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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 98, No. 2 (February 2014), P. 227251.

Copyright copy2014. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/05311312006

Fault Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit-distance relationships as indicators of contractional fault-related folding style

Amanda N. Hughes,1 John H. Shaw2

1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; ahughes@post.harvard.edu
2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, 20 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138; shaw@eps.harvard.edu

ABSTRACT

We present a method of using fault Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit-distance profiles to distinguish fault-bend, shear fault-bend, and fault-propagation folds, and use these insights to guide balanced and retrodeformable interpretations of these structures. We first describe the Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit profiles associated with different end-member fault-related folding models, then provide examples of structures that are consistent with these model-based predictions. Natural examples are imaged in high-resolution two- and three dimensional seismic reflection data sets from the Niger Delta, Sichuan Basin, Sierras Pampeanas, and Cascadia to record variations in Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit with distance updip along faults (termed Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit-distance profiles). Fault-bend folds exhibit constant Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit along fault segments and changes in Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit associated with bends in faults, shear fault-bend folds demonstrate an increase in Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit through the shearing interval, and fault-propagation folds exhibit decreasing Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit toward the fault tip. More complex structures are then investigated using this method, demonstrating that Previous HitdisplacementNext Hit-distance profiles can be used to provide insight into structures that involve multiple fault-related folding processes or have changed kinematic behavior over time. These interpretations are supported by comparison with the kinematics inferred from the geometry of growth strata overlying these structures. Collectively, these analyses illustrate that the Previous HitdisplacementTop-distance approach can provide valuable insights into the styles of fault-related folding.

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