Abstract: Fault growth could be achieved by (1) synchronous increases in displacement and length or (2) rapid fault propagation succeeded by displacement-dominated growth. The second of these growth models (here referred to as the constant length model) is rarely applied to small outcrop-scale faults, yet it can account for many of the geometric and kinematic attributes of these faults. The constant length growth model is supported here using displacement profiles, displacement–length relationships and tip geometries for a system of small strike-slip faults (lengths of 1–200 m and maximum displacements of 0.001–3 m) exposed in a coastal platform in New Zealand. Displacement profiles have variable shapes that mainly reflect varying degrees of fault interaction. Increasing average displacement gradients with increasing fault size (maximum displacement and length) may indicate that the degree of interaction increases with fault size. Horsetail and synthetic splays confined to fault-tip regions are compatible with little fault propagation during much of the growth history. Fault displacements and tip geometries are consistent with a two-stage growth process initially dominated by propagation followed by displacement accumulation on faults with near-constant lengths. Retardation of propagation may arise due to fault interactions and associated reduction of tip stresses, with the early transition from propagation-to displacement-dominated growth stages produced by fault-system saturation (i.e. the onset of interactions between all faults). The constant length growth model accounts for different fault types over a range of scales and may have wide application.

Abstract: Layer-bound normal faults commonly form polygonal faults with fine-grained sediments early in their burial history. When subject to anisotropic stress conditions, these faults will be preferentially oriented. In this study we investigate how faults grow, evolve and interact within regional-scale layer-bound fault systems characterized by parallel faults. The intention is to understand the geometry and growth of faults by applying qualitative and quantitative fault analysis techniques to a 3D seismic reflection dataset from the Levant Basin, an area containing a unique layer-bound normal fault array. This analysis indicates that the faults were affected by mechanical stratigraphy, causing preferential nucleation sites of fault segments, which were later linked. Our interpretation suggests that growth of layer-bound faults at a basin scale generally follows the isolated model, accumulating length proportional to displacement and, when subject to an anisotropic regional stress field, resembling to a great extent classical tectonic normal faults.

Abstract: Interbedded shale and limestone successions in the Kilve Beach area, Bristol Channel Basin, UK, provide insights on fracture networks around normal faults in fine-grained lithologies. Fracture sets with distinct orientations are characteristic of both shale and limestone beds. Shear fractures (mode II) predominate in the shaly units, and they have typically more gentle dips and a larger spread in orientations than extension veins and shear fractures in the limestones. Fracture intensities decrease away from the fault core, but maximum intensities, total number of fractures and widths of the damage zones appear to be independent of throw for normal faults with offsets of less than 20 m. Thus, there is no clear systematic relationship between fault throw and damage zone width in the shales studied by us. However, an asymmetry in the fracture distribution is evidenced by a wider hanging-wall damage zone and differences in fracture orientations in some cases. We interpret the asymmetry and spread in fracture orientations to be the result of propagating fault-tip process zones and the tempo-spatial impact of fault-slip events.

Abstract: The growth of normal faults in mechanically layered sequences is numerically modelled using three-dimensional Distinct Element Method (DEM) models, in which rock comprises an assemblage of bonded spherical particles. Faulting is induced by movement on a pre-defined normal fault at the model base whilst a constant confining pressure is maintained by applying forces to particles lying at the model top. The structure of the modelled fault zones and its dependency on confining pressure, sequence (net:gross) and fault obliquity are assessed using various new techniques that allow (a) visualization of faulted horizons, (b) quantification of throw partitioning and (c) determination of the fault zone throw beyond which theoretical juxtaposition sealing occurs along the entire zone length. The results indicate that fault zones become better localized with increasing throw and confinement. The mechanical stratigraphy has a profound impact on fault zone structure and localization: both low and high net:gross sequences lead to wide and relatively poorly localized faults. Fault strands developing above oblique-slip normal faults form, on average, normal to the greatest infinitesimal stretching direction in transtensional zones. The model results are consistent with field observations and results from physical experiments.

Abstract: The boundaries between pairs of adjacent fault segments within normal fault arrays define a spectrum of structures, from relay ramps where the length of overlap between the fault segments is much larger than the separation, through low aspect ratio (overlap/separation) relay ramps and ultimately to underlapping fault segments. Where fault segments underlap, transfer of displacement between them is accommodated by a connecting monocline. When displacement increases and a through-going fault forms, relay ramps are preserved as fault-bounded zones of elevated bed dip and monoclines are preserved as areas of normal drag. Therefore, the orientation and magnitude of bed dips within and adjacent to a fault zone, and the numbers of segments seen on a cross-section through it, depend largely on the aspect ratios of relay ramps in the initial fault array. The aspect ratio of relay ramps varies between different fault systems. An analysis of the geometry of 512 relay ramps from 13 different fault systems suggests that the main controls on aspect ratio are the strength of the sequence at the time of faulting and the underlying structure.

Soft-sediment deformation structures crop out in the Lower Cretaceous succession of the Gubbio anticline in the Umbria-Marche Apennines of Italy. The deformation interval is ~13 m thick and occurs between the upper Hauterivian–lower Aptian Maiolica Formation and the Aptian Marne a Fucoidi Formation. It can be observed along the anticline for a distance of 12 km. Different types of deformation structures are distributed in several outcrops, with detachment extensional structures prevailing in the southeast sector. Imbricated slides, slump structures, and chaotic layers are distributed vertically and longitudinally in the middle and/or lower part of the deformed sediments. In the northwest sector of the anticline, compressional duplex structures can be considered the lower section of a large sediment failure. Geometrical and kinematic analysis of the fold axis trends and sliding surfaces have led to infer a single, large gravitational event possibly Albian in age. The synsedimentary deformation could be activated by several internal trigger mechanisms induced by external regional tectonic events such as earthquakes. An orthogonal system of calcite veins crossing the limestone layers represents the primary pathway for fluid-driven breaching of joint seals. These fluids can be related to the significant increase in the total organic carbon in the Hauterivian–Aptian layer of the Maiolica and Marne a Fucoidi Formations. This suggests the possibility that the limestone layer, sandwiched and sealed between clay of the organic-rich black shales, could have favored a pore pressure increase approaching lithostatic stress. With a thin overburden, lithostatic stress is more easily reached at low hydrostatic pressure. This slump sheet occurrence suggests the existence of a local paleoslope dipping toward the north-northwest, where the mass involved in the deformation is distributed over an estimated area of 60 km 2 for a volume of 0.8 km 3 of displaced sediments. The restoration and rotation of the slump fold hinges to the Early Cretaceous direction, in line with available paleomagnetic data, have shown that the strike of the slope corresponds to the main trend of the oldest Jurassic extensional lineaments and is linked to transform faults of the westernmost Tethys rifting systems.