Role of pre-existing structures in controlling the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the eastern Tibetan plateau: New insights from analogue experiments

Sun, Ming; Yin, An; Yan, Dan‐Ping; Ren, Hongyan; Mu, Hongxu; Zhu, L.; Qiu, Liang

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.03.005

Cited by 41 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…The Phanerozoic tectonic configuration of Eurasia was a consequence of northward drift of continents from Gondwana and subsequent orogenic tectonism (e.g. Gehrels et al 2011;Metcalfe, 2011Metcalfe, , 2013Faure et al 2016a,b;Sun et al 2018;. The Triassic Indosinian orogeny is a key part of the tectonic history of the eastern Palaeo-Tethys and resulted from the amalgamation of the South China and Indochina blocks (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochronology of early Mesozoic diabase units in southwestern China: metallogenic and tectonic implications

et al. 2018

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochronology of early Mesozoic diabase units in southwestern China: metallogenic and tectonic implications

et al. 2018

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“…The reactivation of inherited weakness, such as ancient suture zones, is often proposed to control the location of lithosphere deformation during continental collision (Chen et al, 2020; Sun et al, 2018). However, few of the large‐scale strike‐slip faults in Asia geographically follow previous suture zones, with the notable exception of the Kunlun Fault (Tapponnier et al, 1986) (Figure 1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lower Crustal Rheology Controls the Development of Large Offset Strike‐Slip Faults During the Himalayan‐Tibetan Orogeny

Yang

Kaus

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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The mechanism of crustal deformation and the development of large offset strike-slip faults during continental collision, such as the India-Eurasia zone, remains poorly understood. Previous mechanical models were simplified which are either (quasi-)2-D approximations or made the a priori assumption that the rheology of the lithosphere was either purely viscous (distributed deformation) or purely localized. Here we present three-dimensional visco-elasto-plastic thermo-mechanical simulations, which can produce both distributed and highly localized deformation, to investigate crustal deformation during continental indentation. Our results show that large-scale shear zones develop as a result of frictional plasticity, which have many similarities with observed shear zones. Yet localized deformation requires both a strong upper crust (>10 22 Pa•s) and a moderately weak middle/lower crust (~10 20 Pa•s) in Tibet. The brittle shear zones in our models develop low viscosity zones directly beneath them, consistent with geological observations of exhumed faults, and geophysical observations across active faults. Plain Language Summary Large offset strike-slip faults are one of the key surface features of continental collision, such as in Tibet. These narrow belts of strike-slip faults accommodate strong deformation, and deciphering their mechanism of formation helps to understand the complex dynamics of India-Eurasia collision. Yet previous models developed to address this either assumed simplified rheologies or employed low numerical resolutions that is insufficient to simulate the spontaneous formation of localized zones. Here, we present high-resolution 3-D visco-elasto-plastic thermo-mechanical models that simulate the formation of large-scale strike-slip faults during Indian indentation, while also taking distributed deformation into account. Our simulations show that a combination of a strong upper crust and a moderately weak middle/lower crust produces faults that are, to first order, consistent with observed ones in the Tibet region. Localized deformation usually initiates at the brittle-ductile transition, and a weak middle/lower crust facilitates subsequent shear localization such that the shear zones cut through the whole crust. The craton-like strong terranes can sustain large stresses and initiate large offset faults along their boundaries.

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“…Recently, Boutelier et al [2019]) described PIV-derived finite deformation by U. Contrastingly, the infinitesimal strain tensor (equation 15) that has often been used to describe relatively large deformations (e.g. [Adam et al, 2013, Hoth et al, 2007, Sun et al, 2018, Poppe et al, 2019, Schellart et al, 2019), describes shape changes properly only for small shears and small rotations. Especially, quantities such as principal strains, area change, and rotation from the infinitesimal strain tensor no longer hold for large shear (section 2.5.4).…”

Section: Correct Strain Tensors For Large Deformationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping and classifying large deformation from digital imagery: application to analogue models of lithosphere deformation

Broerse¹,

Krstekanić²,

Kasbergen³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), an image cross-correlation technique, is widely used for obtaining velocity fields from series of images of deforming objects. Rather than instantaneous velocities, we are interested in reconstructing cumulative deformation, and use PIV-derived incremental displacements for this purpose. Our focus is on analogue models of tectonic processes, which can accumulate large deformation. Importantly, PIV provides incremental displacements during analogue model evolution in a spatial reference (Eulerian) frame, without the need for explicit markers in a model. We integrate the displacements in a material reference (Lagrangian) frame, such that displacements can be integrated to track the spatial accumulative deformation field as a function of time. To describe cumulative, finite deformation, various strain tensors have been developed, and we discuss what strain measure best describes large shape changes, as standard infinitesimal strain tensors no longer apply for large deformation. PIV or comparable techniques have become a common method to determine strain in analogue models. However, the qualitative interpretation of observed strain has remained problematic for complex settings. Hence, PIV-derived displacements have not been fully exploited before, as methods to qualitatively characterize cumulative, large strain have been lacking. Notably, in tectonic settings, different types of deformation-extension, shortening, strike-slip-can be superimposed. We demonstrate that when shape changes are de-1 non-peer reviewed EarthArXiv preprint submitted for review to Geophysical Journal International scribed in terms of Hencky strains, a logarithmic strain measure, finite deformation can be qualitatively described. Thereby, our method introduces a physically meaningful classification of large 2D strains. We show that our method allows for accurate mapping of tectonic structures in analogue models of lithospheric deformation, and complements visual inspection of fault geometries. Our method can easily discern complex strike-slip shear zones, thrust faults and extensional structures and its evolution in time. Our software to compute deformation is freely available and can be used to post-process incremental displacements from PIV or similar autocorrelation methods.

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Role of pre-existing structures in controlling the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the eastern Tibetan plateau: New insights from analogue experiments

Cited by 41 publications

References 36 publications

Geochronology of early Mesozoic diabase units in southwestern China: metallogenic and tectonic implications

Geochronology of early Mesozoic diabase units in southwestern China: metallogenic and tectonic implications

Lower Crustal Rheology Controls the Development of Large Offset Strike‐Slip Faults During the Himalayan‐Tibetan Orogeny

Mapping and classifying large deformation from digital imagery: application to analogue models of lithosphere deformation

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