Lyell Collection

Journal of the Geological Society

Lyell Centre  |   Lyell Collection  |   Subscriptions   |   Geological Society  |   Email alerts  |   Online bookshop  |   Help


Keywords:
Author:
Advanced search>>
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (9)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by MORLEY, C. K.
Right arrow Articles by DE BATIST, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Journal of the Geological Society; 2000; v. 157; issue.5; p. 983-994
© 2000 Geological Society of London

Regular Article

Evidence for high-frequency cyclic fault activity from high-resolution seismic reflection survey, Rukwa Rift, Tanzania

C. K. MORLEY, P. VANHAUWAERT & M. DE BATIST

1 Department of Petroleum Geoscience, University of Brunei Darussalam, Bandar Seri Begawan, 2028, Negara Brunei Darussalam
2 Renard Centre of Marine Geology, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281S8, B-9000 Gent, Belgium
Present address: Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology, King’s College, Aberdeen University, Aberdeen AB24 3UE, UK (e-mail: chrismmorley@hotmail.com)

Scientific editing by Alex Maltman.

A high-resolution seismic survey of the Rukwa Rift has imaged the upper 300 m of the Pliocene–Holocene section. The sediments are characterized by aggradational deposition in shallow lacustrine conditions that episodically dried out. Overall the reflection package expands northeastwards towards the Lupa Fault (half-graben bounding fault). Isopach maps for nine intervals (6 m to 65 m thick) show four periods of marked expansion of the section towards the Lupa Fault, interpreted to represent times of fault activity or infilling of fault-created topography during the early stage of fault quiescence. There are three periods of little or much reduced expansion interpreted to represent infilling of the accommodation space between the lake floor and the lake surface during periods of fault inactivity. Cyclicity of such high frequency has not been widely reported for faults which penetrate the crust. The periods of activity show remarkably similar displacement patterns with no lateral migration of the main depocentre, implying that seismic and aseismic slip has persistently clustered in the same parts of the fault. Identification of high-frequency fault cyclicity has implications for sequence stratigraphy in tectonically active areas, since there is a tendency to assume faults do not have cyclic effects on the scale of tens of thousands of years.


Keywords: .




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
AAPG BulletinHome page
Evolution of Large Normal Faults: Evidence from Seismic Reflection Data
AAPG Bulletin, 2002; 86: 961 - 978.