Kinematics of a growth fault/raft system on the West African margin using 3-D restoration

Abstract The ability to quantify the movement history associated with growth structures is crucial in the understanding of fundamental processes such as the growth of folds or faults in 3-D. In this paper, we present an application of an original approach to restore in 3-D a listric growth fault system resulting from gravity-induced extension located on the West African margin. Our goal is to establish the 3-D structural framework and kinematics of the study area. We construct a 3-D geometrical model of the fault system (from 3-D seismic data), then restore six stratigraphic surfaces and reconstruct the 3-D geometry of the system at six incremental steps of its history. The evolution of the growth fault/raft system corresponds to the progressive separation of two rafts by regional extension, resulting in the development of an intervening basin located between them that evolved in three main stages: (1) the rise of an evaporite wall, (2) the development of a symmetric basin as the elevation of the diapir is reduced and buried, and (3) the development of asymmetric basins related to two systems of listric faults (the main fault F1 and the graben located between the rollovers and the lower raft). Important features of the growth fault/raft system could only be observed in 3-D and with increments of deformation restored. The rollover anticline (associated with the listric fault F1) is composed of two sub-units separated by an E–W oriented transverse graben indicating that the displacement field was divergent in map view. The rollover units are located within the overlap area of two fault systems and displays a ‘mock-turtle’ anticline structure. The seaward translation of the lower raft is associated with two successive vertical axis rotations in the opposite sense (clockwise then counter-clockwise by about 10°). This results from the fact that the two main fault systems developed successively. Fault system F1 formed during the Upper Albian, and the graben during the Cenomanian. Using a new approach of 3-D restoration, this study suggests a consistent solution for: (1) the processes of deformation of a fault system, (2) the faulting kinematics, and (3) the incremental steps of deformation.

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