Thrust faults (continued)
Cross sections
Importance to oil exploration
Cross-sections
• Thrust faults cut up-section only! (or section-parallel)
• Every flat or ramp in the FW should correspond to an equivalent flat or ramp in the WH
• Bed thickness is preserved (conservation of volume and mass)
Other than that - it’s all interpretation!
A trip along the Athabasca River
Roche Ronde
More Canadian Cordillera
Roche RondeBoulleRange
Other types of shortening-high angle; typical reactivate older structures (“inversion tectonics”)
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Thrust belts contain a significant fraction of the Earth’s oil deposits- typically form in anticlinal traps