气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Fault spacing in continental strike-slip shear zones

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DOI	10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115906
	Fault spacing in continental strike-slip shear zones
	Yang H.; Moresi L.N.; Quigley M.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	0012821X
卷号	530
英文摘要	Strike-slip shear zones with sub-parallel arrays of evenly-spaced faults are widely observed in nature, but the controls on the spacing between major faults are unclear. We analyze a 2-D model and develop a scaling law relating the fault spacing to structural and rheological parameters in the continental crust. We find that fault spacing positively correlates with brittle-layer thickness, viscous lower crust thickness, and strength contrast between active faults and surrounding intact blocks; and is inversely correlative with lower crust viscosity. This is corroborated for either a zero-shear traction (decoupled) or a prescribed velocity (coupled) basal boundary condition in the 2-D analytical solution. The zero-shear traction boundary condition represents low viscosities in the lowermost crust or the topmost mantle that may decouple deformations from mantle flow. The prescribed velocity boundary condition emphasizes basal drag tractional forces imparted on the lower crust by a strong mantle. For a viscous layer that is thicker than half of its average fault spacing, models with either of the boundary conditions produce the same results. Otherwise, a thinner, viscous layer with a linear-velocity condition tends to produce smaller fault spacings than a no-shear model, all else being equal. These theoretical models are comparted to data from shear zones in California, the Marlborough Fault Zone in New Zealand and central Tibet. Modeling indicates that the effective viscosity of the viscous layer underlying the brittle layer in all of the selected areas is 2×1020 to 4×1021 Pa⋅s. The subducted oceanic plate attached to the lower crust of the eastern Marlborough Fault Zone also appears to influence fault spacing in the overriding plate. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.
关键词	central Tibet crust-mantle coupling fault strength lower crust viscosity Marlborough Fault Zone San Andreas fault system
英文关键词	Boundary conditions; Plates (structural components); Shear flow; Strike-slip faults; Structural geology; Viscosity; central Tibet; Crust-mantle coupling; Fault strength; Fault zone; Lower crust; San Andreas fault; Fault slips; brittle deformation; continental crust; crustal structure; fault zone; mantle source; shear zone; strike-slip fault; two-dimensional modeling; viscosity; China; Marlborough; New Zealand; South Island; Xizang
语种	英语
来源期刊	Earth and Planetary Science Letters
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/202983
作者单位	School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Yang H.,Moresi L.N.,Quigley M.. Fault spacing in continental strike-slip shear zones[J],2020,530.
APA	Yang H.,Moresi L.N.,&Quigley M..(2020).Fault spacing in continental strike-slip shear zones.Earth and Planetary Science Letters,530.
MLA	Yang H.,et al."Fault spacing in continental strike-slip shear zones".Earth and Planetary Science Letters 530(2020).