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In salt-detached fold-and-thrust belts, contractional modification of diapirs may include decapitation by thrusting, but examples are not well known in the subsurface and unreported in outcrop. Her...

The Central High Atlas (Morocco) constitutes a diapiric province that hosts a complex array of elongated diapirs and minibasins that formed during the Lower Jurassic rift of the Atlas Basin. This paper aims to study the structure and growth evolution of the Tazoult diapiric wall, located in the Central High Atlas, by means of structural and sedimentological fieldwork integrated with remote sensing mapping. The Tazoult salt wall is a 20 km long x 3 km wide NE-SW trending ridge that exposes Upper Triassic red beds and basalts along its core. The succession flanking the salt wall ranges from Hettangian to Bajocian ages displaying spectacular sedimentary wedges in the SE and NW flanks. The Hettangian-early Sinemurian carbonates mainly crop out as blocks embedded in the core rocks. The ~1-km thick Pliensbachian platform carbonates display large subvertical flap structures along the flanks of the Tazoult salt wall with unconformities bounding tapered composite halokinetic sequences. In contrast, the ~2.5-km thick late Pliensbachian-Aalenian mixed deposits form tabular composite halokinetic sequences displaying small-scale hook halokinetic sequences. Passive diapirism resulted in the lateral extrusion of the evaporite-bearing rocks to form an allochthonous salt sheet towards the adjacent SE Amezrai minibasin. The Bajocian platform carbonates partially fossilized the Tazoult salt wall and thus constitute a key horizon to constrain the timing of diapir growth and discriminate diapirism from Alpine shortening. The Pliensbachian carbonate platform evolved as a long flap structure during the early growth of the Tazoult salt wall, well before the onset of the Alpine shortening.

The Sivas Basin in the Central Anatolian Plateau (Turkey), which formed in the context of a foreland fold-and-thrust belt (FTB), exhibits a typical wall and basin (WAB) province characterized by symmetric minibasins separated by continuous steep-flanked walls and diapirs. Extensive fieldwork including regional and detailed local mapping of the contacts and margins of minibasins, and interpretation of a set of 2-D regional seismic lines, provide evidence for the development of a shallow evaporite level separating two generations of minibasins within the WAB province. Here beds of symmetric exposed minibasins along diapir flank are younger than minibasins observed over autochthonous evaporites. Laterally away from the WAB province, increase in wavelength of the tectonic structures suggests a deepening of the decollement level. We interpret that a shallower evaporite level developed in the form of an evaporite canopy, triggered by significant lateral shortening. The Upper Eocene-Lower Oligocene autochthonous Tuzhisar evaporite level was remobilized by the northward migrating sedimentary load and the tilting of the southern basin margin during propagation of the foreland fold-and-thrust belt. Asymmetric and symmetric primary minibasins were overrun by an allochthonous sheet forming a canopy. A second generation of salt withdrawal minibasins subsided into the allochthonous salt sheet. The polygonal pattern of the WAB province influences the growing fold-and-thrust belt system during the late stage of the secondary minibasins development. The Sivas FTB basin is the result of the interaction between fold-and-thrust belt propagation, evaporite remobilization, and interaction between evaporite flow and sedimentation in the minibasins.

This research was carried out with the aid of grants by CSIC-ESF 2007–2013 JAE-Doc postdoctoral research contract (E.S.) and with funding from the Spanish Research Agency through projects CGL2009-1355, CGL2011-26670, and CGL2010-15416. Additional funding was provided by Atlas Project and Statoil Research Center

Analysis of block assemblages, matrix clay mineral composition and microfauna, and offshore seismic reflection profiles reveal that the Bobonaro melange in the Timor region is sourced from mud-rich Australian continental margin sequences that are remobilized during accretion and form various facies depending on the structural conditions of emplacement. Melange facies include broken formation, matrix-rich mud injections, and classic mixed block-in-clay facies. Each of these are distinguished by varying degrees of remobilization, mixing, and dispersion at different structural positions across the orogenic wedge. The most important structural control is whether melange was generated beneath or in front of upper plate Banda forearc basement (Banda Terrane). At the present collisional deformation front in the Timor trough, seismic reflection profiles show that melange forms mostly by stratal detachment and fluid-assisted remobilization above a basal decollement propagating laterally along overpressured Jurassic to Cretaceous clay-rich sequences of the distal Australian continental margin. The broken, clay-rich material injects upward through faults to form intrusive bodies at the base of slope cover sediment to form mud ridges at the surface. Similar patterns of stratal disruption are exposed onshore in the Pliocene Kolbano fold and thrust wedge of southern Timor, which is structurally contiguous with the Timor trough deformation front. Melange in the Kolbano Mountains is mostly broken formation and matrix-rich injections of mud from Jurassic and Cretaceous units. Deformation mechanisms include intense layer-parallel extension associated with emplacement by mud diapirs that rise from near the decollement upward to the surface along fault conduits. In the hinterland of the orogenic wedge (East Timor and northern West Timor), melange is dominantly of mixed block-in-clay facies with large blocks derived from roof thrust sheets of intermixed Banda Terrane and Maubisse Formation units. At the structural base of these thrust sheets is the Sonnebait Disruption Zone (SDZ), which formed the initial suture between the Banda Terrane and structurally underthrust Australian continental margin sequences during the late Miocene to early Pliocene. The thickest accumulations of mixed block-in-clay melange in the Timor region are found at the southern edge (outlet) of the SDZ, near the Central and Viqueque synorogenic basins. The extent of block dispersion and mixing in the SDZ is indicative of intense shear strains perhaps induced by an oversupply of accretable material when the suture zone was clogged by underthrusting of the Australian continental margin.

Structures produced by salt and mobile shales are commonly similar; however, the material behavior of the two is different. Salt mobility is a fundamental material property, shale mobility only occurs if overpressured fluids are present. Dewatering of shales will stop their mobility, while renewed burial or the onset of an internal overpressuring process (e.g., diagenetic release of water or hydrocarbon generation) may renew mobility. Consequently, structures in mobile salt will envolve continuously until salt withdrawal produces touchdowns sufficient to stop salt mobility. Shale mobility may follow a deformation sequence similar to salt, or it may display a more episodic evolution reflecting critical overpressuring events. While salt mobility is confined to specific lithological units, the same is not the case for shale. The overpressuring of shales is strongly dependent on depth, so that mobile shale zones may cut across time/bedding boundaries. The differences in mechanical behavior lead to differences in structural style although many basic aspects of gravity tectonics remain the same. (1) Prekinematic structures and synkinematic deformation occur in both salt and shale tectonics. However, much of the prekinematic deformation in mobile shale-dominated deltas may be lost by burial and conversion of the prekinematic sequence into mobile shales. (2) Fault-dominated depocenters occur in salt and shale tectonics. In the Niger delta, overpressured shales vary in thickness from thin decollement zones to massive chaotic zones some 4–6 km thick. Fault-controlled basins develop over mobile shales. Maximum basin depth is approximately the thickness of the mobile shale plus the thickness of the overlying pregrowth fault strata (i.e., some 4–8 km). (3) Diapirs are common to both salt and shale tectonics. Normal faults associated with reactive diapirism are common in both. Salt has the potential to almost completely evacuate a particular volume, resulting in local touchdowns or welds. Shale may also create touchdown areas, but complete collapse is uncommon because a large volume of immobile dewatered shale is usually left behind. (4) Salt nappes can cover extensive areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Some limited shale tongues occur in the Niger delta. They form imbricate thrusts that pass down dip into gravity flows and slumped blocks of shale derived from the exposed mobile shale.

The inversion of crustal-scale basement grabens is studied here through laboratory experiments on small-scale models and available oil industry seismic lines from the southern North Sea. Two basic configurations are considered. First, both the basement and the sedimentary cover are brittle, and inversion does not involve any potential decollement between them. Second, the basement and sedimentary cover are separated by a weak ductile layer (e.g., salt), which can allow decollement of the cover during both extension and later compression and inversion. The second configuration is more complicated and can lead to a large variety of geological structures. Laboratory experiments were carried out on brittle-ductile models built with sand to represent brittle layers (basement and sedimentary cover) and silicone putty to simulate the decollement layer between basement and cover. A mechanically based classification of inversion structures is proposed. The effects of some crucial parameters are investigated, including obliquity between the direction of shortening and normal faults, as well as strength profiles, and the presence or absence of salt diapirs. The experimental investigation leads to the following conclusions: (1) the inversion of the graben by reactivation of normal faults implies that the angle between the direction of compression and the graben is less than 45°, (2) if there is a superficial decollement (e.g., basement-cover interface), inversion initiates low dipping thrust faults in the cover, localized at graben borders, (3) salt diapirs or salt walls localized along the graben borders in the cover are preferential sites for the development of thrust faults, and (4) when the cover is decoupled from the basement by a decollement layer, inversion induced deformation in the cover which is partitioned between thrust faults along the graben borders and strike-slip faults within the graben trending oblique to the graben borders. Experimental results are compared with field examples, in particular from the southern North Sea.

Simultaneous inversion of P wave arrivals of 262 local earthquakes, recorded in the region of the Dead Sea, was carried out to model the velocity stratification in the underlying crust and uppermost mantle. The resulting tomographic model delineates several large magmatic domes, rising from the lower crust, at depth of approximately 20 km, and ascending more than 12 km into the overlying intermediate crust. Commonly, the domal ascent took place along the boundary faults of the Dead Sea rift. The domes are elliptical in shape, measuring nearly 5 × 15 km in diameter, and are spaced about 20 km apart. Earthquake foci are abundant around the diapirs but rare within them. The occurrence of these magmatic diapirs under the Dead Sea implies anomalously high temperatures with metastable stratification in the lower crust and suggests magmatic upwelling.

[1] We present estimates of slip rates for active faults in the External Dinarides. This thrust-and-fold belt formed in the Adria-Eurasia collision zone by the progressive formation of NE-dipping thrusts in the footwalls of older structures. We calculated the long-term horizontal velocity field, slip rates and related uncertainties for active faults using a thin-shell finite element method. We incorporated active faults with different effective fault frictions, rheological properties, appropriate geodynamic boundary conditions, laterally varying heat flow and topography. The results were obtained by comparing the modeled maximum compressive horizontal stress orientations with the World Stress Map database. The calculated horizontal velocities decrease from the southeastern External Dinarides to the northwestern parts of the thrust-and-fold belt. This spatial pattern is also evident in the long-term slip rates of active faults. The highest slip rate was obtained for the Montenegro active fault, while the lowest rates were obtained for active faults in northwestern Slovenia. Low slip rates, influenced by local active diapirism, are also characteristic for active faults in the offshore central External Dinarides. These findings are contradictory to the concept of Adria as an internally rigid, aseismic lithospheric block because the faults located in its interior release a part of the regional compressive stress. We merged the modeling results and available slip rate estimates to obtain a composite solution for slip rates.

[1] Migmatite domes are common in metamorphic core complexes. Dome migmatites deform in the partially molten or magmatic state and commonly record complex form surfaces, folds, and fabrics while units mantling the dome display a simpler geometry, typically formed by transposition during crustal extension. We use field observations and magnetic fabrics in the Naxos dome (Greece) to quantify the complex flow of anatectic crust beneath an extensional detachment system. The internal structure of the Naxos dome is characterized by second-order domes (subdomes), pinched synforms, and curved lineation trajectories, which suggest that buoyancy-driven flow participated in dome evolution. Subdomes broadly occur within two compartments that are separated by a steep, N-S oriented, high-strain zone. This pattern has been recognized in domes formed by polydiapirism and in models of isostasy-dominated flow. The preferred model involves a combination of buoyancy- and isostasy-driven processes: the Naxos dome may have been generated by regional N-S extension that triggered convergent flow of partially molten crust at depth and the upwelling of anatectic migmatites within the dome. This pattern is complicated by gravitational instabilities and/or overturning of the high melt fraction crust leading to the growth of subdomes. As the migmatites within the Naxos dome reached a higher structural level, they were affected by regional top-to-the-NNE kinematics of the detachment system. Dome formation therefore occurred by a combination of coeval and coupled processes: upper crustal extension, deep crust contraction during convergent flow of anatectic crust, diapirism and/or density-driven crustal convection forming subdomes, and north directed detachment kinematics.

[1] Three primary salt tectonic structural styles of the Scotian Basin are compared with plane strain finite element models in order to investigate their origin. Here, we focus on simplified model salt basins with initial rectangular cross-sectional geometries and follow their evolution in the context of tectonic and parametric thermal subsidence and under various sedimentation regimes. Structural style A, an open-ended roho system with a synkinematic wedge, is reproduced by models including deltaic progradation and seaward spreading/gliding of sediments above a salt detachment. Structural style B, a linked salt tectonic system with landward regional normal faults and allochthonous salt sheets climbing seaward over Late Cretaceous and Paleogene strata, is shown to be a consequence of early aggradation followed by progradation. Structural style C is characterized by salt diapirs and intervening minibasins and is reproduced by models with Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities requiring compaction driven density inversions, weak sediments, and initial perturbations of the overburden-salt interface.

[1] The Zagros Mountains result from the ongoing collision between the Arabian and central Iran plates. The main features of the eastern Zagros are (1) numerous emerged or buried salt diapirs, made up of Late Precambrian Hormuz salt and (2) the irregular along-strike shape of the collision-related detachment folds with frequent bending. To understand this layout, four geological cross sections have been constructed from the Persian Gulf foreland basin to the inner part of the Zagros Fold-and-Thrust Belt. Shortening in the deformed parts of the sections is less than 10% and is mainly accommodated by detachment folding. We show that late Cenozoic folding occurred in a region that was already punctuated by salt domes and diapirs. In fact, almost continuous halokinesis developed since the earlier Paleozoic, i.e., just short time after the deposition of the Hormuz salt, and continued up to the Present. These preexisting salt structures and their relevant local thickening strongly influenced both the localization and the direction of folds.

[1] The Perdido Fold Belt (PFB) is a prominent saltcored deep water structure in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. It is characterized by symmetric, kink-banded folds of a � 4.5 km thick prekinematic layer and its vicinity to the extensive Sigsbee Salt Canopy. We use 2-D finite element numerical models to study the evolution of the PFB as a gravity-driven fold belt both in a local context and in the context of the larger-scale passive margin, influenced by adjacent allochthonous salt structures. We show that parameters such as overburden strength, salt geometry, or salt viscosity determine timing, extent, and location of the modeled fold belt. Simplified models of the Gulf of Mexico show that toe-of-slope folding is a viable mechanism to develop diapirs in the deep salt basin and to delay folding of the distal overburden. In this scenario, the PFB likely represents the terminal folding of a much larger, diachronously formed fold belt system. Citation: Gradmann, S., C. Beaumont, and M. Albertz (2009), Factors controlling the evolution of the Perdido Fold Belt, northwestern Gulf of Mexico, determined from numerical models, Tectonics, 28, TC2002, doi:10.1029/2008TC002326.

[1] Diapirism in the La Popa basin NE Mexico was triggered and sustained by compressional decollement tectonics. Coeval development of contractional structures and diapirs was recorded by growth strata of Late Cretaceous-Tertiary age. A palinspastic reconstruction of a regional cross section, based on the restoration of growth strata related to both diapirs and detachment folds, was carried out. On the basis of this reconstruction and field data, a three-dimensional geometrical study was done to quantify the movement of evaporites within the detachment horizon and two diapirs. The latter allowed determining the tectonodiapiric potential of a structure or set of structures (i.e., the amount of ductile rocks forced to flow in association with the growth of a tectonic structure, which is not accommodated by thickening of the ductile horizon nor by the tectonic structure itself, and is capable of producing diapiric phenomena). This study demonstrates that there is a direct coupling between tectonodiapiric potential and diapiric activity. Geometrical results show that the main factors that controlled the amount of ductile material moved as a consequence of compressional tectonics were shortening, the depth to detachment, the folding style, and the style of deformation process (i.e., pure shear/simple shear). In response to folding, the overburden experienced a downward movement that was the major cause of diapiric phenomena. In addition to field and geometrical data, mechanical data indicate that forceful intrusion was the prevailing emplacement mechanism. Temperatures (>150°–197°C) and strain rates (in the order of 10−16–10−17 s−1) calculated for top of the evaporite layer were adequate for the flow of these rocks from the initiation of compression onward. However, an inferred overpressure in the ductile layer should be considered the key factor for the emplacement mechanism.

[1] The relations between detachment folding, fold amplification, and salt diapirism in contractional settings have been investigated by means of scaled analogue models. The viscosity of the silicone layer simulating salt in nature and the shortening rates were combined in order to reproduce weak (type 1 models) and strong (type 2 models) decollements. Deformation patterns in the roof sequence exhibited two contrasting styles, (1) outward propagation of detachment folding along the decollement (OFP mode) and (2) passive roof duplex (PRD mode). In type 2 models, detachment folding propagated away from the most external thrust in the floor sequence, while in type 1 models, long-lived detachment folds almost invariably localized amplified above a floor thrust tip as a result of strain localization. A silicone wall intruded occasionally into the crestal graben of detachment folds in type 1 and OFP models. Best fitting of transition models data points indicates nonlinear relations with regression curves close to the equilateral hyperbola equation for both OFP-PRD and amplified detachment folds-box folds transitions. A quantitative comparison of model results with nature has been attempted by plotting salt-based fold-and-thrust belts data points on the scaled transition curves obtained from the modeling. Such a comparison relates shear stress products and ratios to the conditions favoring the amplification of detachment folds and the potential emplacement of ductile diapirs in their core. By reducing the roof sequence strength, pore fluid pressure λb is inferred to shift the equilibrium of fold-and-thrust belts toward the field of OFP and diapirism.

[1] Previous field structural studies of the Ash Bay gneiss dome revealed an upward convex foliation with an integral east-west lineation defined by a quartzo-felspathic matrix. Unfortunately, the amphibolite facies gneisses lack traditional indicators of microfabric evolution, such as kinematic indicators, so that it is difficult to relate the foliation's orientation distribution to an emplacement mechanism for the dome. Fortunately, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility isolates a distinct microfabric because of the preferred orientation of high-susceptibility, accessory magnetite. The magnetite subfabric developed late in the metamorphic crystallization history, and its magnetic foliation and magnetic lineation are similarly oriented to the S-L fabric of the quartz-feldspar matrix. However, the magnetite foliation dips less steeply and forms a less convex domal surface than the field schistosity. The metamorphic schistosity and the magnetite foliation thus isolate the domal deflection at different stages, confirming the inflation and upward motion of the Ash Bay diapir during the closing stages of amphibolite facies metamorphism.

A new experimental method for determining the pattern of flow and three-dimensional progressive finite deformation of fluid elements in low Reynolds number (Re) viscous flow has been applied to creeping flow past a rigid sphere falling in a cylinder. This is intended as a model analogue of natural rock deformation associated with magmatic and solid-state diapirs rising through ductile crust. The kinematics of finite strain in such analogue experiments may give useful information on the development of natural structures. The experiment and a new method for quantifying the progressive finite deformation of fluid volumes in the transparent Newtonian test fluid used (SGM36) are discussed in detail. The progressive finite deformation of fluid flowing along specific streamlines passing the sphere appears to be complex and largely a function of the initial distance of fluid volumes and the particular streamlines which they follow from the flow axis. The progressive deformation history in the material surrounding a rising spherical diapir is characterized by progressive flattening and rotation of material above and progressive stretching below the sphere. The results compare favorably with the external strain pattern associated with post tectonic, mesozonal diapiric intrusions.

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

Previously proposed models for the evolution of the Tyrrhenian basin-Apenninic arc system do not seem to satisfactorily explain the dynamic relationship between extension in the Tyrrhenian and compression in the Apennines. The most important regional plate kinematic constraints that any model has to satisfy in this case are: (1) the timing of extension in the Tyrrhenian and compression in the Apennines, (2) the amount of shortening in the Apennines, (3) the amount of extension in the Tyrrhenian, and (4) Africa-Europe relative motion. The estimated contemporaneous (post-middle Miocene) amounts of extension in the Tyrrhenian and of shortening in the Apennines appear to be very similar. The extension in the Tyrrhenian Sea is mostly accomplished in an E-W direction, and cannot be straightforwardly related to the calculated N-S Africa-Europe convergence. A model of outward arc migration fits all these constraints. In a subducting system, the subduction zone is expected to migrate outward due to the sinking of the underthrusting plate into the mantle. The formation of a back-arc or internal basin, i.e. of a basin internal to the surrounding belt of compression, (in this case the Tyrrhenian Sea) is then expected to take place if the motion of the overriding plate does not compensate for the retreat of the subduction zone. The sediment cover will be stripped from the underthrusting plate by the outward migrating arc of the overriding plate, and will accumulate to form an accretionary wedge. This accretionary body will grow outward in time, and will eventually become an orogenic belt, (in this case the present Apennines) when the migrating arc collides with the stable continental foreland on the subducting plate. An arc migration model satisfactorily accounts for the basic features of the Tyrrhenian-Apennine system and for its evolution from 17 Ma to the present, and appears to be analogous to the tectonic evolution of other back-arc settings both inside and outside the Mediterranean region. An interesting implication of the proposed accretionary origin of the Apennines is that the problematic “Argille Scagliose” (scaly clays) melange units might have been emplaced as overpressured mud diapirs, as observed in other accretionary prisms, and not by gravity slides from the internal zones.