Publication Date:
2007-12-19
Description:
The eastwest Minas fault zone, separating the Early Palaeozoic Meguma and Avalon terranes of the Appalachians, experienced dextral strike-slip motion during the Carboniferous. Abundant oblique contractional structures indicate localized dextral transpression, immediately south of the zone, probably associated with a restraining bend. Subsurface data indicate that the deformed Horton Group clastic rocks are thrust above younger Windsor Group evaporites. Excellent exposures on wave-cut platforms of the Bay of Fundy show structures developed in transpression, including NE-trending upright and inclined folds; south-verging thrust and reverse faults; and NW-striking normal faults. Northwest-trending boudins, which are perpendicular and slightly rotated in a clockwise sense relative to fold hinges, provide a field indicator for dextral transpression. The earliest folds (F1) are curvilinear and may have formed by deformation of wet sediment. F2 tectonic folds show weak axial-planar cleavage. Locally, these have been rotated into reclined orientations; spectacular downward-facing folds are probably due to refolding by more eastwest F3 folds. The structures observed are consistent with pure-shear-dominated transpression, with the local angle of convergence {alpha} increasing over time. This strain history is compatible with progressive strain partitioning, probably associated with the spreading of topography developed at the restraining bend.
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