Zipper Faults

Abstract:

Intersecting simultaneously active pairs of faults with different orientations and opposing slip sense ("conjugate faults") present geometrical and kinematic problems. Such faults rarely offset each other, even when they have displacements of many km. A simple solution to the problem is that the two faults merge, either zippering up or unzippering, depending on the relationship between the angle of intersection and the slip senses. A widely recognized example of this is the so-called blind front developed in some thrust belts, where a backthrust branches off a decollement surface at depth. The decollement progressively unzippers, so that its hanging wall becomes the hanging wall of the backthrust, and its footwall becomes the footwall of the active decollement. The opposite situation commonly arises in core complexes, where conjugate low-angle normal faults merge to form a single detachment; in this case the two faults zipper up. Analogous situations may arise for conjugate pairs of strike-slip faults. We present kinematic and geometrical analyses of the Garlock and San Andreas faults in California, the Najd fault system in Saudi Arabia, the North and East Anatolian faults, the Karakoram and Altyn Tagh faults in Tibet, and the Tonale and Guidicarie faults in the southern Alps, all of which appear to have undergone zippering over distances of several tens to hundreds of km.

The zippering process may produce complex and significant patterns of strain and rotation in the surrounding rocks, particularly if the angle between the zippered faults is large. A zippering fault may be inactive during active movement on the intersecting faults, or it may have a slip rate that differs from either fault. Intersecting conjugate ductile shear zones behave in the same way on outcrop and micro-scales.