Initiation of salt diapirs with frictional overburdens: numerical experiments
Abstract
We have studied the initiation of salt diapirs with frictional overburdens under lateral compression and extension. The overburden is assumed to be elasto-plastic with Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion and non-associated flow rule. Plastic flow localizes into narrow shear bands which may represent faults. The geometry and the evolution of these shear zones are simulated for various rheological parameters. The dilational and frictional properties of frictional overburdens are found to be important controls on the types of shear zones formed in lateral compression and extension. The friction and dilation angles influence the angle of shear and the width, dip, spacing and development history of conjugate zones of shear-plus-dilation (fault zones) that define wedges and grabens.
- Publication:
-
Tectonophysics
- Pub Date:
- December 1993
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0040-1951(93)90341-G
- Bibcode:
- 1993Tectp.228..199P