ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to present analog models of flanking structures and to analyze the Fábrica Nova synform, Quadrilátero Ferrífero, Minas Gerais, from a geometric point of view. We set up seven models using a linear viscous silicone and produced flanking structures with a shear velocity of 2 cm h-1. At different initial orientations with respect to the shear zone boundary, a rigid cross-cutting element with lubricated boundaries was deformed via sinistral bulk flow at a shear strain of γ = 1.28. The most interesting features of our experiments are the geometries of the different marker lines, which are heterogeneous and resulted from thickening and thinning of the silicone at the cross-cutting element terminations. To compare our analog models and the Fábrica Nova synform, we analyzed the outermost marker line of the analog models and the top surface of the Cauê Formation in the Paleoproterozoic metasediments. The best comparisons between the experiments and the natural example were obtained by our CIS90 model in terms of the flexure shape near the cross-cutting element and the cross-cutting element orientation. Thus, we suggest that the cross-cutting elements in both situations act as obstacles and consequently produce local perturbations in laminar flow.

ABSTRACT Glass microbeads are frequently used in analog physical modeling to simulate weak detachment zones but have been neglected in models of thrust wedges. Microbeads differ from quartz sand in grain shape and in low angle of internal friction. In this study, we compared the structural characteristics of microbeads and sand wedges. To obtain a better picture of their mechanical behavior, we determined the physical and frictional properties of microbeads using polarizing and scanning electron microscopy and ring-shear tests, respectively. We built shortening experiments with different basal frictions and measured the thickness, slope and length of the wedges and also the fault spacings. All the microbeads experiments revealed wedge geometries that were consistent with previous studies that have been performed with sand. However, the deformation features in the microbeads shortened over low to intermediate basal frictions were slightly different. Microbeads produced different fault geometries than sand as well as a different grain flow. In addition, they produced slip on minor faults, which was associated with distributed deformation and gave the microbeads wedges the appearance of disharmonic folds. We concluded that the glass microbeads may be used to simulate relatively competent rocks, like carbonates, which may be characterized by small-scale deformation features.

Compara-se a deformação produzida em areia e em uma mistura de areia com cristais de micas (na proporção 14:1, em peso), empregadas para simular o preenchimento de uma bacia em modelos de extensão e inversão, para analisar o potencial da mistura areia com cristais de micas para o uso em modelos físicos que requerem um material analógico, de fortes propriedades elasto-fricional plásticas. A areia e a mistura areia com cristais de micas possuem ângulos de atrito interno, similares, mas a mistura se deforma sob uma tensão cisalhante crítica significativamente mais baixa. Na extensão, os experimentos nos quais a mistura areia com cristais de micas preenche as bacias revelam um número menor de falhas normais. Durante a inversão, a diferença mais importante entre as bacias, preenchidas com areia e com a mistura areia com cristais de micas, é relacionada à deformação interna de dobras de propagação de falhas que cresce com o aumento do ângulo de atrito basal. Conclui-se que a mistura areia com cristais de micas, de fortes propriedades elasto-fricional plásticas, pode ser empregada para a simulação de dobras em experimentos que pretendem simular uma inversão moderada, na crosta rúptil.

We compare the deformation patterns produced by sand and a sand mica mixture (14:1 ratio of sand to mica by weight) while simulating basin fill in extension and inversion models to analyze the potential of the sand mica mixture for applications that require a strong elasto-frictional plastic analogue material in physical models. Sand and the sand mica mixture have nearly equal angles of internal friction, but the sand mica mixture deforms at a significantly lower level of peak shear stress. In extension, the sand mica mixture basin fill experiments show fewer normal faults. During inversion, the most striking difference between the sand and the sand mica mixture basin fill experiments is related to the internal deformation in fault-propagation folds, which increases with an increase in the basal friction. We conclude that our strongly elasto-frictional plastic sand mica mixture may be used to simulate folds in experiments that focus on mild inversion in the brittle crust.

O estilo da deformação de sequências sedimentares de bacias submetidas a uma inversão tectônica positiva foi discutido a partir da análise de modelos laboratoriais, desenvolvidos em caixas de experimentos, com camadas de areia depositadas no espaço entre dois blocos de madeira. O espaço simulava estágios de extensão crustal que conduziram à formação de (1) um hemi-graben, gerado sobre um descolamento basal lístrico, com os blocos simulando o teto e o muro; e (2) um graben, com os blocos representando as margens externas que se distanciaram ao longo de um descolamento horizontal. Combinações de dois ângulos diferentes foram usadas para simular o mergulho das falhas normais curvas ao longo da face interna dos blocos de madeira. Nos hemi-grabens, os anteparos possuíam geometria convexa, e, nos grabens, geometria côncava. No pacote de areia, o encurtamento foi particionado em movimentos dirigidos a pós e antepaís, e a cinemática da contração foi fortemente influenciada pela geometria convexa ou côncava das faces internas dos anteparos. Um efeito obstáculo, caracterizado por rotação do pacote de areia, próximo ao bloco do muro, foi mais elevado junto às faces internas dos blocos de mais alto ângulo de mergulho. Os resultados foram comparados a outros experimentos físicos e aplicados a uma bacia invertida encontrada na natureza.

The style of deformation of rocks from basin-infilling sequences in positively inverted natural basins was discussed upon the results of laboratory experiments carried out in sandboxes with sand packs laid down in the space between two wooden blocks. The space simulated stages of crustal extension leading to (1) a half graben due to extension above a listric extensional detachment, with the blocks simulating the footwall and hanging wall, or (2) a graben, with the blocks simulating the external margins that drifted apart above a horizontal detachment. Combinations of two different angles were used to simulate the dip of curved normal faults along the internal face of the wooden blocks. Backstops in the half graben had a convex up internal face. Backstops in the graben had a concave up internal face. Shortening as partitioned in forward and backward movements within the sand packs, and the kinematics of contraction was largely influenced by the convex or concave internal faces. A buttress effect characterized by rotation of the sand pack close to the footwall was stronger for footwall with steeper-dipping internal faces. The results were compared to other physical experiments and applied to an inverted basin found in nature.

Em experimentos de areia foi simulada a inversão positiva com o intuito de investigar os processos que governam a tectônica da Cordilheira do Espinhaço Meridional na borda sudeste do Cráton São Francisco. Analisou-se, em particular, a evolução progressiva de hemigrabens, com falha de borda lístrica, na qual o fechamento da bacia ocorreu através da translação do bloco do muro da falha mestra. Duas condições foram investigadas: (i) os descolamentos distensivos e compressivos ocorrem na mesma cota e (ii) os descolamentos situam-se em posições diferentes. Os modelos revelaram que um sistema de falhas de cavalgamento com estilo colapso da lapa se desenvolve no interior do depósito sinrift quando os descolamentos não coincidem. O imbricamento entre escamas do pré- e sinrift, nos modelos, permite esboçar uma analogia com a tectônica da porção sul da Cordilheira do Espinhaço e situar a falha de borda, mestra, que não aflora, na sua extremidade leste.

Analogue experiments were carried out to get insights into the processes governing positive inversion during the foreland propagating thrust tectonics in the southern Serra do Espinhaço, a Brasiliano/Panafrican foldthrust belt in southeast Brazil. In particular, model listric half-grabens were inverted by applying contractional displacement to the footwall blocks. We investigated two different inversion conditions in listric half-grabens: (i) extensional and contractional detachments at the same level and (ii) at different positions. The models revealed that the development of a forward-breaking thrust system occurs in the basin synrift deposits, by contractional translation of the extensional footwall block when the extensional and contractional master faults do not coincide. Our experiments show the tectonic imbrication between basement and synrift sequences which characterizes the southern Serra do Espinhaço, and support the location in the eastern mountain range domain of the Espinhaço rift master fault system, which is not exposed at the surface.