Rhone Delta Structural Model
The seismic section from the Rhone Delta extension shows a complex extension patten above a shallow dipping weak detachment.
Despite the structural complexity most of the structural development can be modeled using two listric faults.
- Movement on the left fault generally predates movement on the right fault, although there is a period of overlap. The left fault has a simple listric shape. The net effect of growth across this fault is simple rotational fanning.
- The right fault has a convex pillow superimposed on its overall listric shape (probably associated with movement on the left fault). Synthetic deformation axes associated with this pillow produce the pronounced syncline. The structural deformation pattern could not be effectively modeling without taking into account both synthetic and antithetic shear axes. In the observed section there are numerous small synthetic faults whose patten matches the modeled shear pattern.
The modeling quite strongly constrains the correlations across both faults.
Data courtesy of TGS-Nopec.