Structural Geology GEM224

Semestre 2014-II
Dr. ing. Willem Viveen

Introduction
Structural geology is the discipline within the Earth Sciences that is concerned with
the motions and processes that build the crust of the Earth. Structure comes from
the latin word struere, which means to build. In this sense, structural geology is
very closely related to the discipline of tectonics, which is derived from the Greek
word tektos, meaning builder. The main difference is that structural geology
studies the deformation of the crust from the microscopic to the regional scale,
whereas tectonics studies the deformation from a regional to a global scale.
Examples from structural geology (and tectonics) include the formation of the Andes
through plate subduction; the creation of metamorphic rocks through tectonically
induced stress and temperature changes in the Earths crust; and the creation of
fractures, lineaments and faults in the crust through changes in the local or regional
stress fields.
An important aspect of studying the deformation (deformacin) of the Earths
crust is based on a systematic assessment of the structures in a rock such as
lithological contacts, fractures, folds, faults and mineral grain orientations. By
determining where these structures are located in a rock and how they are oriented
in both time and space (3-D), a geologist is able to determine the geometry
(geometra) of these structures. As local and regional stress fields tend to change
over time because of changes in for instance tectonic plate configurations, so do
change both the intensity and direction of stresses acting upon the crust. This leads
to changes in the orientations of the structures in the rock record, and hence, an
important aspect is determining which rock structures belong to which crustal
deformation periods. To understand the geometry of the rock structures, we also
need to understand the underlying physical principles that shaped it. Therefore we
study the kinematics (cinemtica) and mechanics (mecnica) of rock
deformation, that is the motions and the interaction between them and general
forces such as strain, friction and gravity that occurred and ultimately determined
the geometry of the structures. This is typically done by mapping of rocks,
sediments and associated structures such as faults and folds, construction of crosssections and elaboration of a 3-D, geometric model of the studied area. Once this is

done, (computer-based) kinematic and mechanical models are constructed that are
able to calculate the various stress directions and intensities responsible for the
observed crustal deformation.
The Earth is divided into three different shells (Fig. 1.1). The first one, the core
(ncleo), is composed of very dense material consisting of an iron-nickel alloy. The
core is divided into a solid inner core and a liquid outer core (Fig.). The second shell
comprises the mantle (manto), which is solid yet less dense than the core and is
made up of magnesium-iron sillicates. The mantle is subdivided into three layers
(from the exterior to the interior mantle), namely the lithospheric mantle
(litsfera), which is relatively dense and rigid; the weaker astenospheric mantle
(astensfera), and the mesospheric mantle (messfera), which is again stronger
and more dense.
The third shell is the crust (corteza), which surrounds the mantle. The crust is
relatively thin and composed of relatively low-density, igneous rocks such as
granites and basalts, as well as sedimentary rocks, sediments and metamorphic
rocks. The lithosphere includes both the crust and the lithospheric mantle and is
thickest underneath the continental plates (~200-300 km) and thinnest (~100 km)
underneath the oceanic plates. Structural geology and tectonics however, typically
investigate only the outermost ~20 to 30 km of the crust.

Fig. 1.1. Schematic build-up of the Earth.

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The temperature of the Earth increases about 25C per km depth for the crust and
upper mantle. The increase in temperature with depth causes a flow of thermal
energy towards the Earths surface along two systems of convection (sistemas de
conveccin; Fig. 1.2). One system transports heat out from the liquid core to the
lower mantle (mesosphere) and this is partly responsible for the Earths magnetic
field. The second convection system transports heat from the solid mantle towards
the Earth surface. Heat escapes from the Earth surface by conduction through the
cold lithospheric boundary layer, by intrusive and extrusive magma upwelling, and
by upwelling of astenosphere at oceanic spreading centres. Partial melting of the
asthenosphere during this upwelling causes the formation of the oceanic crust. The
return flow for mantle convection occurs at subduction zones, where cold
lithosphere descends as slabs back into the mantle.

Fig. 1.2. The Earths heat convection systems.

The Earths crust can be divided into continental crust of granodioritic composition,
and oceanic crust of basaltic composition. The continental crust is generally situated
at higher elevations than the ocean crust, which can be related to a number of
factors: the continental crust is generally thicker and undergoes tectonic
deformation as well as erosion; and the weight of the sea water slightly depresses
the oceanic crust.
The aformentioned systems of energy convection are the main drivers behind the
movement of tectonic plates (placas tectnicas), also called continental drift
(deriva continental; Fig. 1.3). There are seven major tectonic plates on the Earth,

with several smaller plates. Dissipation of heat from the mantle is acknowledged to
be the original source of the energy required to drive plate tectonics through
convection or large-scale upwelling of astenosphere at mid-oceanic ridges
(dorsales mesoocenicas) and downwelling at subduction zones (zonas de
subduccin). This would happen in the same way a conveyer belt moves and the
tectonic plates are carried on the back of the flowing astenosphere. This process is
called basal drag (arrastre basal). More recently, at least two additional processes
are recognised to be of importance to continental drift: ridge-push force (fuerza
de empuje de la dorsal) and slab-pull force (fuerza de traccin de la placa
subductada). Ridge-push force is the outward-directed force that pushes plates
away from the mid-oceanic ridge. It exists because oceanic lithosphere is higher
along mid-oceanic ridges than elsewhere in the oceanic basins. The difference in
elevation means that the lithosphere along the ridge has more gravitational
potential energy than elsewhere in the ocean and this energy provides an outward
push.
Slab-pull force is the force that pulls lithosphere into a convergent margin. Old, cold
oceanic crust is negatively buoyant relative to the underlying astenosphere and
sinks downwards at subduction zones. The subducting plate margin (called
subduction slab) pulls the rest of the plate downwards with it.

Fig. 1.3. Continental drift.

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Three different types of plate boundaries exist: divergent boundaries (bordes

divergentes), convergent boundaries (bordes convergente) and transform
boundaries (bordes transformantes; Fig. 1.4). At divergent boundaries, which
mainly occur at mid-oceanic ridges, two plates move away from each other and
lithosphere is created. The most famous example of newly created lithospheric crust
is Iceland. At convergent boundaries, or subduction zones, two plates move towards
each other and one descends beneath the other, recycling lithosphere back into the
mantle. The associated deformation results in the formation of mountain belts,
which are found all along mayor convergent plate boundaries. The Andes is the
result of such a plate boundary shared between the Nazca and South American
plates. At transform fault boundaries, two plates move horizontally past each other
without creation or destruction of lithosphere.
The oceanic crust is continuously recycled by convection processes and not older
than ~180 Ma, whereas the continental crust is up to ~3.96 Ga. Many mountain
belts registered at least one or even several deformation phases that happened
during the Earths geological past and are for that reason the main topic of study for
structural geologists.
The type of structures that develop during deformation can be divided into two main
groups. Brittle deformation (deformacin frgil) occurs at relatively low
temperatures and at relatively low pressures, but at a high intensity of the applied
forces, or even during a rapidly imposed deformation. Brittle deformation involves
fracturing (fracturamiento) of the rock. If two sides of a fracture slide relative to
each other, the result is called a fault (falla). Ductile deformation (deformacin
dctil) occurs at relatively high temperatures and pressures, but below the melting
point, and at a relatively low intensity of applied forces, or a very slow imposed
deformation. The rock does not break or fracture, but deforms in a plastic way,
much like chewing gum changes shape when pulling it, but without breaking.
Ductile deformation causes the formation of metamorphic rocks and folding of
mountain belts.

Fig. 1.4. Plate boundaries and faults.

At divergent boundaries, upwelling mantle material partly melts, forming basaltic

magma, which constitutes the new oceanic crust. Separation of the plates may also
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result in horizontal stretching and vertical thinning of the continental crust, which
lowers the main elevation of the crust. These lower-lying areas are typically being
flooded by the sea. Such stretched and thinned continental crust typically underlies
the wide continental shelves, for instance along the western European Atlantic
margin (Fig. 1.4).
At convergent boundaries, one plate edge subduces back into the Earths mantle
and melting of this plate edge typically leads to the formation of a volcanic arc
(arco volcnico) on the over-riding plate. Convergent plate boundaries typically
depict thrust faults (sobreescurrimientos) and strike-slip faults (fallas de rumbo)
(also called transform faults, see Fig. 1.4). In the vicinity of the volcanic arcs
normal faulting (fallamiento normal) may occur. If a continent is part of the overriding or subducing plate at the subduction zone, it usually experiences shortening
and thickening of its crust by means of thrust faulting (Fig. 1.4). Where two
continental plates collide, all types of faulting may occur, and also regional
metamorphism, folding and igneous activity. Far away from the plate boundaries
mountain building cannot occur and these regions, are typically vast, flat and
tectonically stable areas. Examples include the vast plains of Russia and China and
the Amazon basin.
Plate boundaries are thus areas of major thermal anamolies, which promote the
occurrence of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The formation, concentration and
preservation of mineral deposits are very much affected by structures in the rock
and their tectonic environments. For this reason, mining activity is often found in
these areas.
Features of oceanic plate margins: The oceanic crust is on average 7 km thick, but
the divergent plate margins are typically thicker because in these mid-oceanic
ridges magma upwelling causes a local thickening of the oceanic crust. Normal
faults trending parallel to the mid-oceanic ridges are commonly found (Fig. 1.4).
At the transform plate margins, transform faults (fallas transformantes) cause
seismic activity because of the friction they cause when moving along each other.
They are the only type of strike-slip fault that is found along plate boundaries (Fig.
1.4). Transform fault systems are characterised by pronounces differential

topographic relief and may be 10.000 km long. They are generally narrow features,
although in the eastern Pacific they may be up to 100 km wide.
At the convergent plate margins, volcanic islands arcs and parallel-trending, deep
trenches are found. The up-to-12-km-deep trenches are the deepest parts of the
oceans, and may be up to 100 km wide.
The oceanic plate interiors (Fig. 1.5) are made up of the abyssal plains (llanuras
abisales), which are flat, and the most low-lying parts of the ocean plates. The
oceanic plateaus (mesetas ocenicas) are more elevated areas and are made of
old continental rocks, inactive volcanic arcs and rocks whose origins are not known.
The plateaus stand 1 to 4 km above the normal ocean floor. Crustal thicknesses are
generally more similar to the continental crust than to the oceanic crust.

Fig. 1.5. Features of the oceanic plates.

Structures of the continental crust: The continental crust is on average 35 km thick,

less dense and has a lower seismic velocity than the oceanic crust. It is thickest
under mountain belts and thinnest under continental margins and areas of active
extension, such as rift valleys. The continental crust is highly complex and a
subdivision is made on basis of tectonic differences:
i)

Precambrian shields (Escudos Precmbricos): The Precambrian is the

oldest phase of Earths history and encompasses about 88% of Earths history (4.6
Ga to 0.541 Ga). Very little is known about this time period. It is thought that
several smaller continents existed before 3 Ga, that formed into one supercontinent,
Rodinia, around 1 Ga, which broke up around 0.6 Ga. Because of their long history,
general absence of recent tectonic activity and long erosion history, the Cambrian
shields form topographically rolling uplands. Archaean areas are older than 2.5 Ga,
and Proterozoic areas are generally 2.5 Ga to 0.541 Ga in age. Although it is heavily
debated whether tectonic activity was present during the Archaean, Archaean
terrains (terrenos Arcaicos) contain more intensely metamorphosed rocks than
Proterozoic terrains. They typically consist of high-grade gneiss and greenstone
belts (metamorphosed mafic igneous and sedimentary rocks). They are often
intruded by younger granitic intrusions (intrusiones) (batholiths), that is the result
of local magma upwelling. Examples include the Kalahari desert in South Africa, the
Canadian Shield and Greenland. Archaean areas have three tectonic features in
common: most rocks are highly deformed with more than one generation of folds;
the contact between greenstone belts and gneiss is highly complex; and lastly,
sedimentary rocks if present are either immature volcanogenic sediments, or they
are an assemblage of quartzite, carbonate and iron interbedded with highly
deformed mafic igneous complexes. Typical, but not restricted to the Archaean only,
is the presence of stromatolites (estromatolitos), which are considered the first life
forms on Earth. Stromatolites are intercalating layers of cyanobacteria and
sediments that formed in shallow pools. The oldest stromatolites were found in
Australia and date back to 3.48 Ga.
Proterozoic terrains (Terrenos Paleozoicos) include both slightly deformed,
tectonically stable regions as well as highly deformed, active regions. The
tectonically stable regions (cratons (cratones) first became abundant during the

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Proterozoic. Weakly deformed, mature sediments such as quartzites and quartzitepebble conglomerates typically overly eroded and highly metamorphosed Archaean
units. The sedimentary rocks are often intercalated with iron-oxidation layers,
indicating that for the first time in the Earths history, an oxygen-rich atmosphere
was present. There are indications that tectonic activity during the Proterozoic very
much resembled tectonic activity as we see it nowadays. Orogenic belts and tectonic
basins were present, but strangely enough the rock record is less metamorphosed
than the older, Archaean record. The tectonically deformed, active regions include
regions that are rich in volcanic rocks, but also regions that exhibit thick
sedimentary sequences deposited in linear troughs, presumably along old
continental margins that were later on deformed by tectonic activity, forming
elongated fold and thrust belts. Associated with these thrust belts are a series of
smaller, linear, sediment-filled grabens (tectonic basins bounded by normal faults).
ii)

Phanerozoic regions (Regiones Fanerozoicas): These are regions that are

of Cambrian and younger age (541 Ma to present). The Phanerozoic Eon is

subdivided in three Era, namely the Palaeozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic.
During the Palaeozoic, the Rodinia supercontinent broke up and the continents
drifted apart. At a later stage, the continents reformed during a series of
consecutive plate convergence events and associated orogenies and led to what
would ultimately become the Pangea supercontinent (Fig. 1.6). An example includes
the Caledonian Orogeny during the Ordovician-early Devonian, which led to the
formation of fold belts in northern Europe (United Kingdom, Scandinavia,
Greenland). The globally most important mountain building phase occurred during
the Permian, at the end of the Palaeozoic, when the continents of Euramerica and
Gondwana reformed to become the Pangea supercontinent. The collision of
continents formed a series of orogenic belts in many parts of the world and is
known as the Variscan (Varscico) or Hercynian Orogeny (orogenia Hercnica).
Variscan originates from the German word Variscia. It refers to the area in Germany
where for the first time the SW-NE-oriented strike of the deformed rock from this
age was described. Hercynian refers to the Harz mountains in Germany that have a

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predominantly NW-SE-directed strike. In north America, this mountain building

event is known as the Appalachian Orogeny (Fig. 1.7).

Fig. 1.6. The formation of Pangea.

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Fig. 1.7. Distribution of the Variscan-Hercynian fold belts.

Deformation during the Palaeozoic (Paleozoico) took place along the plate edges,
but not in the interior of the continents. These areas were often flooded by the sea
because of much higher sea levels than nowadays (Fig. 1.8). It is common to find
thin sequences of former marine sediments (sandstones, siltstones, limestones) on
top of the (Pre)cambrian shield rocks. The contact is often unconform and indicates
a time gap of tens to hundreds of millions of years between rock formation and
deposition of the marine sediments. Because the (Pre)cambrian cratons were not
flat, but consisted of rolling hills, the marine sediments formed mainly in the lowestlying parts. These areas are called cratonic basins (cuencas cratnicas) and are
widespread throughout the world. Marine transgression and sediment deposition
continued well into the Mesozoic.

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Fig. 1.8. Sea level change throughout Earths history.

During the Mesozoic (Mesozoico), Pangea broke up again during three important
break-up phases (Fig. 1.9). The first phase occurred during the early to middle
Jurassic. The rifting (se usa el ingls) that took place between North America and
Africa produced multiple failed rifts. One rift resulted in a new ocean, the North
Atlantic Ocean. The split resulted in the formation of the continents of Gondwana
and Laurasia.

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Fig. 1.9. The break-up of Pangea and the evolution of the Earth towards the current day
plate configuration.

The second major phase in the break-up of Pangaea began in the Early Cretaceous,
when the minor supercontinent of Gondwana separated into multiple continents
(Africa, South America, India, Antarctica, and Australia).
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The third major and final phase of the break-up of Pangaea occurred in the early
Cenozoic (Paleocene to Oligocene). Laurasia split when North America/Greenland
(also called Laurentia) broke free from Eurasia. The Atlantic and Indian Oceans
continued to expand, closing the Tethys Ocean. The interiors of the continents did
not experience tectonic activity. Instead, prolonged weathering (alteracin
qumica) of the bedrock and soil formation took place. In this way, the ancient
(Pre)cambrian cratons were further eroded.
The Cenozoic (Cenozoico) marked the beginning of the current configuration of the
Earth. Rifting of the Atlantic continued, but elsewhere collision took place. An
important orogeny took place during the Eocene to Miocene Epochs, when Africa
collided with Europe and formed the Pyrenean (Pirineos) and Alpine mountain
belts (cinturn montaoso Alpino) (Fig. 1.10) as well as several smaller mountain
belts in southern Europe; in northern Africa the Maroccan Rif System was formed;
India collided with Asia, forming the Himalayas. The Andes was formed by
subduction of the Nazca plate under the South American plate (which already
started during the Jurassic); and around 3 Ma South America became connected to
Central America. Some of these mountain building events still continue nowadays,
as evidenced by seismic activity and GPS-measurable deformation.

Fig. 1.10. Alpine fold belts in Europe and North Africa.

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The main structural geological elements of the Earth can thus be divided in the
following groups:
i) the interior lowlands and cratonic shield regions as described above;
ii) Orogenic belts are formed characteristically of thick sequences of shallow-water
sandstones, limestones and shales deposited on continental crust, as well as oceanic
deposits, commonly with volcanic sediments and rocks. These rocks were later on
deformed and intruded by plutonic rocks such as granites.
Structurally, orogenic belts are represented by a linear central core of thick,
deformed and highly metamorphosed sedimentary/volcanic rocks. On both sides of
the central core, low-grade metamorphic or non-metamorphic rocks such as
sandstones, limestones and shales are found. These outer regions are less folded
and faulted than the core regions (Fig. 1.11);

Fig. 1.11. Schematic cross-section of an orogenic belt.

iii) Continental rifts (Rift continental) are characteristic for the break-up of
continental margins and they are associated with normal faulting parallel to the
break-up direction, shallow seismic activity and mountainous topography consisting
of down-dropped blocks and higher flanks (horst-graben systems (Fig. 1.12).
These rift systems are found all along the eastern American and western European17

African coasts, bordering the Arabian Peninsula, and also on land, for instance the
great eastern African Rift Valley;

Fig. 1.12. Continental rift with horst (shoulders of valley) and graben (subsided central axis).

iv) Modern continental margins are subdivided in four main types: a) passive
margins. They are found as belts of horizontally lengthened and thinned
continental crust along divergent plate boundaries. Seismic activity is not present.
Examples include the Atlantic margin (see also Fig. 1.12);
b) convergent margins occur where an oceanic plate subducts below a continental
plate, for instance in Peru (Fig. 1.13). Characteristic are a narrow or absent
continental margin (shelf), and the occurrence of steep mountain chains close to the
coast. Chains of active stratovolcanoes of andesitic composition are common.
Subduction of the oceanic plate results in thrust complexes near the trench; where
oblique subduction occurs, strike-slip faults and high-angle normal faults form near
the volcanic axis, and either normal or thrust faults form between the volcanic axis
and the continent;
c) transform margins are characterised by sharp topographic differences between
ocean and continent. They are marked by active strike-slip faulting, sharp local
relief, a poorly developed shelf and many deep sedimentary basins;

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d) back-arc margins (mrgenes de trasarco) are composite margins consisting of

a combination of a passive Atlantic-style margin separated by a narrow oceanic
region from an active island arc. An example is found in Japan (Fig. 1.14).

Fig. 1.13. Convergent margin and associated structures.

Fig. 1.14. Back-arc margin.

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