Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Nielsen, S. B. Articles by Hansen, D. L. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Physical explanation of the formation and evolution of inversion zones and marginal troughs

¹ Department of Earth Sciences, University of Aarhus, DK 8200 Aarhus N., Denmark

Inversion zones are elongate structures, some tens of kilometers wide and up to hundreds of kilometers long, that have deformed in response to compression and produced topography. Inversion zones in the Alpine foreland are mainly associated with Mesozoic grabens and troughs, and although very important in the geologic picture, the conditions of their formation and evolution and their regional geologic significance are not entirely understood. The internal structure of inversion zones is variable and depends on details in the pre-inversion setting, the inversion-inducing stress field, and the sedimentary fill. However, on a larger scale, most inversion zones share certain principal observational features, which sample the physical structure and the rheologic properties of the lithosphere and thereby provide an opportunity to test hypotheses of lithospheric rheology and dynamics. The quantitative model presented in this paper explains how inversion zones and the associated marginal troughs are related to lithospheric zones of differential shortening and regional isostatic compensation of the induced topography.

Key Words: basin inversion • numerical modeling • rheology • continental lithosphere

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. P. Holford, P. F. Green, J. P. Turner, G. A. Williams, R. R. Hillis, D. R. Tappin, and I. R. Duddy Evidence for kilometre-scale Neogene exhumation driven by compressional deformation in the Irish Sea basin system Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2008; 306(1): 91 - 119. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Sandiford, D. L. Hansen, and S. N. McLaren Lower crustal rheological expression in inverted basins Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2006; 253(1): 271 - 283. [Abstract] [PDF]

				T. McCann, C. Pascal, M.J. Timmerman, P. Krzywiec, J. Lopez-Gomez, L. Wetzel, C.M. Krawczyk, H. Rieke, and J. Lamarche Post-Variscan (end Carboniferous-Early Permian) basin evolution in Western and Central Europe Geological Society, London, Memoirs, January 1, 2006; 32(1): 355 - 388. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. A. Williams, J. P. Turner, and S. P. Holford Inversion and exhumation of the St. George's Channel basin, offshore Wales, UK Journal of the Geological Society, January 1, 2005; 162(1): 97 - 110. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. B. Nielsen, G. E. Paulsen, D. L. Hansen, L. Gemmer, O. R. Clausen, B. H. Jacobsen, N. Balling, M. Huuse, and K. Gallagher Paleocene initiation of Cenozoic uplift in Norway Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2002; 196(1): 45 - 65. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. J. Blundell Cenozoic inversion and uplift of southern Britain Geological Society, London, Special Publications, January 1, 2002; 196(1): 85 - 101. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. D. Muller, C. Gaina, W. R. Roest, and D. L. Hansen A recipe for microcontinent formation Geology, March 1, 2001; 29(3): 203 - 206. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]