landward dipping reflectors in accretionary wedges active dewatering conduits landward dipping seismic reflectors ldrs within the accretionary wedge at convergent plate margins have generally been interpreted as tilted bedding or thrust fault surfaces e g mexico northern japan this interpretation accords with models in which trench axis sediments are scraped off the descending plate to form a series of imbricate thrust sheets however intensely disturbed melanges with a regionally extensive landward dipping foliation are found beneath slope sediments in many ancient and active subduction complexes this observation combined with the fact that large volumes of fluid are released during dewatering of subducting and previously accreted sediments leads to the proposal that some of the seismic reflectors are porous laterally extensive fractureways filled with dewatering fluids derived from deeper underthrust water rich sediments these fractureways trend subparallel to the regional foliation of the accreted melange wedge the contrast in acoustic impedance between the high porosity fluid filled fractureways and the melange wall rocks is enhanced whenever methane and or carbon dioxide exsolve from rising waters ancient ldrs may be recognized where mineralized veins trend subparallel to the regional foliation of melange belts generated during subduction accretion 42 references 2 figures

mechanisms of melange formation examples from sw japan and southern scotland abstract the formation of synthetic riedel shears either as discrete faults or ductile shear zones is important in the fragmentation of layers to form melanges the magnitude of longitudinal and shear strain necessary for this fragmentation has been assessed using a simple rigid domino model for layer parallel shear the strain required for layer fragmentation is a function of block aspect ratio and initial fracture dip relative to layering layer stretching can occur during simple shear if folds are developed but a component of extension parallel to the shear zones reduces the strain required for fragmentation simple models of this type break down when there is a component of dilation across the melange block bounding fractures allowing shale matrix infill or mineral vein growth some melanges show evidence in the form of symmetrical structures of a more coaxial deformation history and this may in part reflect deformation partitioning between sandstone and shale layers other mechanisms of melange formation include the development of out of sequence thrusts cutting through already dipping beds the causes of strike parallel extension are tentatively related to large scale evidence of arc parallel forearc stretching

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

offscraping and underthrusting of sediment at the deformation front of the barbados ridge deep sea drilling project leg 78a on leg 78a we drilled sites 541 and 542 into the seaward edge of the barbados ridge complex and site 543 into the adjacent oceanic crust the calcareous ooze marls and muds at sites 541 and 542 are lithologically and paleontologically similar to the upper strata at site 543 and are apparently offscraped from the down going plate a repetition of miocene over pliocene sediments at site 541 documents major thrust or reverse faulting during offscraping the hemipelagic to pelagic deposits offscraped in the leg 78a area include no terrigenous sand beds but they contain numerous neogene ash layers derived from the lesser antilles arc hence this sequence is quite unlike the siliciclastic dominated terranes on land that are inferred to be accretionary complexes the structural fabric of the offscraped deposits at sites 541 and 542 is disharmonic probably along a decollement with an underlying acoustically layered sequence suggesting selective underthrusting of the latter the acoustically layered sequence correlates seismically with pelagic strata cored at site 543 on the incoming oceanic plate cores recovered from the possible decollement surface at both sites 541 and 542 show scaly foliation and stratal disruption approximately lithostatic fluid pressure measured in the possible decollement zone probably facilitates the underthrusting of the pelagic sediments beneath the offscraped deposits in the incoming section a transition from smectitic to radiolarian mud with associated increases in density and strength probably controls the structural break between offscraped and underthrust strata in the leg 78a area the underthrust pelagic section can be traced seismically at least 30 km arcward of the deformation front beneath the barbados ridge complex

a test of alternative caribbean plate relative motion models two contrasting models have been proposed to describe the present day motions between the caribbean plate and neighboring plates one model based on both north america caribbean and cocos caribbean data assumes that north america caribbean motion is reflected by the spreading rate approximately 2 cm yr inferred from magnetic anomalies at the cayman spreading center and the azimuths of nearby transforms jordan 1975 this geometry was used by minster and jordan 1978 in deriving global plate motion model rm2 the other model based only on north america caribbean data uses rates and azimuths inferred from the geometry of the lesser antilles wadati benioff zone sykes et al 1982 the cayman spreading center data were discounted assuming that they underestimate the full north america caribbean motion owing to the complex tectonics of the greater antilles the latter model assumes plate convergence at the lesser antilles at a rate about twice as fast as and an azimuth differing by 25 from the jordan model the two models also differ in their predictions of south america caribbean motion the jordan model predicts oblique convergence whereas sykes et al predict oblique divergence we use the nuvel 1 global relative motion data set which incorporates recent data not used in earlier studies to discriminate between the alternative models we find that the jordan geometry provides a better fit to the direction of north america caribbean motion moreover we find that models based on this geometry better fit the direction of cocos caribbean motion observed in earthquake slip vectors along the middle america trench since the prediction of this direction depends strongly on the rate of north america caribbean motion we conclude that the jordan model better describes caribbean plate motions the discrepancy between the two models results from the different methods of estimating plate motions sykes et al 1982 report that they determined a caribbean north america convergence rate of approximately 4 cm yr from the length of the lesser antilles wadati benioff zone we employ a similar procedure and obtain a rate closer to 2 cm yr we also find that the method they report using to determine the convergence direction is unable to distinguish between the alternative azimuths we thus conclude that estimates of the rate and direction of plate motion from wadati benioff zone configurations are insufficiently robust and that such estimates are better derived using rates from magnetic anomalies and azimuths from transform faults and slip vectors we further conclude that successful estimates of relative motion require internal consistency between the euler vectors of all relevant plates as demonstrated by the powerful cocos caribbean constraint not incorporated in the sykes et al model

decollement processes at the nankai accretionary margin southeast japan propagation deformation and dewatering the decollement zone expressed on seismic profiles and observed in drill cores from the nankai accretionary margin off the southeast coast of japan reveals several unique characteristics which appear to distinguish it from thrust faults identified in the same setting physical manifestations of these include evidence for the asymmetric distribution of deformation structures about the decollement the extension of this fault zone well in front of the tectonic deformation front and the absence of features indicative of precursory shear for example folded sediments shear bands and penetrative mineral fabrics these characteristics suggest that the mode of formation and evolution of this decollement zone may be unique from that of most thrust faults we propose that the decollement zone propagates not as a shear fracture controlled by tectonic stress conditions but rather as a subhorizontal tension fracture propagating under high pore pressures to test this possibility physical property measurements and clay mineral fabrics were obtained for several samples from the nankai decollement zone using computed tomography and x ray texture methods our findings suggest that deformation within the decollement zone is partitioned into a volumetric component preserved as reduced porosities within coherent fragments and a localized shear component evidenced by mineral preferred orientations along discrete slip surfaces we suggest that the reduced porosities result from the destruction of cementation in the sediments during the early stages of deformation and may arise from cyclic fatiguing of the sediment induced by fluctuating pore pressures the nonpenetrative shear fabrics probably develop as the tectonic deformation front migrates seaward and the weakened protodecollement subsequently accommodates shear displacements along discrete fractures

conditions for hydrofracture and the fluid permeability of accretionary wedges abstract the dewatering of fine grained sediment piles in accretionary wedges is controlled by zones of active deformation episodic hydrofracture in these zones enhances permeability enabling fluid flow to be faster than the speed of underthrusting here i investigate the mechanics of simultaneous shear failure and hydrofracture in muddy rocks as a function of the faulting mode the physical properties of model rock types are chosen to represent uncemented mud or cherty marly mudstones that have undergone significant diagenesis during thrust faulting hydrofracture always requires pore fluid pressures in excess of the lithostatic load whereas shallow level wrenching or normal faulting permits hydrofracture at hydrostatic pressures significantly lower than lithostatic load all three faulting modes are expected to occur in an accretionary wedge attempting to dynamically maintain its critical taper the model computations indicate that in the upper 80 120 m of a section of soft mudstone hydrofracture inevitably accompanies wrench or normal faulting hard mudstones inevitably hydrofracture to depths of up to 1400 m during normal faulting these differences in mechanical behaviour have profound consequences for fluid venting capabilities of accretionary wedges they influence hydrocarbon trapping and play a role in the localisation of mud diapirs and mud volcanism

deep water niger delta fold and thrust belt modeled as a critical taper wedge the influence of elevated basal fluid pressure on structural styles we use critical taper wedge mechanics theory to show that the niger delta toe thrust system deforms above a very weak basal detachment induced by high pore fluid pressure the niger delta exhibits similar rock properties but an anomalously low taper sum of the bathymetric slope and dip of the basal detachment compared with most orogenic fold belts this low taper implies that the niger delta has a very weak basal detachment which we interpret to reflect elevated pore fluid pressure 0 90 within the akata formation a prodelta marine shale that contains the basal detachment horizon the weak basal detachment zone has a significant influence on the structural styles in the deep water niger delta fold belts the overpressured and thereby weak akata shales ductilely deform within the cores of anticlines and in the hanging walls of toe thrust structures leading to the development of shear fault bend folds and detachment anticlines that form the main structural trap types in the deep water fold belts moreover the low taper shape leads to the widespread development of backthrust zones as well as the presence of large relatively undeformed regions that separate the deep water fold and thrust belts this study expands the use of critical taper wedge mechanics concepts to passive margin settings while documenting the influence of elevated basal fluid pressures on the structure and tectonics of the deep water niger delta

back scattered electron imagery of the tectonic fabrics of some fine grained sediments implications for fabric nomenclature and deformation processes back scattered electron investigations of argille scagliose mudstones from the barbados forearc sampled during ocean drilling program leg 110 and the matrix of the okitsu melange southwest japan indicate a variety of microfabric geometries and deformation mechanisms despite the similarity of their mesoscopic scaly fabrics in the okitsu melange the scaly fabric is the mesoscopic expression of an anastomosing microfabric whereas the detailed geometry of scaly fabrics is unrelated to the microfabric in the argille scagliose and leg 110 mudstones care must be taken in the classification and interpretation of scaly fabrics in light of these data and future studies should focus on microstructural investigations

seismicity and seismic gap in the lesser antilles arc and earthquake hazard in guadeloupe summary a seismic study of the lesser antilles arc has been carried out first for the period 1950 1978 for which we can use local seismic networks to draw maps of instrumental seismicity then for the period 1530 1950 for which we have catalogues of felt earthquakes the striking feature of the spatial distribution of foci is the cluster of epicentres in the northern half of the arc all large earthquakes m 7 5 are located north of 14 latitude seismicity cross sections through the arc show a variable dipping subduction zone along the arc the deep seismic zone is steeper in the centre of the arc than on the extremity the time space diagram for historical seismicity and the evidence of a seismic gap at the east of guadeloupe lead us to consider the northern half arc as a likely site for a large earthquake in the near future the seismic slip rate calculated from all major earthquakes since 1530 is of much greater value than that obtained from recent plate tectonic models suggesting that the recurrence rate of earthquakes is more than many hundreds of years with a possible aseismic creep

gravity anomalies and isostasy deduced from new dense gravimetry around the tsangpo gorge tibet we built the first dense gravity network including 107 stations around the tsangpo gorge tibet one of the hardest places in the world to reach and conducted a gravity and hybrid gps observation campaign in 2016 we computed the bouguer gravity anomalies bgas and free air gravity anomalies fgas and increased the resolution of the fgas by merging the in situ data with eigen 6c4 gravity model data the bgas around the tsangpo gorge are in general negative and gradually decrease from south 360 mgal to north 480 mgal they indicate a uniformly dipping moho around the tsangpo gorge that sinks from south to north at an angle of 12 we introduced a method to compute the vertical tectonic stress of the lithosphere a quantitative expression of isostasy using bga and terrain data and applied it to the area around the tsangpo gorge we found that the lithosphere of the upstream of the tsangpo gorge is roughly in an isostatic state but the lithosphere of the downstream exhibits vertical tectonic stress of 50 mpa which indicates the loss of a large amount of surface material this result doesn t support the deduction of the valley bottom before uplift of the tsangpo gorge by wang et al 2014

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

thrust related mudstone fabrics from the barbados forearc a backscattered scanning electron microscope study backscattered electron imaging on the scanning electron microscope has been used to examine the nature of microfabrics in mudstones from the barbados forearc samples from two important tectonic junctions in hole 671b of ocean drilling program leg 110 have been examined in detail at thrust a 128 m depth clays and clasts are pervasively aligned at about 50 to the thrust surface and a macroscopic scaly fabric is defined by anastamosing fractures in the decollement zone 500 550 m depth there is no preferred alignment of clays or clasts even though an irregular macroscopic scaly fabric is present scaly fabric in hole 671b is in part an artifact of specimen desiccation but may also reflect the release of anisotropic elastic strain relating to in situ stress conditions the disclosure that scaly fabric does not relate to grain alignment has profound implications for the nature of the barbados decollement seismic reflector the reflector does not correspond to a fabric anisotropy and is most likely to relate to the documented fluid flow anomaly in the decollement in contrast to scaly fabrics the microfabrics are the product of sediment deformation history the differences between the microfabrics at thrust a and those in the decollement probably relate to contrasts in deformation conditions in the decollement deformation probably occurred by paniculate flow under high pore fluid pressures where the individual panicles were aggregates of phyllosilicates at thrust a high pore fluid pressures were not maintained due to surface proximity enabling preconsolidation stresses to be exceeded as a result a pervasive phyllosilicate alignment has developed

fluid flow along a decollement layer a model applied to the 16 n section of the barbados accretionary wedge a seismic section across the whole barbados accretionary complex at 16 n recently published by westbrook et al 1988 shows that the reflection marking the decollement fades between 40 and 60 km arcward of the deformation front but is present again further inland this interruption appears to be related to a thrust cutting through the wedge one dimensional steady state models of water flow along the decollement suggest a mechanism responsible for decollement disruption a local increase of the slope either of the wedge or of the decollement causes the subducted layer to compact and locally increases the friction along the decollement if the thrust is used as a conduit for fluids to escape from the decollement the friction along the decollement toeward of the thrust is further increased the model also shows that the permeability of the decollement should be of the order of 10 14 m2 but may be higher near the deformation front for short periods if fluid expulsion mainly occurs in transient bursts associated with hydraulic fracturing as a consequence of the non linearity of the compaction equation pore pressure at depth in the decollement depends on the water flux on the lithostatic pressure gradient along the decollement and on the parameters from which the physical properties of the sediment are calculated however it is almost independent on the pore pressure below the toe

structural architecture and active deformation of the nankai accretionary prism japan submersible survey results from the tenryu submarine canyon two research cruises that deployed submersible surveys were undertaken along the tenryu submarine canyon to directly observe the structural architecture of the eastern nankai accretionary prism off the coast of southern japan the surveys have demonstrated that the accreted sediments are strongly deformed turbidite sequences that occur in repeated thrust anticline structures from the leading edge of the prism near the trench toward the arc the following deformation zones have been identified within the prism frontal thrust zone prism toe zone imbricate thrust zone and tokai thrust zone or out of sequence thrust or oost zone the frontal thrust zone is characterized by debris deposits within the hanging wall that have an age of 0 0 43 ma as determined from radiolarian biostratigraphy the prism toe zone is characterized by unconsolidated turbidite sequences that are 1 98 3 4 ma these sequences are cut by normal and thrust faults the imbricate thrust zone includes consolidated muddy layers and unconsolidated sandy layers that contain numerous fracture cleavages the oost zone consists of highly deformed consolidated sediments ranging in age from 0 18 to 1 03 ma from the prism toe zone to the imbricate thrust zone the uniaxial compressive strength increases gradually from 0 5 3 0 to 1 0 6 0 mpa while the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility changes from oblate to prolate shapes and porosity decreases from 40 50 to 30 50 these data indicate that the eastern nankai accretionary prism appears to have been deformed toward the imbricate thrust zone just south of the oost stable isotope analyses of calcite veins and calcite cement of the sandstone samples from the tokai thrust zone have shown that fluid temperatures for calcite precipitation were 24 63 c in the oost zone the occurrence of highly deformed and consolidated rocks within the nankai accretionary prism likely resulted from tectonic transportation of deeply buried rocks along major out of sequence thrust faults such as the tokai oost we infer therefore that out of sequence thrust faults play a major role in transporting deeply buried deformed rocks in accretionary prisms to the shallower depths and even to the seafloor during ongoing subduction

the interaction of deformation and metamorphism in slates abstract the distribution microchemistry and internal structure of phases present in a slate are reported and used as a basis for a discussion of the interaction between deformation and metamorphism in slates the study reveals details of the interactions between mechanical and chemical processes involved in slaty cleavage evolution evidence for the involvement of mechanical rotation solution and crystallisation recrystallisation and metamorphic reactions is presented and amalgamated into a model of cleavage development the model involves a synchronous variation in the type location and rate of cleavage evolution processes and a change in the importance of particular processes during the total history the early stages of cleavage development are dominated by mechanical rotation associated with crenulation and possibly accompanied by grain boundary sliding and solution processes later stages of cleavage evolution are more heterogeneous and occur by a complex interaction of deformation and metamorphic growth processes which are concentrated at the interfaces between domains generated earlier in the strain history the variations in grain chemistry and orientation together with changes in the strain rate or stress level are suggested to control the different deformation behaviour of different grains along these strain accommodation zones and to dictate whether grains bend kink dissolve recrystallise or react and undergo growth evidence for the involvement of reactions ranging from ionic exchange to crystallisation from solution and solid state reordering is presented and the influence of deformation on the location and rates of these reactions discussed approximately ten potential reactions are involved in the cleavage evolution of the slate studied the model presented incorporates these reactions into the deformation processes and accounts for the concentration of phengite and iron poor chlorites in to one microstructural domain and paragonite quartz and fe rich chlorites into the other domain two transformations appear to be fundamental in the slate studied 1 1 the transformation of illite to phengite 2 2 the transformation of fe rich chlorite to fe poor chlorites and both can be related to particular responses of grains to the reorientation processes at domain interfaces

secondary cleavages in ductile shear zones abstract secondary cleavages developed at late stages in ductile shear zones show several features that are inconsistent with progressive simple shear in the zone these are the orientation of a single secondary cleavage oblique to the shear zone boundaries conjugate sets with opposite senses of shear and multiple sets with the same sense of shear these features can be explained if the bulk flow is partitioned into slip along discrete failure planes parallel to the primary foliation s coaxial stretching along the foliation and spin

extensive underthrusting of undeformed sediment beneath the accretionary complex of the lesser antilles subduction zone along the eastern margin of the caribbean plate which overrides the atlantic oceanic lithosphere at 20 km myr 1 in an easterly direction1 east of the lesser antilles island arc lies a wide accretionary complex barbados ridge complex 260 km wide at the latitude of barbados and 20 km thick beneath barbados3 4 it increases in width and thickness from north to south2 fig 1 the style of deformation varies considerably along the eastern margin of the complex2 3 5 11 and is related to the thickness and type of sediment on the atlantic ocean floor a common feature is that a proportion of undeformed sediment from the ocean floor is brought beneath the deformed sediments of the accretionary complex and in some areas a clearly defined seismic reflector separates the deformed and undeformed sediments which has been interpreted as a decollement surface5 12 13 a seismic section from an investigation of the accretionary complex conducted from rss discovery in 1980 using 12 channel seismic reflection and long range side scan sonar gloria shows undeformed sedimentary rocks carried horizontally 74 km beneath deformed rocks forming the accretionary wedge we report here that the low shear stresses required on the decollement between the deformed and undeformed rocks are made possible by porewater at pressures close to that of the lithostatic load

structure of the accretionary complex of barbados i chalky mount the island of barbados is underlain by a basal tectonic complex that may be representative of rocks and structures of the structural high of the accretionary prism of the lesser antilles arc at chalky mount the complex consists of six fault bounded packets of east northeast strike and steep dips the packets are composed of deformed but generally coherent cenozoic sedimentary rocks terrigenous turbidite in five of the packets and hemipelagic rocks in the sixth there is no evident stratigraphic affiliation among beds in any of the six packets rocks in fault packets underwent sequential deformations most of which can be timed as early contemporaneous or late with respect to cessation of interpacket motions early structures in packet 1 consist of a main fold train with easterly striking axial planes and related thrusts broken formation and homoaxially refolded folds packet 1 also contains later open folds with northeast strikes packets 2 4 are relatively thin slices within a fault complex the chalky mount fault zone in which late left oblique slip occurred on two of the four faults of the zone packet 5 contains three phases of deformation an early near recumbent major fold marginal belts of fault related second folds and open post fault third folds packet 6 includes early folds that are tightened and reoriented toward its northern fault boundary where it is locally a thrust early structures in each packet are the most pervasive and record the major stratal shortening shortening in each packet is approximately normal to packet boundaries and early axes lie in the plane of the boundaries packet boundaries are interpreted as surfaces of accretion and early structures as deformations generated during transfer of layer successions from an ocean floor to the front of the accretionary prism contemporaneous and post fault structures are local and are due to displacements during reactivation of faults mainly inter packet within the accretionary prism early structures at chalky mount developed in the brittle state apparently with displacements taken up by sliding between grains and along layer boundaries all structures record distinctly nonmetamorphic environments

slip vectors and fault mechanics in the makran accretionary wedge southwest pakistan the makran is a broadly east west trending arcuate accretionary wedge currently forming where the oceanic floor of the gulf of oman is being subducted north northeastward beneath the south asian margin two traverses across the makran coast ranges extending about 80 km inland from the coastline which lies about 100 km north of the wedge front show that the structure of this region is dominated by large back rotated south directed thrust faults and associated folds related structures include duplexes fault gouge containing reidel shears and melange along fault zones these structures are cut by later north directed backthrusts out of sequence south directed thrusts and apparently conjugate sets of nne trending sinistral and nw trending dextral strike slip faults slip vectors were determined from slickenlines fiber lineations gouge fabrics and riedel shears vectors from early thrusts and bedding parallel slip surfaces corrected for tectonic rotation form a broad south directed concentration lying between the normal to the regional strike varying from 160 to 180 and the present plate convergence vector 200 locally the concentration is bimodal this pattern may represent the interaction between plate forces and body forces in the accretionary wedge the late thrusts have widely variable slip vectors and stair step off the early thrusts they overlap in orientation and slip vector with gently dipping sinistral strike slip faults suggesting that they also stair step in plan off the latter the steep strike slip faults represent the final tectonic stage involving minor n s shortening and longitudinal extension these three stages probably occurred in sequence in any one area but migrated diachronously southward as the wedge grew

anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility analysis of deformed kaolinite implications for evaluating landslides plane strain tests were performed on seven kaolinite blocks each of which developed shear bands anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility ams analysis of the kaolinite reveals a threshold degree of magnetic anisotropy p exceeding which shear bands develop since p is a strain intensity gauge and soils are known to develop shear bands prior to landsliding it is concluded that soil in every landslide prone region must have its unique threshold p exceeding which it develops shear bands before failing therefore ams monitoring of soil in landslide prone regions is proposed as a potential tool in the management of natural hazard zones

evolution of structures and fabrics in the barbados accretionary prism insights from leg 110 of the ocean drilling program the microstructures and crystal fabrics associated with the development of an amphibolite facies quartzo feldspathic mylonitic shear zone torridon nw scotland have been investigated using sem electron channelling our results illustrate a variety of microstructures and fabrics which attest to a complex shear zone deformation history microstructural variation is particularly pronounced at low shear strains significant intragranular deformation occurs via a domino faulting style process whilst mechanical incompatibilities between individual grains result in characteristic grain boundary deformation accommodation microstructures a sudden reduction in grain size defines the transition to medium shear strains but many of the boundaries inherited from the original and low shear strain regions can still be recognized and define distinctive bands oriented at low angles to the shear zone margin grains within these bands have somewhat steeper preferred dimensional orientations these domains persist into the high shear strain mylonitic region where they are oriented subparallel to the shear zone margin and consist of sub 20 m grains the microstructures suggest that the principal deformation mechanism was intracrystalline plasticity with contributions from grain size reduction via dynamic recrystallization grain boundary migration and grain boundary sliding crystal fabrics measured from the shear zone vary with position depending on the shear strain involved and are consistent with the operation of several crystal slip systems e g prism basal rhomb and acute rhomb planes in a consistent direction probably parallel to a and or m they also reveal the presence of dauphine twinning and suggest that this may be a significant process in quartz deformation a single crystal fabric evolution path linking the shear zone margin fabric with the mylonitic fabric was not observed rather the mylonitic fabric reflects the instantaneous fabric which developed at a particular location for a particular shear strain and original parental grain orientation the mature shear zone therefore consists of a series of deformed original grains stacked on top of each other in a manner which preserves original grain boundaries and intragranular features which develop during shear zone evolution the stability of some microstructures to higher shear strains the exploitation of others at lower shear strains and a continuously evolving crystal fabric mean that the strain gradient observed across many shear zones is unlikely to be equivalent to a time gradient

the tectonic fabric of the barbados ridge accretionary complex abstract a map showing near surface structure and other surficial geological features on the barbados ridge accretionary complex has been constructed from gloria long range side scan sonographs detailed bathymetric surveys using seabeam and single and multichannel seismic reflection sections the map shows major variations in the size orientation and style of structures across the accretionary complex that are principally related to the increasing thickness of the complex and the sediment drape upon it and variations along the complex that derive from the northward thinning of sediment accreted from the ocean floor and the effects of ridges in the oceanic basement the development of crossfaulting is mainly associated with basement ridges mud diapirism is abundant in the southern part of the complex and is characteristic of that part of the complex into which turbidites from the orinoco submarine fan are accreted slumping on a variety of scales is another feature of the complex the map is presented at a scale of 1 1063415 4 inches per degree of longitude and also shows bathymetry at 200 m contour intervals

the partitioning of deformation in flowing rock masses abstract most geological structures owe their development to heterogeneous and or non steady flow flow partitioning refers to the division of the instantaneous velocity field into components related to translation strain and rotation flow partitioning during the development of a geological structure usually changes with time and different histories of flow are involved at different points in the developing structure heterogeneity leads to the development of flow domains with different characteristics notably the degree of non coaxiality of deformation and different partitionings of the rotational component of flow into shear induced vorticity and spin during non steady flow there is often continual repartitioning of vorticity between the spin and shear induced components spin is an important aspect of flow leading to the development of structure this paper discusses the partitioning of deformation in a flowing rock mass coaxial flow tends to occur in isotropic materials in regions near weakly constrained boundaries non coaxial flow is favoured by suitably oriented material anisotropy and or the presence of well defined boundary constraints involving parallel relative displacements a developing anisotropy e g a crystallographic fabric in a shear zone can induce a change from coaxial to non coaxial flow other effects are related to the scale of approximation for example bulk shear induced vorticity can be locally converted to spin flow in the crust and mantle of the earth produces geological structures on all scales and involves many different types of rheological response the factors that affect flow partitioning e g spin versus non coaxial deformation are therefore of interest

structural styles and deformation fabrics of accretionary complexes intricately deformed stratally disrupted and mixed rocks produced at subduction zones have been considered structurally intractable however marine geophysical studies deep sea drilling analyses of subaerially exposed complexes and theoretical advances have recently produced breakthroughs in elucidating the structural enigmas of these accretionary complexes the penrose conference structural styles and deformational fabrics of accretionary complexes assembled specialists from the above and related research areas and addressed the research frontiers of this dynamic topic this conference in eureka california in may 1984 drew participants from great britain france canada japan and new zealand

the estimation of diffuse strains in the toe of the western nankai accretionary prism a kinematic solution arcward changes in the vertical spacing of seismically defined stratigraphic reflectors and sediment porosities determined from drill cores and seismic interval velocities suggest a compact kinematic solution for estimating diffuse deformation within accretionary prism toes the method involves the solution of the lagrangian form of the conservation of mass equation for the two dimensional finite deformation gradient field within discrete deforming domains we apply this technique to the unfaulted protothrust zone ptz along a western transect across the nankai accretionary prism in the vicinity of deep sea drilling project sites 582 and 583 the results yield horizontal shortening estimates of about 1 7 km or about 20 this shortening appears to be accommodated through different strain responses depending on the consolidation state of the sediments at the time of accretion shallow sediments respond to horizontal shortening dominantly by expelling pore fluids producing volume strains up to 30 while deeper sediments accommodate horizontal shortening dominantly through vertical extension reaching 70 in the footwall of the frontal thrust horizontal shear strains within the ptz are not well resolved by this solution due to uncertainties in the porosity distribution but they generally appear to be quite small

continental margin tectonics forearc processes recent studies of convergent plate margins and the structural development of forearc terranes are summarized in a critical review of u s research from the period 1987 1990 topics addressed include the geometry of accretionary prisms coulomb wedge taper and vertical motion in response to tectonic processes offscraping vs underplating or subduction the response to oblique convergence fluids in forearc settings the thermal framework and the effects of fluid advection and serpentinite seamounts also included is a comprehensive bibliography for the period

tectonics and geology of spreading ridge subduction at the chile triple junction a synthesis of results from leg 141 of the ocean drilling program an active oceanic spreading ridge is being subducted beneath the south american continent at the chile triple junction this process has played a major part in the evolution of most of the continental margins that border the pacific ocean basin a combination of high resolution swath bathymetric maps seismic reflection profiles and drillhole and core data from five sites drilled during ocean drilling program odp leg 141 provide important data that define the tectonic structural and stratigraphic effects of this modern example of spreading ridge subduction a change from subduction accretion to subduction erosion occurs along strike of the south american forearc this change is prominently expressed by normal faulting forearc subsidence oversteepening of topographic slopes and intensive sedimentary mass wasting overprinted on older signatures of sediment accretion overthrusting and uplift processes in the forearc data from drill sites north of the triple junction sites 859 861 show that after an important phase of forearc building in the early to late pliocene subduction accretion had ceased in the late pliocene since that time sediment on the downgoing oceanic nazca plate has been subducted site 863 was drilled into the forearc in the immediate vicinity of the triple junction above the subducted spreading ridge axis here thick and intensely folded and faulted trench slope sediments of pleistocene age are currently involved in the frontal deformation of the forearc early faults with thrust and reverse kinematics are overprinted by later normal faults the chile triple junction is also the site of apparent ophiolite emplacement into the south american forearc drilling at site 862 on the taitao ridge revealed an offshore volcanic sequence of plio pleistocene age associated with the taitao fracture zone adjacent to exposures of the pliocene aged taitao ophiolite onshore despite the large scale loss of material from the forearc at the triple junction ophiolite emplacement produces a large topographic promontory in the forearc immediately after ridge subduction and represents the first stage of forearc rebuilding

tectonostratigraphy of the glen app area southern uplands scotland anatomy of an ordovician accretionary complex the stratigraphy and structure of the glen app coastal area northwestern southern uplands are characterized by structural repetition of both chaotic and coherent units of the middle ordovician caradocian tappins group the chaotic unit the currarie formation comprises blocks including basalt chert and terrigenous sedimentary rocks set in folded and in places sheared red to grey siliceous mudstone the coherent unit is turbiditic and is divided into the dalreoch formation in the north and the corsewall formation in the south the former is characterized by inclined isoclinal folds and thrusts whereas the latter shows a homoclinal dip although both are largely overturned northwards small scale duplexes are observed within the coherent turbidites of the dalreoch formation and chaotic units larger duplexes identified on the basis of mapping are oriented at an oblique angle to the general trend of regional structures the chemistry of basalt blocks within the currarie formation shows a within plate type suggesting an origin as seamounts the tectono stratigraphy of the area is interpreted as the result of accretion of a substantial seamount at a subduction zone during mid ordovician time thrust interleaving of chaotic and coherent units is inferred to have taken place in and above the decollement zone while thick turbidite beds without strong folding were probably preserved below the decollement and emplaced below a large scale nappe interpretation of the glen app area as part of an accretionary complex confirms that an ocean basin remained open in part of the iapetus system at least until caradocian times