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Domainal deformation patterns and strain partitioning during transpression: an example from the Southern Uplands terrane, Scotland

Holdsworth, R.E; Tavarnelli, E; Clegg, P; Pinheiro, R.V.L; Jones, R.R; McCaffrey, K.J.W

Authors

E Tavarnelli

P Clegg

R.V.L Pinheiro



Abstract

The partitioning of deformation into wrench- and contraction-dominated deformation domains is a widely reported but poorly described phenomenon in ancient transpression zones. This paper documents spectacularly exposed examples of such partitioning from the Southern Uplands terrane in SE Scotland (Berwickshire), which was deformed during late Llandovery to Wenlock time. A well-exposed coastal section from Eyemouth to Burnmouth preserves a broadly homoclinal sequence in which a highly heterogeneous array of contemporaneous structures formed during regional triclinic transpression. The deformation involved components of NW–SE contraction with subvertical extension, top-to-the-SE thrusting and top-to-the-SW sinistral shear. In the northern third of the section studied these components are partitioned into a series of fault-bounded, metre- to kilometre-scale structural domains that contain geometrically and kinematically distinct assemblages of variably curvilinear folds, strike-slip detachments and locally transecting cleavages. The structures are all broadly contemporaneous and, in individual domains, record either non-coaxial contractional- or sinistral wrench-dominated strains. Similar highly heterogeneous, domainal structural patterns are likely to be found in other regions of oblique convergence in both ancient and modern settings.

Citation

Holdsworth, R., Tavarnelli, E., Clegg, P., Pinheiro, R., Jones, R., & McCaffrey, K. (2002). Domainal deformation patterns and strain partitioning during transpression: an example from the Southern Uplands terrane, Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, 159(4), 401-415. https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-764901-123

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2002
Deposit Date Jan 13, 2009
Journal Journal of the Geological Society
Print ISSN 0016-7649
Publisher The Geological Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 159
Issue 4
Pages 401-415
DOI https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-764901-123
Keywords Southern Uplands, Transpression, Deformation, Strain.