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Strain and scaling of faults in the chalk at Flamborough Head, U.K.

Strain and scaling of faults in the chalk at Flamborough Head, U.K.
Strain and scaling of faults in the chalk at Flamborough Head, U.K.
Analysis has been made of the orientations, displacements and spacings of 1340 extensional faults, with displacements of up to 6 m, along an almost completely exposed 6 km length of cliff. This data set has been used to study how fault populations account for strain in a region and to study relationships between different scales of fault. Strains have been estimated; the maximum and intermediate extensions are sub-horizontal, with approximately equal extension (e ? 0.01) in all horizontal directions. It can be inferred that the minimum extension (maximum compression) was sub-vertical, but that the wide variety of fault orientations and cross-cutting relationships resulted from variable horizontal extensions. Some faults have oblique-slip slickenside lineations, which imply a period of later, dominantly NNW-SSE extension, which possibly developed as the exposure-scale faults linked up E-W-striking larger-scale normal faults, effectively forming a single wide fault zone.

Graphs of displacement per unit distance are used to illustrate variations in displacement. The scaling of fault displacement appears to follow a power-law relationship. The differences in orientation between the small-scale and large-scale faults precludes a simple estimation of the total strain over all scales.

0191-8141
97-107
Peacock, D.C.P.
54097ee9-4ba1-4691-836e-f72482e76160
Sanderson, D.J.
5653bc11-b905-4985-8c16-c655b2170ba9
Peacock, D.C.P.
54097ee9-4ba1-4691-836e-f72482e76160
Sanderson, D.J.
5653bc11-b905-4985-8c16-c655b2170ba9

Peacock, D.C.P. and Sanderson, D.J. (1994) Strain and scaling of faults in the chalk at Flamborough Head, U.K. Journal of Structural Geology, 16 (1), 97-107. (doi:10.1016/0191-8141(94)90021-3).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Analysis has been made of the orientations, displacements and spacings of 1340 extensional faults, with displacements of up to 6 m, along an almost completely exposed 6 km length of cliff. This data set has been used to study how fault populations account for strain in a region and to study relationships between different scales of fault. Strains have been estimated; the maximum and intermediate extensions are sub-horizontal, with approximately equal extension (e ? 0.01) in all horizontal directions. It can be inferred that the minimum extension (maximum compression) was sub-vertical, but that the wide variety of fault orientations and cross-cutting relationships resulted from variable horizontal extensions. Some faults have oblique-slip slickenside lineations, which imply a period of later, dominantly NNW-SSE extension, which possibly developed as the exposure-scale faults linked up E-W-striking larger-scale normal faults, effectively forming a single wide fault zone.

Graphs of displacement per unit distance are used to illustrate variations in displacement. The scaling of fault displacement appears to follow a power-law relationship. The differences in orientation between the small-scale and large-scale faults precludes a simple estimation of the total strain over all scales.

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Published date: January 1994

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 74650
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/74650
ISSN: 0191-8141
PURE UUID: 9561ff42-2b44-461b-a40d-3251679664b9
ORCID for D.J. Sanderson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2144-3527

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Date deposited: 11 Mar 2010
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:53

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Contributors

Author: D.C.P. Peacock
Author: D.J. Sanderson ORCID iD

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