Detachment faulting is associated with large-scale extensional tectonics. Detachment faults often have very large displacements (tens of km) and juxtapose unmetamorphosed hanging walls against medium to high-grade metamorphic footwalls that are called metamorphic core complexes. They are thought to have formed as either initially low-angle structures or by the rotation of initially high-angle normal faults modified also by the isostatic effects of tectonic denudation.
Examples of detachment faulting include:
- The Snake Range detachment system of the Basin and Range Province of western North America which was active during the Miocene
- The Nordfjord-Sogn Detachment of western Norway active during the Devonian Period [1]
- The Whipple detachment in southeastern California [2]
Detachment faults have been found on the sea floor close to divergent plate boundaries charactered by a limited supply of upwelling magma. These detachment faults are associated with the development of megamullion structures.
See also
References
- ^ Haakon Fossen. 1992. The role of extensional tectonics in the Caledonides of South Norway. Journal of Structural Geology, 14, 1033-1046.
- ^ Davis, G.A. 1988. Rapid upward transport of mid-crustal mylonitic gneisses in the footwall of a Miocene detachment fault, Whipple Mountains, southeastern California. Geologische Rundschau 77/1 191-209.
George H. Davis, Stephen J. Reynolds, 1996, Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions, 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-52621-5.
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