Garces, Miguel and Gee, Jeffrey S. (2007): Paleomagnetic evidence of large footwall rotations associated with low-angle faults at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Leg/Site/Hole:
ODP 209
ODP 209 1270
ODP 209 1271
ODP 209 1272
ODP 209 1274
ODP 209 1275
Identifier:
2007-029098
georefid

10.1130/G23165A.1
doi

Creator:
Garces, Miguel
University of Barcelona, Department of Stratigraphy, Paleontology and Marine Geosciences, Barcelona, Spain
author

Gee, Jeffrey S.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, United States
author

Identification:
Paleomagnetic evidence of large footwall rotations associated with low-angle faults at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge
2007
Geology (Boulder)
Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
35
3
279-282
Exposures of gabbros and mantle-derived peridotites at slow-spreading oceanic ridges have been attributed to extension on long-lived, low-angle detachment faults, similar to those described in continental metamorphic core complexes. In continental settings, such detachments have been interpreted as having originated and remained active at shallow dips. Alternatively, currently shallow dipping fault surfaces may have originated at moderate to steep dips and been flattened by subsequent flexure and isostatic uplift. While the latter interpretation would be more consistent with Andersonian faulting theory, it predicts large footwall tilts that have not been observed in continental detachment faults. Here we use the magnetization of oceanic gabbro and peridotite samples exposed near the Fifteen-Twenty Fracture Zone on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to demonstrate that substantial footwall rotations have occurred. Widespread rotations ranging from 50 degrees to 80 degrees indicate that original fault orientations dipped steeply toward the spreading axis.
English
Serial
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:16.0000
West:-47.3000East: -44.3000
South:14.3000

Solid-earth geophysics; accommodation zones; Atlantic Ocean; detachment faults; faults; Fifteen-Twenty fracture zone; foot wall; fracture zones; gabbros; igneous rocks; Leg 209; low-angle faults; magnetic inclination; magnetization; metasomatism; Mid-Atlantic Ridge; mid-ocean ridges; North Atlantic; Ocean Drilling Program; ODP Site 1270; ODP Site 1271; ODP Site 1272; ODP Site 1274; ODP Site 1275; paleomagnetism; peridotites; plate tectonics; plutonic rocks; remanent magnetization; rotation; sea-floor spreading; serpentinization; spreading centers; ultramafics;

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