MODES OF THICKENING OF ANALOGUE WEAK LITHOSPHERES

Abstract

Several compressional contexts, such as those involving juvenile or thickened crust, are expected to be associated with rather hot lithospheres whose mechanical behaviour remains poorly documented. In this paper, we present a series of analogue models dedicated to compression of lithospheres characterized by a thin upper brittle crust overlying a weak ductile crust and a ductile sub-Moho mantle. The models show that (1) deformation is controlled by the ductile layers that undergo distributed thickening, (2) thrust systems are limited to the upper brittle crust, (3) thrusting induces burial and stacking of upper crust pop-downs. The overall deformation patterns can be basically interpreted in terms of pop-down thrusting of the brittle crust and pure-shear type ductile flow of crust and mantle. Moreover, the models show that the sinking of supracrustal units does not require inverse density profiles but can be simply driven by compression. Model deformation patterns are consistent with those shared by many ancient belts, including not only Archaean granite-greenstone belts, but also more generally Paleoproterozoic ones. They provide also insights on deformation modes that may characterize modern thickened and abnormally hot domains like High Plateaus. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.