Throw partitioning across normal fault zones in the Ptolemais Basin, Greece
- Author(s)
- Efstratios Delogkos, Tom Manzocchi, Conrad Childs, Christos Sachanidis, Tryfon Barbas, Martin P.J. Schöpfer, Alexandros Chatzipetros, Spyros Pavlides, John J. Walsh
- Abstract
The total throw across a fault zone may not occur entirely on a single fault strand but may be distributed onto several strands or may be accommodated by distributed deformation within or adjacent to the fault zone. Here we conduct a quantitative analysis of the partitioning of throw into three components, the throw accommodated by: (a) the largest fault strand; (b) subsidiary faults; and (c) continuous deformation in the form of bed rotation in sympathy with the fault downthrow direction. This analysis is applied to seven seismic-scale fault zones at outcrop resolution (maximum throw 50 m) that were mapped over a four-year period during open-cast lignite mining within the late Miocene-Pliocene Ptolemais Basin, West Macedonia, Greece. The analysis shows that the fault zones offsetting the lignite-marl sequence are more localized at higher throws with progressively more of the total throw accommodated by the largest fault strand. Normal drag, which can account for up to 12 m of the total throw, accommodates a lower proportion of the total throw on larger faults. It appears that initial fault segmentation is the main control on the degree of, and spatial variation in, fault throw partitioning.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Geology
- External organisation(s)
- University College Dublin, Dimosia Epichirisi Ilektrismou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Journal
- Geological Society Special Publications
- Volume
- 439
- Pages
- 333-353
- No. of pages
- 21
- ISSN
- 0305-8719
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1144/SP439.19
- Publication date
- 2017
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 105124 Tectonics
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Water Science and Technology, Ocean Engineering, Geology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/8c161008-e673-47bc-a400-f4a65e74646a