleated at the frontal tip of a sole thrust prior to the fore limb failing as a ramp the initial ramp thrusts subsequently rotated and steepened to acquire concave upwards listric geometry when cohesion was a significant component of strength and the sand grains interlocked thoroughly ramp climb during piggyback thrusting occurred through the generation of a stack of backthrusts the taper of cohesionless sand wedges which lack any length scale was consistent with the critical cohesionless coulomb wedge taper in contrast the taper of experimental cohesive sand wedges which are scale dependent was consistent with the theoretical cohesive coulomb narrow taper only when the cohesive length scale was lr sr rar 10 6 this was constrained by comparing geometry of cohesive sand wedges shortened at different body force per unit mass

hydrocarbon and ore bearing basinal fluids a possible link between gold mineralization and hydrocarbon accumulation in the youjiang basin south china the youjiang basin which flanks the southwest edge of the yangtze craton in south china contains many carlin type gold deposits and abundant paleo oil reservoirs the gold deposits and paleo oil reservoirs are restricted to the same tectonic units commonly at the basinal margins and within the intrabasinal isolated platforms and or bioherms the gold deposits are hosted by permian to triassic carbonate and siliciclastic rocks that typically contain high contents of organic carbon paragenetic relationships indicate that most of the deposits exhibit an early stage of barren quartz pyrite stage i a main stage of auriferous quartz arsenian pyrite arsenopyrite marcasite stage ii and a late stage of quartz calcite realgar orpiment native arsenic stibnite cinnabar dolomite stage iii bitumen in the gold deposits is commonly present as a migrated hydrocarbon product in mineralized host rocks particularly close to high grade ores but is absent in barren sedimentary rocks bitumen dispersed in the mineralized rocks is closely associated and or intergrown with the main stage jasperoidal quartz arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite bitumen occurring in hydrothermal veins and veinlets is paragenetically associated with stages ii and iii mineral assemblages these observations suggest an intimate relationship between bitumen precipitation and gold mineralization in the paleo petroleum reservoirs that typically occur in permian reef limestones bitumen is most commonly observed in open spaces either alone or associated with calcite where bitumen occurs with calcite it is typically concentrated along pore vein centers as well as along the wall of pores and fractures indicating approximately coeval precipitation in the gold deposits aqueous fluid inclusions are dominant in the early stage barren quartz veins stage i with a homogenization temperature range typically of 230 c to 270 c and a salinity range of 2 6 to 7 2 wt nacl eq fluid inclusions in the main and late stage quartz and calcite are dominated by aqueous inclusions as well as hydrocarbon and co2 rich inclusions the presence of abundant hydrocarbon fluid inclusions in the gold deposits provides evidence that at least during main periods of the hydrothermal activity responsible for gold mineralization the ore fluids consisted of an aqueous solution and an immiscible hydrocarbon phase aqueous inclusions in the main stage quartz associated with gold mineralization stage ii typically have a homogenization temperature range of 200 230 c and a modal salinity around 5 3 wt nacl eq homogenization temperatures and salinities of aqueous inclusions in the late stage drusy quartz and calcite stage iii typically range from 120 c to 160 c and from 2 0 to 5 6 wt nacl eq respectively in the paleo oil reservoirs aqueous fluid inclusions with an average homogenization temperature of 80 c are dominant in early diagenetic calcite fluid inclusions in late diagenetic pore and fissure filling calcite associated with bitumen are dominated by liquid c2h6 vapor ch4 ch4 h2o and aqueous inclusions with a typical homogenization temperature range of 90 c to 180 c and a salinity range of 2 8 wt nacl eq it is suggested that the hydrocarbons may have been trapped at relatively low temperatures while the formation of gold deposits could have occurred under a wider and higher range of temperatures the timing of gold mineralization in the youjiang basin is still in dispute and a wide range of ages has been reported for individual deposits among the limited isotopic data the rb sr date of 206 12 ma for au bearing hydrothermal sericite at jinya as well as the re os date of 193 13 ma on auriferous arsenian pyrite and 40ar 39ar date of 194 6 2 ma on vein filling sericite at lannigou may provide the most reliable age constraints on gold mineralization this age range is comparable with the estimated petroleum charging age range of 238 185 ma and the sm nd date of 182 21 ma for the pore and fissure filling calcite associated with bitumen at the shitouzhai paleo oil reservoir corresponding to the late indosinian to early yanshanian orogenies in south china the close association of carlin type gold deposits and paleo oil reservoirs the paragenetic coexistence of bitumens with ore stage minerals the presence of abundant hydrocarbons in the ore fluids and the temporal coincidence of gold mineralization and hydrocarbon accumulation all support a coeval model in which the gold originated migrated and precipitated along with the hydrocarbons in an immiscible gold and hydrocarbon bearing basinal fluid system

the role of salt in fold and thrust belts davis d m and engelder t 1985 the role of salt in fold and thrust belts in n l carter and s uycda editors collision tectonics deformation of continental lithosphere tectonophysics 119 67 88 the style of deformation in thin skinned fold and thrust belts is critically dependent upon the resistance to sliding along the detachment between the mass of deforming sediments and the underlying rocks evaporites can provide an extremely weak horizon within which a basal detachment can form and along which only a relatively small shear traction can be supported fold and thrust belts that form atop a salt layer such as the appalachian plateau the franklin mountains in northwestern canada and the jura of the alps among others share several readily observable characteristics as predicted by a simple mechanical model for fold and thrust belts a detachment in salt permits a thrust belt to have an extremely narrow cross sectional taper in addition predicted orientations of the principal stress axes over a salt dtcollement are consistent with the commonly observed lack of a consistently dominant vergence direction of structures within the thrust belt other common attributes of salt basal thin skinned deformation include the presence of several widely but regularly spaced folds and abrupt changes in deformational style at the edge of the salt basin

subandean thrust and fold belt of northwestern argentina geometry and timing of the andean evolution the subandean ranges of northwestern argentina are an active thin skinned fold and thrust belt the main detachment level in silurian shales dips 2 3w and all the major east verging faults detach from it important intermediate detachment levels in the devonian shales generate lift off structures and the decoupling of the lower and upper structural levels the subandean thrust belt has a minimum shortening of about 60 km 36 at about 2240 latitude the deformation started at about 8 5 9 ma with the uplift of the el pescado range and the formation of an important back thrust at the cinco picachos range fault generation gets young to the east the pintascayo range uplift started at 7 6 ma while the baja orn range uplift began at about 6 9 ma these two ranges continued growing simultaneously until at least 4 7 ma at san antonio range fault movement began at approximately 4 4 ma and the aguarage uplift started at about 2 7 ma an important stage dominated by out of sequence movements spans from about 4 5 ma to present for both proposed models of shortening the quaternary rates of shortening between 8 and 11 mm yr coincide well with global positioning system results from the area the hydrocarbon generation and migration is contemporaneous with the deformation enhancing the possibilities of hydrocarbon entrapment in the area

influence of kinetics on the smectite to illite transition in the barbados accretionary prism low chloride pore fluids observed along faults in clay rich accretionary complexes are commonly attributed to the release of interlayer water during the smectite to illite transformation however to date there has been no thorough analysis of the location and quantity of fluids that may be generated by this mechanism to address this problem a temperature and time dependent rate expression describing the dehydration reaction was coupled to a kinematic model of the northern barbados accretionary complex temperatures in the complex were estimated by modeling heat flow through the prism sediments as they thicken arcward the sediments temperature time histories were computed using a model for the velocities of sediment motion through the complex in this model the prism sediments follow uniformly diverging paths from the toe while the underthrust sediments undergo uniaxial strain the model predictions are validated against clay mineralogy data from barbados island mudstones our results show that the location of the peak dehydration rate is 20 km farther arcward in the underthrust sediments than in the prism complex the fresh water produced by the reaction results in pore waters that are 10 30 fresher at a distance of 50 70 km from the prism toe this constraint indicates a probable fluid migration path of more than 50 km from the reaction zone to the sites where freshened pore fluids have been observed the peak rate of fluid production when expressed as the volume of fluid per volume of sediment per second is 2 l0 15

experimental modelling of orogenic wedges a review abstract experimental modelling applied to the study of orogenic wedge dynamics has been a subject of fruitful research for more than 30 years although the technique dates back as far as the early xix th century on one hand several first order parameters controlling the structural evolution of mountain belts have been intensively investigated using the classic tectonic sandbox models the main parameters are the properties of the basal decollement the deforming material the backstop and fluxes kinematics and surface processes on the other hand the morphological evolution of a mountain relief subjected to changing tectonic or climatic forcing has been addressed using another kind of approach called geomorphic models nowadays the literature is extremely rich particularly for the sandbox technique so that it becomes difficult to have an exhaustive view of the effects of the above parameters on mountain evolution in this article we propose a detailed review of the main results obtained using both tectonic and geomorphic approaches our goal is to provide an almost complete state of the art in the experimental study of relief dynamics to guide present and future researchers in their understanding of mountain belt evolution

deformation at plate boundaries around the gulf of oman abstract seismic studies during charles darwin cruise 18 86 focused on three zones of deformation the makran accretionary prism the murray ridge owen fracture zone system and the continental margin of east oman a multichannel seismic reflection profile across the makran margin clearly imaged the imbricate thrust slices and their bounding faults a bottom simulating reflector bsr 500 800 m beneath the seabed marking the base of a gas hydrate stability zone may be traced across most of the profile the heat flow variation estimated from changes in the depth of this reflector shows evidence for localised fluid expulsion reflection profiles across the murray ridge show evidence for active extension along a series of major normal faults the rift structure is segmented with the fault polarity changing between segments a combined reflection and wide angle study of the east oman margin shows a deep offshore basin underlain by crust only 5 km thick and bounded by a basement ridge interpreted as a tilted fault block the wide angle data suggest a sleeply dipping moho beneath the margin the large lateral changes in crustal thickness may be explained by episodes of margin parallel shear

noncohesive critical coulomb wedges an exact solution active fold and thrust belts or submarine accretionary complexes can be modeled as critically tapered wedges of material on the verge of coulomb failure everywhere overlying a basal decollement where frictional sliding is occurring ignoring cohesion the four strength parameters needed to describe a critical coulomb wedge are its internal and basal coefficients of friction and b and its internal and basal hubbert rubey fluid pressure ratios and b an exact relation between surface slope and basal dip of a noncohesive critical wedge with uniform properties is derived the state of stress within such a wedge has the same orientation everywhere and is constant if is and vice versa a coefficient of internal friction 1 1 is consistent with the known surface slope basal dip and pore fluid pressures in the active fold and thrust belt of western taiwan assuming that byerlee s law b 0 85 is valid on the base the wide variety of tectonic styles observed to occur along convergent margins including subduction erosion active accretion subduction without accretion and even extension and normal faulting may be controlled by relatively small spatial or temporal variations in either b or b

structural consequences of cohesion in gravitational instabilities triggered by fluid overpressure analytical derivation and experimental testing abstract the critical taper theory of coulomb wedges has been classically applied to compressive regimes accretionary prisms fold and thrust belts and more recently to gravitational instabilities following the initial hypothesis of the theory we provide an alternative expression of the exact solution for a non cohesive wedge by considering the balance of forces applied to the external surfaces then we use this approach to derive a solution for the case of cohesive wedges we show that cohesion has conspicuous structural effects including a minimum length required for sliding and the formation of listric faults the stabilizing effect of cohesion is accentuated in the foremost thin domain of the wedge defining a required minimum failure length mfl and producing sliding of a rigid mass above the detachment this mfl decreases with less cohesion a smaller coefficient of internal friction larger fluid overpressure ratio and steeper upper and basal surfaces for the wedge listricity of the normal faults depends on the fluid overpressure magnitude within the wedge for moderate fluid overpressure normal faults are curved close to the surface and become straight at depth in contrast where fluid overpressure exceeds a critical value corresponding to the fluid pressure required to destabilize the surface of a noncohesive wedge the state of stress changes and rotates at depth the faults are straight close to the surface and listric at depth becoming parallel to the upper surface if the wedge is thick enough we tested some of these structural effects of a cohesive wedge on gravitational instabilities using analogue models where cohesive material was subjected to pore fluid pressure the shape of the faults obtained in the models is consistent with the predictions of the theory

evolution of fault efficiency at restraining bends within wet kaolin analog experiments abstract restraining bends are regions of mechanical inefficiency along strike slip faults where faults evolve to improve efficiency analog experiments using wet kaolin examine the evolution of a variety of restraining bends restraining bends with 15 bends continue to slip while systems with greater bends develop new faults the new faults which flank the uplifted region accommodate right lateral slip when parallel to the plate movement and oblique slip motion when parallel to the restraining segment within the wet kaolin strain is partitioned into fault slip and off fault deformation such as distributed shear and uplift the wet kaolin produces restraining bend deformation patterns fault sequence and mechanical efficiency similar to dry sand experiments and natural restraining bends the propagation of new faults in the wet kaolin improves the mechanical efficiency of the fault system by increasing the ratio of fault slip to off fault deformation local inefficiencies such as linkage of faults via a sharp kink do not affect the overall increase in efficiency of the linked fault system furthermore wider restraining bend stepovers have lower mechanical efficiency than close stepovers but the difference in mechanical efficiency decreases as faults grow and link up around the restraining bends this study demonstrates that restraining bend fault systems evolve toward greater mechanical efficiency

geometry and kinematics of the fuegian thrust fold belt southernmost andes fil torres carbonell pablo juan consejo nacional de investigaciones cientificas y tecnicas centro austral de investigaciones cientificas argentina

mud diapirism and subcretion in the barbados ridge accretionary complex the role of fluids in accretionary processes mud diapirism has recently been recognized in several modern accretionary wedges it provides an important means of dewatering accretionary wedges and should be regarded as an important process for producing the melanges found in both modern and ancient accretionary terranes mud diapirism affects a large area of the barbados ridge accretionary complex the distribution of the mud diapirs appears to be primarily controlled by the presence of underconsolidated terrigenous submarine fan deposits that are being accreted to the complex the frequency of diapir occurrence decreases northward as the fan becomes thinner mud diapirs are absent from the very eastern most part of the complex formed from sediments accreted at its toe with the exception of a few mud volcanoes on the ocean floor in front of the complex the initiation of diapirism appears to be spatially coincident with the onset of subcretion or underplating of sediment to the base of the complex at a ramp between two levels of decollement it is proposed that the release of mud and pore water from the subcreted sediments is a direct or indirect cause of most of the mud diapirism in the accretionary complex there is a range of diapiric form dependent on the viscosity of the mud from mud volcanoes fed by low viscosity mud to higher viscosity mud ridges the diapirs in the eastern areas of the complex are generally mud volcanoes with narrow conduits feeding a surface mound mud ridges are prominent in the western parts of the complex this is interpreted as reflecting a general westward decrease in the fluid content of the accretionary complex bottom simulating seismic reflectors formed by gas hydrate are commonly developed in the areas of mud volcano occurrences the presence of the hydrate indicates that large volumes of methane are being generated at depth in these regions the generation of methane may be contributing to zones of overpressuring in the wedge methane may also be partly responsible for driving the diapiric material to the surface to form mud volcanoes ridges in the subducting oceanic crust beneath the accretionary complex locally enhance diapirism above their crests and southern flanks faults formed later in the development of the complex are more commonly associated with diapirism than those resulting from accretion at the toe of the wedge these later faults play an important role in controlling the sites of individual mud volcanoes chains of mud volcanoes and mud ridges

evolution of the nankai trough decollement from the trench into the seismogenic zone inferences from three dimensional seismic reflection imaging we mapped the amplitude of the nankai trough subduction thrust seismic reflection from the trench into the seismogenic zone with three dimensional seismic reflection data the decollement thrust forms within the lithologically homogeneous lower shikoku basin facies along an initially nonreflective interface the reflection develops from a porosity contrast between accreted and underthrust sedimentary material because of accretionary wedge consolidation and rapid loading and delayed consolidation of the underthrust section a decollement amplitude map shows a significant decline from high amplitudes at the trench to barely detectable levels 25 30 km landward three other observations coincide with the amplitude decline 1 the decollement initially steps down to deeper stratigraphic levels 2 the wedge taper increases dramatically and 3 the thrust becomes seismogenic the amplitude decline and the coincident decollement and accretionary wedge tectonic and seismogenic behavior are attributed to the loss of fluids and potentially loss of excess fluid pressures downdip along the subduction thrust

structure of the nankai trough accretionary zone from multichannel seismic reflection data new multichannel seismic reflection data collected over the nankai trough image the accretionary complex in two areas the international program of ocean drilling leg 87 transect area western area and the region of upcoming ocean drilling program leg 131 eastern area the incoming shikoku basin sedimentary section consists of hemipelagic clays and thin terrigenous turbidites the basin section is overlain by a trench wedge that is 12 16 km wide and 350 750 m thick at the thrust front accretionary deformation begins in a protothrust zone that is characterized by thickening and seaward tilting of the trench wedge the zone in the western area is 4 5 km wide and is characterized by kink folds the zone in the eastern area is only 2 5 km wide and does not exhibit such folds the frontal thrusts in each area are imaged as fault plane reflections and ramp upward from within the basin hemipelagic section the overthrusting sediments form fault bend folds over these ramps thrust spacing at the toe of the slope is 1 5 2 5 km the second thrust cuts up from an inferred decollement within the shikoku basin sedimentary section in the eastern area a reflection marking the top of the basin pelagic sediment section changes from normal to reversed polarity about 6 3 km seaward of the thrust front and underlies the entire protothrust zone this reflector continues with reversed polarity under the accretionary complex and is at the level of the basal decollement the underlying basin pelagic section is apparently thrust undisturbed beneath the accretionary prism the reversal of polarity indicates a change in reflection coefficient that is due to a combination of decreasing seismic velocity and density across the interface this decrease in velocity and density may indicate that the decollement is a zone of high porosity due to fluid expulsion from deeper within the accretionary prism the reflections from the first and second thrusts are also reversed polarity possibly indicating that they also are pathways of fluid expulsion the critical wedge taper of the western area is greater than that of the eastern area an observation that is consistent with the existence of an overpressured decollement in the eastern area

review of major shale dominated detachment and thrust characteristics in the diagenetic zone part i meso and macro scopic scale there is considerable variability in the thickness structure and macroscopic deformation style within shale prone major thrust zones which also impacts the structural style in the overlying and sometimes the underlying section the properties and percentages of clay minerals and percentages of organic material quartz and calcite affect fault zone weakness and behaviour the distribution of competent units within a shale prone zone can also significantly affect fault zone architecture even over short strike distance of 10s to 100s of metres other influences include high pore fluid pressures and associated veins deformation of the fault zone may disrupt the original principal displacement zones and force them to relocate including switching lithologies calcite veins can become concentrated locally in the fault zone and become a focus of fault zone weakness we still need many more descriptions of shale prone fault zones to understand the potential variations in thrust sheet structural style caused by differences in shale detachment characteristics the variations in structural style in the hanging walls of shale detachments are broad and range between the sledge runner style in many appalachian examples and the extensive closely spaced imbricate style of the osen roa detachment southern norway such contrasts are related to several factors including thrust sheet mechanical stratigraphy thickness of the overburden lateral continuity of the detachment detachment mechanical properties composition pore fluid pressures presence absence of higher level detachments and strain rate in many structural locations and at many scales shale prone sequences will pile up to produce over thickened masses cleavage duplexes s c fabrics duplexes imbricates pseudo duplexes and vein formation can all contribute to the thickening at nested scales a mixture of brittle and solution diffusion processes overall cause the affected unit to exhibit flow like characteristics while the broad principles are now well established considerable work remains to be done understanding the full range of structural geometries associated with shale detachments what factors regarding the nature of the detachments affect overlying structural styles rates of deformation and the controls on deformation mechanisms within the thrust zones

material transfer and its influence on the formation of slope basins along the south central chilean convergent margin insights from scaled sandbox experiments abstract material transfer along and across a subduction zone determines not only the morphology of an accretionary prism but also the architecture and tectono sedimentary development of their forearc basins however the nature of these processes is not fully resolved yet we investigated through analog simulations the relationship among parameters influencing material transfer along the south central chilean margin and the marine basin evolution seismic lines revealed half graben basins controlled by subvertical faults governing differential uplift and subsidence through the slope the identified sedimentary pattern evidenced three main seismic sequences which have been linked to major climatic fluctuations and episodes of accretion non accretion or tectonic erosion which operate since the pliocene our experimental set up was motivated by the coupled tectonic climatic history of the chile peru trench fill i e climatic episodes represent variations in sediment supply and also in frictional properties of the materials entering in a convergent margin by using three key sandbox experiments we tested two main parameters i variable trench sediment thickness and ii basal frictional properties we highlight that by changing frictional conditions of sediments along the plate interface and the length of adjacent weak and strong segments we modified the evolution of the wedge from frontal to basal accretion in addition we obtained sub vertical faults with potential reactivation such as the observed geometry in seismic lines the change from a long segment of low basal friction to one of high basal friction offered an efficient mechanism to transport a long sand layer similar to a subduction channel this controlled the activation of thrust faults towards the backstop driving shortening and differential uplift with small individual extensional basins forming along the top of the wedge during further underplating the total volume of accommodation space in slope basins decreased whereas the volume of shelf basins tended to increase

control of pore fluid pressure on depth of emplacement of magmatic sills an experimental approach article in sedimentary basins the emplacement of magmatic sills tends to occur within rock of low mechanical competence and permeability such as shale this often contains pore fluids at abnormally high pressure we first theoretically show that in anisotropic media the higher the pore fluid pressure the deeper the sill emplacement then we introduce a new technique for analogue modelling of such intrusive bodies under conditions of fluid overpressure greater than hydrostatic which corroborate the theoretical analysis as an analogue of brittle sediment we use a diatomite powder this material is a dry fine grained frictional cohesive and permeable material as an analogue for magma we take a silicone putty rtv silicone which is at first newtonian but then solidifies at room temperature we use compressed air as a pore fluid under these experimental conditions we investigate the intrusion of magma into the host powder under various fluid overpressures in homogeneous diatomite powder having uniform cohesion intrusive bodies are segmented dykes these become feeders to sills if the fluid overpressure exceeds the weight of overburden where the sedimentary column has a horizontal discontinuity in strength the transition from dyke to sill occurs at a smaller overpressure hydrostaticb exb1 as a possible illustration of these results we consider sills within source rocks of the neuquen basin and of the parana basin both in south america where overpressure may have resulted from maturation of organic material

episodic accretion and strain partitioning in a model sand wedge we model led thrust wedge accretion and deformation partitioning in a passively layered sand detached and shortened above a smooth rigid decollement the thrust wedge accretes in piggyback style during forward advance of a rear wall the passively layered sand accommodates the shortening penetratively by kinking ramp folding and by imbrication in single layers the style of compression changes with time and or stratigraphic position within the sand prism initial penetrative layer shortening above a slipped zone of decollement is succeeded by formation of monoclinal or conjugate shear bands at temporary terminations of decollement the shear bands subsequently narrow down and lock as thrust ramps the model sand wedge accrets episodically rather than steadily episodicity is controlled by the stick slip mode of decollement propagation and by volume loss and compaction of the wedge material in response to convergence this results in formation of a wedge with a convex upwards cross sectional topography

halogens and noble gases in sedimentary formation waters and zn pb deposits a case study from the lennard shelf australia abstract halogen ratios br cl and i cl and concentrations provide important information about how sedimentary formation waters acquire their salinity but the possible influence of organic br derived from sedimentary wall rocks is rarely quantified here it is demonstrated that br cl versus i cl mixing diagrams can be used to deconvolve organic br contributions that organic matter has a limited range of br i ratios and that organic br is a more significant component in zn pb deposit ore fluids than previously recognised the significance of these findings is illustrated for the lennard shelf zn pb deposits of western australia fluid inclusions related to lennard shelf zn pb mineralisation have variable salinity and hydrocarbon contents the halogen data from these fluid inclusions require mixing of three fluid end members 1 an evaporated seawater bittern brine 30 wt nacl equiv with greater than seawater br cl ratio 2 a lower salinity pore fluid 5 wt nacl equiv with moderately elevated br cl and i cl and 3 fluids with br cl ratios of 5 times seawater and extremely elevated i cl ratios of 11 500 times seawater the first two fluids have 40 ar 36 ar of 300 400 and greater than air saturated water 36 ar concentrations that are typical of fluid inclusions related to zn pb mineralisation the third organic rich fluid has the highest 40 ar 36 ar ratio of up to 1500 and a depleted 36 ar concentration mineralisation is interpreted to have resulted from mixing of zn rich evaporitic brines and h 2 s present in hydrocarbons it is suggested that aqueous fluids acquired organic br and i from hydrocarbons and that hydrocarbons exsolving from the aqueous fluid removed noble gases from solution interaction of variably saline brines and hydrocarbons could account for the variable br cl and i cl composition and 36 ar concentrations recorded by lennard shelf fluid inclusions the distinct 40 ar 36 ar signature of the fluid with the highest i cl ratio suggests the hydrocarbons and brines were sourced independently from different parts of the sedimentary basin these data indicate the complementary nature of halogen and noble gas analysis and provide new constraints on important mixing processes during sediment hosted zn pb mineralisation

interrelationship of fluid venting and structural evolution alvin observations from the frontal accretionary prism oregon seismic reflection and sea beam bathymetric data plus submarine geological measurements define a ramp anticline at the deformatoin front of the central oregon subduction zone at its northern termination the ramp anticline is deeply incised by a large 500 m deep submarine canyon and cut by a probable backthrust to the south along the strike of the fold a smaller submarine canyon shallowly erodes the anticline and backthrusting is not apparent in the submersible observations two alvin dives along a transect through the southern canyon show active fluid vents demarked by biological communities at the frontal thrust and at the breached crest of the anticline along a northern transect encompassing the large submarine canyon 10 alvin dives indicated no venting on the formal thrust limited venting in the canyon but numerous biological communities along a scarp interpreted as the surface trace of the backthrust these observations suggest a scenario of vent and structural geomorphic development consisting of 1 frontal thrust faulting and associated venting facilitated by high fluid pressure 2 erosion of the oversteepened seaward flank of the ramp anticline assisted by seepage forces and leading to fluid flow out of stratigraphically controlled conduits in the limbs of the overthrust deposits 3 lockingmore of the frontal thrust due to dewatering or a local decrease in wedge taper associated with development of the large canyon leading to failure along the backthrust and 4 redirection of fluid flow by the backthrust thus within le 0 3 m y deformation of the relatively permeable sediments of the oregon margin results in stratigraphically controlled flow being partially captured by faults less

effect of fluid pressure distribution on the structural evolution of accretionary wedges numerical experiments on evolving accretionary wedges usually implement predefined weak basal decollements and constant strength parameters for overlying compressed sequences although fluid pressure ratio and therefore brittle strength can vary strongly in sedimentary basins a two dimensional finite difference model with a visco elasto plastic rheology is used to investigate the influence of different simplified fluid pressure ratio distributions on the structural evolution of accretionary wedge systems results show that a linear increase in fluid pressure ratio towards the base leads to toeward verging thrust sheets and underplating of strata while simulations with a predefined decollement form conjugate shear zones supporting box fold type frontal accretion surface tapers are in agreement with the critical wedge theory which here is modified for cases of varying fluid pressure ratio furthermore the numerical results resemble findings from natural examples of accretionary wedges

pb isotope evidence on the origin of the west shropsh orefield england pb isotope data on ore galenas from the west shropshire orefield show a significant spread of 20 pb 204 pb values with minor variation in 207pb 204 pb and 208pb 204 pb ratios these indicate that lead was derived from multiple sources some of them uranium enriched and incompletely mixed prior to ore deposition four possible mineralizing agents are considered circulating sea water metamorphic waters basinal brines and convecting formation waters pb isotope data exclude a circulating sea water origin for the mineralization and best support a convecting formation water mineralizing agent a model involving a single fluid tapping multiple lead sources is proposed to explain the observed pb isotope variation

collision of the ganges brahmaputra delta with the burma arc implications for earthquake hazard abstract we take a fresh look at the topography structure and seismicity of the ganges brahmaputra delta gbd burma arc collision zone in order to reevaluate the nature of the accretionary prism and its seismic potential the gbd the world s largest delta has been built from sediments eroded from the himalayan collision these sediments prograded the continental margin of the indian subcontinent by 400 km forming a huge sediment pile that is now entering the burma arc subduction zone subduction of oceanic lithosphere with 20 km sediment thickness is fueling the growth of an active accretionary prism exposed on land the prism starts at an apex south of the gbd shelf edge at 18 n and widens northwards to form a broad triangle that may be up to 300 km wide at its northern limit the front of the prism is blind buried by the gbd sediments thus the deformation front extends 100 km west of the surface fold belt beneath the comilla tract which is uplifted by 3 4 m relative to the delta this accretionary prism has the lowest surface slope of any active subduction zone the gradient of the prism is only 0 1 rising to 0 5 in the forearc region to the east this low slope is consistent with the high level of overpressure found in the subsurface and indicates a very weak detachment since its onset the collision of the gbd and burma arc has expanded westward at 2 cm yr and propagated southwards at 5 cm yr seismic hazard in the gbd is largely unknown intermediate size earthquakes are associated with surface ruptures and fold growth in the external part of the prism however the possibility of large subduction ruptures has not been accounted for and may be higher than generally believed although sediment clogged systems are thought to not be able to sustain the stresses and strain weakening behavior required for great earthquakes some of the largest known earthquakes have occurred in heavily sedimented subduction zones a large earthquake in 1762 ruptured 250 km of the southern part of the gbd suggesting large earthquakes are possible there a large but poorly documented earthquake in 1548 damaged population centers at the northern and southern ends of the onshore prism and is the only known candidate for a rupture of the plate boundary along the subaerial part of the gbd burma arc collision zone

an experimental investigation of gravity driven shale tectonics in progradational delta abstract many deltas exhibit gravitational deformation of their sedimentary cover in these systems the decollement layers do not always consist of rock salt but sometimes of overpressured shale unlike salt the efficiency of detachment in shale depends on the magnitude of fluid overpressures and it varies through time and space as rapid sedimentary burial progrades into deeper water as a result the gravity deformational domains are progressively translated seaward sandbox models involving high air pore pressures were used to simulate such gravity driven shale tectonics in prograding deltas models were built with sand of various permeabilities and air was injected to simulate the mechanical effects of fluid overpressure our apparatus for the injection of air allowed us to control subsurface pressures in space and time during the experiments and it was used to simulate the advance of the front of the overpressured domain during the sedimentary progradation in our models sand kept obeying a frictional behavior for medium to high pore pressures and the detachment appeared as very thin shear bands compressional belts that formed during the experiment were dominated by asymmetric basinward verging fore thrusts as is often observed in deep water shale detached foldbelts where the value of fluid pressures approached that of the lithostatic stress sand was fluidized resulting in ductile strains analogous to what occurs in highly overpressured mobile shale during progradation ancient buried thrustbelts were reactivated thereby controlling later extension during the experiments sand volcanoes analogous to mud volcanoes formed in relation with tectonic structures some of them developed near normal faults but many of them formed directly above old buried thrusts

an unstable kinematic state of the himalayan tectonic wedge evidence from experimental thrust spacing patterns abstract the frontal tectonic wedge in the nw himalayas shows a sequence of imbricate thrusts with increasing spacing in the foreland direction we used analogue model experiments to analyze the thrust pattern in relation to the kinematics of wedge evolution experimental findings reveal two kinematic states of the foreland ward propagation of a wedge unstable state and stable state the unstable state is characterized by continuous vertical growth of the wedge with progressive horizontal contraction on the other hand in the stable state the wedge ceases to grow vertically but propagates laterally in the foreland direction in the experimental runs thrust wedges remained in the unstable state even after large horizontal shortening 50 when the basal friction was high 0 46 our analysis suggests that successive thrusting occurs always with increasing spacing in unstable wedges and the rate of increase is larger for larger basal friction it can maintain uniform spacing only when the wedges turn into the stable state using finite element models we determined the stress distribution in the deforming wedge to find the potential locations of new thrusts in front of a wedge which also show larger spatial distances with increasing vertical thickness of the wedge both physical and numerical models suggest that the tectonic wedge in the nw himalayan frontal belt has evolved in an unstable state

pore pressure generation in sedimentary basins overloading versus aquathermal the principal mechanism for abnormally high pore pressure generation has been an important matter of debate for more than a decade among the various mechanisms proposed mechanical overloading and aquathermal pressuring have probably received the greatest attention most previous discussions however have been based upon qualitative conceptual models here we propose a quantitative analysis by first examining the basic principles of porous flow and the fundamental properties of sediments and second by comparing the relative importance of the overloading versus the aquathermal mechanisms the coupling between pore pressure and compaction as well as the nonlinear and path dependent material properties are found to be critical in the present analysis we find that although changes in stress and temperature both contribute to pressure generation mechanical overloading is the main mechanism under normal geological conditions and is capable of producing the observed pore pressure profiles

generation of high pore pressures in accretionary prisms inferences from the barbados subduction complex recent geological and geophysical exploration of several accretionary complexes reveals that pore pressures inside them are much higher than the hydrostatic values indirect inferences further suggest that such high pore pressures may be present inside most accretionary complexes in this study the mechanisms for generating excess pore pressures is investigated by focusing on the barbados ridge complex which is an end member of sediment rich accretionary prisms modeling is carried out using a two dimensional finite element procedure with constraints provided by the following data deep sea drilling project results on stratigraphy and lithology seismic results on sediment structure and thickness regional geology on tectonic history and laboratory measurements on mechanical properties of sediments coupling among the equations for fluid flow heat transfer and sediment deformation is made throughout the computation the results of the modeling predict that the principal decollement beneath the barbados ridge complex is a zone of high pore pressure high porosity and reversal in seismic velocity these characteristics may be responsible for the mechanical weakness of the decollement which allows continuous subduction of sediments below it and for its seismic signatures results of the modeling further suggest that tectonic overburden may be the most important mechanism for the generation of high pore pressures inside accretionary prisms the direct effect of tectonic compression is of secondary importance and the effect due to temperature increase with subduction is of little significance thrust faulting near the toe of accretionary prisms can disturb pore pressure patterns and produce localized highs rich sediment supply low permeability high subduction angle and high subduction velocity are all favorable factors in creating high pore pressures inside accretionary prisms

fault related folding in sandbox analogue models of thrust wedges abstract the nucleation and growth of thrust fault related folds has been simulated using high resolution sandbox coulomb wedge type analogue models thrust related anticlines grew progressively from initial layerparallel shortening to decollement folding thrust tip folding and eventually thrust ramp folding thrust ramps nucleated in the central sector of the overturned forelimb of decollement folds as a consequence of limb thinning thrust tip folding occurred during outward migration of the ramp tips the fault propagation rate was greater at the lower ramp tip which quickly joined the basal thrust flat while folding continued beyond the upper tip the development of the analogue model thrust fault related folds by progressive changes in kinematics from decollement folding to thrust tip folding and finally thrust ramp folding compares well with analyses of naturally occurring thrust fault related folds

density depth model of the continental wedge at the maximum slip segment of the maule mw8 8 megathrust earthquake abstract complexities in the rupture process during a megathrust earthquake can be attributed to the combined effect of inhomogeneous distribution of stress accumulated during the interseismic period and inhomogeneous rheology of the seismogenic contact we modeled the free air gravity field of the southern central chile convergent margin along five 2 d profiles that cross the patch of highest slip during the chilean 2010 megathrust earthquake in order to analyze variability in the density and shape of the continental wedge and its relationship with seismotectonics we also analyzed the bathymetry to derive the long term interplate friction coefficient the results show that the high slip patch during the maule earthquake corresponds to a segment of the margin characterized by 1 low densities in the continental wedge 2 low vertical loading over the inter plate contact 3 a well developed shelf basin and 4 low taper angles consistent with a low effective basal friction coefficient we interpret the correlation between these parameters in terms of the total potential energy change during the earthquake and conclude that if the normal stress or frictional coefficient are low then a large slip does not necessarily imply a large amount of coseismic work heterogeneities in density of the continental basement can therefore be related to complexities in the pattern of coseismic slip and in the aftershock distribution locally a subducted seamount or seaward spur of high density continental crust may be present near the high slip patch

a seismic sequence from northern apennines italy provides new insight on the role of fluids in the active tectonics of accretionary wedges abstract we analyze a seismic sequence which occurred in 2000 along the northern apennines accretionary wedge italy the sequence developed within the cretaceous triassic limestones of the tectonic wedge where methane rich and oil reservoirs are stored ruptures mainly developed on wnw ese striking thrusts the compressive stress field is consistent with that acting at regional scale in northern apennines seismic parameters indicate that fluids are involved in the seismogenic process the amplitudes of the p and s phases and data from some stations evidence a p to s conversion within v p v s 2 1 layer the attenuation properties of crust show a higher attenuation zone located west of the epicentral cloud eight hundred aftershocks delineate a sub vertical cloud of events between 7 and 14 km depth the space time evolution of the aftershocks is consistent with a diffusive spreading diffusivity 1 9 m 2 s along vertically superimposed thrusts diffusion also controls the time evolution of the sequence fluid pressure is estimated to be roughly equal to the vertical lithostatic stress the overpressure within reservoirs develops by tectonic compaction processes the fluids upraise along sub vertical fractures related to the shortening of the wedge the 2000 sequence occurred in an area that separates a thermal and deeper petroleum system from a shallower biogenic system the divider of these systems controls the attenuation properties of the crust the fluid rock interaction at seismogenetic depth is related to hydrothermal processes more than to compaction in accretionary wedges seismicity activating superimposed thrusts may drive methane and oil upraising from the upper crust

brittle frictional mountain building 1 deformation and mechanical energy budget an active fold and thrust belt is analogous to a wedge of soil or snow that forms in front of a moving bulldozer such wedges exhibit a critical taper and a regional state of stress that is everywhere on the verge of coulomb failure the width of such a critically tapered fold and thrust belt does not depend on its brittle strength or frictional properties but rather on the accretionary influx rate of fresh material at its toe and on the rate of erosion a steady state fold and thrust belt is one in which the accretionary influx is balanced by the erosive efflux rocks are accreted at the toe and then horizontally shortened as they are transported toward the rear those that enter lower in the accreted section are more deeply buried before being uplifted by erosion mass balance and isotropy constrain the kinematics of this large scale deformation enabling us to infer the trajectories residence times and stress strain histories of rocks incorporated into eroding fold and thrust belts a typical rock resides in the steady state taiwan wedge for 2 3 m y before it is uplifted and eroded during its motion through the wedge it experiences strain rates in the range 10 13 to 10 14 s 1 the mechanical energy budget of brittle frictional mountain building is described by the equation where is the rate of work performed on the base and front of the fold and thrust belt by the subducting plate is the rate at which energy is dissipated against friction on the decollement fault is the rate at which energy is dissipated by internal frictional processes within the deforming brittle wedge and is the rate of work performed against gravitational body forces in a reference frame attached to the overriding plate the total mechanical power being supplied by the subducting eurasian plate to the active fold and thrust belt in taiwan is slightly over 3 gw approximately 60 of this work of steady state mountain building is being dissipated against friction on the decollement fault and about another 25 is being dissipated against internal friction this leaves only 15 or roughly half a gigawatt available to do useful work against gravity in general fold and thrust belts with moderate pore fluid pressures are dominated by work done against friction on the decollement fault however those with nearly lithostatic pore fluid pressures may be dominated by work done against gravity internal frictional dissipation is always less than basal frictional dissipation as it is in taiwan an alternative and equivalent description of the mechanical energy balance of a steady state fold and thrust belt is provided by the equation in this version the quantity on the left is the rate at which work is performed on the back of the wedge by the overriding plate and is the rate of work performed against gravity in a reference frame attached to the subducting plate the latter quantity is always positive for any critically tapered fold and thrust belt whose decollement fault dips toward its rear in contradiction to the central premise of the gravity spreading theory of fold and thrust tectonics

formation of conical fractures in sedimentary basins experiments involving pore fluids and implications for sandstone intrusion mechanisms large sand intrusions often exhibit conical morphologies analogous to magmatic intrusions such as saucer shaped or cup shaped sills whereas some physical processes may be similar we show with scaled experiments that the formation of conical sand intrusions may be favoured by the pore pressure gradients prevailing in the host rock before sand injection our experiments involve injecting air into a permeable and cohesive analogue material to produce hydraulic fractures while controlling the pore pressure field we control the state of overpressure in the overburden by applying homogeneous basal pore pressure and then adding a second local pore pressure field by injecting air via a central injector to initiate hydraulic fractures near the injection point in experiments involving small vertical effective stresses small overburden or high pore fluid overpressure the fracturing pressure lambda fract is supralithostatic and two dipping fractures are initiated at the injection point forming a conical structure from theoretical considerations we predict that high values of lambda fract are due to strong cohesion or high pore fluid overpressure distributed in the overburden such conditions are favoured by the pore pressure stress coupling induced by both pore pressure fields the dips of cones can be accounted for elastic stress rotation occurring around the source contrary to magmatic chamber models the aqueous fluid overpressure developed in a parent sandbody and prevailing before the formation of injectites may diffuse into the surrounding overburden thus favouring stress rotation and the formation of inclined sheets far from the parent source for experiments involving higher vertical effective stresses thick overburden or low pore fluid overpressure the fracturing pressure is lower than the lithostatic stress and a single fracture is opened in mode i which then grows vertically at a critical depth the fracture separates into two dilatant branches forming a flat cone we make use of a p i v particle imaging velocimetiy technique to analyse plastic deformation showing that these inclined fractures are opened in mixed modes close to the surface they change into steep shear bands where fluids can infiltrate the final morphology of the fracture network is very similar to the common tripartite architecture of various injection complexes indicating that different mechanisms may be involved in the formation of dykes feeder dykes under the sill zones may open as tensile fractures while overlying dykes may be guided by the deformation induced by the growth of sills these deformation conditions may also favour the formation of fluid escape structures and pockmarks c 2011 elsevier b v all rights reserved

uk crustal structure close to the iapetus suture a receiver function perspective summary teleseismic receiver functions have been calculated for data from 10 short period three component seismic recording stations across northern britain to investigate variations in crustal and upper mantle velocity structure the stations straddle the iapetus suture zone the inferred boundary between two of the continents fused together during the caledonian orogeny the receiver function data shows that there is considerable azimuthal variation in both crustal and upper mantle structure beneath several stations the data are projected on to a 2 d profile showing laterally continuous moho ps conversions at delay times between 3 and 4 s synthetic receiver functions generated using the velocity model from a previous deep seismic reflection refraction survey show ps and pppms phases comparable to the observed data 1 d forward modelling of the data gives crustal thicknesses of 30 km there is a significant velocity depth trade off in the receiver function method and the crustal thicknesses have been constrained by a priori velocity information investigation of the data from station gim close to the iapetus suture shows a sub moho phase which is found only on data from northerly backazimuths phase modelling is consistent with the presence of a gradational low velocity zone with a minimum vp of 6 5 km s 1 at a depth of 43 km this feature has similar characteristics to the wide angle seismic reflection and refraction velocity model of the w reflector in northern scotland the large scale heterogeneity at gim is attributed to structures associated with the iapetus suture however modelling has been performed using 1 d approximations while the phase signature could result from complex 3 d morphology we therefore conclude only that the results provide evidence of significant lateral variation in subcrustal structure

hydromechanical modeling of stress pore pressure and porosity evolution in fold and thrust belt systems we present coupled critical state geomechanical fluid flow simulations of the evolution of a fold and thrust belt in nw borneo our modelling is the first to include the effects of both syntectonic sedimentation and transient pore pressure on the development of a fold and thrust belt the present day structure predicted by the model contains the key first order structural features observed in the field in terms of thrust fault and anticline architectures stress predictions in the sediments show two compressive zones aligned with the shortening direction located at the thrust front and back limb between the compressive zones near to the axial plane of the anticline the modelled stress field represents an extensional regime the predicted overpressure distribution is strongly influenced by tectonic compaction with the maximum values located in the two laterally compressive regions we compared the results at three notional well locations with their corresponding uniaxial strain models the 2d thrust model predicted porosities which are as much as 7 5 lower at 2 5 km depth and overpressures which are up to 6 4 mpa higher at 3 km depth these results show that one dimensional methods are not sufficient to model the evolution of pore pressure and porosity in contractional settings finally we performed a drained simulation during which pore pressures were kept hydrostatic the predicted geological structures differ substantially from those of the coupled simulation with no thrust faulting these results demonstrate that pore pressure is a key control on structural development

physical modelling of sub salt gliding due to fluid overpressure in underlying sedimentary strata abstract the gulf of mexico and the offshore campos and santos basins of brazil provide good examples of sub salt detachments by shearing in the presence of overpressure we have developed new physical models of such situations including layers of ductile silicone putty which simulated an evaporite and fluid overpressure in porous brittle layers we studied two configurations in which the maximal overpressure was either beneath a single ductile layer of silicone simulating salt or between two such layers of silicone simulating an evaporite sequence the results of our analogue modelling showed that detachment faults appeared and persisted at the bases of the ductile layers even though some ductile deformation occurred simultaneously within these layers for models where maximal overpressure was between two ductile layers detachment occurred mainly at the base of the upper silicone layer on comparing our models with structures in the gulf of mexico or offshore brazil we find strong similarities which lead us to suspect that detachment is indeed possible at the base of an evaporite sequence in nature this conclusion has strong implications not only for the understanding of petroleum systems but also for better management of petroleum production in sedimentary basins

episodic imbricate thrusting and underthrusting analog experiments and mechanical analysis applied to the alaskan accretionary wedge seismic reflection profiles from the sediment rich alaska subduction zone image short frontally accreted imbricate thrust slices and repeated sequences of long underthrust sheets rapid landward increases in wedge thickness backthrusting and uplift of the forearc are observed suggesting underthrusting beneath the wedge these features and a widely varying frontal wedge morphology are interpreted to be caused by different modes of accretion active concurrently along the trench at different locations episodic wedge growth is observed in high basal friction experiments using sand as an analog material two phases of an accretionary cycle can be distinguished frontal accretion of short imbricate thrust slices alternating with underthrusting of long undeformed sheets the phase is shown experimentally to depend upon the surface slope of the wedge mechanical analysis of the forces at work predicts these two modes of deformation due to the varying frictional forces and yield strengths for a temporally varying wedge geometry maximum length of thrust slices is calculated for experimental conditions and confirmed by the observations for a steep frontal slope at the upper limit of the mohr coulomb taper stability field the overburden is too great to permit underthrusting and failure occurs repeatedly at the wedge front producing short imbricate slices the wedge grows forward lowering the surface angle to the minimum critical taper for a shallow frontal slope the reduced overburden along an active roof thrust permits sustained underthrusting causing frontal erosion and backthrusting steepening the wedge and thus completing the cycle

material transfer in accretionary wedges from analysis of a systematic series of analog experiments the structural evolution of accretionary wedges was modeled in a series of analog experiments with systematically varying initial boundary conditions the two principle parameters investigated were basal friction and thickness of sediment input relative to subducted sediment output material transfer in terms of degree and location of accretion and erosion is quantified as a function of these two parameters low basal friction produces long thin wedges by continuous frontal accretion of imbricate thrusts simultaneously substantial basal erosion may occur with little influence on the frontal dynamics the formation of an outer arc high with an accompanying forearc basin depends upon the relative amount of basal erosion the opening of the subduction window spacing of thrust faults is proportional to the layer thickness confirming the principle of self similar wedge growth from critical wedge theory high basal friction typically generates steep wedges marked by an erosional mass wasting frontal slope in the cases i o this is due to underthrusting and or subduction of the entire sedimentary section the case i o also features the late development of normal faulting and an extensional forearc basin for both low and high basal friction the material balance affects the wedge slope erosive conditions i o for low basal friction the primary modes of material transfer are frontal accretion and basal erosion for high basal friction the primary modes of material transfer are underthrusting underplating and frontal erosion applying the experimental results to active convergent margins parallels may be drawn thus the barbados ridge complex is interpreted to be a good example of a low basal friction wedge with an accretionary material balance while the japan and mariana margins provide examples of an erosive material balance

mississippi valley type deposits products of brine expulsion by eustatically induced hydrocarbon generation an example from northwestern australia mechanisms for fluid flow such as compactive dewatering gravity driven hydrologic flow and seismic pumping are not geologically plausible for mississippi valley type mvt mineralization in the lennard shelf canning basin northwestern australia sulfides at cadjebut and the other lennard shelf mvt deposits precipitated from overpressured hydrocarbon rich brines the deposits lie below a major mid carboniferous unconformity that is linked to a global sea level fall independent evidence at cadjebut also constrains the time of mineralization to the mid carboniferous a sea level fall at this time could have raised the sediment water interface above the thermocline thereby increasing the temperature of the basin by minus 16 degree c model calculations show that a rise in basin temperature would induce sufficient hydrocarbon gas maturation to expel 1005 km sup 3 of brine this brine volume would be more than sufficient to transport and deposit the metal budget of the known mvt deposits on the lennard shelf the existence worldwide of mvt deposits below unconformities suggests that sea level induced hydrocarbon generation could have assisted mvt mineralization in other provinces 33 refs 2 figs