the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Strike-slip faulting in extending upper plates: insight from the Aegean
Abstract. During gravitational collapse of orogenic systems or in hot extending back-arc systems, normal faulting is often associated with strike slip faulting whose origin remains enigmatic. The formation of major strike slip fault zones during subduction upper plate extension driven by slab-roll back can be related to slab tearing at depth. In the Aegean, where back-arc extension driven by southwest-ward migration of the Hellenic trench (slab rollback) has occurred since at least 30 Ma, the co-existence of normal faulting and a multiple strike-slip fault zones is observed since the onset of the westward extrusion of Anatolia, but before the onset of slab tearing that occurs in the Pliocene. Here we show how strike slip faults and normal faults can coexist in a hot deforming continental lithosphere. Our 3D numerical models with two deformation stages (initial pure extension followed by combined shortening and extension) can explain the Aegean tectonics. Several rifts form during the purely extensional stage that, during the second deformation stage, are either fully reactivated as strike-slip faults, or remain active but rimmed by dextral and sinistral strike-slip faults. This suggests that the extension driven by slab rollback and shortening driven by westward extrusion of Anatolia interact in space and time in the Aegean domain to create a complex tectonic pattern with coeval active normal faulting (e.g. Corinth and Evvia rifts) and dextral strike-slip faulting (e.g. the North Anatolian and Myrthes-Ikaria faults). These results show that strike slip faults in extending domain can be a sign of shortening at high angle to the extension direction.
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Status: open (until 13 May 2024)
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-569', Haralambos Kranis, 29 Mar 2024
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General comments
The paper by Faucher et al. is an interesting approach to the complexly deforming Aegean region. It is scientifically significant and falls well within the scope of SE. The model setup and boundary conditions are valid and the model resolution is sufficient enough to display the crustal structural features. Nonetheless, the intrinsic limitations of the method lead to certain inconsistencies between the model outcome and the actual structural configuration, as described below:
The outcome of the final model (Fig 3D) correctly predicts the formation of E-W striking normal faults (roughly corresponding to the active rifts of Corinth and Evvia), alongside with ENE-WSW to NE-SW dextral strike-slip faults, (which is the case in the central and north Aegean, i.e. splays/branches of the North Anatolian Fault), conjugate to WNW-ESE to NW-SW sinistral s.s. faults. A fault zone of such strike and kinematics does occur in reality, the Katouna Fault System, NW of the gulf of Corinth (Perouse et al., 2017) (note that it is incorrectly shown in Fig 1C as a normal fault).
The conjugate arrangement of NE-SW dextral NW-SE sinistral s.s. faults is not (exactly) the case in the broader Aegean region, however. As shown in the paper by Sakellariou and Tsambouraki-Kraounaki (2018) (which is properly acknowledged in the m/s and used as a basis for Fig 1C), the upper-plate deformation in the South Aegean is characterized by NW-SE sinistral s.s. faults.
Overall, the paper by Faucher et al is a step forward, towards the understanding the complex deformation of the broader Aegean region, albeit with some limitations, posed by the model setup and boundary conditions. The symmetry displayed in the outcome of the model possibly arises from the equality between the amounts of compression and extension applied to it and the strict orthogonality between the compression and extension axes, as trench retreat is faster than the Anatolian extrusion and these two end-member vectors are not strictly perpendicular to each other. Moreover, the effect of the Anatolia extrusion in the northern part (i.e. north of the Maliakos-Amvrakikos latitude) is much less pronounced; probably the Vc amount imposed along the x-direction could follow a gradient, increasing towards the “south” edge of the model.
Specific comments
See attached pdf with notes and comments on Fig 1.
The “Pelagonian” fault is currently active, as evidenced by recent (2022-today) seismic activity; based on focal mechanism solutions, it is indeed a left-lateral fault boundary.
Technical corrections - typing errors
l.41: “the Oligocene”, “the Miocene”
l.150 “NW-striking strike-slip faults”
References
Pérouse, E., Sébrier, M., Braucher, R. et al. Transition from collision to subduction in Western Greece: the Katouna–Stamna active fault system and regional kinematics. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 106, 967–989 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-016-1345-9.
Sakellariou, D. and Tsampouraki-Kraounaki, K.: Plio-Quaternary extension and strike-slip tectonics in the Aegean, in: Transform Plate Boundaries and Fracture Zones, edited by: Duarte, J., Elsevier, 2018
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-569', John Naliboff, 10 Apr 2024
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Please see attached pdf for the full review.
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