Strike slip faults,

salt tectonics and

inversion tectonics
Jan Kees Blom
January 2011
Strike slip
Horizontal displacement,
strike slip
Where two lithospheric plates move
past each other, we can observe
strike slip fault zones (slip along the
strike (=horizontal) of the fault
plane).
However, as the Earths crust is not
homogeneous, they can also be
observed in compressional and
extensional areas
Strike slip in compressional or
extensional areas
Usually in the form of
tear/transfer faults
Or at mid-oceanic
ridges as transform
faults
Stress orientation
Both
1
and
3
are horizontal
in the case of crustal scale
strike slip, in contrast to
compression (
3
vertical) and
extension (
1
vertical)
In this stress field, we find
vertical faults at an angle of
about 30 degree with
1

Please note: strike slip is
associated with horizontal
compression
Dextral vs sinistral
There are two kinds of strike
slip:
sinistral (plate on other side
moves to the left), top, in
British Columbia
dextral (plate on other side
moves to the right), bottom,
close to Las Vegas
Other names for strike slip
faults: wrench faults,
transcurrent faults
Dimensions
Strike slip faults vary in size
from more than 1000 km in
length (eg San Andreas, top)
to several ms or cms (below)
In some cases the entire crust
is deformed (top), in other
cases only a few layers
(bottom).
They have free tips, and grow
in length as the strike slip
displacement accumulates
San Andreas
The best known
example is probably
the dextral San
Andreas fault system
in California.
Here the Pacific and
American plates move
past each other
Actually a transform
fault, note mid
oceanic ridges
Tarbuck & Lutgens, 1994
San Andreas 2
Fault has been active for 100 Ma
average speed: 5 cm/year
total displacement: about 500 km
1906 San Francisco earthquake
(top):
magnitude 8.3,
7 metres displacement over
400 km
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake:
magnitude 7.1
1 meter displacement on
surface
Complex pattern of associated
faults all over California


San Andreas 3
Examples
San Andreas
Dode Zee
Nieuw Zeeland
Faille de Nimes
Continental collision:
Intraplate deformation
Great Glen Fault
From
Caledonian
orogeny
Possibly
connected to
Svalbard
A 3500km
long fault!
Oceanic transforms
Found where MOR steps sideways
Oceanic transforms 2
Only a part of the visible
fault is active
Pure shear vs simple shear
There are two methods of deformation
associated with strike slip, referred to as Pure
Shear and Simple Shear.
Pure shear is observed if the whole crust is
involved in the deformation
Simple shear if only the cover is deformed, as
the result of movement along a fault in the
basement
Pure vs Simple
Shear
In Pure shear the whole crust
is involved in the deformation
In map view we see faults
forming that make an angle of
45
o
- with respect to
1

(check with Mohr circle)
Conjugate sets of a dextral
and sinistral faults may form,
but it can also result in just a
single fault.
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Simple shear
If the strike slip fault is
only present in the
subsurface, it causes
the formation of a
leverage in the covering
rocks. This then leads to
the formation of
apparently strangely
oriented faults in the
cover
Simple shear
In the simple shear case,
1
in the
cover is at an angle of 45
o
to the fault
in the basement (grey), also giving
faults at an angle of 45
o
- with
respect to
1
and therefore at either a
very small or a very large angle to the
basement fault
(what angles exactly?)
The small angle faults are called Riedel
faults, after the person who described
them first.

Simple Shear
Due to the stress field in the
cover above a basement
fault, other structures can
form as well
Both normal and reverse
faults, as well as folds can
form in the sediments above
a strike slip fault.
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Structures around dextral motion
Note secondary P-
shears between Riedel
faults
They develop due to
local stress variation
Also note high angle R
shears, they develop
less well than normal
Riedels
Experiments
These structures can also be observed in experiments, here
with a layer of clay above a basement fault
Davis & Reynolds 1996
Fault steps
Additional complications
are caused by the fact
that fault planes arent
always planar. En echelon
faults or anastomosing
faults give rise to local
areas of compression or
extension.
These local stress variations can lead to the formation of holes
(pull apart basins) or uplifted areas (flower structures)
Flower structures
The rocks in flower
structures will be folded and
uplifted, also often leading
to excellent reservoirs
The example is from
Oklahoma
Twiss & Moores 1992
Pull apart basins
Pull apart basins can be
found along strike slip
faults all over the world
Top: a small pull apart
basin in Iran
Bottom: pull apart basin
formed by two sinistral en
echelon faults in Siberia,
just North of Lake Baikal
Twiss & Moores 1992
50km
Dead Sea

Pull apart
Pull apart basins can also be
recognised in seismic lines,
where they are often referred
to as negative flower
structures, due to the 2D
character of seismic lines
the example below is from
the Indian Andaman Sea
These basins are readily filled
with sediments, which are
often deformed in turn, often
forming excellent reservoirs.
Twiss & Moores 1992
Reservoir
A fine example of a strike slip
related reservoir can be found in
Venezuela: the Mara reservoir in
Lake Maracaibo
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Mara field
The Mara field is situated
along the La Paz Mara
fault on the western
shore of Lake Maracaibo
the contour map shows
an anticline that has
been offset along a
number of smaller faults
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Mara
In cross section, a flower structure can be observed,
leading to the anticline which now forms the reservoir
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Mara
Horizontal slice maps
show the amount of
horizontal diplacement at
different levels
These maps are
essential, as seismics
and cross sections do not
show any horizontal
displacement
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Netherlands
In the subsurface
of the
Netherlands,
several
structures
associated with
strike slip
movement can
be observed,
such as pull
aparts in
Groningen (right)
Richard et al,
1994
Closer to home
Structures related to strike slip also
observed in oil fields close to
Delft, such as the IJsselmonde
(right) and Pijnacker (next slide)
fields
Www.intogas.nl
Pijnacker oil field
The now abandoned Pijnacker oil
field is situated in a bend of a
strike slip fault, which was first
active as a sinistral fault during the
Cretaceous, leading to a small pull
apart basin.
Later dextral inversion of the fault
during the Tertiary led to
compression and the formation of
a flower structure
Www.intogas.nl
Salt tectonics
Zout
Salt is deposited in restricted marine basins. Due to the
evaporation of seawater, salts are concentrated (Dead Sea)
until they can precipitate.
This often happens when the sea first invades a forming
basin (East Africa), which explains why we often observe salt
deposits underneath marine sediments with a higher density
Afar Triangle Ethiopia
Density of salt
The most common
salt, Halite (NaCl)
has a density of 2.2
g/cm
3
which does
not change with
depth
Clastic sediments
have a density that
rises with depth
Carbonates always
have a higher
density than salt
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Salt & seismics
Due to its constant density, salt has a
constant seismic velocity, making it very
difficult to see its internal structures
Salt has no porosity, making it an
excellent seal for hydrocarbons (e.g.
Groningen gas field)
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Strength of salt
Compared to other rocktypes,
salt is a very weak material. It
will deform ductile under
conditions where other
materials do not even break
When, with increased burial,
the density of salt becomes
smaller than the density of the
overlying material, it can start
to float to the surface
Diapirs
If the salt gets deeper than a certain threshold, it will start to flow and try
to rise to the surface
Where the pressure from above is smallest, the salt will accumulate. Next
to those areas, the sediment will sink
As the diapir rises, the sediment above will be uplifted and extended,
while the material next to it will descend and deform
Welds may stop diapirs from rising further
Seismics and salt
Diapirs can be recognised on seismic lines by their seismically opaque
form
Offshore Norway
WWWeb
Toward the surface
If the diapir reaches
the surface, it will
widen under its own
weight, sometimes
covering the
sediments it broke
through, creating
ideal reservoir
conditions..
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
On the surface
If the cover is eroded, or if too
much salt is rising, the salt will
reach the surface, where it will
form salt mountains (below, in
Spain) or salt domes (Isachsen
salt dome, Canada, 5 km
across)
WWWeb
Zagros Mountains
Iran
Detachment
As salt deforms so
easily, it plays an
important role in
detachment of fold and
thrust belts.
The salt, which often forms the lowest part of the sedimentary column,
will form a slip plane either in a compressional (top, Pyrenees) or
extensional setting (below)

Seal
Salt not only deforms easily, it
does not have any porosity either
It is therefore perfect as a seal
for hydrocarbons, such as in the
Groningen gas field, where
Zechstein salt traps enormous
amounts of gas in Rotliegendes
sandstones
Nieuwenhuijs 1995
Inversion tectonics
Inversion tectonics
The term inversion tectonics applies to those areas
that were first subjected to one phase of deformation
and the to another phase, with an opposite sense of
direction of deformation
Scale of inversion
Inversion plays an important role on different scales
In orogenic belts, pre-existing normal faults are often
inverted as early thrusts. They also play a role in the
localisation of newly formed thrusts
In smaller basins such as the North Sea, small scale
inversion occurs, e.g.as the result of strike slip faults,
leading to extensive redistribution of hydrocarbons.
Inversion
structures
Inversion structures are
dependant on the pre-
existing geometry of the
basin and the direction
of inversion
Not recognizing
inversion can lead to
wrong interpretation of
the amount of
shortening or extension,
and of the structure at
depth
McClay 1995
Depth interpretation
This example is based upon the Sulaiman and Kohat Ranges in W-Pakistan.
The sediment B has been elevated.
What is the structure in the subsurface?
Coward 1994
Depth interpretation 2
Two possible interpretations:
a) basement not involved, piggy back sequence, large displacement
b) inversion of the basement, small displacement
Coward 1994
Hydrocarbons and inversion
Not recognising inversion has
serous consequences for oil
companies:
different burial history: timing
maturity & oil generation
sediment uplifted: possible
secondary porosity
dip influenced: different
migration paths
faults influenced: different seals,
new migration
complex structures
Inversion is often observed,
e.g. the North Sea
Hayward & Graham1989
Broad fourteens basin
the Broad Fourteens
basin in the North Sea
is an example of an
inverted basin
It started as an
extensional basin in the
Triassic and was
inverted during the
Cretaceous
The total amount of
shortening here is about
10%
Hayward & Graham1989
Broad 14s
Further toward the NE, younger rocks are also shortened. A total shortening here of
10% is mainly accommodated by thrusting along the Zechstein
Hayward & Graham1989
Alps
Large scale examples of inversion can be observed in for example the French
Alps
Here, Triassic normal faults were inverted, leading to the uplift of large
basement blocks and the deformation of the Jurassic and Cretaceous
sedimentary (e.g. Vesc area)
Hayward & Graham1989
Strike slip and inversion
Inversion can also be observed in strike slip areas
A pull apart basin (example off Denmark) can be compressed
and inverted during continued strike slip movement
Deeks & Thomas 1996
Causes of inversion
Possible causes for inversion:
isostatic rebound;
salt diapirism;
heating of lithosphere, e.g. at hotspots;
extension and block rotation;
change in direction of plate movement;
along strike slip zones;

Geometric control
Reactivation of pre-existing
faults is a controlling factor in
inversion
If the rocks are already
faulted, the cohesion
o
in
the Mohr Coulomb criterion
( =
o
+ ) will
no longer play a role, leaving
us with a direct relation
between stress and friction
Davis & Reynolds 1996
To reactivate or not to reactivate
In the Mohr diagram can be
seen at what angles of the
pre-existing faults reactivation
will first occur. If faults with
this orientation relative to
sigma 1 are present, then
they will reactivate
If these faults are not
present, the stress will
mount.
Davis & Reynolds 1996
Anything yet?
..leading to a bigger Mohr circle
and more possible orientations
suitable for reactivation
If there still are no suitably
oriented faults present, the stress
will continue to mount until the
Mohr Coulomb criterion is
reached and new faults form.
Davis & Reynolds 1996
Total reactivation?
It is possible that a fault is
suitably oriented for reactivation
at a certain level, while at others,
it is not.
In that case, new faults can form
in one location while elsewhere
the fault is reactivated.
This causes complications in
hydrocarbon reservoirs, as the
sealing characteristics of both
faults will be very different.
Cooper et al., 1989
Inversion
Inversion structures can be observed in a
variety of settings, from mountain ranges
to basins
One example are the TU Delft fieldwork
areas in Vesc, in the French Alps
Here, sediments deposited in a faulted,
deep marine basin were inverted during
the Alpine Orogeny
Joseph et al 1984
Den Tex & van Vroonhoven
1997
Blom 1999
Under our feet
Inversion can also be observed in
the Netherlands, or better, in
the subsurface of the
Netherlands, for instance in the
Wassenaar oil field
www.intogas.nl
Summary
Strike slip (Chapter 18.1, 2, 3, 4):
horizontal displacement
Dextral, sinistral, pure shear, simple shear, Riedel
faults
Fault steps: flower structures & pull apart basins
Salt (Chapter 19.1, 2, 3 (par 1 & 2):
Density
Seismics
Detachment
Inversion
Reactivation
Hydrocarbons