Influence of Mechanical Stratigraphy and Strain on the Displacement-Length Scaling of Normal Faults From Alba Patera to the Northern Plains, Mars

Details Influence of Mechanical Stratigraphy and Strain on the Displacement-Length Scaling of Normal Faults From Alba Patera to the Northern Plains, Mars Influence of Mechanical Stratigraphy and Strain on the Displacement-Length Scaling of Normal Faults From Alba Patera to the Northern Plains, Mars

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufm.p51b0921p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #P51B-0921

Physics

6225 Mars, 8010 Fractures And Faults, 8015 Local Crustal Structure, 8149 Planetary Tectonics (5475)

Scientific paper

Normal fault populations grow with constant displacement-length ( D-L) scaling relations when fault aspect ratio remains constant. Mechanical stratigraphy can vertically restrict faults so that fault height remains constant while fault length increases. This increase in aspect ratio (length/height) with length results in less displacement per unit length for progressively longer faults (Schultz and Fossen, 2002; Soliva and Benedicto, 2005). Gupta and Scholz (2000) have also demonstrated that strain influences D-L scaling relations such that, following saturation, the D-L ratio increases with increasing strain. To better understand the effects of mechanical stratigraphy and strain on D-L scaling, we measure the throw distributions on well preserved graben-bounding normal faults in the northeastern part of the Tharsis region on Mars. For faults in the northern plains of Mars, we find a transition from linear scaling, with D-L ratios of ~1×10-3, to nonlinear D-L scaling as a function of length. To the south, on Alba Patera, faults follow linear D-L scaling. These faults have D-L ratios of ~5×10-3, and accommodate larger strains (~0.89%) than the faults in the northern plains (~0.23%). Longer faults in the northern plains are restricted at a mechanical boundary 3 km deep whereas those on Alba Patera are not vertically restricted. The discrepancy in D-L ratio between the two regions is due to strain differences. On Alba Patera grabens accommodate larger strains by a change from regionally distributed to more localized deformation, with a corresponding increase in fault height and D-L ratio. Our results suggest a transition between vertical restriction of uniformly spaced grabens and downward propagation of a few grabens and the associated decrease in aspect ratio and increases in D-L ratios and extensional strain.

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