models of passive margin inversion implications for the rhenohercynian fold and thrust belt belgium and germany abstract positive tectonic inversion is related to the transmission of compressional stresses along a decollement into the foreland of an orogenic zone this stress and strain concentration in regions remote from the main orogenic front is commonly related to the presence of pre existing rheological heterogeneities such as normal syn depositional faults during inversion these pre existing normal faults are reactivated as reverse faults tectonic inversion in the rhenohercynian fold and thrust belt during the variscan orogeny shows that inversion is likely synchronous with the onset of collision in the hinterland here we present the results of a simplified thermo mechanical model stm which allows one to study strain partitioning between two orogenic zones we show that if the two orogenic zones have the same mechanical properties the viscosity of the decollement which links them controls the initial strain partitioning during subsequent finite shortening erosional processes determine the partitioning of strain rate the presence of a weak structure in the inverted zone and of a low viscosity decollement leads to initial strain concentration in the inverted track rather than in the collision zone and a progressive decrease in strain partitioning between the two orogenic zones the stm results are in good agreement with results of a 2d finite element model we conclude that in the western part of the rhenohercynian massif simultaneous uplift and deformation within the mid german crystalline rise the main collision zone and the ardenne anticlinorium the inverted zone lead to interpreting this orogenic event as a case of vice tectonic rather than the propagation of a wave of folding towards the variscan front as suggested by previous authors

cleavage fold relationships and their implications for transected folds an example from southwest virginia u s a abstract a non coaxial deformation involving pre folding initiation of cleavage perpendicular to bedding is proposed to explain non axial planar cleavage associated with mesoscopic folds in part of the appalachian foreland thrust belt of southwest virginia folds are gently plunging asymmetric upright to slightly inclined sinusoidal forms with non axial fanning cleavage they show extreme local variations in type and degree of transection and the consistency of transection direction these relations are further complicated by hinge migration cleavage fan angles bedding cleavage angles and transection values appear influenced by fold tightness and in part by fold flattening strain fold flattening increments are considered simultaneous with folding axial surface traces and not cleavage traces coincide with the principal extension direction in fold profiles geometric modelling of cleavage fanning and bedding cleavage angle variations for various theoretical folding modes suggest that folding in limestone and sandstone layers was by tangential longitudinal strain significant shape modification and change in bedding cleavage relations occurred after limb dips of 40 and 50 were attained in limestone and sandstone respectively mud rock class 1c folds with convergent cleavage fans show features transitional between buckling and flexural flow initiation of cleavage fabrics during layer parallel shortening prior to significant folding may be important for cleavage evolution in some deformed rocks

an evaluation of criteria to deduce the sense of movement in sheared rocks some of the most useful criteria for the deduction of the sense of shear are summarized for use in areas where unequivocal field evidence is lacking apparently conflicting evidence from rotated pressure shadow regions around porphyroclasts and porphyroblasts is clarified the use of quartz crystallographic fabric asymmetry to deduce the shear sense in the bulk rock should be treated with caution and used only together with detailed microstructural observations

fabric and anisotropy of slates from classical studies to new results abstract slates are low grade metamorphic argillaceous rocks which have developed an intense tectonic fabric referred to as slaty cleavage due to their unique properties they have long been used as building materials especially tiles for roofs and floors the fabric characterized by strong alignment of platy phyllosilicate crystals produces extreme anisotropy that has been of great interest in structural geology what different fabric types are observed how do they form here we review crystal preferred orientation cpo and add new information to establish a comprehensive base for future studies slates are composed of fine grained phyllosilicates dominantly white mica and chlorite sometimes chloritoid quartz and accessories texture analyses of these polyphase rocks with high energy synchrotron x ray diffraction and high resolution ebsd reveal strong alignment of mica and chlorite in some cases exceeding any previously reported texture strength including metals interestingly the cpo of quartz with highly flattened grains shape preferred orientation or spo is practically random recrystallization microstructures observed by scanning electron microscopy suggest that the phyllosilicate preferred orientation is largely caused by crystal growth under stress and that quartz was subject to pressure solution and reprecipitation producing an anisotropic shape while phyllosilicates preferred orientation in slates is much higher than reports for shale schists and gneiss elastic seismic anisotropy for slates is similar to shales where a significant component is due to aligned porosity

origin and evolution of avalonia evidence from u pb and lu hf isotopes in zircon from the mira terrane canada and the stavelot venn massif belgium laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry u pb and lu hf isotope analyses of detrital zircon from neoproterozoic cambrian clastic sedimentary rocks in the mira terrane cape breton island nova scotia canada west avalonia and the stavelot venn massif east belgium east avalonia support deposition on an originally coherent microcontinent crustal evolution trends defined by hf t values varying with age reflect juvenile magma production in the source continent at 1 2 2 2 and 2 4 3 1 ga mixing of juvenile and recycled crust in continental magmatic arcs is recognized at 0 5 0 72 1 4 1 7 1 8 2 2 and 2 4 2 7 ga these results concur with the crustal evolution in amazonia the likely parent craton crustal evolution in avalonia is recorded in detrital and magmatic zircon from neoproterozoic arcs 680 550 ma positive hf t values suggest juvenile input and mixing with recycled crust most negative hf t values represent recycling of predominantly mesoproterozoic underlying crust avalonian arc magmatism was followed by late neoproterozoic early cambrian sedimentation in various belts in west avalonia these belts were juxtaposed by strike slip during late early cambrian deposition in a rift basin the youngest detrital zircon population c 517 ma probably represents synrift magmatism before break up of avalonia migmatization at 406 2 ma in a xenolith from the east avalonian crust reflects post collisional heating supplementary materials details of sample locations and analytical results are available at www geolsoc org uk sup18641

geodynamic model for the palaeozoic crustal consolidation of western and central europe abstract the crystalline basement of western and central europe consists of a mosaic of crustal elements which were consolidated during pre grenvillian the grenvillian dalslandian morarian cadomian caledonian and hercynian orogenic cycles contemporaneous with the caledonian suturing of the precambrian laurentia greenland and fennosarmatian shields a number of gondwana derived cadomian micro cratons were accreted to the southern margin of laurasia following the late caledonian paroxysm the devonian and early carboniferous evolution of europe was dominated by continued northward subduction of the proto tethys plate at an arc trench system parallelling the southern margin of laurasia the accretion of additional gondwana derived continental fragments back arc rifting and a sinistral translation of major proportions between the laurentia greenland and the fennosarmatian sub plates the acadian and bretonian orogenies were of the pacific type the visean collision of gondwana with laurasia marked the onset of the himalayan type variscan orogeny during which collision related compressive stresses overpowered the devonian early carboniferous back arc rift systems and caused the development reactivation of a subduction zones the central armorican and saxothuringian successor basins became folded and destroyed during the latest visean whilst the variscan foredeep became scooped out in part by nappes involving the basement during the late westphalian major crustal shortening during the variscan diastrophism was accompanied by the anatectic remobilisation of subducted crustal and upper mantle material and a widespread syn and late orogenic magmatism the latest carboniferous early permian reorientation of the convergence direction between gondwana and laurasia induced the development of a complex wrench fault system transecting the variscan fold belt and an extensive post orogenic volcanism the hypotheses summarised here require confirmation by further palaeomagnetic and radiometric data and faunal analyses

porphyroclast systems as kinematic indicators porphyroclasts of relatively strong minerals in mylonites commonly have an internal monoclinic shape symmetry defined by tails of dynamically recrystallized material the geometry of a porphyroclast and its tails called a porhyroclast system can serve as a valuable indicator of the sense of vorticity porphyroclast systems have been divided into and types on the basis of the geometry of the tails types have wedge shaped recrystallized tails whose median lines lie on opposite sides of a reference plane parallel to the tails and containing the symmetry axis for the system types are further subdivided into a a types in which the porphyroclast is isolated in a relatively homogeneous matrix and b types in which the porphyroclast system is associated with a shear band foliation in the matrix types typically have narrow recrystallized tails whose median lines cross the reference plane adjacent to the porphyroclast consequently embayments of matrix material occur adjacent to the porphyroclasts and the tails display characteristic bends a porphyroclast system in a mylonite develops when the relatively weak dynamically recrystallized grain aggregate in the porphyroclast mantle changes its shape due to non coaxial flow in the adjacent matrix this behaviour has been modelled in shear box experiments passive marker lines around rigid cylinders embedded in silicone putty were subjected to simple shear the experiments were modified to simulate a change in recrystallization rate r with respect to rate of deformation by decreasing the diameter of the rigid cylinder during deformation at variable rates the ratio r appears to be one of the most important factors in determining which porphyroclast system will develop at high r values flow of recrystallized material away from the porphyroclast is continuously appended by the production of new grains and wedge shaped a type tails develop at low r values relatively few new grains are added to the tails which become thinned and deflected by drag due to the spinning motion of the porphyroclast in addition most porphyroclast systems at low shear strains are of a type or lack monoclinic symmetry whereas types are only developed at high shear strain values complex porphyroclast systems characterized by two generations of tails are observed in many of the natural and model shear zones studied and may form due to fluctuating r conditions that allow isolated a and type porphyroclast systems to be used as sense of vorticity indicators are the systems should have a monoclinic shape symmetry matrix grain size should be small with respect to porphyroclast size matrix fabric should be homogeneous deformation history should be simple and observations should be made on sections normal to the inferred bulk vorticity vector for the mylonite

tectonics and plate tectonics model for the variscan belt of europe abstract a plate tectonics model is presented to explain the tectonometamorphic characteristics of the european variscides after the closing of two oceanic domains by two sided subduction 500 420 ma and obduction 420 380 ma collision of the european and african continental plates occurred we propose that the subsequent complex intracontinental deformation 380 290 ma is the result of a double subduction of the continental lithosphere accompanied by crust mantle decollement this mechanism explains the progressive crustal thickening and migration of the deformation through time from the sutures toward the external parts of the variscan belt accounting for this model and for the relationships between the european variscides and the other paleozoic peri atlantic belts caledonides appalachian mauritanides and morocco we infer the relative positions of africa america and europe between the silurian and the permian

crack seal microstructure evolution in bi mineralic quartz chlorite veins in shales and siltstones from the rwth 1 well aachen germany abstract in core samples from the deep geothermal well rwth 1 we studied variscan quartz chlorite veins formed by crack seal processes in siliciclastics at the brittle to ductile transition these sheared veins are common in sections of the well which are interpreted as variscan thrust zones based on image logs and seismic data microstructures interpreted to reflect different stages in the evolution of such crack seal veins suggest the veins started in microcracks sealed by quartz and chlorite to veinlets crossing multiple grains and bundles of veinlets evolving by progressive localization into low angle extensional shear veins and high angle dilational jog veins in the sheared veins chlorite and quartz ribbons show evidence for crack seal and simultaneous ductile shearing during vein evolution forming peculiar fin shaped microstructures in quartz ribbons in high angle dilational jogs fibrous crystals of quartz and chlorite point to multiple crack seal events with simultaneous growth of two different mineral phases this is interpreted to be the basic microstructural process in the veins we extend earlier models of polycrystal growth in fractures and present a series of 2d simulations of the kinematics of crystal growth in these bi mineralic veins for both localized and non localized cracking results are compared with the observed microstructures we show that when the relative growth rates of the two mineral phases are different serrated grain boundaries evolve the similarities between observation and model suggest that the assumption of our model is valid although many second order processes require a more detailed study we propose that the principles observed here can be applied to other bi mineralic crack seal veins

thin skinned tectonics in the northern rhenish massif germany a network of profiles in the hercynian mountain system geo traverse rhenoherzynikum is needed to determine details of the geological structure and find the reasons for tectonic movements outstanding features within the mountain system such as the large fault zone along the southern boundary of the hunsruck1 and the left flank of the rhinegraben have already been investigated by reflection seismology2 3 we describe here a new reflection refraction experiment carried out in 1978 in the most northern part of the rhenish massif across the stavelot venn massif near aachen fig 1 while layers in the lower crust dip to the nnw a strong upper reflector at 3 4 km depth shows a slight dip to the sse and indicates a prominent fault zone near aachen known in belgium as the faille du midi here a comparable and apparently identical reflector was found some 100 and 175 km to the west of our profile we interpreted this reflector as a prominent and well lubricated thrust fault along which a huge horizontal nappe displacement took place during the last stages of the variscan orogeny

aspects of the reconstruction of the stress history of a fold and thrust belt rhenish massif federal republic of germany abstract by use of faults and striations parts of the deviatoric stress tensors and thereby essential aspects of the paleostress history of the rhenish massif can be reconstructed the stress history is unexpectedly complex even on the local scale the region under investigation is subdivided into various areas each of which exhibits somewhat different sequences of stress states several mutual aspects are evident in lower devonian rocks in the north which show only very slight deformation a pre folding stress state is preserved with a preferentially n s trending extension attributed to the stage of basin development the stage of folding itself during the carboniferous shows strong regional and temporal heterogeneity under frequently altering stress states after an initial stage of a semi homogeneous stress field this development occurs simultaneously with partial stress uncoupling at larger thrust zones with diverging deformation histories of hangingwalls and footwalls movement patterns in the north evidence subsequent clockwise rotation of the stress field which is only weakly represented in the south on the other hand there is clear evidence of a still younger counterclockwise rotation of the stress field which only affects the southern massif this is probably due to the superpositioning of orthogonal relative movements on the southern rim of the fold belt by a dextral strike slip component during final deformation thus indicating late dextral transpression succeeded by dextral transtension the final extensional stage is related to late paleozoic uplift and crustal stretching perpendicular to the strike of the fold belt followed by a change of direction of extension this state of stress obviously extends into the present although complex the various stress conditions are clearly correlated with other fabric elements in particular with cleavage fold geometry and mineralization

kinematic and metamorphic aspects of cleavage formation in very low grade metamorphic slates abstract fabric studies on first cleavages in very low grade metamorphic slates from the rheinisches schiefergebirge and other very low grade metamorphic fold belts reveal two types of slaty cleavage 1 1 cleavage without syntectonic phyllosilicate recrystallization these are generally crenulation cleavages 2 2 cleavage with syntectonic phyllosilicate recrystallization with increasing syntectonic metamorphism the crenulation fabric is modified by solution of grains along cleavage planes and precipitation of material within the cleavage lamellae with further increase of metamorphism the crenulation fabric is gradually obliterated the finite fabric results from progressive solution crystallization and recrystallization superimposed with bending kinking and internal rotation achieved by slip parallel to the basal planes of phyllosilicates

pre and synorogenic burial metamorphism in the ardenne and neighbouring areas rhenohercynian zone central european variscides abstract the rhenohercynian zone of the central european variscides contains in the central ardenne eifel brabant campine region of belgium france germany and luxemburg an omnipresent thermal overprint which reaches in places uppermost epizonal conditions because of its distribution and structural relationships this metamorphism cannot be explained by a singular tectonometamorphic event field and microstructural observations new illite crystallinity and other data relating to this metamorphism are presented together with a review of existing petrological illite crystallinity vitrinite reflectance conodont alteration index and fluid inclusion data and their relationship to small and regional scale geological structures three distinct geotectonic situations can be described which overlap and alternate in space and time 1 the oldest metamorphism which reached epizonal conditions can be localized in the pre devonian basement rocks of the brabant massif and with minor evidence of the stavelot massif further south it is clearly related to a pre variscan caledonian deformation event and could be of burial origin 2 the main regional metamorphism affected all devonian and carboniferous rocks and the lower palaeozoic basement highs of the ardenne eifel area it does not exceed diagenetic conditions in some areas but reaches maximal values of 500 c and 400 mpa in the serpont and rocroi massif areas theye and fransolet 1993 robion et al 1995 it is pre to synkinematic to the main variscan contractional penetrative deformation and correlates well with the age and thickness of the sedimentary cover rocks the metamorphism is associated with the pre carboniferous preorogenic rifting stage of the rhenohercynian basin and documents the peak of subsidence and sediment accumulation we interpret it as diastathermal metamorphism it reaches its maximum in the low grade metamorphic zones of the ardenne area which are inverted synsedimentary structures 3 the diastathermal metamorphism is overprinted in the central part of the ardenne eifel area middle devonian to carboniferous rocks of the dinant synclinorium by an anchizonal beginning epizonal metamorphism in the foreland basins north of the midi fault zone it reaches diagenetic to lowermost anchizonal conditions it is the expression of the burial by thick synorogenic mid to upper carboniferous cover rocks which were deposited in piggyback and foreland basins this clastic wedge relates to the carboniferous contraction of the rhenohercynian basin whose metamorphosed rocks were themselves affected by the deformation of the advancing orogenic front

results of the dekorp 1 belcorp dekorp deep seismic reflection studies in the western part of the rhenish massif summary within the dekorp project dekorp deutsches kontinentales reflexionsseismisches programm a joint deep seismic reflection venture with the belcorp belgian continental reflection seismic programme group of the belgian geological survey was carried out in 1987 across the rhenish massif a part of the mid european variscides this orogenic belt developed in the upper devonian carboniferous mostly devonian rocks crop out at the surface the rhenish massif is bordered by two sedimentary troughs the sub variscan foredeep in the north and the permo carboniferous saar nahe basin in the south in the east west direction it is subdivided by the axial depression of the eifel nord sud zone the aim of the survey which totals almost 220 km of seismic profiling was to investigate the crustal structure of the western part of the rhenish massif and to compare it with the line dekorp 2 n which crosses the eastern portion of the massif the results indicate the presence of nw vergent tectonics of various styles that can often be traced down to deep parts of the crust horizontal variscan compression plays a dominant role in the northern part while post variscan extension seems to dominate in the saar nahe basin although even there traces of variscan compression seem to be preserved in the middle crust common characteristics of the pre palaeozoic basement differences between the western and eastern parts of the rhenish massif and the deep extension of the aachen thrust faille du midi have been clearly observed this prominent thrust in the north with its characteristic ramp and flat structure has been followed over 100 km length down

a new structural model for the sw irish variscides the variscan front of the nw european rhenohercynian abstract the variscan front of nw europe has been drawn in the past from belgium across southern england and southern wales towards southern ireland but the term variscan front is not well defined and means different things to different people a tectonic front should represent the outcrop of a frontal thrust or the tip line of the basal detachment in fact such a tectonic front cannot be traced along the so called variscan front in ireland field based studies of the western part of the irish variscides show that the fold and thrust belt continues north of the so called variscan front but deformation decreases gradually therefore we suggest supported by seismic data a detachment which ends as a blind thrust far to the north the tip line of this basal detachment represents the true tectonic front of the variscides in sw ireland shear indicators show locally a dextral shear component near major faults and 3d microstructural strain analyses show varying x axes and oblate deformation indicating transpression during the tectonic evolution of the western irish variscides therefore a thin skinned model associated with dextral shearing and transpression in the hanging wall of the basal detachment is suggested the evolution of the variscan fold and thrust belt in nw europe is related to the west european indentation model but also to pre variscan basement structures as the leinster wales and london brabant massifs finally an attempt is made to outline the variscan front along the entire nw european rhenohercynian fold and thrust belt ftb

an application of two dimensional finite element modelling for studying the deformation of the variscan fold and thrust belt belgium abstract this paper presents 2d finite element simulations of fold and thrust belts with a focus on the variscan foreland thrust belt in belgium the numerical models are limited to the deformation of a 5 km thick sedimentary layer separated from a backstop by a deformable zone the sedimentary layer obeys an elastic plastic law and can include one detachment horizon with some ramps our study deals with the effects of rheological and geometrical parameters on the structural characteristics of the belt for regular basin geometries rectangular and wedge shapes results of numerical simulations show that deformation continuously propagates and decreases towards the foreland in agreement with sandbox experiments the basal friction appears to be a major parameter controlling the tectonic style of a fold and thrust belt our analysis has also shown that the strain propagation in time and space is strongly controlled by the presence of a weak intra detachment and of ramps which initiate shear bands for the rhenohercynian fold and thrust belt a major decollement is usually considered within the palaeozoic sediments and the existence of steps in the basin geometry is proven by numerous geological data showing the activity of pre orogenic normal faulting during the variscan orogeny this irregular detachment horizon influenced the regional tectonics simulation results show that ramps create strongly deformed anticlinioria separated by weakly deformed synclinoria which is the basic structure observed in the western and northern rhenohercynian belt

lateral boundaries and the heat induced flow in the tropical atmosphere the effect on the heat induced circulation of lateral vertical boundaries is studied by means of a simple model the basic state in the absence of boundaries is a hadley circulation driven by a narrow band of heating at a specified latitude lateral friction is included in the model this has little effect on the meridional circulation but smooths out the zonal flow the eastern boundary modifies the hadley flow through planetary waves needed to make the flow at the boundary meridional and the flow pattern is similar to that of the east pacific trades the western boundary generates a kelvin wave in order to make the total flux normal to the boundary vanish this can give rise to patterns similar to those encountered in the indian ocean

vertical and fold axis parallel extension within a slate belt in a transpressive setting northern appalachians abstract an incremental and finite strain study of a mid paleozoic slate belt in a transpressive setting in gaspe canadian appalachians has been undertaken using syntectonic fibers from pyrite type pressure shadows regionally strain estimates are quite consistent and reflect only slightly higher strain in the central part of the anticlinorial structure defining the slate belt extensions of up to 160 vertically and 110 parallel to the fold axis were recorded in the slate belt combined with an estimated overall regional shortening of 80 the fibers first rotated toward the final position of the cleavage within a vertical section normal to the cleavage and then rotated from a vertical to a horizontal orientation this change in fiber orientation observed in cleavage parallel sections indicates an abrupt change in the incremental stretching direction from sub vertical to sub horizontal fold axis parallel the vertical extension is related to folding and cleavage development during coaxial flattening the horizontal extension reflects the strain imposed on the rocks during regional simple shear which produced strike slip faulting and further tightening of the folds folding cleavage development fold axis parallel extension and faulting are all related to oblique convergence during the middle devonian acadian orogeny in this part of the canadian appalachians and clearly indicate an overall transition from a pure shortening deformation to a simple shear dominant deformation in an overall transpressive setting

stress state evolution of the brittle upper crust during compressional tectonic inversion as defined by successive quartz vein types high ardenne slate belt germany abstract in the frontal part of the rhenohercynian fold and thrust belt high ardenne slate belt germany two successive types of quartz veins oriented normal and parallel to bedding respectively are interpreted to reflect the early variscan compressional tectonic inversion of the ardenne eifel sedimentary basin fracturing and sealing occurred in lower devonian siliciclastic multilayers under very low grade metamorphic conditions in a brittle upper crust a geometrical and microthermometric analysis of these veins has helped to constrain the kinematic and pressure temperature conditions of both vein types allowing the reconstruction of the stress state evolution in a basin during tectonic inversion it is demonstrated that bedding normal extension veins which developed under low differential stresses and repeatedly opened and sealed crack seal under near lithostatic fluid pressures reflect the latest stage of an extensional stress regime bedding parallel veins which developed at differential stresses that were still low enough to allow the formation of extension veins cross cut the bedding normal veins and preceded the regional fold and cleavage development these veins show a pronounced bedding parallel fabric reflecting bedding normal uplift and bedding parallel shearing under lithostatic to supra lithostatic fluid pressures during the early stages of a compressional stress regime this kinematic history corroborates that fluid overpressures are easy to maintain during compressional tectonic inversion at the onset of orogeny

transpressive acadian deformation across the central wales lineament abstract the structure is described of a 12 km transect across the central wales syncline of the welsh caledonides the fold is a complex se verging structure with a strike faulted core involving only llandovery series lower silurian turbidites at outcrop this fault fold lineament is thought to overlie a transpressively reactivated nw dipping fault originally a normal fault that laterally confined the rhuddnant turbidite system to its hangingwall the acadian early devonian folds are commonly clockwise transected by their associated cleavage this is attributed to homogeneous sinistral transpression in the cover with a component of heterogeneous strain above the reactivated basement fault the core and steep limb of the major syncline show high transection angles this leads to a general model where the strike slip components in transpression are preferentially partitioned into steep faults or into zones of steep bedding

phyllosilicate preferred orientation in relation to strain path determination in the lower paleozoic stavelot venn massif ardennes belgium abstract phyllosilicate preferred orientation measured by means of an x ray pole figure goniometer allows a quantitative exploration of the slaty cleavage development the relationship between phyllosilicate preferred orientation and strain as demonstrated in the march model furthermore enables the application of phyllosilicate pole figures in a strain determination in slate belts both applications are illustrated in this paper in which the results are presented of a crystallographic fabric analysis of argillites in the southern domain of the lower paleozoic stavelot venn massif belgium in these argillites the development of a phyllosilicate preferred orientation is primarily defined by the low grade metamorphism and the deformation history the metamorphism causing recrystallisation to be active during cleavage development assures the development of a high degree of preferred orientation on the other hand the deformation history defines the type of phyllosilicate pole figure pattern based on the distinction of different pole figure patterns a possible strain path for the argillites in the southern domain of the stavelot venn massif is proposed an axially symmetric pole figure pattern indicates a caledonian cleavage development in a pure flattening regime the variscan cleavage development on the other hand is characterised by an additional extensional component in the cleavage plane if the primary phyllosilicate fabric due to a pre deformational compaction or a caledonian cleavage development underwent a complete reorientation caused by syntectonic recrystallisation a typical orthorhombic pole figure pattern is formed otherwise a transition pole figure pattern develops reflecting the superposition of the variscan cleavage development on a pre existing caledonian cleavage fabric the general deformation history of the southern domain of the stavelot venn massif differs substantially from that described for the northern domain contrary to the northern domain the southern domain seems to have undergone considerable variscan deformation

influence of heterogeneous lithostructural layering on orogenic deformation in the variscan front zone eastern belgium the ramp flat thrust model and other classical models based on rocky ountains or appalachians structures allow a better understanding of ault and fold interaction in a sequence dominated by competent rocks n which in most cases thrusts propagate forward in sequence this attern however fails to explain the deformation history of rock uccessions with low proportions of competent rocks in such ithologies out of sequence faults are more common features the ariscan front zone in eastern belgium serves as a case study for this on classical deformation model cross sections are well constrained by urface data covering a large area the devono carboniferous sequence esting unconformably on caledonian basement has shortened drastically nd the tectonic history can best be explained by a composite structural odel continuous and discontinuous deformations took place in uccessive steps a lame anticline developed first it evolved ubsequently into either break thrust or translated fault propagation olds out of sequence thrusting by the theux tunnel fault formed the esdre nappe the latter is the northern part of the ardenne allochthon he main discrepancies with the ramp flat thrust model are emphasized articularly the vesdre nappe which is the highest thrust sheet is ot the youngest event of deformation common elements of the variscan ront zone between northern france and western germany are discussed he theux tunnel fault has the same kinematics significance as the idi aachen fault the footwall of the vesdre nappe is the eastward rolongation of the brabant foreland the complex structure of the theux indow reflects imbrications under the allochthon and can be compared ith other wedges and thrust sheets c 1999 elsevier science b v all ights reserved

s c mylonites two types of foliations are commonly developed in mylonites and mylonitic rocks a s surfaces related to the accumulation of finite strain and b c surfaces related to displacement discontinuities or zones of relatively high shear strain there are two types of s c mylonites type i s c mylonites described by berthe et al typically occur in deformed granitoids they involve narrow zones of intense shear strain which cut across mylonitic foliation type ii s c mylonites described here have widespread occurrence in quartz mica rocks involved in zones of intense non coaxial laminar flow the c surfaces are defined by trails of mica fish formed as the result of microscopic displacement discontinuities or zones of very high shear strain the s surfaces are defined by oblique foliations in the adjacent quartz aggregates formed as the result of dynamic recrystallization which periodically resets the finite strain clock these oblique foliations are characterized by grain elongations alignments of segments of the grain boundary enveloping surfaces and by trails of grains with similar c axis orientations examples of this aspect of foliation development in mylonitic rocks are so widespread that we suggest the creation of a broad class of s c tectonites and a deviation from the general tradition of purely geometric analysis of foliation and time relationships kinematic indicators such as those discussed here allow the recognition of kilometre scale zones of intense non coaxial laminar flow in crustal rocks and unambiguous determination of the sense of shear

variscan transpressive inversion in the northwestern central rhenohercynian belt of western germany abstract important orogen parallel strike slip components during the convergence of the variscan orogen of central europe have been increasingly recognized these oblique slip faults often develop from pre existing tectonic boundaries and are influenced by pre existing structural trends in the basement in this paper evidence is presented for a 3 6 km wide distributed shear zone here named the monschau shear zone in epizone metamorphic cambro ordovician and lower devonian clastic rocks of the northwestern rhenohercynian belt kinematic indicators including field observations of anomalous mullion and fold axes patterns a set of two cleavages stretching lineations and shear and kink bands microscopical observations of stretching parallel asymmetric pressure shadows of quartz on prekinematic epizone metamorphic pyrite porphyroblasts and microfabrics of phyllosilicates by x ray texture goniometry point to a sinistral tranpressive shear zone with emplacement of the southeast hangingwall under retrograde conditions coincidence of the anchizone epizone metamorphic boundary with the change along strike from penetrative shearing to distributed thrusting suggests a ductile brittle transition the monschau shear zone is situated on the backlimb of an allochthonous anticlinorium located above a basement ramp that corresponds roughly to a pre orogenic synsedimentary normal fault its continuation shows up clearly in a dekorp seismic reflection profile to a depth of 12 15 km

oblique crustal detachment in the variscan schwarzwald southwestern germany the schwarzwald is part of the central polymetamorphic crystalline belt of the variscan orogen moldanubian belt from north to south it consists of four terranes the metasedimentary zone of baden baden the polymetamorphic central schwarzwald gneiss complex the sedimentary metamorphic zone of badenweiler lenzkirch and the hotzenwald complex the largest of these terranes is the central schwarzwald gneiss complex csgc whose rocks record a history of protracted regional metamorphism and anatectic melt generation during variscan convergence between 350 and 325 ma the csgc became detached from a high temperature lower crustal substratum and was emplaced southeastward over paleozoic clastics volcanic rocks and crystalline slivers of the zone of badenweiler lenzkirch and the hotzenwald complex kinematic indicators suggest that these early convergent movements on retrograde shear zones and the concomitant crustal thickening were superseded by movements on divergent shear zones the ascent of voluminous granitic plutons from a mid crustal zone of melt generation into the upper crust was probably triggered by a change in the crustal kinematics from overall convergence to overall divergence at about 325 ma in detail this process was probably diachronous detachment of upper crust and large scale melt generation in the middle crust of the schwarzwald was probably facilitated by the tectonic stacking of water rich pelitic clastics and gneiss slivers with relatively even proportions of crystalline and pelitic materials

the relationship of strain and preferred orientation of phyllosilicate grains in rocks a review abstract the calculation of strain from the preferred orientation of platy phyllosilicate grains taking strain to be homogeneous is surprisingly often successful from a pragmatic point of view although numerous theoretical objections to this procedure can be and have been raised for the calculation to succeed the original distribution of mica or clay mineral grains must be known or assumed the usual assumption that the starting distribution was random and therefore nearly uniform implies that the strain history of pelitic sediments is taken to start when the watery sediment was last stirred by waves or bioturbation or if it was laid down in still anoxic waters from the moment of first deposition it therefore includes compaction as part of the strain history which is usually neglected by structural geologists originally random distribution of clay flake orientations has been observed in recently deposited sediments in many instances and has been theoretically explained in various ways exceptions probably exist but their frequency has not been estimated biologically disturbed sediments may be brought nearer to a state of random orientation of clay flakes than they were at deposition with the exception of whole beds or concretions in which pores are early filled with cement mudrocks are almost always compacted by the weight of later deposits the strain so induced is axially symmetric about the vertical and thus about the pole of the bedding planes compaction acts on soft unconsolidated rocks but may continue with increasing overburden on rocks strengthened by cementation and by increasing interlocking of grains tectonic deformation may start early before the rock is fully compacted or it may begin only much later and the mechanisms of deformation increase in complexity with the increasing temperature and hydrostatic stress of deeper burial up to a certain level of mild metamorphism however phyllosilicate grains seem to be rather permanent if not as mineral species then at least by preservation of their constituent sheets of silica tetrahedra given this permanence the mechanisms of rock deformation whether intergranular slip cataclasis or dissolution and reprecipitation and various intragranular processes in the non phyllosilicate matrix hardly matter as far as the recording of strain is concerned even a certain amount of stress solution at especially heavily loaded points of the phyllosilicate grains themselves does not destroy their value as strain markers as long as the dissolved material is disposed of mainly by crystallographically continuous overgrowth on existing grains the same holds for local dissolution of phyllosilicates in portions of old grains that have become thermodynamically unstable by bending widespread irregular or random nucleation and growth of newly nucleated phyllosilicate grains at intermediate or high grades of metamorphism can reduce the reliability of the strain record and so can domainal structure of the deformed rock if both the volume fraction of phyllosilicate grains and the intensity of total strain differ sharply from one domain to another if distinct domains are not equant and have themselves a strong preferred orientation of shape nevertheless rocks containing an anastomosing network of zones rich in phyllosilicate grains as slates and other deformed mudrocks commonly do have in many cases been found to have average preferred orientations of mica or chlorite which if used to estimate the strain give results similar to those obtained from independent strain markers in the same rocks thus the most significant verification of the usefulness of strain estimates by measurement of preferred orientation is the mutual confirmation with independently determined strain the limit to such verification is the rarity of strain markers so that the coexistence of two independent ones is exceptionally rare for this reason however it is important to make full use of the orientation of phyllosilicate grains where they are available the alternative to have no strain measurements at all causes structural geologists to miss potential information

correlation of the rhenohercynian variscides recent structural and stratigraphical data from the rhenohercynian variscides of belgium germany and south cornwall indicate tectonic continuity within this zone prior to disruption along a late carboniferous dextral transcurrent fault this extends from the bristol channel to the vosges parallel to similar lineaments of variscan age in europe and north america consequently a tectonic model for south cornwall is extrapolated to europe and a plate tectonic setting for the evolution of the north european variscides by the closure of an oceanic basin is discussed

compression and right lateral strike slip movement at the southern hunsruck borderfault southwest germany abstract compressional tectonic structures have been known from the southern hunsruck borderzone since the end of the last century in the western part of the borderzone the saar nahe syncline is upthrown whereas in the eastern part the hunsruck is upthrown against the saar nahe syncline folds with axes parallel and oblique to the 60 trending fault zone have been described in the past in the area between idar oberstein and kirn permian lava sheets are displaced in such a way that their recent distribution can be explained by a right lateral strike slip movement of 5 8 km the block of the saar nahe basin between the southern hunsruck borderfault and the saarbrucken anticline has been tilted to the ene since the late palaeozoic the transcurrent movement can only be related to the opening of the upper rhine graben ne sw and nne ssw trending folds in the rotliegend sediments are considered to be transpression structures related to strike slip movement in early tertiary times recent seismicity along the southern hunsruck borderzone indicates that this zone is still active

book review the techniques of modern structural geology volume 2 folds and fractures john g ramsay and martin i huber academic press london 1987 xi 309 398 pp price stg17 50 us 34 50 paperback

preferred orientation of phyllosilicates in phyllonites and ultramylonites abstract x ray texture goniometry operated in the transmission mode has been applied to fine grained phyllosilicate rich sc mylonites from the santa rosa mylonite zone california the whipple mountains core complex california and the austroalpine nappes of the eastern alps austria basal planes 001 phyllosilicate pole figures depart in two respects from orthorhombic symmetry a the maximum pole density deviates from the pole to the mylonitic foliation and lies along a great circle which is normal to the foliation and contains the mylonitic lineation and b the contours of equal pole density are more widely spaced on one side of the 001 maximum than on the other measured along the mylonitic lineation optical microscopy reveals s and c surfaces and sets of shear bands sb characteristic of non coaxial deformation the pole figures are used for two purposes a the first is strain estimation after the march model by imposing orthorhombic symmetry the resulting march strains are more or less the same in all californian samples this is interpreted as evidence for a steady state foliation b the second is shear sense determination it is demonstrated that consistently asymmetric preferred orientations reflect structures which are typical of non coaxial deformation it is concluded that x ray analysis of phyllosilicate rich mylonites can in addition to providing an estimate of total strain give information about deformation regime and shear sense furthermore the study documents the heterogeneous nature of deformation on macroscopic and microscopic scales and the importance of non coaxial deformation in accommodating large strains

a study of the application of vsp to exploration ahead of a tunnel the vertical seismic profiling technique vsp was applied to the exploration ahead of a railway tunnel near ingolstadt germany before processing the field data the potential of vsp under the geometrical constraints of a tunnel is demonstrated with synthetic data the field test comprised two receiver sections with four receivers each in radially drilled boreholes the seismic waves were generated by blasting at the tunnel face despite the unfavourable geology very inhomogeneously weathered rock with no large scale discontinuities the most prominent geological feature a transition to better rock quality could be identified 40 m ahead of the tunnel face as an item for further improvement we discuss the ambiguous determination of the static corrections and the velocity field

strike slip terranes and a model for the evolution of the british and irish caledonides evidence is presented that many of the major strike faults in the british and irish caledonides were active as sinistral strike slip zones in the end silurian to pre mid devonian period some such as the highland boundary fault moved in this way at an earlier stage in the ordovician these data allow the caledonian rocks lying between the laurentian miogeocline whose basement is represented by the lewisian moine and possibly the dalradian and the gondwanaland miogeocline midland platform and welsh basin to be re analysed as a group of disorganized terranes which originated to the southwest in north america and southwest europe africa prior to the silurian the highland border terrane and northern belt terrane are interpreted as duplicated pieces of a mid ordovician sequence which was a back are to northwest subduction the midland valley terrane is interpreted as a slice of laurentian foreland onto which ophiolites were obducted in the lower ordovician but which became the basement of a continental margin arc to northwest subduction in the mid ordovician the cockburnland terrane is inferred to be part of the same arc repeated and then broken up and dispersed by continuing strike slip the connemara terrane is regarded as an allochthonous piece of the dalradian miogeocline and the south mayo terrane as a remnant of an early ordovician arc and fore arc which in mid ordovician times became a back arc marginal basin to northwest subduction the lake district wexford terrane is part of an arc to southeast subduction under gondwanaland whose activity climaxed in the mid ordovician the central terrane is interpreted as a silurian overstep assemblage which blankets the junction between laurentian and gondwanaland derived oceanic terranes and therefore iapetus is regarded as an ordovician ocean which closed prior to the silurian the model suggests that at the end of the silurian a clockwise rotating gondwanaland having carried laurentia into collision with baltica broke free and created a major sinistral strike slip zone which disrupted the ordovician palaeogeography in the british isles north american sector of iapetus

the complexity of 3d stress state changes during compressional tectonic inversion at the onset of orogeny compressional tectonic inversions are classically represented in 2d brittle failure mode bfm plots that illustrate the change in differential stress s1 2 s3 versus the pore fluid pressure during orogenic shortening in these bfm plots the tectonic switch between extension and compression occurs at a differential stress state of zero however mostly anisotropic conditions are present in the earth s crust making isotropic stress conditions highly questionable in this study theoretical 3d stress state reconstructions are proposed to illustrate the complexity of triaxial stress transitions during compressional inversion of andersonian stress regimes these reconstructions are based on successive late burial and early tectonic quartz veins which reflect early variscan tectonic inversion in the rhenohercynian foreland fold and thrust belt high ardenne slate belt belgium germany this theoretical exercise predicts that no matter the geometry of the basin or the orientation of shortening a transitional wrench tectonic regime should always occur between extension and compression to date this intermediate regime has never been observed in structures in a shortened basin affected by tectonic inversion our study implies that stress transitions are therefore more complex than classically represented in 2d ideally a transitional wrench regime should be implemented in bfm plots at the switch between the extensional and compressional regimes extension mode i fractures are classically interpreted to form at low differential stresses less than four times the tensile strength t of rock e g secor 1965 they open perpendicular to the minimum principal stress s3 and propagate in the plane of the maximum s1 and intermediate s2 principal stresses the alignment of fractures has therefore often been used in orogenic belts to determine the orientation of the palaeostress field at the time of fracturing cox et al 2001 gillespie et al 2001 laubach et al 2004 if veins which initiated as extension fractures are uniform in trend over a large area then they can also be used as such a palaeostress indicator e g boullier robert 1992 cosgrove 2001 gillespie et al 2001 mazzarini et al 2010 van noten sintubin 2010 different cross cutting or successive vein generations are even more interesting because they have the potential 1 to serve as a tool to decipher changes in the overall stress regime during multiple phases of fracturing and 2 to define the p2t conditions at which these stress changes occurred on the one hand different crosscutting fracture and or vein generations have been used in many studies to deduce local stress field rotation in a consistent remote stress regime jackson 1991 crespi chan 1996 stowell et al 1999 laubach diaz tushman 2009 wiltschko et al 2009 on the other hand successive cross cutting veins i e vein sets that are oriented differently with respect to bedding have often been used to determine a transition in regional stress regime from extension to compression or reversely manning bird 1991 boullier robert 1992 teixell et al 2000 hilgers et al 2006b van noten et al 2008 2011 laubach diaz tushman 2009 alternatively cross cutting vein sets are observed in close relationship to faults in which they represent fluctuating fluid pressures during fault valve activity and are related to short lived local stress transitions in a consistent remote stress regime boullier robert 1992 sibson 1995 nielsen et al 1998 muchez et al 2000 collettini et al 2006 local mutually cross cutting vein sets may also develop in the presence of mechanical anisotropy around fault planes in a consistent remote stress field healy 2009 fagereng et al 2010 in all these studies transitions between regional stress regimes are defined as tectonic inversions a positive compressional tectonic inversion corresponds to a transition from an extensional to a compressional stress regime while a negative extensional tectonic inversion reflects the transition from compression to extension from healy d butler r w h shipton z k sibson r h eds 2012 faulting fracturing and igneous intrusion in the earth s crust geological society london special publications 367 51 69 http dx doi org 10 1144 sp367 5 the geological society of london 2012 publishing disclaimer www geolsoc org uk pub ethics by guest on august 9 2012 http sp lyellcollection org downloaded from

folds and the strain ellipsoid a general model abstract a new general model is proposed to account for non orthogonal relationships of fold axes and axial surfaces to the axes of the finite strain ellipsoid descriptions in the literature of such relationships e g plunge variations and transecting cleavage are reviewed and the development of the model is outlined the model is described in which plane strain k 1 or slight flattening strain k 0 71 or slight constrictional strain k 1 85 are imposed on a suite of layers with oblique orientations to the bulk strain axes x y z folds will initiate perpendicular to the direction of shortening in the layer and develop as non material lines moving through the layer by angular migration at geologically realistic finite strains the folds will be transected by xy cleavage in slight flattening strain folds are likely to be cylindroidal with axes not measurably oblique to xy in slight constrictional strain en echelon periclines are predicted with marked transection by cleavage in some examples the interference of two directions of folding will give rise to severe plunge variations and even downward facing although strain markers frequently indicate finite strains in the flattening field this may result from the superimposition of slightly constrictional tectonic strain on compactional flattening

low temperature low pressure metamorphism of mn rich rocks in the lienne syncline venn stavelot massif belgian ardennes and the role of carpholite low grade mn rich metamorphic rocks of the lienne syncline western part of the venn stavelot massif belgian ardennes have been re examined to evaluate the petrological significance of carpholite proper mn2 al2 si206j 0h 4 metamorphic p t conditions of these rocks are estimated to be 300 q 1 2 kbar which is in accordance with the exclusive occurrence of carpholite in low p rocks such as hydrothermal environments elsewhere carpholite of the lienne syncline exclusively occurs in quartz rich segregations its composition is close to end member thermodynamic calculations confirm that carpholite is a stable phase at low pressure low temperature conditions in contrast to ferro and magnesiocarpholite which are high pressure minerals no information is available on the high p behaviour of carpholite the occurrence of carpholite is partly closely associated with spessartine bearing country rocks or carpholite is altered to assemblages with spessartine sudoite chlorite muscovite and paragonite spessartine in these rocks contains minor amounts of hydrogarnet component h 4 si h 4 0 03 0 06 the presence of carpholite spessartine assemblages in these low p rocks is in contrast to high pressure metamorphic rocks from other areas where parageneses such as fem magnesiocarpholite chloritoid or magnesiocarpholitechlorite kyanite occur the appearance of carpholite ga rnet assemblages in low p mn rich rocks can be explained by contrasting phase relations because of a high mn mg partition coefficient between the minerals under consideration in rhodochrosite bearing veins in the lienne syncline nearly complete replacement of carpholite by spessartine and chlorite is due to the continuous reaction carpholite rhodochrosite quartz spessartine chlorite h2o co 2 which defines a very low xco in the temperature range under consideration it is suggested that spessartine possibly containing some hydrogarnet component during prograde metamorphism at low pressure becomes stable at a temperature of 300 c