Evolution of sheath folds around layer-parallel slip surfaces

Fałdy w złożach soli często wykazują kształt niecylindryczny. Lokalnie strukturom fałdowym towarzyszą powierzchnie odkłuć, które w niektórych przypadkach mogą być uważane za czynnik inicjujący rozwój fałdów. W artykule przedstawiono badania ewolucji kształtu fałdów futerałowych rozwijających się w warunkach ścinania prostego w sąsiedztwie powierzchni odkłucia ułożonej zgodnie z warstwowaniem. Do badań wykorzystano model analityczny opisujący deformację w otoczeniu powierzchni poślizgu w jednorodnym ośrodku lepkim. Wyniki modelowania wykazują, iż fałdy tworzące się podczas deformacji są wyraźnie niecylindryczne. Struktury ujawniające się na przekrojach prostopadłych do kierunku ścinania o charakterystycznej geometrii oczkowej wymagają odkształcenia ścięciowego γ>5, natomiast fałdy futerałowe będące szczególnym typem fałdów niecylindrycznych o wygięciu linii przegubowej przekraczającym 90º obserwowane są dla γ>10. Fałdy charakteryzują się relatywnie małą wysokością. Kształt oczek jest zwykle silnie wydłużony, a ich stosunek osi wielkiej do małej nierzadko przekracza 10. Fałdy o największej wysokości i wydłużeniu powstają w warstwach, oddalonych od powierzchni poślizgu o ok. 0,2 długości promienia tej powierzchni. Fałdy oczkowe widoczne tuż nad powierzchnią poślizgu mogą mieć U-kształtny kontur, jednakże fałdy o zarysie oczek przeważnie wykształcają się w pewnej odległości od powierzchni poślizgu, co w konsekwencji sprawia, że w naturze może być trudne zaobserwowanie związku fałdów futerałowych z powierzchniami odkłuć.Folds in evaporites typically have non-cylindrical shapes. Various fold structures are associated with slip surfaces, which, in some cases, can be interpreted as the folding trigger. In the article, we present the analysis of fold shape evolution, studying folds that develop in the vicinity of the layer-parallel slip surface during simple shear deformation. We employ an analytical model that describes the deformation around the slip surface in an isotropic, viscous material. Folds that develop during deformation are clearly non-cylindrical. Folds with an eye pattern in the sections perpendicular to the shearing directions are observed after shear strain γ>5, whereas sheath folds that are specific types of non-cylindrical folds with opening angle exceeding 90º, require γ>10. The folds are characterised by small height. The eye-shape is highly elongated, and their axial ratio commonly exceeds 10. Folds with largest height and elongation are formed in the layers located at the distance of ca. 0.2 of the slip surface radius from the slip surface. Eye structures that develop in the layers closest to the slip surface can have geometry of a concave crescent-shaped roll. Folds with the eye pattern are unlikely to develop next to the slip surfaces in the model, thus, also in the nature these two structures can hardly be noticeable in a single outcrop

Sheath fold development around deformable inclusions: Integration of field-analysis (Cima Lunga unit, Central Alps) and 3D numerical models

We investigated complex tectonic structures within a km-scale shear zone (Cima Lunga unit), which is traditionally interpreted as generated by multiple, distinct deformation phases, despite showing unique schistosity and lineation. Based on structural analyses we discovered sheath folds developed in relatively weak gneissic/schistose rocks, enveloping inclusions of stronger ultramafics. The internal layering of inclusions experienced superimposed folding, boudinage and folding, attesting to layer-parallel shortening followed by stretching and further again shortening. Using 3D numerical modelling, we explored the structure evolution within and around deformable viscous inclusions under far-field simple shear. The numerical results showed that the internal deformation of ellipsoidal inclusions and the fold development around the inclusions are both dependent on the viscosity ratio, shear strain and the inclusion aspect ratio. The Cima Lunga structural patterns were reproduced for finite strains exceeding 7.5 and viscosity ratio between 2.8 and 9. Inclusions are characterized by persistent rotation of the internal layering, resulting in super-simple shear regime, with kinematic vorticity number >1. An important corollary is that ultramafics and host rocks experienced coupled deformation since the prograde metamorphic evolution. Finally, we emphasise that progressive deformation in shear zones may offer sufficient explanation for complex structural patterns, without invoking unjustified polyphase deformation

Salt-pillow formation during inversion of evaporite-filled half graben – Insights from seismic data interpretation and integrated analogue-numerical modelling

The Mid-Polish Anticlinorium is a regional structure that formed during Late Cretaceous inversion of the Permian-Mesozoic Polish Basin. Within the anticlinorium, local salt pillows built of the Upper Permian (Zechstein) evaporites are often located above reverse faults that accommodated basement inversion. Seismic data from the Szubin area in central Poland were used to guide a combined analogue and numerical modelling study to test whether locally thicker evaporites deposited within a half-graben, could indeed give rise to a salt pillow formed above the half-graben’s hanging wall during its inversion. The results of the two approaches are internally consistent and prove that such a genetic relationship is fully viable, with the most important variables being the size of the half-graben, the viscosity of the salt, and the presence of any erosion of the pillow structure. Thus, the existence of salt pillows along the major inversion zones of the Mid-Polish Anticlinorium could possibly be used as indicators for the location of syn-depositional half-grabens during deposition of the Zechstein evaporites. This in turn might suggest that even in the basin center, shallower areas might have existed above the footwalls of such half-graben during Zechstein deposition, characterized by smaller thicknesses and somewhat different facies arrangement. Similar concepts likely apply to other intracontinental salt basins that experienced rifting and then inversion.