Oblique transfer of extensional strain between basins of the middle Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Fault kinematic and paleostress constraints

Minor, Scott A.; Hudson, Mark R.; Caine, Jonathan Saul; Thompson, Ren A.

doi:10.1130/2013.2494(14)

Cited by 8 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…The SDR within the Rio Grande Rift (Figure 1b) represents possibly a more advanced stadium of a similar system as the RBTZ, with near-orthogonal regional extension (Minor et al, 2013). It also accommodates sinistral motion and forms a continuous sediment-filled basin system comparable with the transfer zone that follows the secondary seed in model B (Figure 5d-5f).…”

Section: Comparison With Natural Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interacting rift segments also influence magma migration and vice versa (Corti et al, 2004;Minor et al, 2013). Other examples of rift interaction zones are found in, e.g., Eastern France (Rhine-Bresse Transfer Zone [RBTZ]; Illies, 1977;Ustaszewski et al, 2005;Figure 1a), the Utah Canyonlands (accommodation zones, Trudgill and Cartwright, 1994;Fossen et al, 2010), New Mexico, USA (Santo Domingo Relay [SDR] in the Rio Grande Rift; Aldrich, 1986;Minor et al, 2013;Figure 1b), and the East African Rift System (various transfer and accommodation zones; Morley et al, 1990;Corti, 2012;Figure 1c and 1d).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(b) Santo Domingo Relay (SDR) within the Rio Grande Rift (USA). Image modified after Aldrich (1986) and Minor et al (2013). (c) East African Rift System depicting the various rift segments and the occurrence of sediment basins and volcanics.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How oblique extension and structural inheritance influence rift segment interaction: Insights from 4D analog models

Zwaan

Schreurs

2017

Interpretation

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Rifting of the continental lithosphere involves the initial formation of distinct rift segments, often along preexisting crustal heterogeneities resulting from preceding tectonic phases. Progressive extension, either orthogonal or oblique, causes these rift segments to interact and connect, ultimately leading to a full-scale rift system. We study continental rift interaction processes with the use of analog models to test the influence of a range of structural inheritance (seed) geometries and various degrees of oblique extension. The inherited geometry involves main seeds, offset in a right-stepping fashion, along which rift segments form as well as the presence or absence of secondary seeds connecting the main seeds. X-ray computer tomography techniques are used to analyze the 3D models through time, and results are compared with natural examples. Our experiments indicate that the extension direction exerts a key influence on rift segment interaction. Rift segments are more likely to connect through discrete fault structures under dextral oblique extension conditions because they generally propagate toward each other. In contrast, sinistral oblique extension commonly does not result in hard linkage because rift segment tend to grow apart. These findings also hold when the system is mirrored: left-stepping rift segments under sinistral and dextral oblique extension conditions, respectively. However, under specific conditions, when the right-stepping rift segments are laterally far apart, sinistral oblique extension can produce hard linkage in the shape of a strike-slip-dominated transfer zone. A secondary structural inheritance between rift segments might influence rift linkage, but only when the extension direction is favorable for activation. Otherwise, propagating rifts will simply align perpendicularly to the extension direction. When secondary structural grains do reactivate, the resulting transfer zone and the strike of internal faults follow their general orientation. However, these structures can be slightly oblique due to the influence of the extension direction. Several of the characteristic structures observed in our models are also present in natural rift settings such as the Rhine-Bresse Transfer Zone, the Rio Grande Rift, and the East African Rift System.

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Section: Comparison With Natural Examplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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How oblique extension and structural inheritance influence rift segment interaction: Insights from 4D analog models

Zwaan

Schreurs

2017

Interpretation

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“…Normal fault geometries were infl uenced to some degree by reactivated earlier faults of Precambrian, Ancestral Rockies, and Laramide age (e.g., Karlstrom et al, 1999;Marshak et al, 2000). The rift is composed of a series of NStrending basins that form an array of en echelon grabens and half-grabens that alternate polarity and are linked by NE-trending accommodation zones (e.g., Chapin and Cather, 1994) that serve to transfer the maximum displacement from one rift margin to the other (e.g., Russell and Snelson, 1994;Faulds and Varga, 1998;Minor et al, 2013). Within the Rio Grande rift, isolated exposures of LANFs have been known for decades (e.g., Baldridge et al, 1984), although they exist within a predominantly high-angle normal fault environment, and models for their formation are largely lacking.…”

Section: Geologic Setting Of the Albuquerque Basinmentioning

confidence: 98%

Embryonic core complexes in narrow continental rifts: The importance of low-angle normal faults in the Rio Grande rift of central New Mexico

2015

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The Rio Grande rift in central New Mexico provides an excellent location to study the interaction between high-angle and low-angle (15°-35°) normal faults during crustal extension. Here we evaluate the relative importance of low-angle normal faults (LANFs) in the Albuquerque basin of central New Mexico with goals of testing two confl icting models of rift geometry and producing evolutionary models for the northern and southern parts of the basin. Using physiographic relationships, fi eld observations, structural data analysis, and thermal history modeling, we document two brittle LANF systems on salients in adjacent opposite-polarity halfgrabens. These fault systems were both active ca. 20-10 Ma and are locations of maximum fault slip as indicated by thickness of sedimentary fi ll in adjacent sub-basins and highest elevation rift fl anks. Average fault dip increases basinward, and outbound faults were abandoned while intrabasinal faults cut Quaternary units, supporting an evolutionary model where master normal faults initiated at a higher dip, were shallowed by isostatic footwall uplift in regions of highest slip, and became inactive while younger normal faults emerged basinward. These geometrical and kinematic observations are predicted by the rolling-hinge model for the formation of LANFs. This mechanism has been widely applied to core complexes in highly extended terranes (e.g., Basin and Range), regions of orogenic collapse, and mid-ocean ridges, and it is shown here to also be applicable to narrow continental rifts of modest (~35%) extension. Similarities to core complexes include a physiographic expression of domal uplifts, evolution of a master detachment horizon that initiated as a breakaway, and isostatically rotated low-angle normal faults. Although the degree of extension was too low to juxtapose ductile footwall rocks against brittle hanging-wall rocks, if extension had progressed in the Albuquerque basin, eventually a mature metamorphic core complex would have formed, similar to those preserved in the adjacent Basin and Range Province. The Rio Grande rift, therefore, provides a snapshot of the embryonic stages of core complex formation, bridging the gap between mature core complexes and incipient extensional environments.

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“…Both wide and narrow continental rift zones are structurally divided into rift basins that form separate sediment depocenters during some or all stages of evolution. In narrow continental rifts such as the Rio Grande rift and the East Africa rift, the individual, en echelon rift basins that formed by extension are connected at accommodation or transfer zones (e.g., Corti et al, 2007;Faulds & Varga, 1998;Hayward & Ebinger, 1996;McClay et al, 2002;Minor et al, 2013;Rosendahl, 1987;Withjack & Jamison, 1986). These basin connection zones are characterized by overlapping normal fault terminations and broad (>10 km) distributed normal and oblique-slip faulting (accommodation zones; Faulds & Varga, 1998) or zones of narrow (<3 km wide) strike-slip or oblique-slip faulting (transfer zones; Faulds & Varga, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Endorheic‐Exorheic Transitions of the Rio Grande and East African Rifts

Berry

Wijk

Cadol

et al. 2019

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Tectonic extension of continental lithosphere creates accommodation space in which sediments are deposited. Climate‐driven processes provide the mechanism by which mass is detached from hillslopes and sediments are transported into this accommodation space. These two forcings, climate and tectonics, act together to create either endorheic (internally drained) or exorheic (externally drained) rift basins. Here we use a large‐scale dynamic landscape evolution‐tectonics model to understand the contribution of tectonic processes in endorheic‐exorheic transitions. In the model, extension results in opening of an asymmetric half‐graben along a listric normal fault. Rift opening occurs in the models in wet, temperate, or semiarid climates where runoff and evapotranspiration are varied. Our numerical experiments show that slow rift‐opening rates, a slowing‐down of rift opening, or increase of headwater topography (e.g., upstream epeirogenic uplift), are tectonic situations that can cause a transition from an endorheic to an exorheic drainage state in a rift basin. Our results also show that wet climate conditions lead to a permanent exorheism that persists regardless of rift‐opening rates. In semiarid climates, endorheic conditions are favored and may last for the duration of rifting except for when rift opening is very slow. These results form an interpretive framework to study endorheic and exorheic drainage systems in natural continental rifts. In the slow‐opening Rio Grande rift, the endorheic‐exorheic transition may have occurred without dramatic climate changes. Lake‐level variations in East African rift basins are predicted by our models to result from variations in climate.

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Oblique transfer of extensional strain between basins of the middle Rio Grande rift, New Mexico: Fault kinematic and paleostress constraints

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

How oblique extension and structural inheritance influence rift segment interaction: Insights from 4D analog models

How oblique extension and structural inheritance influence rift segment interaction: Insights from 4D analog models

Embryonic core complexes in narrow continental rifts: The importance of low-angle normal faults in the Rio Grande rift of central New Mexico

Endorheic‐Exorheic Transitions of the Rio Grande and East African Rifts

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