Detachment fault

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Detachment faulting is associated with large-scale lithospheric extensional tectonics. Detachment faults often have very large displacements (10s of km) and juxtapose unmetamorphosed hanging walls against medium to high-grade metamorphic footwalls. They are thought to have formed as either initially low-angle structures or by the rotation of intially high-angle normal faults modified also by the isostatic effects of tectonic denudation.

Examples of detachment faulting include:

  • the Snake Range detachment system of the Basin and Range Province of western North America which was active during the Miocene
  • the Nordfjord-Sogn Detachment of western Norway active during the Devonian Period.

[edit] References

George H. Davis, Stephen J. Reynolds.1996. Structural Geology of Rocks and Regions, 2nd Edition John Wiley and Sons Inc. ISBN 0-471-52621-5.

Haakon Fossen. 1992. The role of extensional tectonics in the Caledonides of South Norway. Journal of Structural Geology, 14, 1033-1046.

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