We interpret the kinematics of the Tangra Yumco (TYC) rift by evaluating spatiotemporal trends in fault displacement, extension onset, and exhumation rates. We present new geologic mapping, U-Pb geochronology, zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) thermochronology, and HeFTy thermal modeling results that are critical to testing dynamic models of extension in Tibet. The TYC rift is bounded by two NNE striking (~N10°E-N35°E) high angle (~45-70°) active normal faults that alternate dominance along strike. Footwall granodiorites show foliation, slip lineation, and fault plane striation measurements indicative of northeast directed oblique sinistral-normal slip. In North and South TYC, hanging wall deposits are cut by a series of active high-angle normal faults which likely sole into a master fault at depth, while in central TYC, hanging wall deposits display synthetic graben structures potentially indicative of low-angle faulting. Analysis of ~50 samples collected across key structural relationships in and around TYC yield 14 mean U-Pb dates between ~59-49 Ma and ~190 single-grain ZHe dates between ~60-4 Ma with spatial trends in ZHe data correlating strongly with latitude. Samples from Gangdese latitudes show a concentration of ~28-15 Ma ages, while those north of ~29.8° latitude yield both younger (~9-4 Ma) and older (~59-45 Ma) ages. We interpret (1) Gangdese Range samples reflect exhumation during contraction and uplift along the GCT peaking at ~21-20 Ma, (2) ~9-4 Ma ages reveal extension timing along fault segments experiencing significant rift-related exhumation, and (3) ~59-45 Ma ages represent un-reset or partially-reset samples from fault segments that have experienced lesser magnitudes of rift exhumation. HeFTy thermal models indicate a two-stage cooling history with initial slow cooling followed by accelerated cooling rates in Late Miocene-Pliocene time (~13-4 Ma) consistent with prior results from TYC and other Tibetan rifts. Our data are consistent with a segment linkage fault evolution model for the TYC rift, with underthrusting of Indian lithosphere likely related to the northward acceleration of rifting. Future work will utilize advanced HeFTy modeling including U-Pb and apatite fission track data to further constrain the exhumation history of TYC and test dynamic models of extension for southern Tibet.
more »
« less
Modeling the Shape and Evolution of Normal‐Fault Facets
Facets formed along the footwalls of active normal‐fault blocks display a variety of longitudinal profile forms, with variations in gradient, shape, degree of soil cover, and presence or absence of a slope break at the fault trace. We show that a two‐dimensional, process‐oriented cellular automaton model of facet profile evolution can account for the observed morphologic diversity. The model uses two dimensionless parameters to represent fault slip, progressive rock weathering, and downslope colluvial‐soil transport driven by gravity and stochastic disturbance events. The parameters represent rock weathering and soil disturbance rates, respectively, scaled by fault slip rate; both can be derived from field‐estimated rate coefficients. In the model's transport‐limited regime, slope gradient depends on the ratio of disturbance to slip rate, with a maximum that represents the angle of repose for colluvium. In this regime, facet evolution is consistent with nonlinear diffusion models of soil‐mantled hillslope evolution. Under the weathering‐limited regime, bedrock becomes partly exposed but microtopography helps trap some colluvium even when facet gradient exceeds the threshold angle. Whereas the model predicts a continuous gradient from footwall to colluvial wedge under transport‐limited behavior, fully weathering‐limited facets tend to develop a slope break between footwall and basal colluvium as a result of reduced transport efficiency on the rocky footwall slope. To the extent that the model provides a reasonable analogy for natural facets, its behavior suggests that facet profile morphology can provide useful constraints on relative potential rates of rock weathering, soil disturbance, and fault slip.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1831623
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10458110
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
- Volume:
- 125
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2169-9003
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
more » « less
Abstract It is widely recognized that fluid injection can trigger aseismic fault slip. However, the processes by which the fluid‐rock interactions facilitate or inhibit slip are poorly understood and some are oversimplified in most models of injection‐induced slip. In this study, we perform a 2D anti‐plane shear investigation of aseismic slip that occurs in response to fluid injection into a permeable fault governed by rate‐and‐state friction. We account for porosity and permeability changes that accompany slip, including dilatancy, and quantify how these processes affect pore pressure diffusion, which couples to aseismic slip. Fault response to injection has two phases. In the first phase, slip is negligible and pore pressure closely follows the standard linear diffusion model. Pressurization eventually triggers aseismic slip close to the injection site. In the second phase, aseismic slip front expands outward and dilatancy causes pore pressure to depart from the linear diffusion model. We quantify how prestress, injection rate, permeability and other fluid transport properties affect the slip front migration rate, finding rates ranging from 10 to 1,000 m/day for typical parameters. The migration rate is strongly influenced by the fault's closeness to failure and injection rate. The total slip on the fault, on the other hand, is primarily determined by the injected volume, with minimal sensitivity to injection rate. Additionally, we show that when dilatancy is neglected, slip front migration rate and total slip can be several times higher. Our modeling demonstrates that porosity and permeability evolution, especially dilatancy, fundamentally alters how faults respond to fluid injection.
-
more » « less
Abstract Understanding the extent to which local factors, including bedrock and structure, govern catchment denudation in mountainous environments as opposed to broader climate or tectonic patterns provides insight into how landscapes evolve as sediment is generated and transported through them, and whether they have approached steady‐state equilibrium. We measured beryllium‐10 (10Be) concentrations in 21 sediment samples from glaciated footwall and hanging wall catchments, including a set of nested catchments, and 12 bedrock samples in the Puga and Tso Morari half‐grabens located in the high‐elevation, arid Zanskar region of northern India. In the Puga half‐graben where catchments are underlain by quartzo‐feldspathic gneissic bedrock, bedrock along catchment divides is eroding very slowly, about 5 m/Ma, due to extreme aridity and10Be concentrations in catchment sediments are the highest (~60–90 × 105atoms/g SiO2) as colluvium accumulates on hillslopes, decoupled from their ephemeral streams. At Puga,10Be concentrations and the average erosion rates of a set of six nested catchments demonstrate that catchment denudation is transport‐limited as sediment stagnates on lower slopes before reaching the catchment outlet. In the Tso Morari half‐graben, gneissic bedrock is also eroding very slowly but10Be concentrations in sediments in catchments underlain by low grade meta‐sedimentary rocks, are significantly lower (~10–35 × 105atoms/g SiO2). In these arid, high‐elevation environments,10Be concentrations in catchment sediments have more to do with bedrock weathering and transport times than steady‐state denudation rates. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
-
more » « less
Abstract The advance of a chemical weathering front into the bedrock of a hillslope is often limited by the rate weathering products that can be carried away, maintaining chemical disequilibrium. If the weathering front is within the saturated zone, groundwater flow downslope may affect the rate of transport and weathering—however, weathering also modifies the rock permeability and the subsurface potential gradient that drives lateral groundwater flow. This feedback may help explain why there tends to be neither “runaway weathering” to great depth nor exposed bedrock covering much of the earth and may provide a mechanism for weathering front advance to keep pace with incision of adjacent streams into bedrock. This is the second of a two‐part paper exploring the coevolution of bedrock weathering and lateral flow in hillslopes using a simple low‐dimensional model based on hydraulic groundwater theory. Here, we show how a simplified kinetic model of 1‐D rock weathering can be extended to consider lateral flow in a 2‐D hillslope. Exact and approximate analytical solutions for the location and thickness of weathering within the hillslope are obtained for a number of cases. A location for the weathering front can be found such that lateral flow is able to export weathering products at the rate required to keep pace with stream incision at steady state. Three pathways of solute export are identified: “diffusing up,” where solutes diffuse up and away from the weathering front into the laterally flowing aquifer; “draining down,” where solutes are advected primarily downward into the unweathered bedrock; and “draining along,” where solutes travel laterally within the weathering zone. For each pathway, a different subsurface topography and overall relief of unweathered bedrock within the hillslope is needed to remove solutes at steady state. The relief each pathway requires depends on the rate of stream incision raised to a different power, such that at a given incision rate, one pathway requires minimal relief and, therefore, likely determines the steady‐state hillslope profile.
-
more » « less
Abstract Understanding the processes that produce high prograde metamorphic heating rates and the development of inverted metamorphic sequences in collisional thrust belts remains a fundamental challenge for tectonics and metamorphic petrology. New 2D finite element models of crustal‐scale thrusts with variable slip rates (10, 20, 35, 50 km Myr−1) are used to examine how thrust sheet emplacement contributes to these processes. In the models, average prograde heating rates of 31–118 °C Myr−1are observed in the footwall, with maximum transient heating rates of ∼167 °C Myr−1occurring at the highest slip rate. Also, thrust sheet emplacement produces an inverted thermal gradient in the model footwall. At slip rates of 10 km Myr−1, heating magnitudes >200 °C are observed >7 km structurally beneath the thrust plane. At slip rates of 20–50 km Myr−1, models produce thermal penetration depths of 4–5 km for similar heating magnitudes. Petrologically determined heating rates for thrust footwalls in the Scandian orogenic wedge of northern Scotland mostly yield rates consistent with model results (10–230 °C Myr−1). The model‐derived magnitude of inverted thermal gradients is also similar to those indicated in texturally determined deformation temperature transects across the Scandian orogenic wedge (100 °C–180 °C). Combined, these results indicate that high heating rates can be produced by fault slip at typical plate velocities. Additionally, this implies that crustal‐scale thrusts are likely to produce inverted metamorphic sequences in most systems, provided that
P‐T conditions during slip allow for metamorphic or recrystallization processes that would preserve evidence for such features.
