We use fault maps and fault propagation evidences available in the literature to examine geometrical relations between parent faults and off-fault splays. The population includes 47 worldwide crustal faults with lengths from millimetres to thousands of kilometres and of different slip modes. We show that fault splays form adjacent to any propagating fault tip, whereas they are absent at non-propagating fault ends. Independent of fault length, slip mode, context, etc., tip splay networks have a similar fan shape widening in direction of long-term propagation, a similar relative length and width (∼ 30 and ∼ 10% of parent fault length, respectively), and a similar range of mean angles to parent fault (10–20°). We infer that tip splay networks are a genetic and a generic property of faults indicative of their long-term propagation. Their generic geometrical properties suggest they result from generic off-fault stress distribution at propagating fault ends.
Abstract Active normal faults cut the uplifted reef platforms of Grande-Terre and Marie-Galante and the volcanic rocks of Basse-Terre in the Lesser Antilles arc. New marine geophysical data shows that such faults extend offshore, forming two distinct sets. One set bounds graben perpendicular to the arc, attesting to ∼ north–south extension. The ‘en echelon’ faults of the other set, roughly along the volcanic arc, accommodate a component of sinistral motion. The active Soufriere volcano lies inside the western termination of the Marie-Galante graben. Historical and instrumental earthquakes with magnitude ⩾5.5 may have ruptured the Marie-Galante graben bounding faults.
A new detailed palaeomagnetic study of Tertiary volcanics, including extensive K‐Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating, helps constrain the deformation mechanisms related to the opening processes of the Afar depression (Ethiopia and Djibouti). Much of the Afar depression is bounded by 30 Myr old flood basalts and floored by the ca 2 Myr old Stratoid basalts, and evidence for pre‐2 Ma deformation processes is accessible only on its borders. K‐Ar and 40Ar/39Ar dating of several mineral phases from rhyolitic samples from the Ali Sabieh block shows indistinguishable ages around 20 Myr. These ages can be linked to separation of this block in relation to continental breakup. Different amounts of rotation are found to the north and south of the Holhol fault zone, which cuts across the northern part of the Ali Sabieh block. The southern domain did not record any rotation for the last 8 Myr, whereas the northern domain experienced approximately 12 ± 9° of clockwise rotation. We propose to link this rotation to the counter‐clockwise rotation observed in the Danakil block since 7 Ma. This provides new constraints on the early phases of rifting and opening of the southern Afar depression in connection with the propagation of the Aden ridge. A kinematic model of propagation and transfer of extension within southern Afar is proposed, with particular emphasis on the previously poorly‐known period from 10 to 4 Ma.
We investigate fault growth in Afar, where normal fault systems are known to be currently growing fast and most are propagating to the northwest. Using digital elevation models, we have examined the cumulative slip distribution along 255 faults with lengths ranging from 0.3 to 60 km. Faults exhibiting the elliptical or “bell‐shaped” slip profiles predicted by simple linear elastic fracture mechanics or elastic‐plastic theories are rare. Most slip profiles are roughly linear for more than half of their length, with overall slopes always <0.035. For the dominant population of NW striking faults and fault systems longer than 2 km, the slip profiles are asymmetric, with slip being maximum near the eastern ends of the profiles where it drops abruptly to zero, whereas slip decreases roughly linearly and tapers in the direction of overall Aden rift propagation. At a more detailed level, most faults appear to be composed of distinct, shorter subfaults or segments, whose slip profiles, while different from one to the next, combine to produce the roughly linear overall slip decrease along the entire fault. On a larger scale, faults cluster into kinematically coupled systems, along which the slip on any scale individual fault or fault system complements that of its neighbors, so that the total slip of the whole system is roughly linearly related to its length, with an average slope again <0.035. We discuss the origin of these quasilinear, asymmetric profiles in terms of “initiation points” where slip starts, and “barriers” where fault propagation is arrested. In the absence of a barrier, slip apparently extends with a roughly linear profile, tapered in the direction of fault propagation.
Key Points A series of triaxial compression tests were performed on methane hydrate-bearing sediments and hydrate-free sediments with different amounts of fines content and at three levels of density The rise in fines content and decrease in void ratio enhanced the peak shear strength and promoted dilation behavior of methane hydrate-bearing sediments The presence of methane hydrate increased the stress ratios at the critical state of methane hydrate-bearing sediments with various amounts of fines content
