A Pleistocene origin of the strandflat coastal platform in southwestern Scandinavia

An impressively extensive shore platform, the strandflat, is cut 20–50 km into hard crystalline bedrock along most of the Norwegian coastline. Its age and origin have been debated for more than a century, including a model that it represents a weathered, buried and re-exposed Triassic surface. Resolving this issue requires integrated examination of the coastal area together with the offshore Mesozoic rift margin. Here I combine new 3D broadband seismic, bathymetric, and onshore elevation data along coastal West Norway and find that the near-horizontal strandflat postdates both the west-sloping onshore “paleic” surface and the offshore Jurassic denudation surface. It also postdates tilted North Sea Neogene sediments. Consistent with low-temperature thermochronologic data, this shows that the strandflat is a Pleistocene geomorphic feature formed through periods of varying climatic conditions, facilitated by preexisting fault and fracture zones. It is not part of an inherited Mesozoic landscape.publishedVersio

Modern field courses and problem-based learning; a comparison between industry and academia

Problem-based learning (PBL) can provide an attractive learning situation in relation to field courses. Combined with information technology, the learning effect can be enhanced compared with more traditional courses that use lecture-based learning and no advanced technological aids. However, the use of information technology in field courses requires the consideration of fundamental pedagogic principles. In May 2003, two separate geological field courses were run at locations in Utah and Colorado, one for students and the other for industry employees. Both students and industry employees participated in a pre-field course before going into the field. In the field the participants worked in groups, solving both general and location-specific problems. Several geosimulators (advanced flight simulators) based on digital terrain models for Utah and Colorado were used both prior to and during the field course. Satellite images, photographs and maps where incorporated into the models in order to provide students and industry employees with a complex technological learning environment. Also, the courses made extensive use of interactive multimedia learning modules that could be accessed both before and after the field course. A specially designed learning management system was used for the administration of the field courses. The highly positive feedback from both students and industry employees documents the effectiveness of the course form and use of information technology in conjunction with field work

Shear zone evolution during core complex exhumation – Implications for continental detachments

The formation of low-angle detachments involves exhumation of previously ductile material and fault zone weakening. To better understand this relationship, we studied a deeply eroded metamorphic core complex, which formed in the core of the Bergen Arcs (W Norway) during Caledonian post-orogenic collapse. Multi-scale structural mapping in the Øygarden Complex constrains three structural levels characterized by localized shear (Upper Unit), distributed deformation (Middle Unit) and a migmatite double-dome (Lower Unit). All levels show retrogressive E-W stretching accompanied by extension-parallel recumbent folding, albeit, with opposing shear senses at upper and middle/lower levels. The systematic comparison of 23 shear zones constrains the ductile-to-brittle structural evolution. Initially, high temperatures and partial melting controlled pervasive deep crustal flow and ductile doming. During retrogressive shearing, lithological heterogeneity controlled strain localization and channelized fluid flow causing retrograde phyllosilicate growth. This established a feedback loop of fluid-flow, fabric weakening and progressive shear localization. The interconnection of inherited and newly formed weak, phyllosilicate-rich layers promoted the formation of bivergent detachments that rapidly exhumed a dome of previously ductile crust. Retrogressive weakening in a kilometer-wide ductile-to-brittle ‘processing zone’ may be essential for the formation of continental detachments.publishedVersio

Grain Deformation Processes in Porous Quartz Sandstones – Insight from the Clusters of Cataclastic Deformation Bands

Presented at: Powders and Grains 2017 – 8th International Conference on Micromechanics on Granular MediaPorous sandstones represent classical reservoirs for water or hydrocarbons. Deformation in such granular material is due to tectonic events and occurs through the process of cataclasis, implying the crushing of the grains to a diversity of smaller clasts. Cataclasis is generally accompanied by porosity and permeability decrease. Although it is known that cataclastic deformation localizes to form individual bands and clusters of bands, the parameters controlling the distribution of this deformation were not well understood until recently. We used scanline measurements to show a favoured localization and clustering of the deformation on the case of normal-fault stress regime and potentially in strike-slip fault regime. The reverse regime favours the formation of distributed networks of conjugate deformation bands. At the scale of a cluster, field data reveals that the minimum modal grain size value of the host sandstone(s) controls the band density. Finally, microscopic cathodoluminescence analysis reveals enhanced quartz cementation for high degree of cataclasis. Hence, because band clustering, high degree of cataclasis and band cementation are favoured in normal-fault stress regime, tectonic extension appears to be favourable conditions for the formation of efficient barriers to fluid-flow in porous sandstone reservoirs.publishedVersio

Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous canyons on the Måløy Slope: Source to sink fingerprints on the northernmost North Sea rift margin, Norway

The Måløy Slope is a key area for studying the connection between onshore and offshore geology of South Norway. It has functioned as an area of bypass, erosion and deposition between the Norwegian mainland source area and the offshore northern North Sea sink area since the Permian. The slope was faulted into N–S-trending rift fault-blocks through flexural down-bending during the large-scale extension and rapid rift basin subsidence in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous. Mapping of 3D seismic data has revealed a profound network of E–W-oriented erosional submarine canyons. These canyons cut up to 500 m into the crystalline bedrock on the rift-related fault-block crests. We suggest that the canyons were first established prior to the faulting associated with late Jurassic rifting. The canyons may have been important feeders in the Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian and Tithonian like canyons in the Uer Terrace to the south, although we lack direct evidence for this. Further erosion and deepening of the canyons into the basement occurred during Cretaceous in a post-rift setting. The position of the main canyons sustained during recurring periods of erosion from the Late Jurassic until burial within the slope in the Late Cretaceous. By the aid of detailed bathymetric maps, the main canyons can be correlated with onshore faults and drainage systems (fjords and valleys). The evolution of the slope canyon system over time is controlled by both tectonic and isostatic movements and, as discussed in the text, can help understand when and where the pre-fjord drainage was established. Multiple incision events have been detected, and each of these express some correlation to regional tectonic events in (1) Late Jurassic–Earliest Cretaceous, (2) Late Aptian–Albian and (3) Turonian– Coniacian.publishedVersio

Adamastor – an ocean that never existed?

Existing models of tectonic evolution of the Neoproterozoic orogenic system rimming the shores of the South Atlantic Ocean (the Araçuaí–Ribeira–Congo and Dom Feliciano–Kaoko–Gariep belts) interpret the belts as subduction-related orogens and emphasize the role of the “Adamastor Ocean” in their pre-collisional evolution. A critical problem in such an interpretation is the confined nature of the northern termination of the orogenic system, as well as a very short time span between the end of rifting and onset of convergence recognized in its southern part. In this contribution, we review the data for the pre- and synorogenic evolution of this system of orogens (here collectively called the South Atlantic Neoproterozoic Orogenic System) and show that the data speak against the presence of a large oceanic domain before the onset of its orogenic evolution. We propose a new and simple intracontinental model, suggesting that Neoproterozoic oceanic crust played only a minor role in the development of the South Atlantic Neoproterozoic Orogenic System and that its overall architecture and thermal evolution is the result of inversion of large-scale rift structures with a protracted, and probably episodic, extensional history. True oceanic crust probably developed only in the southern part of the rift system, but it must have been narrow, akin to the Red Sea–Gulf of Aden stage of the “Adamastor Rift” evolution just before the onset of convergent thickening

Zippered Shear Zone Model for Interacting Shear Zones in the Borborema Province, Brazil, as Constrained by U-Pb Dating

Shear zones typically interact to form connected systems or networks to accommodate crustal deformation, but our knowledge of how this happens is fragmentary. Understanding branching and interacting shear zones requires knowledge of timing, deformation kinematics, and rheology. The Senador Pompeu, Tauá, and Cococi strike‐slip shear zones of the Borborema Province (NE Brazil) have a central role and location in the Neoproterozoic assembly of Gondwana and provide a means to understand shear zone interaction. We apply (i) U‐Pb in situ SHRIMP analysis of zircons from syntectonic plutons and dykes to constrain the timing of shearing and (ii) vorticity and strain analysis on pluton's megacrystic facies deformed in the magmatic state and during final stages of crystallization. Obtained ages show that the shear zone pair was active under high temperature at 583.5±4.6 Ma, while felsic dykes were emplaced in the brittle regime in the wall rocks. Average vorticity estimates of 0.70 indicate a strong component of pure shear in the shear zones. Despite the transpressional character, the dispersion in estimates of thinning and thickening for the Senador Pompeu shear zone highlights variations of offset rate for the interacting branches that leads to localized transtension. We conclude that the kinematic framework of the Senador Pompeu and Tauá conjugate pair involves the formation of a dextrally closing zipper structure involving the trailing Cococi shear zone to the southwest, which in turn caused the northeastward extrusion of the enclosed crustal wedge and possibly activation of the nappe system of the Ceará Central domain.publishedVersio

Disaggregation bands as an indicator for slow creep activity on blind faults

Hidden, blind faults have a strong seismic hazard potential. Consequently, there is a great demand for a robust geological indicator of neotectonic activity on such faults. Here, we conduct field measurements of disaggregation bands above known underlying blind faults at several locations in Central Europe. We observe that the disaggregation bands have the same orientation as that of the faults, indicating their close connection. Disaggregation bands develop in unconsolidated, near-surface, sandy sediments. They form by shear-related reorganization of the sediment fabric, as a consequence of grain rolling and sliding processes, which can reduce the porosity. Using an analogue shearing experiment, we show that disaggregation bands can form at a velocity of 2 cm h−1, which is several orders of magnitude slower than seismogenic fault-slip velocities. Based on the field data and the experiments, we infer that disaggregation bands can form in the process zone of active blind faults and serve as an indicator of neotectonic activity, even if the fault creeps at very low slip velocity. Disaggregation bands could open a new path to detect hidden active faults undergoing aseismic movements. © 2022, The Author(s)

Disaggregation bands as an indicator for slow creep activity on blind faults

Hidden, blind faults have a strong seismic hazard potential. Consequently, there is a great demand for a robust geological indicator of neotectonic activity on such faults. Here, we conduct field measurements of disaggregation bands above known underlying blind faults at several locations in Central Europe. We observe that the disaggregation bands have the same orientation as that of the faults, indicating their close connection. Disaggregation bands develop in unconsolidated, near-surface, sandy sediments. They form by shear-related reorganization of the sediment fabric, as a consequence of grain rolling and sliding processes, which can reduce the porosity. Using an analogue shearing experiment, we show that disaggregation bands can form at a velocity of 2 cm h−1, which is several orders of magnitude slower than seismogenic fault-slip velocities. Based on the field data and the experiments, we infer that disaggregation bands can form in the process zone of active blind faults and serve as an indicator of neotectonic activity, even if the fault creeps at very low slip velocity. Disaggregation bands could open a new path to detect hidden active faults undergoing aseismic movements.publishedVersio

Seismic expression of shear zones: Insights from 2-D point-spread-function based convolution modelling

Shear zones are common strain localization structures in the middle and lower crust and play a major role during orogeny, transcurrent movements and rifting alike. Our understanding of crustal deformation depends on our ability to recognize and map shear zones in the subsurface, yet the exact signatures of shear zones in seismic reflection data are not well constrained. To advance our understanding, we simulate how three outcrop examples of shear zones (Holsnøy - Norway, Cap de Creus - Spain, Borborema - Brazil) would look in different types of seismic reflection data using 2-D point-spread-function (PSF)-based convolution modelling, where PSF is the elementary response of diffraction points in seismic imaging. We explore how geological properties (e.g. shear zone size and dip) and imaging effects (e.g. frequency, resolution, illumination) control the seismic signatures of shear zones. Our models show three consistent seismic characteristics of shear zones: (1) multiple, inclined reflections, (2) converging reflections, and (3) cross-cutting reflections that can help interpreters recognize these structures with confidence.publishedVersio