Inversion in Thrust Belts and Their Forelands

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Structural Geology and Tectonics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 5832

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Department of Physics, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
Interests: structural geology; field mapping; tectonics

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Guest Editor
Geology and Geophysics, School of Geosciences, Meston Building, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK
Interests: the geological evolution of orogenic belts and sedimentary basins
1. Engineering and Geology Department, ‘G. d’Annunzio’ University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
2. PACE Geoscience, Chieti, Italy
Interests: structural geology; tectonics, seismic interpretation; petroleum geology
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Dear Colleagues,

Switches in tectonic regimes at plate boundaries, from contraction to extension and vice versa, can be manifest in tectonic inversion, where pre-existing structures and deformation fabrics are reactivated. Positive inversion occurs where extension switches to contraction, the most extreme manifestations of which are collision orogenic belts. Negative inversion occurs where contraction structures extended, manifesting in rift basins developing at sites of former orogenic belts. Since these concepts were defined and applied in the 1980s, a wealth of contributions in the study of inversion processes have been published. Yet, there are still unanswered questions: Why do some faults and shear zones reactivate during inversion episodes, while others do not? What are the fundamental controls for inversion-related fault reactivation processes? How can we predict if the architecture of pre-existing crustal templates will influence the final geometry of the deformed parts of the lithosphere during inversion episodes?

This Topical Collection provides an overview of the state of the art, after more than thirty years’ publication of pioneering papers. We are soliciting case studies at all scales from sedimentary basins, mountain ranges, and foothills/foreland domains whose geological evolution involved episodes of positive or negative inversion. We encourage purely structural investigations along with multidisciplinary studies that combine field evidence with subsurface data and analogue or numerical modelling.

Prof. Dr. Enrico Tavarnelli
Prof. Dr. Robert W.H. Butler
Dr. Paolo Pace
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Inversion tectonics
  • Fault reactivation
  • Structural inheritance
  • Thrust belts
  • Foreland domains

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

43 pages, 9018 KiB  
Article
The Importance of Rift Inheritance in Understanding the Early Collisional Evolution of the Western Alps
by Gianreto Manatschal, Pauline Chenin, Isabelle Haupert, Emmanuel Masini, Gianluca Frasca and Alessandro Decarlis
Geosciences 2022, 12(12), 434; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12120434 - 24 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2617
Abstract
We reassess the architecture and tectonic history of the Western Alps based on recent knowledge developed at rifted margins. First, we replace the main Alpine units of our study area into a synthetic rifted margin template based on diagnostic petrologic, stratigraphic, and structural [...] Read more.
We reassess the architecture and tectonic history of the Western Alps based on recent knowledge developed at rifted margins. First, we replace the main Alpine units of our study area into a synthetic rifted margin template based on diagnostic petrologic, stratigraphic, and structural criteria. We find that some units previously attributed to the internal part of the thick-crusted Briançonnais domain may rather derive from the thin-crusted Prepiemonte hyperextended domain. We assert that the Briançonnais and Prepiemonte domains were separated by a mega-fault scarp. Second, we revisit the Paleogeography of the Alpine Tethys, suggesting that the Briançonnais was a ribbon of little thinned continental crust between two overstepping en-échelon rift basins, namely the Valais domain to the northwest and the Piemonte domain to the southeast. We affirm that this uneven-margin architecture can explain most of the Western Alps’ complexity. In our kinematic model, convergence between Adria and Europe was mainly accommodated by strike-slip movements in the Western Alps until the late Eocene. Orogeny began with the reactivation of the mega-fault scarp between the Briançonnais and Prepiemonte domains, which we name Prepiemonte Basal Thrust. Once hard collision started, the main shortening stepped inboard into the Valais/Subbriançonnais domain along the Penninic Basal Thrust. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inversion in Thrust Belts and Their Forelands)
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20 pages, 14174 KiB  
Article
The Role of Rheology and Fault Geometry on Fault Reactivation: A Case-Study from the Zsámbék-Mány Basin, Central Hungary
by Gábor Herkules Héja, Zsolt Kercsmár, Szilvia Kövér, Tamás Budai, Mohamed Yazid Noui and László Fodor
Geosciences 2022, 12(12), 433; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12120433 - 24 Nov 2022
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Abstract
In this study, we investigated the structural evolution of the Vértessomló (VT) Thrust and the Környe-Zsámbék (KZ) Fault, which are located in the Transdanubian Range in the center of the Miocene Pannonian back-arc basin. Our study is based on surface and well data. [...] Read more.
In this study, we investigated the structural evolution of the Vértessomló (VT) Thrust and the Környe-Zsámbék (KZ) Fault, which are located in the Transdanubian Range in the center of the Miocene Pannonian back-arc basin. Our study is based on surface and well data. The Transdanubian Range was located on the Adriatic passive margin during the Late Triassic, where a thick succession of platform carbonates was deposited. Intercalations of intraplatform basin deposits occur in the eastern part of the study area. South-directed thrusting and the formation of the VT Thrust took place during the Cretaceous, related to the Austroalpine orogeny. Asymmetric half-grabens were formed during the Eocene in the hanging wall of the segmented dextral normal KZ Fault. The geometry and kinematics of the KZ Fault were influenced by the pre-existing VT Thrust located in the Mesozoic basement of the Paleogene sub-basins. These Eocene half-grabens suffered mild inversion due to the dextral reverse reactivation of the VT Thrust and the KZ Fault during the Oligocene–Early Miocene. The geometry of Miocene normal faults indicates that the VT-KZ Fault system was an active transfer fault during the Miocene extension of the Pannonian Basin, as well. We found a positive correlation between the rheology of the Triassic basement and the mode of Paleogene fault reactivation. Our results show that reactivation of the pre-existing thrust took place along that segment, where the Triassic basement is made up of homogeneous platform carbonates. In contrast, a diffuse fault zone developed, where the Triassic basement is represented by the weak layers of intraplatform basins. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inversion in Thrust Belts and Their Forelands)
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