Emma Finch

University of Manchester

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Robert L. Gawthorpe

University of Bergen

Leonardo M. Pichel

University of Bergen

Stuart Hardy

Universitat de Barcelona

Mads Huuse

University of Manchester

Rob L. Gawthorpe

University of Bergen

Ian Kane

University of Manchester

Christopher Jackson

Imperial College London

Zoe Cumberpatch

University of Manchester

Haakon Fossen

University of Bergen

Jonathan Redfern

University of Manchester

Cooperative Institutions

University of Manchester

University of Bergen

University of Leeds

Imperial College London

University of the Highlands and Islands

University of East Anglia

Mediterranean University

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

University of Aberdeen

National Oceanography Centre

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Normal fault growth above pre-existing structures: insights from discrete element modelling

EGUGA (2016)

Thilo Wrona Emma Finch Rebecca Bell Christopher Jackson Robert L. Gawthorpe

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3D Discrete Element Modelling of Normal Fault Network Evolution in Multi-Phase Rift Basins

2014 AGU Fall Meeting (2014)

Robert L. Gawthorpe Emma Finch

Normal fault

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Contrasting Geomorphic and Stratigraphic Responses to Normal Fault Development During Single and Multi-Phase Rifting

Frontiers in Earth Science (2022)

Sofia Pechlivanidou Anneleen H. Geurts Guillaume Duclaux Robert L. Gawthorpe Christos Pennos

Understanding the impact of tectonics on surface processes and the resultant stratigraphic evolution in multi-phase rifts is challenging, as patterns of erosion and deposition related to older phases of extension are overprinted by the subsequent extensional phases. In this study, we use a one-way coupled numerical modelling approach between a tectonic and a surface processes model to investigate topographic evolution, erosion and basin stratigraphy during single and multi-phase rifting. We compare the results from the single and the multi-phase rift experiments for a 5 Myr period during which they experience equal amounts of extension, but with the multi-phase experiment experiencing fault topography inherited from a previous phase of extension. Our results demonstrate a very dynamic evolution of the drainage network that occurs in response to fault growth and linkage and to depocentre overfilling and overspilling. We observe profound differences between topographic and depocenter development during single and multi-phase rifting with implications for sedimentary facies architecture. Our quantitative approach, enables us to better understand the impact of changing extension direction on the distribution of sediment source areas and the syn-rift stratigraphic development through time and space.

Passive margin

10.3389/feart.2021.748276

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Citations (2)

Halokinetic modulation of sedimentary systems: an integrated approach

Zoe Cumberpatch Emma Finch Ian Kane Christopher Jackson David M. Hodgson

Complicated structural-stratigraphic traps at the salt-sediment interface have historically hosted large hydrocarbon discoveries. Understanding sediment-routing around active salt bodies, is now vital for carbon capture and storage projects due to salt being a &#8216;near-perfect&#8217; seal. Despite advances in subsurface visualisation, the salt-sediment interface remains difficult to image due to steep-bedding, bed-thickness changes and lithological contrasts. Outcropping examples provide depositional facies understanding, but are limited, largely due to the dissolution of associated halites. Studied analogues represent specific sedimentation rates and salt rise rates, which are difficult to accurately constrain and decipher.Discrete Element Modelling (DEM) provides an efficient and inexpensive tool to analyse how depositional architectures around salt structures vary with sedimentation rate. Model input parameters are taken from the Bakio diapir, Basque Cantabrian Basin and the Pierce diapirs, eastern Central Graben and their adjacent, halokinetically influenced stratigraphic successions.Six experiments were run, lasting for a total of 4.6 Myr. After a 2.2 Myr calibration period sediment was added to the model over three 800,000 year stages: 1) 2.2-3 Myr, 2) 3-3.8 Myr 3) 3.8-4.6 Myr. Sedimentation rate was varied to study the effects of sedimentation on mini-basin individualisation and extent of halokinetic modulation. The six experiments represent: no sedimentation, slow, intermediate and fast sediment input, increasing sedimentation and decreasing sedimentation. Outputs are validated by comparison to subsurface and outcropping examples globally.Results show that: 1) Diapir growth is increased with some sedimentation, compared to no sedimentation, in agreement with models of passive diapirism by sediment loading, however growth is inhibited by increasing sedimentation rate. 2) Salt withdrawal mini-basins of 4-5 diapir-widths are formed and are controlled by the width of the diapir; outside of this, the overburden is undeformed. 3) Strata, at least initially, onlap and thin towards the topographic high created by the diapir. 4) Slow aggradation results in rotation of onlaps and sedimentation being restricted to mini-basins, making individualisation more probable, while sedimentation on the diapir roof eventually occurs in all other experiments.5) Under high sedimentation rates, halokinetic influences on stratigraphy are &#8216;buried&#8217; quicker, which could make the upper part of the syn-kinematic sequence difficult to decipher from the post-kinematic sequence.The increasing sedimentation scenario simulates progradation, and is integrated with findings from the halokinetically-influenced successions around the Bakio (N.Spain) and Pierce (UK North Sea) diapirs. At Bakio, stratigraphy deposited above the diapir was removed by Pyrenean inversion. Incorporating outcrop-based sedimentary facies analysis with numerical modelling indicates that deposits experience facies changes towards stratigraphic pinch outs, mass failures could be common closest to diapirs and allows for the development of &#8216;zones&#8217; of variably severe halokinetic influence. Combining Pierce core data and model results highlights a trade-off between reservoir quality and stratigraphic trap integrity that may aid development of hydrocarbon fields and carbon capture and storage sites in salt-bearing sedimentary basins.Our innovative, iterative, integrated approach is capable of improving understanding of the variables influencing sediment-routing and stratigraphic trap configuration around extensional-passive diapirs, and can be applied to a multitude of depositional settings.

Sedimentation

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-10099

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Influence of a pre-existing basement weakness on normal fault growth during oblique extension: Insights from discrete element modeling

Journal of Structural Geology (2017)

Chao Deng Robert L. Gawthorpe Emma Finch Haakon Fossen

Normal fault

Basement

10.1016/j.jsg.2017.11.005

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Citations (64)

Discrete‐element modelling of extensional fault‐propagation folding above rigid basement fault blocks

Basin Research (2004)

Emma Finch Stuart Hardy Rob L. Gawthorpe

Abstract We employed a discrete‐element technique to investigate the effects of cover strength and fault dip on the style of fault‐propagation folding above a blind normal fault. Deformation in the cover is initially characterised by an upward‐widening monocline that is often replaced, with continued slip on the basement fault, by a single, through‐going fault. Localisation on a single fault produces hangingwall synclines and footwall anticlines as a result of breaching of the earlier monocline and which do not represent ‘drag’ against the fault. As basement fault dip decreases the width of the monocline at the surface increases. Experiments varying the strength of the overburden material illustrate the control that cover strength has on both fault propagation and folding in the cover. Reduction of the strength of the cover results in: (1) the width of the monocline above the fault tip increasing, and (2) more marked footwall thinning and hangingwall thickening of beds. In contrast, an increase in cover strength results in a narrower monocline and rapid propagation of the basement fault into the cover. In multi‐layer (variable strength) experiments simultaneous faulting of competent layers and flow of weaker layers produces complex structural relationships. Faults in the cover die out up and down section and do not link to the basement fault at depth. Similarly, complex macroscopically ductile characteristics such as footwall thinning and hangingwall thickening can be juxtaposed against simple brittle fault cut‐offs. These relationships must be borne in mind when interpreting the field and seismic expression of such structures. We discuss the modelling results in terms of their implications for structural interpretation and the surficial expression of fault‐related folding in extensional settings.

Monocline

Cataclastic rock

Anticline

Fault block

Syncline

10.1111/j.1365-2117.2004.00241.x

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Citations (154)

How Does the Orientation of a Preexisting Basement Weakness Influence Fault Development During Renewed Rifting? Insights From Three‐Dimensional Discrete Element Modeling

Tectonics (2018)

Chao Deng Robert L. Gawthorpe Haakon Fossen Emma Finch

Abstract The variety in fault geometry, fault interaction style, and evolution of the fault network above a weak planar preexisting fault as a result of a change in the strike angle ( α ) of the preexisting fault relative to the extension direction is investigated using three‐dimensional discrete element modeling. The preexisting fault shows three reactivation modes: (i) full reactivation ( α ≥ 60°), (ii) partial reactivation ( α = 45°), and (iii) little or no reactivation ( α = 30°). A fully reactivated fault decreases the density, affects the orientation, and enhances the length and displacement of adjacent new faults. A partially reactivated fault generates some isolated fault segments along strike and also influences fault orientation. However, when the preexisting fault is not reactivated, its presence has little effect on the growth of new faults. Our study confirms that the reactivation pattern of a preexisting fault and its influence on new fault growth varies with its strike angle relative to the extension direction. It also demonstrates how a preexisting fault influences adjacent fault geometry and the fault network by changing the density, orientation, length, and displacement of newly formed faults. The work impacts understanding three‐dimensional fault geometries, the distribution, and evolution of fault networks in rift basins affected by preexisting faults and on predicting the extension direction of renewed rifting.

Elastic-rebound theory

Fault model

10.1029/2017tc004776

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Citations (43)

Controls on landscape and drainage evolution in regions of distributed normal faulting: Perachora Peninsula, Corinth Rift, Central Greece

Basin Research (2014)

Oliver B. Duffy S. H. Brocklehurst Robert L. Gawthorpe M. R. Leeder Emma Finch

Abstract Zones of distributed faulting with narrow (2–3 km) across‐strike spacing form a common structural style within rifts, especially in accommodation zones, and contrast with crustal‐scale half‐grabens, where strain is localised on normal faults spaced 10–30 km apart. These contrasting styles are likely to have a significant impact on geomorphic development, sediment routing and the stratigraphic record. Perachora Peninsula, in the eastern part of the active Corinth Rift, Greece, is one such zone of distributed faulting. We analyse the topography and drainage networks developed around these closely spaced normal faults, and compare our results with published studies from crustal‐scale half‐grabens. We subdivide the Perachora Peninsula into a series of drainage domains and examine the tectono‐geomorphic evolution of three domains that best represent the range of topographic characteristics, base levels and drainage network styles. We interpret that the perched, endorheic nature of the Asprokampos domain developed due to uplift and backtilt on offshore faults. The Pisia West domain, which drains the valley between the Skinos and Pisia Faults and responds to a perched base level, is interpreted to have experienced a complex base‐level history with episodic connections to sea level. The Skinos Relay domain drains to sea level, lying on the relay ramp between the closely spaced Kamarissa and Skinos Faults. Here, interaction between the displacement fields associated with each of the closely spaced faults controls the rate and style of landscape evolution. In contrast to crustal‐scale half‐grabens, observations from Perachora Peninsula suggest that zones of distributed faulting may be characterised by: (i) perched, internal sediment sinks at different elevations, responding to multiple base levels; (ii) minimal fault‐transverse sediment transport; (iii) interaction of uplift and subsidence fields associated with closely spaced faults, which modulate the rate and style of landscape response; and (iv) complex erosion and sedimentation histories, the evidence for which may have low preservation potential in the stratigraphic record.

Peninsula

Echelon formation

10.1111/bre.12084

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Citations (24)

Discrete‐element modelling of detachment folding

Basin Research (2005)

Stuart Hardy Emma Finch

ABSTRACT A two‐dimensional, discrete‐element modelling technique is used to investigate the initiation and growth of detachment folds in sedimentary rocks above a weak décollement level. The model depicts the sedimentary rocks as an assemblage of spheres that obey Newton's equations of motion and that interact with elastic forces under the influence of gravity. Faulting or fracturing between neighbouring elements is represented by a transition from repulsive–attractive forces to solely repulsive forces. The sedimentary sequence is mechanically heterogeneous, consisting of intercalated layers of markedly different strengths and thicknesses. The interlayering of weak and strong layers within the sedimentary rocks promotes the localization of flexural flow deformation within the weak layers. Even with simple displacement boundary conditions, and straightforward interlayering of weak and strong layers, the structural geometries that develop are complex, with a combination of box, lift‐off and disharmonic detachment fold styles forming above the décollement. In detail, it is found that the modelled folds grow by both limb rotation and limb lengthening. The combination of these two mechanisms results in uplift patterns above the folds that are difficult, or misleading, to interpret in terms of simple kinematic models. Comparison of modelling results with natural examples and with kinematic models highlights the complexities of structural interpretation in such settings.

Décollement

10.1111/j.1365-2117.2005.00280.x

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Citations (82)

The Importance of Drainage Integration and Fluvial Connectivity within Intra-continental Rift Settings

AGUFM (2013)

Janet A Smith Emma Finch S. H. Brocklehurst Robert L. Gawthorpe

Continental Margin

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