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Shear zones in foliated rocks: geometry and kinematics

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Book cover Evolution of Geological Structures in Micro- to Macro-scales

Abstract

In shear zones developed across foliated rocks the relationships between geometry, strain patterns and kinematics differ from those in isotropic rocks. These differences refer to:

  1. 1.

    the variability of the existing angle formed by the shear direction and the bent axis of the foliation, a fact that can originate equivocal kinematic inferences; and

  2. 2.

    the deviation of this type of shear zones from the heterogeneous simple shear model, caused by the non-passive behaviour of the previous foliation.

In addition to this second point, the presence of a pre-existing foliation induces the development of minor structures arising from buckling instabilities formed at the marginal domains. These questions are reviewed and illustrated with examples taken from the Cap de Creus in the Hercynian basement of the easternmost Pyrenees.

Acknowledgements: Part of this work was developed at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore) with financial support of the DGCICYT (Spain). The work was completed with the financial support of the DGCICYT PB 91-0477 Project. This contribution benefited from the constructive comments of S. Sengupta and from careful review by J. Cosgrove.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department de Geologia, Unitat de Geotectonica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    J. Carreras

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  1. J. Carreras
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological Sciences, Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India

    S. Sengupta

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© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Carreras, J. (1997). Shear zones in foliated rocks: geometry and kinematics. In: Sengupta, S. (eds) Evolution of Geological Structures in Micro- to Macro-scales. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5870-1_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5870-1_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-6481-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5870-1

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