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Kinematics of footwall exhumation at oceanic detachment faults: solid-block rotation and apparent unbending

  • Seafloor spreading at slow rates can be accommodated on large-offset oceanic detachment faults (ODFs), that exhume lower crustal and mantle rocks in footwall domes termed oceanic core complexes (OCCs). Footwall rocks experience large rotation during exhumation, yet important aspects of the kinematics-particularly the relative roles of solid-block rotation and flexure-are not clearly understood. Using a high-resolution numerical model, we explore the exhumation kinematics in the footwall beneath an emergent ODF/OCC. A key feature of the models is that footwall motion is dominated by solid-block rotation, accommodated by the nonplanar, concave-down fault interface. A consequence is that curvature measured along the ODF is representative of a neutral stress configuration, rather than a "bent" one. Instead, it is in the subsequent process of "apparent unbending" that significant flexural stresses are developed in the model footwall. The brittle strain associated with apparent unbending is produced dominantly in extension, beneath the OCC,Seafloor spreading at slow rates can be accommodated on large-offset oceanic detachment faults (ODFs), that exhume lower crustal and mantle rocks in footwall domes termed oceanic core complexes (OCCs). Footwall rocks experience large rotation during exhumation, yet important aspects of the kinematics-particularly the relative roles of solid-block rotation and flexure-are not clearly understood. Using a high-resolution numerical model, we explore the exhumation kinematics in the footwall beneath an emergent ODF/OCC. A key feature of the models is that footwall motion is dominated by solid-block rotation, accommodated by the nonplanar, concave-down fault interface. A consequence is that curvature measured along the ODF is representative of a neutral stress configuration, rather than a "bent" one. Instead, it is in the subsequent process of "apparent unbending" that significant flexural stresses are developed in the model footwall. The brittle strain associated with apparent unbending is produced dominantly in extension, beneath the OCC, consistent with earthquake clustering observed in the Trans-Atlantic Geotraverse at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.show moreshow less

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Author details:Dan SandifordORCiD, Sascha BruneORCiDGND, Anne GlerumORCiD, John NaliboffORCiD, Joanne M. Whittaker
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GC009681
ISSN:1525-2027
Title of parent work (English):Geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems : G 3 ; an electronic journal of the earth sciences
Publisher:Wiley
Place of publishing:Hoboken, NJ
Publication type:Article
Language:English
Date of first publication:2021/03/28
Publication year:2021
Release date:2024/09/17
Volume:22
Issue:4
Article number:e2021GC009681
Number of pages:12
Funding institution:Australian Research CouncilAustralian Research Council [DP180102280]; Helmholtz Young Investigators Group CRYSTALS [VH-NG-1132]; North-German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN)
Organizational units:Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Geowissenschaften
DDC classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Peer review:Referiert
Publishing method:Open Access / Hybrid Open-Access
License (German):License LogoCC-BY-NC - Namensnennung, nicht kommerziell 4.0 International
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