Mechanical stratigraphy as a factor controlling the development of a sandbox transfer zone: a three-dimensional analysis.

In thrust belts, fold–fault terminations are common features of the structural architecture and can pose complicated problems to unravel, in particular when two or more terminations are in close proximity. Such terminations usually reflect pre-existing attributes. Amongst the many factors, lateral variations in the mechanical stratigraphy can control along-strike geometry and kinematics of fault-related folds. A displacement transfer zone was produced in a compressional sandbox model by means of two adjacent, mechanically different stratigraphic domains. The experiment allowed two discrete chains to develop in the different domains, so that a complex structural setting occurred in the connecting area. Periclinal folds, oblique thrust fronts and oblique ramps developed in the resulting transfer zone. The interaction between periclines in the transfer zone produced lateral culminations in the folded structures. The analysis of displacement across the structural domains revealed that a significant loss of slip along the faults occurred in the relay zone. In this area, imbricate faulting was partially replaced by layer-parallel shortening. A linear relationship appears to exist between the bed length of the thrust sheet and the related fault slip.