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10 - Continental Strike-Slip

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2025

Haakon Fossen  and
Christian Teyssier
Haakon Fossen
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
Christian Teyssier
Affiliation:
University of Minnesota
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Summary

This chapter on continental strike-slip faults and shear zones explores some of the largest faults on Earth, and also faults that represent the greatest seismic hazards. The structural pattern associated with continental strike-slip faults is presented, including strike-slip duplexes, riedel-shears, transpressional and transtensional fold and fault structures, and the chapter discusses how some large faults of this kind appear to transect the entire lithosphere. Shear wave splitting data are briefly presented as a type of data that gives information of the deeper part of continental strike-slip faults, with the Great Glen fault as an example. The well-known San Andreas Fault in the western US, the Dead Sea Fault, The Alpine fault in New Zealand and the Turkish Anatolian Fault are presented as examples of large faults of this kind and how they represent plate boundaries in continental crust. Continental strike-slip structures that do not represent plate boundaries are also discussed, with the active strike-slip faults along the Tibetan plateau and much older and deeply eroded examples from Gondwana (Brazil-Africa) and Canada.

Keywords

Strike-slip faultsstrike-slip shear zonesthe San Andreas Faultthe North and East Anatolian Faultthe Dead Sea Faultthe Alpine Fault
Type
Chapter
Information
Plate Tectonics , pp. 215 - 238
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

Further Reading

Fossen, H., Harris, L. B., Cavalcante, C., Archanjo, C. J., Ávila, C. F., 2022. The Patos–Pernambuco shear system of NE Brazil: Partitioned intracontinental transcurrent deformation revealed by enhanced aeromagnetic data. Journal of Structural Geology 158 doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2022.104573CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, P. F., 1987. Continental transform tectonics: Great Slave Lake shear zone (ca. 1.9 Ga), northwest Canada. Geology 15, 785–788. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1987)15<785:CTTGSL>2.0.CO;22.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Molnar, P., Dayem, K. E., 2010. Major intracontinental strike-slip faults and contrasts in lithospheric strength. Geosphere 6, 444–467. https://doi.org/10.1130/GES00519.1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, R. J., Toy, V. G., 2014. Continental transforms: A view from the Alpine Fault. Journal of Structural Geology 64, 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2014.03.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Şengör, A. M. C., Zabcı, C., Natal’in, B. A., 2019. Continental transform faults: Congruence and incongruence with normal plate kinematics, in Transform Plate Boundaries and Fracture Zones, pp. 169–247, Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812064-4.00009-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smit, J., Brun, J. P., Cloetingh, S., Ben-Avraham, Z., 2010. The rift-like structure and asymmetry of the Dead Sea Fault. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 290, 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2009.11.060CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wesnousky, S.G., 2005. The San Andreas and Walker Lane fault systems, western North America: Transpression, transtension, cumulative slip and the structural evolution of a major transform plate boundary. Journal of Structural Geology 27, 1505–1512. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2005.01.015CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zoback, M., Hickman, S., Ellsworth, W., 2011. Scientific drilling into the San Andreas Fault Zone: An overview of SAFOD’s first five years. Scientific Drilling 11, 14–28. https://doi.org/10.2204/iodp.sd.11.02.2011CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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