Premium
Neogene block tectonics of eastern Turkey and northern South America: Continental applications of the finite difference method
Author(s) -
Dewey J. F.,
Pindell J. L.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
tectonics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.465
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1944-9194
pISSN - 0278-7407
DOI - 10.1029/tc004i001p00071
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , plate tectonics , crust , slip (aerodynamics) , continental crust , tectonics , seismotectonics , neogene , upper crust , block (permutation group theory) , homogeneous , fault (geology) , shear zone , convergent boundary , paleontology , geometry , subduction , oceanic crust , physics , mathematics , structural basin , thermodynamics
Continental plate boundary zones are, generally, wide diffuse zones of deformation within which, in the upper 5 to 15 km, may be recognized blocks, which are bounded by fault zones within which strain is highly concentrated and along which slip rates are fairly high (2–30 m Ma −1 ). These blocks may be irregular flakes, defined by older crustal inhomogeneities of an upper brittle crust below which strain occurs in a ductile and more homogeneous lower crust. With examples from the convergent plate boundary zone of eastern Turkey and the southern Caribbean plate boundary zone of northern South America, we use plate slip rates and trends and slip rates of faults to construct block vector diagrams to deduce the sums of relative motion among block mosaics, slip rates and trends of ill defined block boundaries, and the extent to which blocks are internally strained.