Abstract
Regularity of spatial arrays is a common feature of many structural entities, including joints, folds, salt domes, plutons, faults and lineaments. It is suggested that global-scale linears (fold belts, volcanic chains, continental margins, oceanic ridges etc.) also have an underlying regularity and a tendency to polygonal patterns. The spacing in arrays is controlled by such factors as buckling, fracture mechanics, density and viscosity contrasts, thickness of layers, and convection. The layered structure of the crust, with brittle upper and ductile lower parts, exerts a major influence on the spacing geometry. In this paper, faults, batholiths and global lineaments are analyzed, and they demonstrate the influence of layer — thickness control at three different scales.
In southeastern Australia the spacing of faults and Paleozoic plutons indicates slab depths of 7 km, 18 km, and 35 km, remarkably coincident with inflections in the seismic profile. It is suggested that fault spacing is dependent on the upper brittle part of the crust.
Archean plutons occur in wider-spaced arrays (65 km to 90 km), and with either convection or buoyant-layer models, this spacing indicates a magma source depth of about 35 km, that is, near the base of the crust.
Analysis of the lengths of 750 global linears shows modes at 2900 km and 1300 km; the distribution of the lengths and the intersection of linears at about 120 degrees corresponds to a polygonal pattern. This conclusion is supported by reference to model spheres. The proposed polygonal tessellation pattern resembles those of model convection cells. The 2900 km mode contains many major tectonic elements, the lengths of which represent the sides of major polygons and which also equal the thickness of the mantle. Polygon centers would be spaced at 5000 km, indicating a thickness for the convecting layer of 2000 km to 3000 km. Thus, control by mantle-wide processes is indicated for major tectonic elements. The 1300 km mode may represent the influence of a superposed upper-mantle system.
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Rickard, M.J. (1992). Tectonics of Some Spatial Arrays. In: Mason, R. (eds) Basement Tectonics 7. Proceedings of the International Conferences on Basement Tectonics, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0833-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0833-3_1
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