­­Are current models for normal fault array evolution applicable to natural rifts?

Abstract:

Conceptual models predicting the geometry and evolution of normal fault arrays are vital to assess rift physiography, syn-rift sediment dispersal and seismic hazard. Observations from data-rich rifts and numerical and physical models underpin widely used fault array models predicting: i) during rift initiation, arrays are defined by multiple, small, isolated faults; ii) as rifting progresses, strain localises onto fewer larger structures; and iii) with continued strain, faulting migrates toward the rift axis, resulting in rift narrowing. Some rifts display these characteristics whereas others do not. Here we present several case studies documenting fault migration patterns that do not fit this ideal. In this presentation we will begin by reviewing existing fault array models before presenting a series of case studies (including from the northern North Sea and the Gulf of Corinth), which document fault migration patterns that are not predicted by current fault evolution models. We show that strain migration onto a few, large faults is common in many rifts but that, rather than localising onto these structures until the cessation of rifting, strain may ‘sweep’ across the basin. Furthermore, crustal weaknesses developed in early tectonic events can cause faults during subsequent phases of extension to grow relatively quickly and accommodate the majority if not all of the rift-related strain; in these cases, strain migration does not and need not occur. Finally, in salt-influenced rifts, strain localisation may not occur at all; rather, strain may become progressively more diffuse due to tilting of the basement and intrastratal salt décollements, thus leading to superimposition of thin-skinned, gravity-driven and thick-skinned, plate-driven, basement-involved extension. We call for the community to unite to develop the next-generation of normal fault array models that include complexities such as the thermal and rheological properties of the lithosphere, specific regional tectonic boundary conditions, crustal weaknesses and intrastratal rheology variations. Only then will we be able to make accurate assessments of tectono-stratigraphic setting and seismic hazard for a particular rift with a particular set of boundary conditions and parameters.