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GEOREF RECORD

Trishear fault-propagation folding

Eric A. Erslev
Trishear fault-propagation folding
Geology (Boulder) (June 1991) 19 (6): 617-620

Abstract

Previous models of fault-propagation folding used kink-band geometries to approximate folding in front of propagating thrusts. However, kink-band kinematics cannot replicate the curved fold surfaces and complex strain patterns in natural and experimental fault-propagation folds, which also occur in front of steeper reverse and normal faults. Fault-propagation fold hinges tighten and converge downward, forming a triangular zone of penetrative deformation focused on the tip of the propagating fault. The downward convergence of deformation in fault-propagation folds can be modeled as triangular shear zones. "Trishear," here defined as distributed, strain-compatible shear in a triangular (in profile) shear zone, provides an alternate kinematic model for fault-propagation folds. Trishear is analogous to simple shear in a tabular shear zone except that area balance in a triangular shear zone requires curved displacement oblique to the fault slip direction. Incremental computer models of trishear folding can replicate many geometric features of fault-propagation folds, including variably curved fold hinges, downward-tightening fold surfaces, heterogeneous strains, and multiple fault-propagation trajectories.


ISSN: 0091-7613
EISSN: 1943-2682
Coden: GLGYBA
Serial Title: Geology (Boulder)
Serial Volume: 19
Serial Issue: 6
Title: Trishear fault-propagation folding
Author(s): Erslev, Eric A.
Affiliation: Colo. State Univ., Dep. Earth Resour., Fort Collins, CO, United States
Pages: 617-620
Published: 199106
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
References: 24
Accession Number: 1991-029090
Categories: Structural geology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus.
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2017, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 1991
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