Research Interests

Deep Brittle

Deformation & Fluids

Summary

In 1996 I began one of my Ph.D. related projects examining the style of deformation exposed in the footwall of the Simplon footwall. The project was part of an NSF funded collaborative effort directed by co-PIs Dr. Jane Selverstone, Dr. Gary Axen (UCLA), and Dr. John Bartley (Utah). In this project we were evaluating the relative importance of brittle deformation during footwall uplift and exhumation. My role was to evaluate the structural style in the footwall and to couple this analysis with a detailed study of kinematically referenced fluid inclusions. In the end, this study demonstrated a correlation between the onset of brittle deformation at mid-crustal depths to evolving syn-deformational fluid towards a carbonic composition. The idea is that these fluids effectively lower the activity of water and thus influence water related ductile deformation mechanisms. In the context of non-wetting vs. wetting fluid, the carbonic fluid has a non-wetting behavior that may have resulted in trapping of syn-deformational fluids. With continued exhumation, trapped fluids rapidly over pressurize and micro fracturing should initiate. Although this is a plausible explanation for the observed structural styles in the Simplon footwall. Addtional work needs to be done to fully understand this process and how important it might be within a range of tectonic settings.

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Announcements

Related Publications

Wawrzyniec, T. F., Selverstone, J. S., and Axen, G. J., 2001, Styles of footwall uplift along the Simplon and Brenner normal Fault Systems, Central and Eastern Alps. Tectonics Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 748-770.

Axen, G. J., Selverstone, J. S., Wawrzyniec, T. F., 2001, High-Temperature Embrittlement of Extensional Alpine Mylonite Zones in the Midcrustal Ductile-Brittle Transition. Journal of Geophysical Research, V. 106, n. B3, pp. 4337-4348. [Request a PDF Copy]

Wawrzyniec, T. F., 2000, Dextral Transcurrent Deformation of the Eastern Margin of the Colorado Plateau (USA) and the Mechanics of Footwall Uplift Along the Simplon Normal Fault (Switzerland/Italy) dissertation, University of New Mexico, 256 pages.

Wawrzyniec, T. F., Selverstone, J. S., and Axen, G. J., 1999, Correlations between fluid composition and deep-seated structural style in the footwall of the Simplon low-angle normal fault, Switzerland: Geology, v. 27, n. 8, p.711-715.

 

In preparation:

 

Contoured Strike vs. Rake plots using MATLAB: a useful approach for descriminating kinematic data sets.